Christmas morning- 2012

I feel very blessed. My boys slept till almost 8:30 on Christmas morning.  Of course they didn't get to bed till 10pm the night before. (I feel like I should say I feel blessed for more than this which is true but not exactly relevant with where I'm going here) And on a normal day they are usually not up before 7am so 8;30am felt good. Mark and I laid in bed till 9 so the boys had to play on the landing till then. But at 9am we couldn't contain them anymore and let them run downstairs to wake up Uncle Josh and start our morning. Shouts of "Santa was here!" could be heard. It was kinda funny in my opinion. See bottom of previous post for a short snippet on my thoughts of Santa. Mark got the cinnamon rolls in the oven (Pillsbury for us and Udi's Gluten Free for Cai), I made coffee, and Josh tried to wake up. We then got to open our stockings. The boys got new hats and mittens.

 Mark and Josh got new socks. Everyone got candy from Grandma Cindy and of course our traditional new toothbrush.

 Ian and Cai's light up for 60 seconds so they know how long to brush. So cool.
After stockings we started the gifts from under the tree. The boys had a hard time waiting, but we made everyone take turns opening a gift.

For the boys we started with the gifts they got each other. My grandma had given them money with their new ornaments. Last year we took them shopping after Christmas to pick out their own gift/toy. This year I wanted to start a new tradition. I wanted to start teaching them that in addition to them getting gifts at Christmas part of the joy of Christmas is giving to others. That we give gifts because God gave us the gift of Jesus. So we sat them down to talk about this and that they were going to get to pick out and give a gift to their brother. Ian to Cai, Cai to Aiden, Aiden to Ian. It was fun to help them watch their brothers open the gift they gave.

Cai gave Aiden a Lego boat and a new board game

Ian gave Cai a remote control car

Aiden gave Ian a whistling nerf football and Mario checker set

Mark and Aiden watching Ian opening his gift

I gave Josh a new book and a new hoodie from ThinkGeek.com.

My favorite gift I gave Mark as the nerf gun I got to shot at the cat when they are getting into things they should not.

The boys gave him a new xbox controller for the computer hooked up to the tv. 

The boys got me new earrings Mark had them pick out at our Farmer's Market. They are really cool. 

Mark got me a Stir Crazy popcorn popper and a Death Star tea infuser!

The boys got lots of gifts. Legos from both my mom and my dad, plus a car track for Aiden, a new Angry Birds game from my dad. Star Wars books from Uncle Josh, new Christmas dvds from my mom that we opened early so they could watch them on Christmas eve and stay out of our hair. :) We saved the gifts from Mark and I till the end. This year I stole an idea from a friend of my mom's. We gave 3 gifts based on the gifts of the magi. The Frankincense Gift is a family gift. This year we got two board games for the boys to all share. 

Heroica has been a big hit. Ian likes the Catan JR game but the other boys get bored easily with it still. Another year or two and they all will like it hopefully. 

 The Myrrh gift is a Practical Gift. Ian and Cai got jeans because all but one pair of their jeans has holes. 

Aiden got new shoes because as the third kid (and sometimes fourth to wear them) most of his shoes are worn out. His favorite pair the sole is coming apart. 

The Gold Gift is something the boys REALLY want. Aiden got a ukulele cause he has been wanting a guitar.

Cai got new legos. Sadly my mom and I had the same idea and got him the same set. I gave him the choice of keeping both or exchanging one for something else. This last weekend we took one back to ToysRUs and let him pick out something else. He picked out a skateboard and a set of 9 matchbox cars. He was very excited. 

I was very pleased with Ian's gold gift. I had taken the boys one at a time to Target to great Christmas lists for Grandparents. Ian stood in front of the Knex Mari Kart tracks for a very long time. And the track he really really wanted was the Bowser track with the chomper. So that is what we got him. He was so excited. The look on his face was so very much worth it. 

Sadly I don't feel the track works as well as I think it should. But he still likes it so it's ok. 

I can't forget that cats. The boys and I went and got a couple new cat toys for the cats. The catnip toy still is fought over by the two. 

Silly kitties. It was a great Christmas. Follow our awesome gift opening we got ready for our big meal that evening. Mark played board games with the boys. Uncle Josh and Ian got to play MarioKart on the computer. And I cooked. Then Mark's family and our friend Jorden came over for dinner. Family, friends, good food and awesome new toys. Couldn't ask for more. We are so very blessed.