25!!!!!!!!

We finally made it to the 25th of December! Parker thought it would never come. Graham? Well, he is still pulling off random numbers from our calendar making it clear he had no idea what was going on. Oh well! Now, Christmas has come and gone, but not without wonderful memories made! It was just the four of us together on Christmas morning and I really did feel giddy waiting for the boys to wake up. When the sleepyheads finally awoke around 7:45 and ran out to see if Santa had indeed come, they couldn't believe their eyes! He had left quite a mess of snow.

 Last but definitely not least!

 Singing Jingle Bells!

 

Reading the Christmas Story.

 Present time! Santa's first.

 Graham decided he wanted to trade in a few of his new trains for Daddy's audio book.

 

David opening his big present!

 It was wrapped 10 times down to a tiny jewelry box of guitar picks! I'm such a trickster ;)

 Not sure what Graham had planned before I made him get down.

 Stockings!

Christmas cuties.

 

Family Christmas photo 2011

I hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours. My boys made my Christmas so special. Was is perfect and void of chaos? Um, hardly. I'm not in a fantasy world and I do have two toddler boys. There were moments of crying and utter selfish fit-throwing (Parker and Graham did some whining too-ha ha!), but when the day came to a close, we were a family who loved one another and had spent the day celebrating our Savior's birth. Good times!

Christmas Eve Eve and the Next Day

Before I show you the fun we had on Christmas, I'll show you our two day adventure leading up to the main event. Since pictures tell it better than words, I'll stop talking. (Can I get an amen from all the readers who are sick of my long post?)

 Jumping on the air mattress is 99% of the fun on Christmas Eve Eve

 ...two fell of and hit their heads. Momma called the doctor and the doctor said...get off the flippin' air mattress.

 We calmed them down with a good 'ol game of candy land.

 The only way to get him to go to sleep was to move him across the room from his brother. Zonked.

 I was the only one left awake. Time to play on my iPhone.

 We headed to Nana and Poppy's for Christmas Eve.

 I'm serious. This boys has an obsession with trains.

 We got our Christmas pajamas on when we got home baked Santa some cookies.

 Getting things all set up!

 Beyond excited.

Putting out our reindeer food.

 Graham wanted in on the action too. There is a lot of glitter reindeer food in my front yard. We'll be seeing it for months.

It worked. Thanks to the fantastic tasting reindeer food that guided the sleigh in, Santa came and did not disappoint.

Whirlwind

The last four days have been a whirlwind of shopping, wrapping, and enjoying the last few days of this special Christmas season. Our advent calendar has had us drinking (more) hot chocolate, opening new books to read, acting out the nativity scene (pretty sure there is not going to be a future acting career for either of my boys), and making a gingerbread house. I didn't capture each moment because, well, it's hard to always take pictures and be present, ya know? I do my best. Parker and I spent 3 hours on the gingerbread house one morning while Grammy was at Nana's house. We had so much fun together and made a real mess. Tonight is Christmas Eve Eve. We will be camping out around the tree. The boys are stoked. I have no idea how this will work with Graham. Oh well! 'Tis the season for celebration (and sleep deprivation!)

I encourage you all, (as I'm reminding myself) to soak up as much of this time with your family as you can. Try to not let the stress of any hustle bustle, family drama, or failure to accomplish all you wanted steal too much joy from this blessed season. Jesus was born, I have a beautiful family, we are generally healthy...so this truly will be a Merry Christmas!