Jordan has an in with Santa

So he called the North Pole to see if he would go ahead and bring Suzi and Ivey's presents a night early.

Normally we wake up at the crack of dawn (before 6:00) to open Santa gifts and let Suzi play a little while. We have to be at Jordan's parents' house, two hours away, by 10 am, which means we have to eat, pack the van, whisk Suzi away from her toys, and be on the road by 8:00. Jordan and I do not exchange gifts, so at least that's one less thing to worry about. This year, Christmas with my side of the family is sort of up in the air due to several people not knowing exactly when they'll be able to get there. We normally do Christmas Eve starting in the afternoon, but that probably isn't going to work for everyone. We wanted to be sure we got to enjoy Christmas with our girls and not just rush through it on our way to another event.

We'll be able to eat breakfast and drink coffee leisurely in our own kitchen. We can bake some last-minute goodies to share while the girls break in their new toys, and then we can take our time getting ready to go to my parents' house and finally church. Suzi won't be sick of opening gifts already by the time Santa has come, and she also won't be worn out by the time we get to Jordan's parents' house with it spaced this way. It's our way of taking back just a little of this maddeningly hectic holiday to focus on our family. Not the extended family, but just our little family of four.

Santa's already been here and in the morning we'll get to do the fun part.

But now it's bedtime for us. Have a Merry Christmas Eve!