Our Christmas

I trust you all had a wonderful Christmas. Sorry for the delay of this (but you're used to that by now, right?) and the lack of posting lately. I got overly ambitious this year and piled my plate high with all sorts of holiday projects. Why did I do that? Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess. Who knows.

To start off my ambitious Christmas season, I took it upon myself to make all crochet gifts for my family, since they're impossible to shop for. Along with "commission work", I had a total of about thirteen projects to finish in about a month's time. Somehow, I managed to do all but one - which was finished a day or so after Christmas, but it was going to be shipped later. Still needs to be shipped. Argh. Anyhoo, the projects were a grand success and I challenged myself with some patterns I wouldn't normally attempt. Thank you Ravelry! On the downside, I think I may have given myself Carpal Tunnel. Bummer.

Part two of my ambitious Christmas season was an insane amount of goodie-making (for me, atleast). I baked severally types of cookies and even made caramels for the first time. I will post recipes later (as they were also a huge success!), but I made these yummy Mint Kiss Cookies, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies for my grandpa, Oreo Cookie Balls (YUM!), and Apple Cider Caramels. I wanted to make Root Beer Float Cookies, but I ran out of time. Finishing a gift seemed a little more important on Christmas Eve night. Talk about cutting it close!

But on to the fun stuff! Here's the boys on Christmas Eve night, both sporting their new PJ's and begging Daddy to spin them in his chair. Drew, of course, was oblivious to all the going's on's, but Rob was extremely excited about Christmas. He just couldn't wait to see what all those funny-looking packages under the tree were!

Prior to this, we had enjoyed a nice day together as a family (Matt had the day off - yay!) and then went to my grandma's house for dinner and fun. It was such a blessing to have everyone "home" for Christmas this year - Aunt Janice and Cousin Emily included! It's just not Christmas without everyone there. Everyone thought the boys were delightful and enjoyed their playful youth, as they flitted about the room, chasing dogs and playing with toys Grams had set out for them. We were having so much fun, we kind of forgot to go to Christmas Eve Service. Oops.

We spent the initial part of Christmas morning as a family, letting the boys have a chance to unwrap their gifts at home. We were awoken by Rob at 6am, but he had completely forgotten about Christmas all together, until we reminded him. Things were quite different after that - he couldn't sit still in our bed! Finally, Drew woke up around 7am and we opened gifts. Matt and I had already "opened" our gifts - a mutual gift of a new HDTV and Blu-ray Player. We're finally caught up with the rest of society!

The boys made out like thieves, of course. Rob got various things - his favorites being a Thomas toy and Lightening McQueen car. Both things he asked for and asked for, which is unusual for him. Drew got a walking-along/ride-on car and some books he can chew on. They both got completely spoiled by my folks, of course. We had quite a bit to lug back from Buhl!

Here's the disaster area of a living room. I'm pretty sure they enjoyed every moment of destroying it.

And yes - Baby Boy is now standing and cruising! We're waiting for him to walk anytime, now!

Sugarbean's first Christmas. I think he enjoyed playing with Brother's toys more than his - and vice versa.

I'm quite surprised how well-behaved they were. They even both got a decent nap. I was really expecting a rough day with them, but they both did really well.

I'm totally in love with this photo. Drew absolutely LOVES his great-grandpa. He was climbing all over him any chance he got, it seemed. It makes my heart smile. :)

Maybe they get along so well because they share a personality? Either way, it's a very sweet relationship they have.

My beautiful cousin, Emily, modeling the hat I made for her. I accidentally made it too small, but she loved it and said it was "perfect". If she's happy, I'm happy!

I love this girl - fake blonde hair and all.

We decided to bring our Wii over to play. It was a huge hit with everyone, so I'm glad we decided to do so! We even got Grams and Cher involved. Grams played a couple games of bowling and here's Cher showing off her mad archery skillz.

I love seeing you happy, Mama. It looks good on you.

After dinner, we started playing with all the little wind-up toys we had attached to our gifts thanks to Jan. We had initially set out to "race" them, but being a sadistic bunch, we ended up making them fight each other. Yep, that's my family.

We tied up the evening with playing with the boys to wear them out a little more - as if they weren't worn out from the day enough.

It was a great day all around. I'm so glad everyone could be there this year. It makes Christmas so much more delightful. We can't wait to have everyone back together again.

So, thank you to all our family and friends who made this Christmas season so wonderful. You blessed us in so many ways! Merry (belated) Christmas!