Christmas was extra special this year. Not only was it Jack's first Christmas, but it was also the first year that Charlie really understood the concept. We have been gearing up for the holiday all month by doing crafts and reading stories, and I could not wait to see Charlie's reaction on Christmas morning.
Our holiday traditions started on Christmas Eve with the baking and decorating of cookies for Santa. Charlie can be a great helper when he is in the right mood, however, this was not the case while decorating Christmas cookies. He managed to pull it together in the end, but phew, I thought Santa was going to have to miss out on cookies at our house. Of course, Charlie's favorite part was dumping sprinkles all over the cookies. I will be cleaning up nonpareils until next Christmas. Jack was a good helper, too. He volunteered to test a cookie to make sure it was good enough for St. Nick. After cookies we got the boys in their matching snowman pajamas (thanks Mimi), and read The Night Before Christmas. Charlie was definitely excited and kept saying that he thought he heard Santa. We let the boys open one present each and play for a little before it was off to bed.
On Christmas morning, Jack was the first to wake up as usual. We waited for Charlie to get up before we opened presents. The look on Charlie's face when he came down the stairs and saw his tool bench from Santa was priceless! He did not say anything but had a huge grin on his face. Both boys loved the tool bench so much that they kind of forgot about the other gifts. Next year, I think we will hide Santa's gift and wait until the very end to make the grand reveal. We eventually got around the rest of the gifts and stockings. Charlie was very appreciative of all of the new toys, and Jack was more interested in climbing the stairs and getting a hold of the video camera.
After presents and a yummy breakfast as a family, we got ready to visit with Nick's family. We ate Christmas lunch and then opened more presents than you could ever imagine. It's actually impressive how quickly we can open the mountain of gifts under the tree. The boys loved the gifts that they received, and I had a hard time trying to explain to Charlie that we needed to wait to get home before opening everything up. I caved and let him open one gift, his very own camera. He took our picture the entire 30 minute car ride home.
Once we got home, the boys took naps before round two with my family. Then, Mimi, Baba, and Uncle Adam came over for dinner and presents. The boys loved all of their gifts but spent most of their time playing with the kitchen that Mimi and Baba gave them. It was much like the tool bench, once they saw the kitchen, it was hard to divert their attention to anything else. After presents, we enjoyed a Christmas feast made with love by the fine people at Honey Baked Ham. My only contribution to the meal was steaming some asparagus.
After dinner, Charlie kept telling everyone that he was tired and that he wanted to go to bed (this NEVER happens). I knew we had had a busy day, but this was very out of character for Charlie. Turns out, Char was getting sick. At least he held out until the end of Christmas.
After my family left, we got our two exhausted boys ready for bed. Based on Charlie's comments, we thought he would pass out. But, a little Ibuprofen gave him a second wind. He was so excited about his new loot that he could not sleep. I ended up letting him get out of bed so that he could play for a little longer...hey, Christmas only comes once a year, right?
Our Christmas was amazing, and our boys received so many wonderful gifts and love from their family. We hope that all of our friends and extended family had a wonderful Christmas, too!
Here are just some of the 200 pictures I took. Click on the collage to enlarge.
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