Christmas 2009

I'm actually going to begin this post with Christmas Eve 2009. My parents and sister packed up an overnight bag and came down to our house early on the 24th. We spent the morning making cookies together and eating lunch. Around noon, Brian, Dad, James and I all went to see Avatar together. While it was long (around 2 and a half hours) we all enjoyed every minute of it. I love taking James to movies just so I can see his little face light up with wonder at what he's seeing on the big screen. Of course when we left, he told us he wanted a blue guy (Avatar) when he got older. We had to explain that the movie was a story and that right now, we don't know of any planets like Pandora. But we also told him that anything is possible and maybe when he is older, man will discover life on other planets. After we got home, we helped finish up the cookies and then ate yummy caldo (Mexican beef stew) for dinner. After dinner, we gave the boys a bath and got them into their Christmas pajamas. We all sat down and watched Muppets Christmas Carol together. Then we set out cookies and milk for Santa and I read the boys Twas the Night Before Christmas before tucking them in bed. After the boys were all tucked in, the adults watched A Christmas Story on TBS into the wee hours of the morning. I think I finally got in bed around midnight.

My mom and I were the first ones awake on Christmas morning. I think I was just too excited to sleep very long. This Christmas was really special for several reasons. It was Jude's first Christmas, John really understood about Santa this year, and we got to spend it with my mom. Jude woke up first and so he ate and played while we waited for James and John to get up. The boys were really patient as we waited for Poppa and Jocelyn to wake up. James helped me with the Monkey bread while we waited. Once everyone was up, we let the boys get down to business with their presents. They first ripped into their stockings finding lots of fun toys and candy. After that, they started in on their gifts from Santa. James' big gift this year was a Nintendo DS. He's been wanting one every since Cameron got one last Christmas. John's big gift was the Imaginext Batcave. He also got the Tag Junior reader. Jude received a new crib toy that plays music and some stacking rings. After all the gifts from Santa were open, we started opening gifts from family. The boys received lots of games, books, puzzles, movies, and gift cards. Brian received Beatles Rock Band and I got a new purse. We both got books and fun new games for the Wii. We really tried to clean as we went this year so nothing got lost. After we did the last final clean up, the adults ate breakfast. The kids just chowed down on candy and cookies most of the day. : ) We spent the rest of the day opening up packages and watching the piles of trash and recycling grow. The boys played upstairs with all of their new gifts for most of the day so the adults enjoyed watching some new movies downstairs. Later that afternoon, I got started on Christmas dinner. We had Cornish game hens, green bean casserole (what holiday meal is complete without the green bean casserole?), roasted potatoes and rolls. Everything was super delicious. After dinner we watched Angels and Demons before calling it a night. All in all, this was one of the best Christmases I can remember, not because of all the gifts but because of all the wonderful quality time we got to spend together as a family.

Here's a slideshow of the photos we took that morning. I'll have to download and edit the video we took Christmas morning. Hopefully I'll have it posted early next year.