Merry Christmas

It was a whirlwind day filled with presents and family --- the best kind of day! Nick was ready to greet the world at 4:45, but there was no way I was getting up that stinking early so I took him back to bed and crawled in with him (I don’t think I have ever done that before, but it was worth it to keep everyone sleeping for another hour). When we finally let the boys get up about 6 a.m. they were so excited to see what Santa brought them. Santa brought Ben a ball pit and we used that to corral him while the boys dug through their stocking and checked out what Santa had dropped off overnight.

Zander was pretty excited about a candy cane filled with Skittles.

Then the rest of the fun began. Zander apparently didn’t have enough gifts of his own (see that pile stacked against the fire truck?) so helped Ben with some of his. Ben didn’t mind. He really wasn’t that into the whole present thing this year.

Nick’s favorite presents were this jersey that Mike brought home from his trip to San Jose (a former Black Hawk, Joe Pavelsky, plays for the Sharks) and the small pack of LEGOS he got. It’s a far cry from the piles of LEGOS last year, but seriously, we don’t need anymore!

Zander was so excited to give me an ornament he made at school. He had to add it to the tree right away! I was excited to get one from him and Nick! I love all their handmade ornaments and can’t wait until my tree is full of them!

And the aftermath of our Christmas morning. It took just minutes to tear through everything!

Nick finished even faster and started playing with his new army guys ASAP.

He even let Zander play along. Where was this when Merton was watching?

With one Christmas already under our belts we cleaned up and headed for my mom and dad’s for more family fun. See, Zander loves everything! Though I have to say I was pretty excited about this shirt, too.

I really thought Zander would like a new pair of Crocs with fur inside that he could wear this winter. I was very wrong. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with them and said as much.

And again, Ben mostly just watched. Next year he will see just what he was missing this time around.

LOVE this picture of Kelsie and Ben!

Even with all the new toys Nick wanted to play with the “computers” that are as old as me. Seriously. That blue and gray one on the corner was mine. Technology has changed just a bit since then.

The couch may not be the comfiest (it’s brand new and my parents hate it) but it sure holds a lot of people.

After presents we headed over to Jay and Michele’s for lunch and to hang with the rest of the family. Nick made my dad write on his back (that’s his thing lately and I find it so funny because I used to make my Mema do this, though we often did it on the other’s foot – gross, I know – to see if it would tickle).

And this is so cute. Every time I turned around Justin, Ashley’s longtime boyfriend, was holding Ben. I offered to take him several times. Others did take him, but still he ended up back on Justin’s lap. I’ve said it before, but she has definitely found a good one!