Christmas!

Christmas this year was a whirlwind like it always is. A fun, laughing, lucky mess of wrapping paper and delicious food and baby snuggles and toddlers kind of grasping the concept of the magic of Christmas for the first time. 

Granny V's is always the first Christmas we have. She makes an amazing meal and we all eat together. 

This year a certain baby got really sleepy in the middle of the present opening and had a tiny breakdown. He caught his second wind and made it through the whole night. An excited toddler opened all of his own presents and all of his brother's. He did not distinguish between the two and was equally excited for each of Porter's gifts and each of his own (except for the clothes...those he threw across the room in disgust). Aunt Maddie got an indoor trampoline that was the highlight of the night. 

On Christmas Eve, we start the day with Grandpa. The boys opened their presents from their grandpa and then Jared's brothers and Candy came over for lunch. Paxton ran out of presents and patience right after lunch so he went down for a nap. 

That night, we headed to Granny's. Paxton was great again this year and Porter slept in his car seat for the first half of the night. We played Dirty Santa and Pax struggled with the realization that the big pile of presents in the middle weren't his. Luckily, there was a fruit tray so he was good. 

As we were driving home, all I could think of was how excited I was to get home and get things ready for Christmas morning. I have such sweet memories of happy Christmas mornings from my childhood and I am so indescribably excited to watch my boys experience that. A bike was built and other presents were assembled and Jared and I had our annual debate about whether or not Santa wraps presents (he doesn't). 

Paxton asked Santa for a red bike for Christmas (well not literally because he just cried when he saw Santa, but whenever we asked him what he was asking Santa for he would say a red bike...). He was just as excited as I hoped he would be when he saw the bike on Christmas morning. He just kept saying "red bike for Christmas!" over and over as he rode it around the house. It was amazing. 

Porter was really happy with his purple sippy cup (apparently assorted colors means you might get stuck with a pink and purple cup...thanks Amazon) and his Scout. 

After we opened our gifts from each other and Jared and Paxton raced cars on Pax's new Matchbox car racetrack (which Jared picked out and was so excited to give him), we headed to Gramsy's house. 

(My sisters and I had matching nightgowns with our initials embroidered on them)

The tradition in my family is that each kid gets a Cabbage Patch doll for their first Christmas. Porter introduced himself to Aiden with a giant kiss, exactly the same way Paxton introduced himself to Allen two short years ago. 

We ate breakfast, opened presents, ate lunch and kept eating until bedtime. It was perfect. The boys took naps and played with toys and shreds of paper. We stayed in our pajamas all day. 

It's always so sad when Christmas is over. This year had a little extra bitterness with the end of the season as the time neared for our big move. We are so thankful to have such loving and giving families. Our boys got so many amazing presents and were showered with so much love. Christmas always reminds me how lucky we are.