Merry Christmas!!!

We had such a great Christmas this year. Both boys were "old enough" to kind of get the whole Santa Clause thing and they were pretty excited about the idea. Even though Oliver asked me multiple times during the month "when is Christmas over? When is it Valentines day? When is it Easter? I like Easter better" (I mean, who is this kids anyway? I tried to explain to him from a magical and exciting stand point it didn't get better than Christmas), he finally decided that Christmas was exciting just in time for Christmas Eve and Day. He's definitely his own person that Oliver. 

We decided to let the boys open their presents from the Davie side of the family on Christmas Eve. We wanted to avoid present overload as much as we could Christmas day. As per usual my in-laws blew it out of the park with amazing home made gifts. Each boy got one of these amazing kaleidoscopes pictured here, that my father-in-law made. They are very cool! I've never looked through a kaleidoscope that didn't have beads or jewels at the end of it. It's really fun. And then each child (including baby girl) got a very cool book written by my Mother-in-law. She wrote a number of fictional stories about each of her grandchildren and had it bound and printed for them. She also made me and baby girl very cool bracelets. Each bead molded and painted by her. I tell you, the talent in oozing out of that family!

Some of the goods. Not pictured here is a very cool pen that Tim's dad made for him.

The boys had fun opening a toy from the Davie Cousin exchange. Both were super excited about what they got. Peter got Daniel Tiger and his trolley and Oliver got a teepee and a bag of bakoegon figures (that he was beside himself with). It was a good way to kick off the present opening. 

Christmas Eve was a little different than usual this year. Whitney and Cody were both at their in-laws so it was a much more quiet and uneventful evening than usual. We had dinner at my parents house with my grandparents, uncle, Logan and our neighbor Evelyn who is usually in Globe with her sister for holidays and wasn't leaving until the next morning. We were super excited to have a visitor to mix things up a bit and my boys LOVE her. 

 

The boys with Evelyn in front of my mom's tree. I'm glad that my family got to meet Evelyn. She is such a nice neighbor. She always gives me her magazines when she's done reading them and she adores the boys. She gave them each a chocolate santa and a Christmas card with $5 in it. Two $2 bills and a $1 bill. She's just sweet!

Oliver really wanted me to take his picture with a bakegon guy.

Tim helped the boys spread out Reindeer food on the front walk so they would know to stop at our house. 

Matching Christmas jams in front of our tree. I'm pretty sure the boys have resumed a very similar position for the last 3 years.

Then we drank chocolate milk as we read The Night Before Christmas. 

And then the kids went off to bed! Fortunately we had done a decent job preparing and so we didn't need to stay up too late.

Christmas morning was great! We had to wake our sleepy heads up at 7am so that we could get to my parents house on time. Oliver was a little reluctant to wake up until we told him Santa had been to our house and he perked right up! It was so cute. Peter had a very similar reaction.

Santa brought Oliver a bike with an R2D2 helmet and legos and Peter a little push cart with a battery operated puppy. They were very happy with there gifts.

Oliver made Tim and I this adorable ornament at preschool. He had it all wrapped up for us. We LOVE it!

Peter got Oliver some mine craft figures and Oliver got Peter a Stinky Pete Sum Sum and a shopkins basket. 

Oliver was pretty happy to get three lego mixels that make up a max.

Peter with his push cart and puppy.

Oliver's creepy new Darth Vader sweater.

We headed over to my parents house a little before 9am. The hosted a DELICIOUS Christmas breakfast. We've been eating the same breakfast on Christmas morning my entire life. LITERALLY EVERY Christmas for my ENTIRE LIFE. And I love it!! Ham, eggs, potatoes, cinnamon rolls, OJ, and hot chocolate. SO YUMMY!

The two chefs!

Logan was in town!! I miss this guy and kinda hate that he lives so much further away, but he has a good job in Provo and I think he'll have better dating luck there. I have high hopes for him :)

Joan, dad, Log, mom and Grandpa

The little kid table. They don't stay seated for very long.

The big kids eat at the bar.

And the rest of us eat int he dinning room. Including my second cousin Erin and her husband Jeremy.

After breakfast Erin gave all of the kids these amazing reindeer hats that she made. She is amazing!! She even made one for baby girl. I'm obsessed with Peters face in this picture.

All the kids loving on Erin.

Peter and Piper were the first to get gifts from my parents. Matching  battery powered quads. They were so cute riding around the room. 

And then we all sit around and start opening up the presents. There are a lot of us and a lot of exchanging going on. Its fun and messy and crazy. 

And this is only a fraction of the aftermath madness. 

Peter having a moment with his new quad and soccer ball. 

This is one of my favorite gifts of the season. Tim knows how much I love ice cream and milkshakes. And I LOVE him for it! He's a pretty thoughtful guy.

Oliver playing with his new play-doh set from grandma Riding. He was pretty happy with it.