Christmas Eve marathon

I don't even know where to begin. Multiple gift openings in multiple towns and homes over two days. The kids, of course, love it. Jeff and I, meanwhile, are exhausted.

It might have had something to do with having to stay up until 2:30 in the morning trying to wrap presents and assemble "My delightful dollhouse" for Sydney. (Clearly, "delightful" refers to the child's reaction to the three-story Barbie house, not the assemblers'.)

So it seemed that Christmas Eve dawned all too early for those of us who'd stayed up way too late. But the kids' excitement could not be contained, and we had places to go and people to see, and so we let them rip into their gifts.

Quite possibly the most exciting gift ever! The Lego police station Alex has been begging for since last summer.

Most of Sydney's gifts were Barbie-related, but she loved the Cinderella doll that can be friends with her Belle and Rapunzel.

And then it was time to get going. As Jeff and I packed, the ids took care of one important order of business... the spreading of magic reindeer food (oatmeal mixed with glitter) to make sure Santa and his entourage would have no problem finding our house. This seems to be a preschool tradition because I recall Alex bringing home a similar bag of supposed reindeer treats. Alex seemed to have a strategy for placement of said oatmeal/glitter this year. Rather than sprinkling it along the sidewalk, they dumped half the bag in the snow outside Sydney's window and the other half outside of Alex's.

And then it was off to the Cities, first for the candlelight service at my parents' church.

Followed by a birthday dinner for my brother-in-law. And then at last, the moment the kids had been waiting for: more presents.

Discovering the joy of giving, Sydney seemed as excited to help Bella (the chihuahua) open her carefully selected presents, as she was to open her own.

The highlight for Alex: a real army surplus helmet. With a little help from Dad, he figured out how to strap it on, and how to hold his hand for a salute.

After the gift opening, we broke with tradition a bit. Instead of staying up late watching a movie, we stayed up late playing Wii bowling.

At last we headed back to my parents' house where my overly energized kids managed to stay awake past midnight. It may have been even later, but that's when I fell asleep on the living room floor. And

that's just the first half of our mad holiday scramble. More tomorrow...