Christmas Wrap-up

So, I have been a horrible blogger lately and I'm sure that there are many events from the last month that were blog-worthy that are now gone from my memory.  But now that the last of the Christmas decorations are stored away for another year, the laundry is caught up (to a manageable state), and my house is starting to look more orderly I feel that I can sit down to blog again.  During that whirlwind of activity last month I also neglected my picture taking duties... so not much on that end either!
One afternoon, while William was on his Christmas break, we met Rich up at work during his lunch hour.  His new job is right next to North Pole City so we took a short trip over there.  The boys love going and looking at all the decorations.  Recently they've been obsessed with nutcrackers (a lady from church gave them some that they just love!)  So we had to get a picture next to this huge nutcracker.

During the day on Christmas Eve Rich took the boys to see Tron while I stayed home, relaxed and started our dinner for the night.  After our big dinner we read the Christmas story from Luke 2 and acted it out.  James decided to be Joseph this year while William and Alex were shepherds.

We then read our bedtime stories by the fire and got the kids in bed nice and early!

Christmas morning (thankfully) didn't start too early at our house.  We told William and James that they couldn't come into the living room until everyone was up... and that they weren't allowed to wake up Alexander.  So when they woke up around 7:00 I had them go into the playroom, put on a show, and went back to bed until 8:00 when Alex woke up.

William could not make up his mind on what he wanted from Santa this year.  He was changing his mind up to the very last second.  At that point he decided he wanted one of those new Lego games.  Have you seen them?  The board is made from Legos and you assemble it yourself.  He gave me his top 3 choices but emphasized that he really wanted the Harry Potter Lego game.  When Rich and I went to get it there were no more... so we got the next choice.  I explained to William that Santa's elves might not be able to make the one he wanted in time since he changed his mind so close to Christmas.  He still had his hopes up and promised not to be sad if he got another Lego game.  Well, just a few days before Christmas, Rich found the coveted Harry Potter game!  It was a Christmas miracle!  William was so  excited on Christmas morning when he found that sitting next to his stocking! He just knew Santa's elves would make it in time.  I told him that he must have been very good.  (In fact, the week leading up to Christmas he really was wonderful and wouldn't even flinch when his brothers did something to bother or hurt him.) James was thrilled as well to find not one but two Kung Zhu's for him (which he kindly offered to share with William)... and Alex has loved playing with his new bristle blocks (much easier for him to maneuver on his own as opposed to lego-type blocks.)

These are the only pictures I got from Christmas morning (and most of the day).  I decided, that instead of worrying about documenting the event I would just sit back and enjoy it!

While we waited for Alexander to wake up from his nap before heading to Grandma's, we built a fort using their new fort kit.  Big hit.

After lots of presents and lots of food at Grandma's most of the grandkids hopped into the tub and played with shaving cream.  Turned into more of a foamy bath rather than one with water.  Yuck!

I feel there is so  much that I left out... but this will have to do for now.

Stay tuned: Our week with some great guests coming up next!