The Hays Family: Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa Claus came to town!

Saturday night was a really big night on Swan Court. You see, Santa Claus, the man himself, came to town! And then, he came in our house, for our party!

Before he arrived, there were lots of busy children writing their letters to him. They filled the letters with their Christmas wishes and decorated them just right.

Then they all picked out funny headbands and went outside to look for St. Nick.

A few agonizing minutes later, we saw a big fire truck coming down the street. Everyone hoped that Santa would be on it.

The fire truck came to a stop and everyone held their breath--would Santa hop out?!

First, a fire fighter came out--he said, "who are you all waiting for?" The kids hollered, "Santa!"

And then there he was! Hello Santa Claus!

The kids were giddy with joy, and truthfully, so were lots of the parents. Such a neat thing to see for your kids.

The girls gathered around him...

then Lila took him by the hand and invited him to our party.

We had a FULL house this year with over 40 kids! They had lots of questions for Santa and he did such a good job answering them all. "How many generations of Santa have their been?" (Jackson)
"Do elves ever die?" (Lila), "Where is your sleigh?" were some of the questions. I missed the next part because Baby Cami woke up, but I heard the kids started giving him math problems and then asking him if they knew their names! Oh, my!

By the time I got back downstairs, he was explaining why his beard is a little bit shorter this year. Much better question!

Even though some of the smaller kids were on the back row, they were still plenty excited.
I love Riley's glee!

Lila was the first Hays kid to sit on Santa's lap.

She asked Santa for Isabelle the American Doll, and then an Elsa & Anna doll, too.

Jackson was next, and oh my word, he looks so big on Santa's lap this year! He asked for a Crazy Cart and Madden 15.

Then it was sweet Cami's turn, and bless her heart, she was so very scared!

Thank goodness she calmed down, but only after big brother got in between her and Santa.

Cousin Maddie was next and had a good little chat with him.

He loved what a sweet girl she's been this year.

Baby girl didn't really crack a smile all night long. The party was so overwhelming for her. She woke up from a nap to about 90 people in the house. No wonder!

Cameron and Samantha had similar thoughts about being near Santa.

Baby Colby didn't mind one bit, though!

Neither did Baby Dylan:)

We tried again later and still couldn't get Cameron to smile. The girl was so serious!

After all the kids had a turn on Santa's lap, the Hays Family got our annual picture.

The Raines Family did, too.

Then Ella, Brooklynn, Lila and Chloe all talked to Santa for a good while. They got to feel his beard (it's real!) and ask him all sorts of neat things.

Most importantly, though, Lila was reassured that Johnny the Elf would not lose his magic. You see, Uncle Andrew, who didn't really understand the Elf Rules, touched Johnny a few times at the party. Lila was so distraught and in tears. Thank goodness it happened on a night when Santa was in our house so that he could fix everything! She told Santa, "my Uncle Andrew touched Johnny 3 times. I told him not to do it, but he did." Santa told her that sometimes adults make mistakes, too, and that it was going to be just fine:)

After that, he gathered up all of his letters that the kids had written...

and made his way to the door. The kids waved goodbye and told him to have a safe flight home.

Then the little kids got to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas upstairs, while the big boys played Xbox. It was so nice and left the downstairs for the adults!

Of course, these two party animals were still hanging out with us. And Cami finally smiled now that the party cleared out and Santa was gone.

I wish I would have gotten a picture with more of my girlfriends before they left, but Hayley, Mandy and Taylor stayed a little later. I am so thankful for all of them!

The Rachavongs stayed until after 10pm and we just let the kids run around and be silly.

Lila was thrilled to get a turn holding Colby...

while Jackson thought it was fun to pick up Sawyer.

My big boy must have been tired, though, because he snuggled up on my lap by the end of the night. Love him.

The next morning, we loaded up all of the toys we'd collected and took them to the fire station. There were so many toys! Makes my heart happy to know that these will be going to kids who may not have many bright spots in their days.