Christmas 2009!

We had an awesome Christmas Eve and Christmas this year! (Although to be honest I can't think of a "bad" Christmas that I've had!)

On Christmas Eve my family came over for a luncheon of shrimp salad and roast beef sandwiches. Then in sticking with tradition my brother, sister, and I exchanged Christmas gifts. We started this when we were younger. I guess we were so excited about Christmas when we were younger that this was a way to make it to Christmas morning!

After our luncheon we all headed over to Community Christian Church for what was the best Christmas Eve service of my life! I had heard from others all year how amazing the service was and it definitely did not dissapoint. There is just something amazing about having all the lights out and celebrating Christ's birth by singing by candlelight!

Caleb and Blake and their matching Christmas outfits before church. They wound up in childcare, they aren't quite ready for an hour long service!

My sister, brother, and I after the service.

After church we headed to Jason's Uncle and Aunt's house for his family's traditional Christmas Eve dinner. We always look forward to his Uncle's delicious crab dip! Every year the local fire department brings Santa by on their firetruck as we are there. This year Caleb was afraid!

After an eventful Christmas Eve Jason read the boys "The Night Before Christmas" and I read the story of Jesus' birth from the bible. I worried that Caleb would be so excited that he would stay up all night, but after the busy day he pretty much passed out!

On Christmas morning we woke the boys up at 7:30. I was sure Caleb would be in our bed very early, but he was still exhausted from Christmas Eve!

It was a lot of fun to have two kids open presents on Christmas morning! Blake isn't quite ready to open his own presents so Caleb helped him a lot. I don't think Caleb minded this too much though as he has been playing with Blake's toys!

Here is Blake with all of his presents. We went crazy for Caleb's first Christmas but decided to tone it down a little for Blake for many reasons! First, we were on a tight budget. Second, when we look back at Caleb's first Christmas all of those things have been donated to Purple Heart ages ago!

Caleb with his presents. The big toys he asked for were the Imaginext Dragon Fortress and the Handy Manny toolbench. He has gotten a bit spoiled and asked "Where's my toolbench?" as soon as he came down the steps. Santa decided to hide this present and hold it off to the extreme end in hopes of humbling Caleb. Any other suggestions on how to humble a child like this? LOL

After presents I dressed Blake and laid him down. He fell asleep immediately even though it was only 9:45 a.m. This poor baby (and his poor parents) were up multiple times the night before as he was running a fever and coughing! So, unfortunately Blake was sick for his first Christmas!

After presents at home we headed to Jason's parents for their traditional Christmas morning breakfast and more presents.

Even though Blake wasn't feeling his best, he still managed to smile for pictures!

My niece Hanna opening the fingerpaints (aren't I an awesome aunt?!) that we got her for Christmas.

After Jason's parents we headed to my parents for lunch (it wouldn't be Christmas without my Grandmom's marshmallow salad) and even more presents! These kids are too spoiled!

Part of Caleb and Blake's Christmas present was this folding table that will stay at my parents' house. I thought it was funny when Caleb sat at the table with his feet propped on it!

Blake with his presents!

By the end of the day my poor Blakey was too sick and tired to even enjoy his new car!
After leaving my parents we came home and began the daunting task of unloading our car! This is what our living room looked like afterwards, crazy!

Well, I still have one week left of Christmas break! With last week's snow in our area I am looking at nearly 16 days off from work! I only had to go in for a few hours last Wednesday and only half of my students showed! I am honestly anxious about going back to work as I worry about how my kids will react to a half a month of from school!

For now I am going to try my best not to think about that! We have a fun week planned... I am trying some new recipes and will post the good ones here. Today my mother in law is watching the kids while I indulge in haircut (I haven't had time to do anything for myself lately, not even a haircut!). I am going to a friend's house for dinner on Tuesday. On Thursday we will celebrate Jason's 30th birthday by having dinner with family at Longhorn Steakhouse. I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas vacation too!