Home for Christmas

We did something for Christmas this year that we had never really done before... we stayed home!  With it being our first year in the new house, and with family plans lining up just so, we stayed put, played host, and enjoyed it!

Christmas Eve was just the four of us, so decided to brave the 8 pm Christmas Vigil at MDP with the boys.  I was singing that mass, and we thought it might be special to start the tradition of going to mass at bedtime on Christmas Eve.  All in all, they did okay.  I had a birds-eye view of the boys from the choir loft, and let's just say that by the homily, I knew it was time to divide and conquer: Liam spent the rest of mass "singing" with me upstairs while Joergen hung with Dad and the rest of the congregation below.

After mass, we quickly changed into pjs and went right to bed in the hopes that Santa would come...

I snuck downstairs in the middle of the night to take a peek, and sure enough- he did!

On Christmas morning, Dad and I heard the pitter-patter of little feet down the hall and into our bedroom, and then the awe-struck voice of little Liam: "He CAME!!  Santa was HERE!!

We then heard him run back down the hall to wake up Joergen.

L: "Joergen, Santa came.  You have to wake up!!"

J: "No.  I'm sleeping, Wee-am."

L: "But Joergen!  You have to wake up- you just have to!  SANTA was HERE- and he LEFT PRESENTS!"

And that pretty much did the trick.

Fast forward about 10 minutes...

Stocking loot!

After stockings, it was time to open presents.

For ME?!?!

Connect Four!  Thanks French family!

One of the best parts of this Christmas was that it was the boys' first time joining in the spirit of giving.  Nothing could top seeing their happiness and pride when they got to pick up a gift from under the tree and give it to someone else.  It was awesome.  

Liam was beaming about giving Dad a new Christmas sweater... for beer.

And this- my favorite gift of Christmas- was a pillow made from Liam's hands and footprint that he sewed himself at school (and that made me have "happy tears", the news of which Liam promptly shared with his entire class when he returned to school in January...):

His teacher sent us this pic the next day of his class holding their creations.  So. Much. Cute.

Joergen had also amazed me a few days before Christmas when he saw a Playmobil Christmas playset at Wegman's and said, "I want to buy this for Wee-am for Christmas!" (and proceeded to heave it into the shopping cart himself.)  How could I say no to that?

While waiting for Nana, Grandpa, and GG to arrive later that morning, who did we see out our kitchen window, scampering in their pajamas to Aunt Maryanne's house next door? 

It's Treesa! And Danielle! And Kwissy!  And Miss Doreen!  It was like a little family reunion with this crowd.  And as you can see, Joergen was still enthralled with the claw toy that Liam had gifted him earlier that morning.

Not long after, our York family arrived and it was time to get the party started!

GG and Nana

Grandpa and Dad

While the men drank their eggnog and the women chatted and made lunch, the boys got down to business with their special gift from Santa: walkie talkies!

During lunch, Nana unveiled my second-favorite gift of Christmas: haggis!  (Don't judge it 'til you've tried it!)  Liam and Joergen had never had it before, so Nana told them all about the tale of the haggis from GG and Great-Grandpa's trip to Scotland years ago.  I loved the look on Liam's face as he listened intently to the story.

As they say, the proof is in the pudding- and I know at least one little boy who seriously takes after his great-grandfather in his instant love for haggis.  Joergen not only polished off his own plate, but then proceeded to bounce from lap to lap around the table pilfering everyone else's, too!

Nom nom nom

After lunch, we exchanged gifts with Nana, Grandpa, and GG.

A Tonka truck book!

A dinosaur!

A backhoe!

A phone call from Erin!

One of the gifts we were most excited to give this year was actually from all of us- me, my siblings, my cousins, and all of our families went in together on hard-cover photo books for GG and our parents of our Brigantine vacation last summer.  Cousin Brian coordinated the book and did an absolutely incredible job!  It was so much fun watching Nana, Grandpa, and GG's faces as they went through their books on Christmas.

And then, young and old sat down to feast... on rare (Who) roast beast!

That was the first of many awesome celebrations over the holidays, and I couldn't imagine a better way to have spent it.  Merry Christmas, everyone!