Christmas Eve / Christmas Day 2015

Even though every year it feels like it will never come, Christmas Eve finally did arrive! The boys had barely finished breakfast before they remembered that it was on Christmas Eve that I told them they could dig into their gingerbread house and eat the candy. I'm pretty sure it was a highlight of the day!

We spent the whole day together as a family. We went to the discount theater after lunch and saw the new Charlie Brown movie. Zach made a delicious dinner of beef wellington (I wish I had a picture- it was beautiful!) And before bed the boys made some of Zach's famous chocolate chip cookies.

I just couldn't get over how cute Camden's little toes looked!

This was the first year since the year Brady was born that we didn't have visitors for Christmas. It was just our little family and we sort of loved it that way! (We love it when we have visitors too but this was a fun change of pace for us.) We ended the night by reading the story of Jesus' birth and watching a short movie of "The Night Before Christmas" while eating cookies. It was short and simple and exactly what we needed this year.

Bed time went off without a hitch and once the kids were quietly sleeping Zach and I got to work on wrapping gifts and setting up Christmas. It's always a bigger job than I think it will be. I was happy that we made it to be just after midnight.

We decided on a 7am start time for the next morning, but at about 6am Zach heard little feet sneaking down the stairs. Ryan and Brady were up and Zach stayed out there with them. I was all for waiting until 7 but got worried that they would start without me so I got out of bed too. Poor little Camden had to be woken up but as soon as he saw the presents waiting downstairs he was happy to be up.

We always do stockings first followed by dividing up the presents under the tree. It's all way more civilized than I ever remember Christmas morning being in my house growing up, but the boys love it and it's fun to see them getting excited as their pile grows and grows.

Camden is in love with all things Mario. He got this little Mario with kitty cat power in his stocking and he probably would have been happy to call it a Christmas after that. He loves his kitty cat Mario and spent a long time playing with it before getting to any of his other presents. He now sleeps with it every night. I love when presents go over even better than you had imagined!

Another Camden favorite was the new ski goggles and helmet from Grammy Pam and Pops. He has yet to actually go skiing with them, but he loves to wear them around the house.

Grandma Jodi hit the nail on the head this year with these Mine Craft stuffed animals for the boys. Mine Craft is so odd to me. The characters are really weird and kind of ugly but somehow the boys adore them and were so excited to have their very own deformed looking block headed pig etc.

Christmas morning was relaxing and super fun. We probably spent two hours slowly opening gifts. The aftermath was quite impressive. And if you'll notice I got two printers! Holla! (Zach and my mom should chat with each other more)

I kept it simple again this year and we just did cinnamon rolls (out of a can), orange slices and scrambled eggs for breakfast. I didn't hear any complaints so I will definitely do the same thing again next year!

We got to spend the rest of the day in our pajamas at home diving into new presents and watching new movies and playing new games. It was the perfect day. I love Christmas! Even with all the stress and work leading up to it, I already can't wait until next year to do it all again!