Santa's Special Delivery

 Last night was our Third "Christmas" in Lagos.:)  Since we are going to be gone for the actual Christmas, we let the kids open presents from us before we head out of town.  We are heading back to the U.S. on Friday, so we thought we'd have the kiddos open presents so they have the week to play with them.  Then, we leave for a month and when we return...everything is like Christmas all over again!!!!:)  We started off by lighting the Weihnachtspyramide (German Christmas Pyramid) which we bought on our April trip to Germany.:)  Then, the door bell rang!!!! Who could it be???!!!

A special early delivery from Santa himself, of course!!!!

Jeremy read the letter from Santa telling him that he wanted to give E and J a gift in Lagos, and maybe he would see him when we are in the U.S. in a few weeks:)

 We decided to wait on opening the gifts from Santa, and start with opening the gifts from Mom and Dad instead.:) (Courtesy of ordering from Amazon. com and putting them in our yearly shipment).  They are getting too fast at opening this year...I didn't get to snap all the gifts...

But, this gift was local:)

And now for the gifts from Santa!!!!!

Maximus from" Tangled" and a Nintendo DS!!!!!!

Santa even brought a Super Mario brothers game!!!:)

Santa even brought Guy a new flask:)

 Then, the stockings!!!

Trying out the new presents:)

Jeremy got a camera:)

And so did Lizzy.....like either child had a chance...look how many pics their mother takes??!!:)

After the kids went to bed, it was so nice to listen to Christmas music and enjoy the Christmas decorations and remember some of the great travels we had this year, particularly to Germany.  We brought a few pieces of Germany back with us...

If you haven't heard of the book "The Elf on the Shelf",and you have small children, you really should get it.:) The book comes with it's own special elf.  Our elf's name is "Woody" ( named when Jeremy was 2 and very into "Toy Story"), and every year he comes around Christmas time.  Each night, he "flies" to the North Pole to tell Santa how Jeremy and Elizabeth are doing.:)  Each morning, he is in a new place in our home, and the kids have to look for him.:)  Today, he brought them some Christmas music Cd's, and I guess he told Santa that they have been good so far since they got the "Special Delivery" from Santa.:)   We'll see how long this "good behavior" can last.  We have a few more Christmases in the States still coming up, right Grandmas and Grandpas??!!:)