Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!  We started our festivities last night with Jordan's parents at our house.  We enjoyed lots of snacks, as we waited anxiously for Jordan to get off work so that we could do our gift exchange with them.  But MawMaw and PawPaw took advantage of the time they had playing with these growing boys.  Lots of toys and clothes for both of them.  Austin was really into opening the presents this year and gave thanks for every one of them.  Chase couldn't have cared less about the gifts; he just roamed around.

 After the Houghams left, we read the Christmas story.  This didn't necessarily go as planned, as Austin quickly pointed out that Mary (with long curly hair in the book) looked like Candace (his favorite teacher at school). So, I apologize in advance Candace, if he gets confused!  Anyways, after reading our book, we set out our cookies and milk for Santa.  Austin ensured that Santa had a wide variety of cookies to munch on for his visit. 

 I insisted that he had to hurry to bed so that Santa could come.  Surprisingly, he did pretty well and didn't put up too much of a fight.  Meow Meow and LoLo stayed the night with us, so we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation before calling it a night.  After Jordan drifted off to sleep, I snuck out of the bed to carry in his bicycle from the garage.  I had been hiding it at the neighbor's house all week, and then moved it to the back of his truck that day.  However, I didn't calculate the tight quarters of my car being next to his truck in getting it out.  It was a close one, but I eventually wheeled it in by the tree and snuck back into the bed without him noticing.  Now, you're probably wondering why on earth I would get him a bicycle.  Well, he requested one, so I got it.  But for some reason, I have a hard time seeing him riding it around the neighborhood; we'll see.

Chase was the first one up in the morning at about 8:15am.  I quickly put some blueberry muffins in the oven and got the rest of the crew up.  After sorting all of the presents, we all took our places and let Austin start ripping into them, which he gladly did.  I'm so glad he's at the age where he enjoys opening up the gifts and I can see the excitement on his face.  It's priceless.  But once again, Chase was more interested in eating and playing with boxes and tissue paper.  I'll do a quick recap of gifts for everyone.

Austin - drumset, keyboard, Leapster, Thomas trains, Chuggington trains, Kung Fu Panda DVD, Lion King Simba, McDonald's cash register & food, lots of clothes

Chase - drums, clothes, bouncing turtle sit-on, dancing puppy, phones, blocks, clothes, and more toys. 

Jordan - bicycle, cologne, ties, slacks, shirts, shoes, boxers, iTunes giftcard, Express giftcard, Steve Jobs book, Adele CD :)

Jen - Silhouette machine (kinda like a Cricut, but better!), clothes, LOFT giftcard, Nicholas Sparks book, and a 2-day trip to a spa resort.

Wait, what's that last gift I got?!  Yeah, Jordan and Logan colluded (for Katrina's birthday tomorrow) to send us to a fancy resort and spa in Austin for two nights with spa treatments.  They really came through for us this year!!  Apparently they thought we'd had a bit of a rough year, especially the past few weeks, so they thought we'd appreciate some time away to relax.  And indeed we will!  The big boys will be in charge of the little boys.  I'm sad to leave my boys, but I think it'll be good for us to get away and get refreshed.  So excited; we got some great guys for sure!

After opening all the presents and attempting to contain the tornado that ran through the living room from the gifts, we switched gears to getting lunch together.  We opted for just a ham today, and not a turkey; it's too much work and I wanted to be as low maintenance as possible. Allen (aka Pops), my former step-dad, but the only real father-figure I had, joined us for lunch, too.  But I think the person who enjoyed the food the most was Chase.  This kid can put it away! It's unbelievable.  After our guests parted ways with us, the four of us spent the remainder of the day all napping, munching on leftovers, and playing with all our new toys. 

Overall, it was probably one of the best Christmas' in a long time.  It was just so relaxing (I'm still in my pajamas from this morning!) and watching the excitement on Austin's face with each gift was just so heart-warming.  And now that Chase is here, our family is complete.  I'm so thankful for those who I got to spend this special holiday with. 

Now, onto finding room for all these new toys.  Even with a playroom, we're running out of room quickly! But tomorrow's Katrina's birthday, so we're looking forward to a good dinner (minus Jordan, who has to work), and then off to Austin!