I can't believe how quickly this month went by. I was especially looking forward to celebrating this year. Experiencing the magic of Christmas through the eyes of a three year old is a beautiful thing. Owen really got the concept of Santa Claus and his reindeer, and he was especially interested in learning about the real reason we celebrate this season - baby Jesus. We decided that the receiving of gifts can be really overwhelming and unnecessary at this age so we have asked Santa to only bring three gifts to each child (aside from books and stocking stuffers), this is also the same number of gifts that the wise men brought to baby Jesus on the night he was born. We are so fortunate that our children need nothing so we felt this was a good way to make sure we do not overindulge the little ones.
Speaking of presents - I am just as concerned with the wrapping of presents as I am with what is in them. This year I got my very talented and artistic husband involved in the wrapping. For those that didn't know, Brad is very talented at sketching. Here are some of the drawings...
We started off our Christmas celebration with the Drapp family. It was so much fun to have all of them in town for the weekend and relax at home. On Saturday morning we took Fred and Suzanne to breakfast with Santa at our neighborhood country club.
We took the obligatory crying Santa photo...
And a family shot...
Of course we needed a picture with all of our neighborhood friends...
My handsome little boys and Molly...
After the breakfast we came home and started cooking while the little ones napped before it was time to open presents...
The next morning it was time to say goodbye and get ready for our next round of Christmas celebrations...
It had been 4 days since Grayson was sick so we thought we were in the clear when the Drapp family came to visit and I thought I had disinfected the house really well, but come to find out we spread our germs another time and all four of the Drapp's ended up with the same nasty stomach bug that we had. Yuck!! We are very sorry to have gotten everyone sick, but we are glad we were able to spend the weekend with them while we were still healthy.
The next day we decided to make cookies for Santa...
This is how Owen decorates a cookie...
It was messy but I had some good one on one time with my big boy...
Next up, Christmas Eve. First we went to children's mass...
Yes I use candy canes to keep kids quiet and still....
Max and Luke participated in the mass - Max was a Shepard and Luke sang the opening song in his beautiful little angelic voice....
Then we went to Tim and Kristin's for some appetizers, drinks and playtime with the cousins...
We were ready for bed after a long night of fun. But first we needed to set out cookies for the big man with the white beard..
After that we snuggled in bed to read Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Then we took our traditional Christmas Eve family selfie...
Then it was time to send these kiddos to bed. They were exhausted and went to sleep pretty quickly. Brad and I woke up around 7:00 and started getting breakfast ready so we would be prepared when the little ones woke up. We waited and waited and actually enjoyed a quiet morning, drinking coffee and reading Browns.com...
Still waiting....
and waiting...
Then finally Owen started to stir around 8:00 so we waited another 15 minutes and woke Grayson up....
Owen is trying to tell Gray "that's mine" - if you can't tell, they are both crying....
Daddy's favorite gift from Santa....
Owen and Grayson were both VERY happy boys. Owen's most stated quote "this is AH-MAZING mommy!".
After opening presents, the boys played with their new toys until nap time and we got ready to head to another Christmas celebration at Marc and Meg's house. Every year the Majors' family gathers at their house for a nice dinner and a cousin gift exchange. They are always kind enough to extend the invitation to our family. The boys love it because they have lots of little ones to play with and Brad and I love having some adult time while the big kids entertain our boys.
Grayson got to sit at the big kid table...
Look at this organized chaos...
After dinner we put all the kids in the basement for a movie and popcorn...
While the adults played a fun game of white elephant...
Unfortunately Kristin was at home sick with the flu but she got in on the action through FaceTime.
The next morning we packed up our stuff and headed to Christmas in Indiana with my family. We had three Christmas celebrations down and two more to go before the holiday season would come to end...
Owen was giving Brent's puppy Winks a hug to say thank you...
Then we headed to GG's house to have dinner with her, our last hurrah before Owen started going through present withdrawal. Here are a few pictures of our boys with our sweet GG....
We came home on Sunday and all of us took a big family nap. We were wiped out from all of the excitement. Owen has been asking if Christmas is over. Yes, Owen, sorry but Santa will not be returning for another 360 days. I hope you can patiently wait for next year.
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