I planned on writing this post sooner than this, but life got in the way and here I am, over a month after Christmas and I am just blogging about it.  It was such a special time, I know that I will not find the appropriate words to summarize it, but I will try.  So without further adieu:

Christmas Eve, we ate a family meal at Konomi Japanese Steakhouse with the Hutchesons.  Sawyer was not a fan of the fire on the grill.  So he shut down minutes into the meal.  Braddock had a blast though.  After dinner, Doug and I took the boys through the Homestead Hollow Christmas lights again, this time ensuring they were awake through it all.  We drove slower this time, and it was even more amazing.  We hope to make this our family tradition each Christmas Eve night, as long as HH keeps doing the lights.

We next met the Hutchesons at Uncle Derek and Aunt Mandi’s house to have our present exchange (which was really the boys getting spoiled with great stuff) and Aunt Mandi made dessert shots, which are a touch of Heaven on Earth.  As soon as Doug got out of his truck at Derek and Mandi’s house, he heard his tire begin to go flat.  SO that was a slight wrench in our Christmas Eve plans, but the Hutcheson men got to bond while changing a flat tire.  We changed to boys into their Santa pjs there so that once we were home they would be ready for bed (after all, it was around 10pm when we got home).

My Mom had to work the holiday weekend, so she brought presents and visited on Friday:

Family picture at Konomi:

Konomi:

With Papa Hutch and Gigi in their PJs:

Braddock and Daddy/Santa:

Mommy helping the boys open gifts (thank you Aunt Mandi for capturing this picture…I am always behind the lens and never in front):

Doug and I underestimated the time it would take to help Santa assemble toys and we were up until 2:am Christmas morning assembling and arranging toys.

Milk, cookies, and oreo balls for Santa:

Santa came!:

Christmas morning I awoke to the boys hard at play on conversation over the baby monitor.  We went to get them so they could enjoy what Santa brought them, and this was their faces coming out of their bedroom:

So happy:

The boys played so hard with their new goods they did not want to stop to eat breakfast, so we fed them bananas when they would decide to stop for a quick bite:

Loving the trampoline:

Mommy trying to get them to stop playing for a picture:

Sawyer, future Atlanta Braves player (he took to hitting the ball like a natural):

They love dinosaurs (can you tell by the grin on Sawyer’s face?):

Braddock playing with the dinosaurs:

Using their boxing gloves on Daddy:

Mirror image (on their new spiderman 4-wheelers):

Trying out the slide:

Even with all the cool new toys, they still love to play with Daddy’s shoes:

First time I have seen this many ducks in our lake at once (I would guess over a hundred…on Christmas morning):

We had my family over Christmas night for more gifts for the kids as well as our annual calmest-version-of-Dirty-Santa-ever (we always end up with the gift we bring, so I bought myself a heater for my cold-as-ice (now singing the Foreigner song) office).  Aunt Tracee brought MORE ceramic Santas wrapped for everyone, as she inherited them from our deceased Aunt who apparently had a vast collection of ceramic Santas.  It is a running joke in our family, and I am sad to think about when she runs out…who am I kidding?  She has an endless supply of those ceramic Jolly St. Nicks. Doug and I actually ended up with a pretty rad ceramic bobble head Santa, and we almost had to fight my Dad so that we could keep it.

new grill from Nana and Granddaddy:

With Granddaddy:

Our newly inherited Bobble Head Santa, which will have a special place in our home next Christmas:

As the night progressed, I heard Sawyer screaming angrily.  Apparently his 4-wheeler had gotten stuck under the Christmas tree, and he was pulling with all his force to get it unstuck.  As I round the corner to help him, the tree crashes to the ground.  As my family rushed to help pick the tree up, I ask them to pause so I can take a picture.  I was hoping to buy a new tree and ornaments for next year, so it looks like I got my wish.  About a week after Christmas I did buy another 7.7 foot tree along with 96 PLASTIC ornament balls that look glass on sale.  Surely the boys won’t kill those next year.  I am only sad that I did not buy more, but am willing to pay full price for more next Christmas.

Our Griswold family moment with a fallen tree:

Last year the boys did not know what to do with wrapping paper.  This year they helped themselves to anything with paper.  In fact, Gigi said they had opened gifts under her tree weeks before Christmas (they weren’t meant to be opened early).  So they have gotten the hang of opening gifts, and love doing it.  Such as difference from last Christmas when they were just beginning to walk.

my present-opening machines:

My favorite Christmas gift ever…it was from Doug’s mom in a box that read “from: Braddock and Sawyer”-there are 2 large stain-glass type ornaments painted by B&S as well as 2 snowflake crafts made by the boys, as shown in the framed pictures that came with them:

The joy of CHRISTmas through the eyes of your children is the greatest feeling on Earth.  I cannot wait until they are able to understand that Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

Sawyer and Mommy attempting to take a nap on Christmas day…we were not successful: