Second Christmas

As you may remember, there was some extreme weather during the last couple of shipping days this Christmas.  As a result, the box with the kids' presents from my sister's family arrived on December 26th.  I think this actually made the kids more excited then if the shipping hadn't been interrupted - because we got to celebrate second Christmas.

They were all so excited to rip into new presents... and all, including Macie, had fully developed their present-ripping technique.

As a nice bonus, they all totally loved their new gifts and they ended up being favorites from all of the toys the kids received this year!  

 

Christmas Day 2012

Our kids are probably the only ones that slept in past 9am on Christmas morning.  We were so very grateful for the extra slumber time!  Once they were up, we gathered them at the stairs and sent in one at a time to discover their loot from Santa.  What followed was a couple of hours of pure merriment all around.  Santa did very well this year.

Then, after enjoying a sweet Christmas morning breakfast, we reentered the living and dining room to open the remainder of the presents.  Ephram had a great time helping Andy sort out the presents.  We follow another Boyce family tradition for present opening, the presents are opened one person at a time - from the youngest to the oldest.

Macie was first.  She had a great big pile of presents all to herself, and seemed a little bit overwhelmed at first.  But she warmed right up.  She had so much fun with the wrapping paper and bows.  And Ephram was more than willing to step in and help as needed.  Macie made it through about 2/3 of her presents before she started to meltdown, and we saved the rest for later in the day.  She really loved two dresses from my mom.  It was cute to see her marvel at them.  She was also really excited about a Giraffe Ball Spinner and a set of house blocks from Skip Hop Jump.

 Next up: Ephram.  He had a big stack of presents too, and it was clear that he was going to have no problem tackling every last one.  He gleefully ripped through present after present, dutifully pausing when I quickly inserted, "Wait!  We have to see who that one is from!"  He was excited about everything, but right off the bat his early favorites seemed to be a VTech Dinosaur car from his Grandpa Kovar, and a set of percussion instruments from his Grandma and Grandpa Boyce.  He was beyond excited for his first pair of slippers - Mickey Mouse styled - from mom and dad.  He also opened a package of mini marshmallows from me to all of the boys.  While Andy and Charlie were a little confused by this, Ephram was hooting and hollering.  He loves marshmallows.

 Then it was Charlie's turn.  I thought that he was going to jump out of his skin if he had to wait any longer.  He started bouncing when he saw the huge Star Wars Lego box from his mom and dad.  We told him that Santa had asked us to cover the Legos because he had asked for so much.  I had managed a surprise that Andy didn't know about, but started to guess on when Charlie opened his very own marshmallow gun.  Charlie was very animated about it.  And then he unwrapped a marshmallow target that was from me to both him and Andy.  Charlie was also excited about a set of Snap Circuits from his Grandma and Grandpa Boyce and some more art supplies.

 With the kids' presents all unwrapped, (except for the remainder of Macie's,) we moved on to Andy.  I had a few surprises for him.  He always gets me really nice things, and I usually have a hard time thinking of equal presents for him.  This year I sat and really thought about what he would enjoy and had a fun time coming up with answers.  I think everything was a hit.  Especially the balancing beans that I got for him off of Zulily, and the best of my marshmallow picks - a marshmallow bow.  Andy also opened up a present that Charlie made for both of us at school.  It was a super-cute Christmas ornament.

 My turn comes last in our family, and I got everything that I wanted - including the movie Cinderella, some princess Legos to play with Macie and a new french oven.

 We broke in the middle of present opening to enjoy a lunch of meat and cheese rolls, crackers, chips, fruit and rolls.  After we were done opening, we just let the kids play.  In past years we have doled out the presents slowly, but this year we let them open everything and eat all of their candy right off.  We had so many toys set up in those two rooms, it could have been so overwhelming - but they really just enjoyed the playtime, hopping from one toy to the next.

After a dinner of leftovers and some more pie, we came back into the room to let Macie finish opening the rest of her presents.  She had two of her biggest presents left - a little Fisher Price kitchen and a VTech sit to stand walker.  These two things were probably the biggest hits of the day for her (and Ephram.)  The kitchen has become our staple toy ever since.

 It was a pretty perfect Christmas.  One that I will remember in years to come.

Santa Success

Christmas Eve 2012

Our Christmas Eve was fantastic this year.  It was laid back, fun, and full of excitement for the kids.

We started with the family pictures I posted last time.

Next, we finished up our cookies and took them around to our neighbors.  Ephram wore our Santa hat and Charlie wore an Elf hat that he made at school.  They had so much fun taking the cookies door-door, and surprisingly, most of our neighbors were home.  Once we were done, we came inside to enjoy some cookies of our own with some hot chocolate.

Then, after some silliness, it was time for dinner.  I repeated last year's meal.  I swear, it is the best-tasting, easiest holiday meal ever.  We had tri-tip roast with potatoes and carrots made in the crock pot.  We also had a jello salad, rolls, green beans and olives.  Everyone ate a lot.

After picking up and watching a Christmas special, we moved into the living room.  On a whim, I decided to abandon the traditional Bible story from Luke in favor of one that my kids would actually understand.  We gathered the nativity and I told the story of Christmas ad lib, from Joseph and Mary's trek to the visiting wise men, using the characters as props as we went.  We talked about the ultimate gift that we received through the Savior, and how that selflessness is what we try to capture today as we give gifts to those that we love, and even those that we do not know.  We sang some carols and I can honestly say that it was a very spiritual moment in our house.  I will probably wait to recount the verses from Luke until my children are old enough and understand them well enough for the same understanding and feeling to prevail.

Next on the agenda: presents.  We have always carried forward a Christmas Eve tradition from my family - to open one present each.  The last few years, this present has been Christmas pajamas for the kids.  This year I decided that we should change it a bit.  The kids each opened their pajamas AND one present of their choosing.

Macie had gotten some practice from her half birthday and our December surprise box, so she had an idea of what to do.  But she still needed a little help, which Ephram was happy to provide.  Ephram was also happy to help Charlie a little.  All of the kids really liked their presents.  We let them play around for an hour or so, and it was fun to see them enjoy their one toy - knowing that the next day would bring an overwhelming litany of toys for each of them.

The bond between these two is so special.

After some more time we changed into pajamas, and I attempted to get a picture of all of the kids in front of the tree.  Charlie, as always, was willing.  Ephram had to be bribed with another cookie.  And Macie...  well, you can see that for yourselves.

After enjoying some banana cream pie, it was time to set the cookies out for Santa.  Each of the boys proudly chose two for the plate, and we finished it off with some carrots for the reindeer.  Then, with a final check of the NORAD Santa tracker, the boys ran up to bed to make sure that they would be asleep in time for Santa to stop at our home.

Andy and I stayed up a little longer (about 2am) to prepare things for the kids and for Santa.  We always enjoy watching the loop on TBS of A Christmas Story while we work.  After some time, a check of our living and dining room showed that everything was ready for all three of our kids.  We knew Charlie would be so excited to see a bike that was trail-worthy so that he can ride with his dad... and Ephram would be over the top with his very own piano, one that was red and had a dog painted on the side.  Not to mention, it looked like Santa actually took the 30 car request seriously.  And a super cute dinosaur ball pit waited for our baby girl.  This all was in addition to our tree which was crazy-full with presents.  We went off to bed to catch as much sleep as our children would allow, excited to see their faces in the morning.