Christmas This Year

It was a really, really wonderful Christmas. But for the first time in my life, I was a teensy bit relieved when it was all done. We came off a busy season just as we kicked off December, and I was just tired of being busy. In years past, we had no problem finding time to do any and all Christmas activities in-between shopping, wrapping, baking, watching movies and everything else. Our new normal, however, involves a couple of company Christmas parties that consume entire weekends, a birthday, school musicals, and I don't even know what else. We pulled it all together and found maximum enjoyment in everything, but I'll be better prepared next year and have some more realistic expectations.

We kicked off Christmas weekend on the 23rd with our traditional family Christmas Eve dinner at our house. My brother's family had plans to leave town on Christmas Day, so we pushed our celebrations up a day. We baked a ham and flew Dylan's new drone and let the cousins play. We even sang Happy Birthday to Jesus with a cheesecake. It was splendid.

I looked out the window and saw Graham being flung around on this thing unsupervised. I freaked out and yelled for Dylan to grab him, and apparently he had crawled onto the teeter-totter by himself, and big brother hopped aboard to give him a wild ride.

The next day, Christmas Eve, we went across the street for our annual Christmas Day brunch and gift opening with the cousins. We had quite the impressive spread! I brought monkey bread, which has become a brunch staple for our holiday gatherings. I love this tradition! I played with Hudson's new hoverboard but hopped off before I broke my neck. It was a wild and crazy time, as expected with five little boys, and after an awesome meal and a fun time opening gifts, we headed back home.

Taking a second to relax with this sweet guy.

Beep beep! Your ride is here!

On Christmas Eve evening, my parents hosted a dinner with a variety of friends and family. Before we left, we put out milk and cookies for Santa and treats for the reindeer. Graham knocked the reindeer treats off the table and glass shattered everywhere...but at least I got a cute picture of him stealing a cookie. My parents' party turned out to be quite a big crowd. We had to cut Gavin's karaoke party short to get our guys in the car and into bed at a reasonable time, but watching the kids sing was a true highlight of the night. Dinner was delicious, and besides my cousin driving his quad-copter into Gavin's head, it was a really awesome night!

In our family, we have started making stockings a real big deal for Christmas morning. We have two for each family member...one made my my mom and one made by Dylan's mom. We stuff all of them with fun and silly things, and it's become my favorite part of Christmas morning. I tried to keep the gift portion of the holiday under control and just put one or two more things under the tree for the boys. My parents came over later in the morning, and between our two families, they definitely had no shortage of gifts to open on Christmas.

Little Drummer Boys

We saved the best for last and surprised Gavin with a big RZR Power Wheels. It's actually for both the boys, but for right now I'm not sure I trust Graham to safely zip around in the passenger seat. No worries, for Aunt Tuna hooked him up with a sweet red ride of his own until he's RZR-ready. We spent a large portion of Christmas Day cruising around the desert. Gavin was thrilled. Buying this snazzy red vehicle was a big decision for us, but I think it was the right one. I'm pretty sure they'll enjoy it for years. Luke came over with his dune buggy in the afternoon, and we had so much fun watching the two 3-year-olds rip around the desert. We enjoyed a dinner with our friends at night, and Gavin declared that he was ready for bed by 6pm. It had been a long three days for our boys!

G2 took a spin!

One last round of Happy Birthday for Luke and Gavin.

Sadly, Graham had been a bit cranky all weekend, and since he's got a thousand teeth coming in, I figured that's all it was. After Dylan picked him up at daycare today, though, he had a fever of 102. I met them after work and we sneaked into the last appointment of the day at the pediatrician where we discovered he has a double ear infection...poor little guy. We picked up his first antibiotics and some ibuprofen...and then sent both boys home with my parents. I'm worried about the little guy, but I know he's in good hands.

A Monday afternoon bike ride on the green belt. Gavin is not impressed.

We managed to pack our agenda full until into next week. With lots of fun to be had, one last shift on the job and many, many miles to be driven, I'm not sure I'll be able to check in for a few days. I'll catch ya before the new year, though!