Well this year's Christmas celebrations did not disappoint! We have three full days of Christmas celebrations. We used to try to jam everything into more like 2/2.5 but it just got to the point where it wasn't enjoyable, so we've expanded our time so we can still do everything:) We definitely ready for a rest when the parties were over, but we had a blast during them. We really were trying to help Tucker understand why we celebrate Christmas this year, which is a challenge with all of the parties and food and presents, but he did start singing Happy Birthday to Jesus pretty much every time we prayed for food during these few days!
Here are a TON of pictures of our 6 celebrations in 3 days:)
Christmas Eve morning-the boys discovered the tree train (it's really called the Santa Party Train..ha!) that my great-aunt handed down to us!
Then we headed over to my parents for brunch with one of my Uncle's family.
All the ladies
All the boys
The boys anging with Uncle Chris
My generous aunt and uncle got Tucker this "Car Coaster". And adults can fit on it too!
Christmas Eve night has become a tradition at our house now! The year may have been one of the most fun and filled with the funniest moments!
I LOVE this picture SO much! I think it just epitomizes the laughter and fun that we always have, but especially this night!
My grandparents were here this year too, which made us all very happy!!
I don't know what happened to this picture, but Brayden sure enjoyed his penne a la vodka
We've had a couple year hiatus, but this year Danielle brought the Christmas Jeopardy game back. Clearly something funny happened..shocker!
She had some helpers
I'm pretty sure he was getting bonus points for answering the question while hopping:)
there are no words...his choice
This kid LOVES dessert!
We had a little bit of a white Christmas! D made a snow angel...in a T-shirt...
Max and I have always done our stocking on Christmas Eve...probably going to have to change that if Santa is going to bring us presents in them, but this year we did it again for the 9th year in a row:)
We did Christmas morning at our house again this year. It was fun to have both boys pretty involved. Tucker definitely got the whole present thing...he got so used to having presents that he kept asking for more! They got a lot of books and some fun toys:)
Tucker was happy to help Brayden open his gifts
A Bubble Guppies Guitar! Everyone knows how much he loves these guys, but this picture clearly proves it!
ughh! again with this picture! But he was very excited to have his own tractor.
This guy got a few new fancy trucks too. Clearly ecstatic!
Max decided to get the boys presents himself this year...very creative and fitting:) First day of preschool outfit next year?
Their big present was a Power Wheels Jeep Rubicon. Brayden is still too young to drive (or even hold on...gonna have to find a seatbelt!) but Tucker is going to have a blast learning to drive and by the time its warm out, they'll both be able to enjoy it even more! They were happy to see it for sure!
We packed up and headed to my parents' for brunch and lots more present opening! Everyone has a particular seat (don't mess with me if you try to take it!) and this year Tucker got his...complete with a visual reminder of its location.
And these are our seats:) And yes-we are all dressed like that (my shirt is the one Max got me for Christmas kind of like the boys)-they're PJ's!
This kid loves to drum/bang on things so he got this cool drum/musical set!
D was really excited about her new sports bra I guess.
Santa brought Angela some of her gifts here too!
Dad was "pumped up" about his Tanzania jersey.
Tucker and Brayden got their own jerseys and shorts too!
Showing Papa one of his new books.
Anggy was excited about her gifts too!
B checking out one of Tucker's other new trucks!
Anggy made Chris a cornhole set-it was awesome! She came over/snuck over to my parents when Chris was at work to build it with my dad. So cute!
And yes, Max got Chris this shirt too. I had no idea what it was!
And because Chris's room is always a mess, my dad made him a coat rack to throw the stuff on!
Brayden likes animals and loved this new barn set.
We had so much stuff already that I had to put it out around the tree to unpack it before we went to our last two places! All of our family is overly generous!
We went to my Aunt's house to celebrate with most of the rest of my mom's family. The boys always have a blast playing with everyone and Brayden had a lot of fun snuggling with my Uncle Jim for awhile.
It's kinda cool for my first cousins to play with the boys, because they are closer in age to them than me, and they've always been the "babies" so it's fun for them to be the big kids finally!
We found these outfits with bow ties and LOVED them, and the kids actually wore them the whole time!
Aunt Joan and D
Family photo attempt
Tucker got a Thomas bathrobe
This is how I found Brayden in his crib Christmas night...he was all partied out!
The 26th is the day we celebrate with Max's family. It was fun to spend the day the kids had fun playing with everyone.
Max was really pumped about his new Beats!
Gramps was grooving too! Ha!
Love this moment of Tucker with his Great-Grandfather (Oompa)
The boys cousins-they're so big!
The boys got flashlights from one of Max's aunts in VA-little did they know how much our kids LOVE to play with flashlights!
He had just woken up from his nap.
Brayden having fun on his Rockin' Croc
With all the fun we forgot to have the kids open their stockings on Christmas...good thing we didn't make a big deal about Santa bringing gifts in their stockings! We failed on so many counts with them! But it was fun to watch them enjoy some more present opening.
Tucker loves all things from Cars, so he was very excited about his Mater ornament and a few small cars from the movies.
"any more presents?"
Thank you to all of our family for giving us so many wonderful Christmas memories this year! It was a great way to celebrate the birth of Jesus:)
