Christmas

We had a great Christmas...

They were all excited to see what they had when they ran in the room.  I was able to use my swagbucks to
get most of our stuff on Amazon for free, so that's always exciting for me.
Jake's favorite gift was the Razor 360.  It does look like it would be fun to ride.

 Allie kept asking me what was from Santa and what was from us...that always stresses me out.  Santa forgot to eat his fudge, so there was a lot more talk than I would have liked about Santa.  Ugh.  Anyway, she was happy with her gifts.  Her favorite was probably the fish tank.

Nate got some more Planes and was super happy about that.

I don't have a picture of Jason that morning for some reason.  He loved this track, and the little push lawnmower that I got for 6 dollars.

 After all the gifts were opened, we gave them the one I have been looking forward to for months...
I sent them on a treasure hunt.
Here's the first clue:  "It's been a great Christmas, you've gotten all that you wanted.  How about just one more gift.  To find your next clue, go to where Jason thinks it's haunted."  (The basement by the storage room).

 I had gotten a Lego Hogwarts Castle from ebay and the pieces were in a pile next to the next clue...
"'It's just a pile of Lego's', you said with surprise, but put them together and you might have a clue, for now, if you'd like another hint...go find your shoes."

I left a Harry Potter book on the shoe pile along with this clue...
"Have you figured it out?  Here's just one more clue to change any doubt.  This isn't a room, go to where Mom keeps the broom"

 I don't have a picture of that one, but I found some Harry Potter brooms on KSL for 3 dollars and I had that along with...

"It's a broom!  These brooms could go zoom!  Harry and Hermione used these.  It's all about magic and you two have less than a flea.  How will you muggles ever see Hogwarts, the joke shop, and Hogwarts Express?

Go to the place that's always a mess..."

They both yelled "Nate's room!" and ran down to find the brochures for our trip to Orlando and Harry Potter world!

  

They were pretty excited when it sunk in.  At first, they thought me and Mike were going on a cruise and they were so happy for us.  Then I asked them what Harry Potter had to do with a cruise and told them to look closer at the booklets.  They realized they would be going and they were so happy.

My sister went to Universal to go to Harry Potter world last fall and as she sent picture after picture of all the things she was seeing, I knew I had to make it happen for myself.  I was just going to go with Mike, but decided it wouldn't be too bad to take Allie and Jake.  My mom agreed to stay with the littles, so we started to make plans.  Things came together and even though it hurts my coupon brain to spend that much money in one trip, it is still cheaper than I thought it would be.  We got a good deal on things and the memories we'll make will make up for the rest...right?  I am so excited!
It was a great Christmas for sure.
We spent the rest of the day just playing with toys and having naps and all that good stuff.  It is nice to have a whole day with nothing to do.  We all stayed in jammies until after lunch when we got in snow clothes and played in the fresh snow that fell on Christmas Eve.  It was just a great Christmas.