Christmas Eve and Day 2013

{Warning: this post contains lots-o-pictures}

Let's start with Christmas Eve

We did some crafting.

We ate our Christmas Eve dinner.  This year we had ham, macaroni and cheese and green beans.  It wasn't super fancy but we ate at the table (which we rarely ever do), got to eat the Christmas Spode and drink sparkling pomegranate juice in fun glasses.

Then we went to a late Christmas Eve service with some good friends of ours.

Nathan (who always loves me more than anyone) wanted to be in Riley's lap the whole service :)

Our sweet fam :)

We headed home and checked in to see where Santa was.

Then we sent everyone off to bed with visions of sugarplums and all that good stuff.

Chris and I pulled out stuff from all the different crevices of the house where the presents were hidden.  We were up ridiculously late.  Christmas is a lot of work for parents.  But I KNOW I'll miss it one day. I feel so blessed to be able to fill five stockings.  

I love Christmas Day.  I really do.  I'm not sure I loved it as much as a kid as much as I love it now.  It's so fun to watch the kids and their excitement.  I wish we could hire someone to come and video the whole thing so I could watch it over and over again when I'm old and gray(er).  But that might just make me depressed so I'll just stick to Bingo when it comes to that time in my life!

Back to Christmas morning.  We did the traditional stocking stuff.  Chick Fil A calendars, gum, candy, flashlights, random small stuff they've been wanting or that we want to give them anyway.  The younger ones think their stockings are from Santa.  So that part is fun… "How did Santa know I like this kind of candy?"

A picture of their loot.  Not all of it fits in their actual stocking, but that's okay.  Notice how "Santa" brought me colored journaling pens.  How DOES he know? ;)

We still give them four gifts.

Something you want,

Something you need,

Something to play with,

Something to read.

Here's the five excited boys at the top of the stairs.  Sweeties.

They wanted to wear their shirts from last year.  Graham had already pulled them out for everyone.  He said it was tradition.  I love how after one year of doing something, he can establish it a tradition.

His first peak.

All smiles with his trusty sidekick, "gung gung"

Graham loves good smelling hand soap.  He was so excited about this big container of it.  It's the little things, isn't it?

And the cereal boxes in the tree.  My favorite breakfast tradition ever because I don't cook on Christmas morning.  They love their cereal boxes more than anything I could make.  I popped some Trader Joe's scones in the oven for Chris and me to enjoy with our coffee.

The line up.

A noisy stocking stuffer.

Superhero socks!

And underwear.

He got new socks too and loves them.  

Nathan has loved this movie since he was little.  He was so happy when Santa gave it to him.

We usually open the books first.

This summarizes Asher.  Baseball with a hint of birdwatching.

He's wanted these books for quite some time.

Daddy got a few things too.

I love when they all gather around.

Asher's been wanting his own Bible. 

Chris wrote in it and Asher cried when he read it.  

A sweet Christmas moment, and we hadn't even gotten to the good stuff yet.

Jopie opening up his new Razor.

Nathan got some more magna tiles and he has thanked me for them about 25 times since.  He and Joseph spent all day building things with them.  I love these things.

And he does too.

A baseball glove for this boy is always appropriate.

I think he's in love.

This is Asher's want present.  Last year his want was a voice recorder.  This year a nightstand to hold his radio in which he listens to sports radio while he falls asleep.  And lucky for me, it went on clearance at Target just when I needed to buy it.

The older boys got nanos.  It's a big step up from my huge bright yellow Sony walkman.  They got one in "their" color… green for Graham, red for Asher and blue for Samuel.

We spent the rest of our day playing with our new toys.  

It was lovely, and simple, and almost kind of boring, but in a sweet way.  

We went for a walk after opening presents.  Nathan on his Christmas bike.

But there was no time to waste, the next day, "Operation Prepare for Minnesota" was on.  We had to pick up the Christmas mess, shut down the house, and get ready for a very long car ride.