After celebrating my brother's birthday on Christmas Eve, we came home to set out cookies and milk for Santa. Unfortunately, we didn't make cookies ahead of time so I grabbed some cookies at a convenience store. For the record, never buy ten cookies for $1. It's not a good deal because they will taste like dirt.
N was so excited about Santa coming that he couldn't sleep. I don't think he went to bed until after 1:00 a.m.! I was so looking forward to reading him The Polar Express, a new addition to his ever-growing library, but that was what did the trick to put him to sleep. Once he did go to bed, I got to play Santa! I have a somewhat OCD of buying wrapping paper that balances colors, I keep track of how many presents are in what paper, and then I alternate them around the tree. At least it makes for a pretty picture!
Oh, and did I mention that Chris's mom is here for Christmas? She got into the jammie fun time in the morning, too! :)
We started with N's present from Santa, wrapped up in the ribbon that he got from our visit to Santa this year (maybe one day I'll learn to make a proper bow). Isn't Nate's face just priceless? "He remembered!"
I've never seen my child go through presents so quickly! I think he was done unwrapping everything (and helped us with ours, too) in about twenty minutes and then we started the process of opening everything and putting a few things together. Here are a few from our present opening time:
After our two combined Christmases, we headed over to Chris's uncle's house to celebrate with them by having a delicious Christmas lunch together. The kids played and the food was just amazing.
After our lunch, we came back home and Chris started making our amazing dinner. Some sort of tenderloin roast with lots of yummy roasted vegetables, macaroni and cheese from scratch, Red Lobster biscuits (hooray for Costco selling the mix!), and my great-aunt's broccoli and cheese casserole. Seriously, I'm so blessed that my husband is such a wonderful cook!
Once we were properly stuffed full of deliciousness, we continued the celebration with my family by doing our annual white elephant exchange, dollar store style. If you're looking for something really funny to do with your family on Christmas, I highly suggest it. We are one goofy bunch!
I'm not sure where my head was when we were opening presents, because I didn't really take any pictures. We did manage to get our family picture with the tripod, though!
Did you see there is a new addition to the family this year? My youngest nephew, Baby K, had his first Christmas! Oh how cute this little chunk is!
Lots of family, terrific food, thoughtful gifts, and an abundance of gratitude: that was my crazy, marathon, four takes Christmas. Over the last few years, as we've seen our tiny baby grow into a little boy, we've come to treasure the time that we spend with him and the rest of our family over anything material items that come our way. But, handmade gifts from our kiddo take a close second place: this year's gift is an ornament for the tree with his handprint turned into little snowmen and a photo of him inside.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
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