Christmas Day

Hold on to your hats, I have way too many pictures.  This Christmas was epic.  We savored the day, knowing the kids are the absolute perfect age for Christmas.

We set up a little Christmas tree up stairs and put the stockings under it.  We told the kids that when the tree lit up at 7am, they could come jump on our bed with their stockings.  6:45 Colin came and climbed on Ben and whispered, "Daddy, do you want a present?" it was too cute to resist and we broke the rules and opened stockings just a few minutes later (sorry, stocking pictures were all blurry).

We were downstairs, with tea pastries in the oven and coffee in hand, by 7:05.  The most fun thing this year was the kids each had presents in mind they wanted to give each other.  So one day, I called them up one by one and they picked out gifts for all the other family members on Amazon and then when they came, they got to help me wrap the presents they picked.  Colin, however, stunk at keeping his secrets and immediately told everyone what he ordered.  Then Christmas morning he tried to claim glory for each present.

Ben opened a book from Eli and Colin ran over and said, "Your welcome daddy!"

I loved this stage with Alison; she still wanted Barbie and baby doll stuff, but also wanted some jewelry and books.  I wonder what next year will look like...

 

Colin was equally happy she got new baby stuff. 

Alison giving Ben her gift, a 'brew your own beer' kit, which I think may have been his favorite. 

The boys got several new dress up items and kept switching gifts.

 

Colin had a Spiderman themed Christmas 

My superheros. 

Alison opening her spy book, also a big hit.  

Colin got his first little set of legos. 

 The kids all got new underwear, which Eli decided he needed to put on right then.  He stopped mid-change to open his next present...I think it was worth the pause.

He looks so much older here...

 

 

The aftermath:

 

Ben assembling the hotwheels track, Alison playing with her new Barbie/pony and Eli constructing his Minecraft legos...it looks like Ben is telling Colin not to touch something out of the picture, but that's just a guess :)

Eli put this thing together entirely by himself!

Finished product, with his new sippy cup.  The boys fight every morning over the 1 sippy cup we have left in the house, so they each got a new cup in their stockings and were so excited.  I love how the little things are so fun to them!

Eli kept saying, "This is the best day of my life!!!"

His favorite present were the pj's, which he refuses to take off

 

Another great thing about this Christmas is all the kids loved all of the presents.  They all shared what they got and played with each other and it was awesome.

Colin playing with Alison's new Barbie stuff, plus Spiderman.

Batman/Superman daddy brewing beer while Eli works on his legos.

I finished the puzzle, only to discover that the most important part of the puzzle was missing...Santa's face!!!  I thought about taking it back to the store, but I don't have any way to prove that Colin didn't take the pieces.

 

Oh the games these boys played.  Guns and crocodiles in the stroller...and the face/stance Colin gives when he is not getting his way.

"I need a gun too!"

Alison was happy watching way too much Little House.

 

While Ben cooked dinner (I made dessert) we made gingerbread cookies.

For some reason I was the only one who got dressed that day...maybe it's because it was 75 outside and I went for a short run and came home completely drenched in sweat and had to clean up.

P.S. it was hotter here in Virginia than in Yuma, AZ! 

Right before dinner, Colin randomly started dishing out giant hugs with a "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!"

 

Eli was decorating his cookie and got of a pat on the bottom, but he tried.

Alison decorated the table for dinner:

Prime rib, Yorkshire pudding, roasted green beans and braised red potatoes. 

We ended the day with some hot chocolate and peppermint sticks.

I felt like we had a BIG Christmas, at least the biggest we've had with our little family.  I don't know if it was going through a deployment this year or the anticipation of a cross country move, but this year was different.  Ben would often come home from work with a new toy he picked up to put under the tree or a decoration for the house.  His extra excitement complimented my extra relaxed-ness and our kids were extra thoughtful and gracious and it made a wonderful Christmas season.