Christmas Day

On Christmas morning, we prepared a huge breakfast/brunch with muffins and eggs and fruit for the whole family.  Michael and Meghan joined us again around nine (they acted surprised when I suggested 9 am, thinking I'd suggest something way earlier like 7 or something ... am I really that bad? lol.  I know in the past I'd get overly excited about the holidays, but I've definitely learned to appreciate sleeping in.) They got to spend the whole day with us as we opened gifts, played board games, watched movies, and made a big traditional Christmas dinner with ham and rolls and even a jell-o mold! yum!  We also all had stockings to open.  Danny's mom makes stocking for everyone in her family, all the kids, spouses, and grandkids.  Once we got married, she had already asked what I'd like, knitted it, and mailed it to me by October! amazing! (... too bad I forgot a picture, it's pretty with an angel on it).  Unfortunately, Danny doesn't know where his is, haha.  I had a generic red one that he used, but we'll have to find his for next Christmas.

I must say, Christmas is so much more fun with lots of people and especially with kids.  It just seems more magically, I guess, when you see how excited they get, or even just funnier with some of their sayings and reactions (like how upset Seth would get when Andrew got a gift that Seth liked but it was Andrew's).  I'm so glad that I got to spend this Christmas with all of my family since who knows when we'll be able to all get together like this again as we start finishing up school and getting jobs that move us farther apart.  ... and, since pictures tell a thousand words, here's a few snapshots from the day (thanks Amanda and Meghan for the pics!  ... I've really got to get a better camera of my own one of these days, lol).

... is it bad that sometimes I envy the toys the boys got? lol.  One really cool toy that got this year was a huge wooden train set.  It was so fun and adorable and had lots of different parts that you could put together so many ways, and I liked that it wasn't sponsered by some cartoon character like Thomas or Disney or something.  I really like the classic toys better.

Danny got so excited with his new Tom Clancy books, all military related.

I got lots of books and movies too.

... what could Michael be opening?

Yard-O-Beef! haha, he'd been talking about this all week, such excitement! :)

though Meghan was probably equally excited for her Eclipse DVD from the Twilight series.

... what to do when one kid likes the other kid's toys too?  Being a toddler is so tough, lol.

... quickly distract him with his other toys and books.

more games to add to the family collection

We also got some new games, Stratego and Risk ... can you sense a theme in Danny's gifts? haha.

This year for gifts amongst siblings, we decided to go with just small a/o homemade things as gifts, so I made some homemade "gourmet" popcorn (one was red and green, the other was chocolate peanut butter) and some mint chocolate pretzels.

We also got the boys some little board books of trucks and cars that had wheels on them, and they seemed like a hit.  Seth would point to each one and shout "truck!!" for every one.  so cute!

The kids also got a flannel board from my parents with lots of pictures from the scriptures.  I was surprised at how much Andrew enjoyed it, of course he'd stuff as many pieces on the board as he could and then drag it around to show everyone, but it's a start.