Well Christmas is over for another year.... and this was one of the best holiday seasons so far! Owen was finally old enough this year to really understand things and be excited about things, and we slowed down a bit and didn't try to do so much this year, which resulted in a relaxed, fun Christmas season.
Hold on tight, this is picture overload because I'm recapping all the holiday happenings that well... happened. Ha.
We kicked off the season right after Thanksgiving by participating in Operation Christmas Child. It's really important to us to teach the boys the act of charity... and to instill in them compassion for others. We went shopping together to pick out shoebox items for a little boy, inspected each item closely, put them all in the box and dropped it off at a local church. This is something we will do every year for sure!
As we discovered last year by complete surprise, the Clackamas County Fire District's Operation Santa Claus parade comes right through our neighborhood! This year, instead of going "what the heck is that noise? Are those sirens? What? There is a fire truck in front of our house with Santa inside? What is this???" we were ready and waiting! The parade picks up canned food and new toys and we had 2 bags of food ready to hand over. Despite the rain, the boys loved watching Santa cruise by on his big fire truck!!
We got the house all decked out and festive! My Aunt donated a lot of decorations to me, things she brought up with her from San Diego and didn't have room for in her new townhouse. I was happy to adopt them!
I heard about a local event called Reindeer Magic and wanted to check it out. The crowds made Owen all shy, and the only activity that didn't have a line 20 million miles long was the face painting. So Austin turned into the cutest little reindeer and we were done after that. I don't mind busy events but when you can't even walk because people are so packed in.. no thank you.
Since it wasn't raining after we high-tailed it out of Reindeer Magic, and since we were already bundled up, we decided to go get our Christmas tree! It was quite the hunt for the perfect one. Neal did lots of pointing, and Austin begged to hold the saw every 5 seconds and Owen tripped over every stump out there...but we found the perfect tree! So...very successful mission.
Austin got invited to a cookie decorating party at his friend Brayden's house. He had so much fun frosting sugar cookies and bringing them home in all their smeared glory.
Our friends hosted a "real" adult Christmas cocktail party! We haven't had an occasion to dress up in years! There was a real bartender, and a photo booth... which we obviously were awesome at utilizing.
These two crazy elves "mustache" if you have been naughty or nice this year.... (sorry, couldn't help myself with the mustache joke).
Some Merry Mail came our way too! I love getting Christmas cards, it's one of my favorite parts of the holidays. The boys got cards just for them from Aunt Patty, Gramma and Gramma Darlene and were so excited their clothes just fell right off. Actually, this is how they look 90% of the time they are home. Undressed or half dressed or using shirts as skirts or pants at hats or whatever.
The boys were busy at school all during the holidays making crafts! My favorite was the snowflake ornament Austin made me. He made sure to tell me he made it "weally sparkly" just for me.
Twas the night before Christmas Eve... and Owen was.... over it? Tired? Exasperated? Who knows, to be honest. He sat like this for quite a long time and it was hilarious. I feel ya, kiddo. I feel ya.
Finally it was Christmas Eve!! We were hosting Neal's family at our house this year, so we spent the morning taking it easy and watching Christmas cartoons...
...and we gave the boys their two "bigger" gifts from us. They each got a ride on bouncy ball, and Owen got a vacuum (he's obsessed) and Austin got a Star Wars ship. Thankfully Owen jumped right in to chore mode and started cleaning up!! And yes I know it's pink. It's the one he liked in the store... so if my baby boy wants a pink vacuum, he's getting a pink vacuum.
Aunt Patty gave us this cool book that we read several times! Neal looks thrilled he's on round 547 of the story, doesn't he??? Yeah... he's over Eugene again... coming this way... hurray....
Poppa came over bearing very large new stuffy friends for the boys!!! Gramma Pete had to stay home because she is battling cancer and her immune system is not very strong right now. We missed her, and called her via Skype later in the night. The boys loved their big friends from Poppa and Pete though, and snuggled all night with them!
We did our White Elephant gift exchange and Auntie Lori ended up with a back massager that Owen decided to claim for most of the night. He was so hilarious! He started in a standing position and just melted on to the floor while going "oh... oh yeah. Oh... " the whole time. Every time Neal would try and turn it off he'd start pleading for more massages! "Me? Me? Me??"
After a fun night, it was finally Christmas morning!!! Santa came and nibbled on the cookies we left! The reindeer loved the shredded carrots Austin insisted on leaving because they were "smaller and easier to eat"
Santa came!!!
Obligatory blurry photo of excited kids heading down the stairs!!
There are goodies in my stocking too???
What??? A Batman mask/hat in my stocking???? So awesome!!!
Owen needed a few moments to wake up before joining in on the fray, and decided that the leftover cookie bits needed to be consumed!!
Then the unwrapping began....everything from "Santa" was pretty small, and I was proud of both boys for being appreciative and excited over even the smallest gifts.
Hulkblaster fists!!! How cool!! (sidenote, best "photo bomb" by Neal ever... his face!!! hahaha)
Neal's face pretty much sums up how we were feeling... "those seemed like a good idea at the time... but... crap.... these are gonna cause a ruckus"
After a quick breakfast we loaded into the car and headed down to Gramma and Grandpa's house for more celebrating. Grampa needed a lot of help opening his gifts!
I think they loved ripping the paper the most. They both got cool Star Wars figures!
Grampa got both the boys an official UPS beanie! Austin didn't take his off almost the whole day. Proud to represent! And pretty darn stoked to be eating a Christmas cookie too.
In the afternoon we went over to Gramma Darlene's house for Christmas dinner and yep.. more presents!!
Just look at the aftermath. I mean, seriously.
Austin got a Darth Vadar car!! The kid has seen Star Wars ONCE and is so obsessed.
After Christmas the boys stayed down at Gramma and Grampa's for a few days and Neal and I got to come home and take down decorations, clean up, rearrange things and do some house projects (more on that later).... when they got home we had their new train table all set up for them! Austin said it was "awesome, awesome, awesome!!!"
Well, that was Christmas!
Whew...busy and fun and festive and jolly and all that good stuff!!!
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