Christmas for our family always begins on the 23rd when we celebrate at home just the four of us. We're WAY too busy on the 24th and 25th, so it's nice to have a slower day to open and thoroughly enjoy all of our presents. This year I got up early (I get up early every day, always, no matter what - kind of annoying) and made brown butter donuts with chocolate frosting. They turned out pretty good!
After breakfast we opened presents and played with each one before moving on to the next. Caden opened this Lego set right away so they spent the next hour building it.
Greg gave me a craft saw so I can make more standing bears. :) He also gave me a Vintage Pearl necklace I've been wanting for a long time, a seat warmer for the van, and a salted caramel candle.
The boys gave Greg his favorite sunflower seeds. He's been out for awhile, so he was pretty happy.
Shepard too!
The boys gave me a Whirley-Pop and a bunch of popcorn packets. We had popcorn for lunch. :)
Popcorn! It was a really nice day just bonding and relaxing. Everyone was even getting along for most of the day. It was a good Christmas.
On Christmas Eve we start the day with the Noe's. Here are all the Noe children.
Noe parents.
After a big breakfast, the boys started off the present opening. They both looked so handsome with their new space shirts over button shirts. :)
Shepard got underwear! He keeps saying that when he's three he'll start potty training. I hope he realizes this is only seven or so weeks away!
We love hot sauce!
It was really hard to come up with sewn presents for the men in the family, so I finally settled on tote bags. Not sure if he'll use it, but at least the fabric is pretty awesome!
Caden got a lot of map related gifts at all three Christmases. This book is extremely nice.
Greg got a tablet! He was pretty excited, though Caden immediately gravitated to him and wouldn't stop bugging him to see it the rest of the day.
After playing some games, we headed over to my parent's house for the Braatz family Christmas.
We had no idea when my dad was going to get home from delivering packages, so we tried to make the afternoon and evening last as long as possible by opening the occasional present that would occupy some time. I gave my mom and myself oysters with pearls inside of them. We were both really freaked out about opening up a live oyster.
Our pearls! So pretty.
This was definitely the Christmas of Legos! It's kind of funny since Greg actually does all the building (which he LOVES), but the boys do enjoy playing with them.
Shepard loves all the little vehicles. He's very good at sound effects. :)
My pizza bread wreath. This stuff is SO good.
Finally all together, including my brother and sister-in-law via Skype. It was really nice they could be included, despite being in California, though also a little weird to have two people just sitting there staring at you from the computer for most of the evening! Anyway, it was a great Christmas eve. I love Christmas eve. :) Just lots of family time and gift giving. I'm always so excited to give my gifts!
Christmas morning and Santa has come! Despite going to bed three hours later than normal, the boys were still up at the same time. And they were CRANKY. There were a few dollar bills in their advent calendar which immediately sparked huge fights, tears, hitting, throwing things, etc. It was NOT a good start to Christmas day. Greg came out and told them they had to go back to bed, which really doesn't happen with them. Instead we just sat around waiting for Greg to get up later. Which resulted in a very rushed and stressful morning opening Santa presents so we could get to Oshkosh in time for our other Christmas obligations. It was not very enjoyable. :(
Santa's gifts. When Shepard saw the presents he yelled, "Who give us all these presents??" And Caden's reaction, "Why did Santa give us only like fifteen presents?" I wish there was a way to space their present openings out a little more so they don't start having that attitude that they should be getting more, even though they've already gotten a hundred presents from other people!!
Caden was excited about his new bike, though it's a little too big yet. He had to put his boots on to get the pedals to move.
Shepard got a lot of games this year. He loves his games!
I think Caden was most excited about this bubble bath! Maybe Santa should have given much more simple presents!
I didn't take many more pictures, but after we were done with our Santa gifts we went to Greg's grandma's house for a short visit and then his aunt's house for our annual big Christmas brunch. In the evening we went back to my parents' for dinner and Caden was reunited with his globe that we forgot there the night before. He says this is his favorite present. He really loves maps.
Overall, it was a really nice Christmas! I love that the boys are getting older and enjoy everything a lot more. Caden at least is finally getting really into Santa, so I hope we have a good handful of years left before someone spoils it for him. Christmas is definitely a lot more fun with little kids around sharing their excitement over everything.
