Santa came early to the Mautz house...

We put out our cookies and milk, and sprinkled our reindeer food, and to our surprise...Santa came early to our house :) He knew we were leaving to go to Atlanta for a week and a half and he wanted to make sure he stopped by before we got on the road.

Ansley was super excited for Christmas this year. She LOVED everything about it! Ansley must have been a good girl this year because Santa brought her exactly what she had asked for, a new pottery barn chair, and the Leapster Game System!

Aly had no idea what was going on and was just there for the fun :) She definitely was a good girl and Santa brought her some new books and toys to enjoy!

Santa even surprised me with a trip to Chicago in March! I am so excited and have been wanting to go to Chicago for some time now. This will be another nice trip without the kids. I can't wait!!!! Thanks Santa :)

Right when we finished opening presents, it started to snow! This was the second year it had snowed in Charlotte when we have done our Christmas early. It always makes it feel so special. (little did we know we were going to see a lot more snow in the days to come).

We had a wonderful early Christmas and was looking forward to our trip home to spend the rest of the holidays with the Mautz & Willson family.
Here are some pics of the girls enjoying their early Christmas morning...

making sure our cookies & milk are out for Santa to enjoy

Santa came!

Santa even enjoyed a couple bites of cookies

Happy early Christmas morning!

a very happy girl!

tasting my book to make sure it is perfect for me to use as a teether

Aly was very interested  in Ansley's remote control car

look, Santa brought me a new hat in my stocking! He knew I was going to need this on our trip to Atlanta :)

yes, that is a twix she is trying to eat :)

Rob framed this picture for me, it is one of my favorites. Thanks to my friend Mandy who took the picture (more on this in a future post)

enjoying a ride on her new train :)

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Ansley loves her Leapster, to the point that she is anti-social!