The Very Good: Christmas and family!

The annual photo with Santa at Bellevue Square. (At some point I'll scan in the professional one.) So this year the boys were really into the whole "Santa" thing. Let's hope it's not the last. Even Sage, at 2 1/2, without any hesitation hopped onto Santa's lap to mumble a bunch of stuff that she wanted with the help of Ty serving as translator to Santa. The benefit of having older siblings... Sage adapted to the strange man in a red suit much quicker then the boys ever did!

It's tradition on Christmas Eve for us to read the story from Luke on the birth of Christ. The kids love to act out their parts. This year we were able to talk Connor into being a wise man while Ty and Sage acted as Joseph and Mary.



Christmas morning was like sitting in a snow globe watching all the snow fall out every window that surrounded us in the family room. I don't think we'd ever experienced a white Christmas like that here in Washington. My parents and brothers Steve and Paul flew in to spend the holiday with us which was great. Here are some of the highlights. The before shot and the after shot. I loved the after shot of everyone busy putting stuff together.



So I'm going through all the photos I took and realized a couple things. First of all, aside from Connor and Ty unwrapping the bike ramp, I have not one photo of Connor opening up a present. The reason is because he would be really sneaky and instead of waiting until we had gone around the room with each person unwrapping a gift one at a time, he'd just start unwrapping. So before we knew it, his were all opened. I also realized that I didn't get any photos of my brothers opening up their gifts. I guess it was because I was also trying to camcord some of it and in doing that forgot to also take photos...



Based on the comments that came out of the boys' mouths on Christmas day, I'm just hoping the Santa thing can continue for at least a couple more years...

Ty to Grandma on Christmas morning (in a whisper while she was still lying in bed): "Grandma, daddy is going to be soooo happy. Santa brought him just what he wanted, (big pause) a bike ramp." Hmm. It was quite funny because Ty had happened to be with us when we were looking at them at Toysrus (for the boys) and clearly Ty overheard the debate Jack and I were having about which one to go with. (Jack wanted the bigger one and I wanted the cheaper one!)

Connor to Mom and Dad on Christmas day: "You guys lied. Santa didn't bring us the scooters. You did? And you know how we know? Because the boxes are in the garage!" Oops. Next time we'll be much better about where we store the packaging. Jack's quick response was that actually Santa must bring the gifts all boxed up so they fit more easily in his sleigh and then he assembles them and leaves the boxes by the garage door in case the parents need help and directions... good save Jack.

It was a wonderful week. Great gifts, great food and most of all great company!