Thursday, January 16, 2014

Christmas Eve

 

Doesn’t Christmas seem like it was a loooong time ago?  But it really wasn’t, because I am still vacuuming up stray pine needles and finding Christmas mugs I missed…or maybe that’s just my house.

 

Our Christmas Eve was fantastic and magical and a teensie bit stressful and tiring and basically everything a Christmas Eve should be!

This is the first year I can remember that Brian took the whole day off of work and I’m so glad he did.  Note to Brian next year: TAKE THE WHOLE DAY OFF! You will need it!

 

 

The morning found us at my parents house for our traditional Christmas Eve brunch for 6 of our 8 siblings (including inlaws) and 13 out of 19 grandkids.  It is really quite an idyllic day complete with CHRISTMAS SING-ALONG TIME around the piano!  With jingle bells to shake!!  For some reason, I didn’t get a single picture of this event…perhaps it was the 13 children running around?

Then we came home to give Samuel a nap (he didn’t end up sleeping) and to play a little with the toys the boys received from Grandma/Grandpa and their cousin exchange.

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This helicopter was Isaac’s favorite gift of Christmas!

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Sadly, it broke the very next day.

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But lets just focus on the joy of these pictures!

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I’m sure I’m posting too many, but how can I stop??

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DSC_0041(teeeeth!)

 

Next, we headed to Brian’s parents for an early dinner and gift exchange.

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Seeing as how my boys are the only grandkids on this side of the family, our evening was a much quieter affair.  But still very fun!

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Then it was home for baths, jammies, and the reading of the Christmas story and the Night Before Christmas.

This year Joseph prepared the treats for Santa himself, and it was so cute to hear him climbing on the counter to get the cookies, meticulously counting out carrots for all of the reindeer, and berating himself for initially getting out a kids cup for Santa’s milk

(“Argh! Santa is an ADULT!  He needs an ADULT CUP!”)

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(Isaac added some celery after this picture was taken despite his brother’s objections that reindeer don’t enjoy celery!)

Joseph panicked when we checked Santa tracker on the computer and saw that he was approaching the East Coast.  I think this is the only night of the year that my children will run to bed!

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Where visions of sugarplums awaited them…

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DSC_0169 After watching a Christmas video with the boys earlier this week, I speculated on how some children didn’t believe in Santa.  Joseph chimed in with,

“Well, of COURSE there is a Santa!  The elves can’t deliver the presents BY THEMSELVES!”

Tomorrow we will see what he left for my (mostly) good little boys…

 

 

1 comment:

Caitlin said...

Isaac's face when he opened his gift was precious!!! and I love Samuel's teeth, he's definitely not a baby anymore! great photos :)