All things Christmas

Now that Christmas is over (and my living room looks like a toy store vomited all over it), it's time for a recap of our festivities.

Not really from Christmas, but he's cute. It counts because he's in Christmas jammies, right?

Decorating Christmas cookies at Grandma's.

Believe it or not, he liked the cookie. He also thought cookie decorating required a party hat.

W and Daddy decorating the tree.

Working on the ill-fated gingerbread house.

Santa came! Never mind that he was a week early. The boys couldn't have cared less.

First picture from "Christmas" morning.

Playing Rudolph.

The actual Christmas morning.

Kinda looks like R didn't participate in any of the festivities, right? I think that was because I was in charge of the camera and of W. I spent so much time making sure W didn't open everyone else's presents that I only got a few pictures, and they tended to be of the kid who was sitting right in front of me. I'm hoping someone else was a bit more conscientious than I was.

Christmas was really nice. We spent Christmas Eve with my in-laws, and the boys got to play with their cousins from North Carolina who they don't see very often. They boys has an AWESOME time together. You've not experienced chaos until you've had a house filled with four boys, ages four and younger.

Christmas Day was spent at my mom's. We usually go to my aunt's for an extended family party, but it didn't work out that way this year, so we just had a quiet day at Grandma's. B made his first prime rib ever, and it turned out awfully tasty.

I got mostly money this year, but B got me a sewing machine and an ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I can't wait to try both of them out. I've now decided that I need to turn my cloffice (the original closet in our bedroom that I decided when we moved in would eventually be my office, even though it's barely big enough for a desk and a chair) into a sewing room. I think it'll work if I swap out my desk for the sewing table my mom gave me, and get rid of the desk chair in there. I would love to have a permanent place for sewing. It'll work out so much better than busting out a TV tray and parking myself on the couch whenever the sewing bug bites.

The boys got approximately 368,713,640 toy cars and trucks. Seriously, assuming we don't lose all of them, these children will never need another Matchbox car or Cars 2 character as long as they live. They also ended up with a huge assortment of Melissa & Doug toys. Santa brought them the band in a box, which has been driving B nuts. He hates lots of noise, and the band in a box is pretty much all assorted percussion instruments. His favorite is when the boys use the maracas as drum sticks and the tambourine as a drum. I shouldn't laugh when they do that, but it's just too funny. The biggest hit with both boys so far has been the VTech Counting Fun Elephant. They both love the popping balls, especially when the balls hit them in the face while they're looking down the chute. My kids are weird.

All-in-all, it was a wonderful holiday. How was your Christmas (or winter holiday of choice)?