Christmas 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008 at 01:22PM a random & stilted version...
'Twas the night before Christmas, and Jim & I were tired. We cuddled into our bed and I wondered if I'd be present enough come early a.m. to even be aware of the boys waking up. And I wasn't. The next thing I remember was a very excited A bursting into our room with the news: "Santa came. He really came!" D came trailing behind, "And he brought us presents." They had already been downstairs to peek & prod, but we still herded them into our bed, got dressed and made them wait on the stairs while I took a few pictures (you can see D's consternation clearly...presents were waiting). 
Life isn't all peaches & cream with two close boys, but I do love how they cuddle into each other so cozily.
Aidan exhibited a whole lot of patience with D's ploddingly slow gift opening.
D's favorite present (and new sidekick):
My favorite gift for the boys were photo books I made for them on Shutterfly.
Christmas Eve:
We spent a quiet Christmas Eve at Mike & Kay's. They are the King & Queen of breakfast and made us a delicious dinner of muffins, fresh eggs, bacon and o.j.
I had to take a picture of our present for T because it has been a long time coming. When the boys were younger, he always bemoaned the fact that fuzzy footed p.j.'s only came in toddler sizes. He wanted some of his own. So a month ago I walked into Target and busted into laughter when I saw adult footed p.j.'s. And T did the same when he opened his very own. 
I thought he was a great sport to wear them all evening. Though I don't blame him because I tried them on before wrapping and they were seriously cozy.
Christmas Day:
Our Christmas morning turned sour when Aidan's feelings were irreparably damaged by Jim opening D's present before his. Oh my. I still haven't discovered the real issue, but Aidan has been lashing out so often during the past two weeks (very not fun) that I fully expected something like this to happen on Christmas day. He settled down for most of the day, but was not pleasant for the present opening that came later. I'm digging into my stash of parenting books for the New Year.
On a better note, I think our Christmas dinner was the most delicious I've ever had. And that's a bold statement because we never suffer for good food in either Jim's or my family's gatherings. Mandi made some insanely good homemade stuffing from loaves of french bread. Cyn's rolls were amazing. Jim's mashed potatoes were perfect (even with my hovering worries about too much pepper). And the turkey was divine. I have pictures of none of this feast, but my belly is having pangs of nostalgia as I type and remember.
Tyler & Gina were down from Utah with their 4 boys. My boys were in heaven.
The most entertaining part of my day was watching Mandi's Reagan (8 months old) and Tyler's Ryder (14 months old) interact. 
Ryder's Reagan enthusiasm seriously cracked me up. He brought her toys, climbed on her back, blew on her belly and quite simply was enamoured.
Tyler's Noah was pretty funny, too. And he looks uncannily like his dad did at the same age. 
Our night time entertainment was Rockband. At first we all took turns failing, but eventually everyone got in the groove and we rocked the house until the wee hours of the night. 
Tyler's cute wife Gina on drums.
None of us can touch Jim's guitar prowess.
Tyler playing the Ryder (who obviously gets randomly flung around quite often...check out the calm thumb-sucking stance!).
We kidnapped Wesley overnight, so the boys have been busily playing all morning. So Jim & I are still in p.j.'s. And the downstairs is still in disarray. Which makes life feel rather holiday-ish. JoDee will be coming with her kids soon and the partying will definitely continue.
Hoping everyone's day can be as sluggish as mine...
...and wishing Megan could be here for all of the Hendrix festivities...
Reader Comments (16)
I love the shots you take. You are one gifted woman.
hmm, should i actually announce that fact?
:)
glad your Christmas has been great
(on the parenting thing...David reminded me (sagely) last night that the holidays can be a time of heightened emotions and some people/children are more sensitive to that and don't know what to do with all that extra excitement and anticipation. You are doing just fine!)
Sure love you! We are loving the game you gifted...one of the highlights of the holiday.
People keep saying Jay was a good sport to wear the adult footed pajamas too but what no one seems to understand is they ARE cozy and he likes them:)
I think games like Rockband are so fun for the whole family. We do SingStar at our house and love it.
We always have some brief tears when the boys realize that they are out of presents to open, but Mike and I still have a few more...It's getting easier to explain (now that they're older) that they will have another Christmas at their mother's, but this is the only Christmas Mike and I have. They settled for "helping" us open our remaining gifts.
I am loving April's comment about the holidays. So true.