Christmas

This is a long post.  Well because Christmas was a long day for us.  We are not the types to just sit at home on Christmas and miss out.  We hate missing out.  We love our families.  SO we see them all again and again during the holidays.  On Christmas this year I think we reached a new records on places visited.  Three to be exact.  Here's how the day went.  Christmas morning started when James woke up Ben at around 7:30.  Yes we had to wake him up!  He was excited sure.  But we aren't the earliest of birds in this house, thanks goodness.  So James got to see the wonder that is children spotting their gifts from Santa.  He said that Ben was jumping with excitement over his "batman" bike.  I keep putting parenthesis around batman because it's just a black and yellow-ish bike with a batman sticker on it.  But hey it did the job.  They then came and woke me up and we all went into Jackson's nursery to wake him up and introduce him to Christmas.  He was funny just crawling all over the place while we opened up presents.  We take turns opening up presents around here, which worked for Ben because he got to open up Jackson's presents too, and he was also very excited for Daddy to open up his presents- as he was in on the secrets with me.  We all got a good laugh over the soda can toppers I got him.  He's always leaving unfinished sodas in the fridge and as an attempt to save the carbonation he would shove down a paper towel in the opening.  These work much better.  James was very excited to give the boys their special Daddy present.  Since I do most of the shopping for Christmas and birthdays, James gets one special present for the boys.  He picked out super soft pillow pets from Lovesac.  They come with a blanket inside too.  He gave Ben a fox and told him its because "he's as smart and clever as a fox," and he gave Jackson an ox because "he's big and strong like an ox" (he's 96% in height so James calls him his big boy!)  By far "Foxy" is Ben's favorite present from Christmas.  He takes him everywhere with him and tells Jackson not to touch him because "he is very, very special."  When I asked him why, he said its because his daddy gave it to him.

OC seasons one and two baby.  We're fans! 

The boys with their Daddy presents. 

The aftermath and the kids watching A Christmas Story. 

By nine o'clock we were on our way to the Greene's, pjs and all.  We opened up our Eve presents (jammies and books), changed into said jammies, and then did our kids (the youngest of which is now 17) secret Santa swap presents.  We took a break to enjoy a yummy breakfast of crepes and egg & sausage casserole.  Afterwards we began to open presents, one by one, so we were there for a while. I think it was one by the time we left.

We quickly went home and got dressed, while the kids slept in the care- still in their pjs.  Twenty minutes later we were at my aunt and uncles for a few more presents and some cousin fun.  We stayed for about an hour and then headed to our last stop of the day- Sausalito at James' aunt and uncles' house. 

We ate a yummy dinner right upon arrival, which luckily finally knocked out my migraine I had been having all day.  The rest of the night we spent chatting with good friends and family.  I was in charge of the minute-to-win it games this year, which has become a tradition, and was a little stressed about it.  I pulled together about six games but was worried how they would all play out.  The crowd was much larger this year, about twenty-seven people, and we never even got around to the games.  Darn. : )  The kids were exhausted by the time we got home and so were we, but it was a great day.  I think one day I'll want the day to revolve more around just our little family, but for now I love to have our extended families be such a large part of our Christmas.  We love them and they love our kids so much!  Till next year.

We just put the tree out on the curb for the garbage man and after an hour of sweeping and vacuuming all evidence of its existence is gone.  Christmas is officially over.