A Very Merry Christmas!

We had a fabulous Christmas this year! Lots of family blessed us with their presence (and presents :) including Grandma (in town from Cape Cod), Auntie Sarah, Papa, and Aunt Cookie. Also on hand to celebrate was CeCe, Uncle Craig, Auntie Gretchen, Cousin EJ, Grandpa Bill, Uncle Colin, Aunt Kathy, woody, buzz light year, and bullseye.

The Christmas eve celebration was kicked off with our traditional appetizer spread. Everyone brought their favorites and we ate and drank enough to feed a small country. There was everything from Brie to chicken wings to some fancy clams. It was all so delicious!



Earlier that day, one of our little fellas was causing some trouble. We thought it would be Josh we'd have to worry about getting into the presents. We were wrong! Little Jamison was the culprit we had to watch out for. He was playing in the family room Christmas Eve morning when we heard a loud rip... he had crawled his cute little tush over to the gifts and decided it would be fun to open one and boy did he open it. He must be the smartest 7 month old on the planet because the gift he opened was labeled "Jamison." Later that day, he managed to get his paws on yet another gift (also labeled Jamison, confirming my reading suspicions.)

Back to Christmas eve... The boys had loads of fun with their cousin E. They gave lots of hugs and kisses and attempted to show him the ropes, just as they do for little J. We got some unique pictures of all of them together including their brand new big boy chairs from CeCe and Aunt Cookie. Their playroom is now equipped with theater style seating for their viewing pleasure.

After eating and drinking ourselves sick, it was time to head to the land of presents. It took us about an hour and a half to get all of the presents opened. I grew up in a family where each person would take a turn opening a present and we would all watch so it totally flips me out when everyone starts tearing into everything. I caught myself a few times trying to restore the order in the room. I've got to admit, I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to that. It's just not an option to miss someone opening a present.

Thank you to everyone for all the fun and thoughtful gifts. I’m pretty sure we need a bigger house to contain all these toys.

Before heading off to dreamland, the boys had to get everything ready for Santa and the reindeer. They were very particular on which cookies Santa liked, how much milk should be in the cup, and how many carrots the reindeer will need. So cute!

Christmas day was equally fun. We awoke and headed downstairs to see what Santa had delivered. They must have been really good boys this year because boy did they brought in the loot, including shave kits, hockey sticks new jammies, and the requested "black" Spiderman. Later that day, I made my first prime rib, on my own. The pressure was on to prepare this $100 slab of cow but I tackled the challenge with gusto. It turned out fantastic! Whew, what a relief!

Honorable mentions: Auntie Sarah spent the whole day with us in her new jammies she bought just for the occasion; ; Cece's yorkshire pudding... yum!!!Jack had has first shave and I was shocked to see his "man" face as he was doing it.  What?  Do they teach this in the womb???

We did indeed have a very merry Christmas but we missed those who couldn’t be with us - including Uncle Adam, Auntie Camille and family, our Florida family, and Grandma and Grandpa Swenson who were undoubtedly watching from above.