We had ourselves a merry little Christmas.

Cozy.

If the weeks leading up to Christmas were a blur, things slowed down just enough for the big day itself.  Christmas Eve was chilly and raining, just like last year.  We braved not one, but two church services because I wanted to let the kids enjoy the kids program.  After the kids service, Emery headed for the nursery to hang out with her friends and Alastair stayed for the adult program.  Both services were good, but having done it once, I think we'll stick with the adult program in the future.  There really wasn't enough kid focused activity to warrant attending the earlier service for their sakes and not enough for adults either:  no sermon and we were too far back to see the pageant which they would have enjoyed.  The kids did awesome with my experiment though.  They complained far less than Kim! 

All churched up, we headed back to our house for Christmas Eve dinner with Grammie, Papa, and Uncle Bill, whom Emery has renamed "Un-coco."  Emery, having horrified him with her potty training at Thanksgiving, was proud to be fully clothed for this dinner and Uncoco was happy about "less cowbell."  That should probably be it's own post, but out of a sense of decorum (haha) I'll refrain.

Scenes of Christmas Morning:

Superheroes and royalty.

We are all stocked up on Legos.

Kim, happily chilling in his pj's.

I made the kids matching pj's this year.  Perhaps I entertain dreams of looking like the Brady Bunch on tour, but I figure the window on Alastair's excitement to match his sister is closing fast.  Pajamas are a totally fun way to be a little cheesy without crossing the border into Dorkville with full on matching outfits at Easter.  Not happening here, folks.  He was absolutly giddy with their matching outfits and they were having such a good time, I just let them declare Christmas to be a pajama day and they even went to Grammie and Papa's house later in the day still dressed for bed.  It made things a lot easier when we came home at bedtime too!

Kim is really not a pj guy.  He has a robe because I bought him one, picturing him thumbing through the newspaper while sipping coffee on the weekends.  He may have worn it to the front door in the middle of the night once when the constable stopped by to tell us our garage door was open.  PJ's are generally reserved for when it is freezing and he has showered but isn't yet ready to go to bed.  Christmas morning he got up, showered, then put on his deer with kegs pants just to make me happy.  That's love.

Christmas night at my parents' house.

 

Chilling with my girl.

The big Santa presents at our house this year were new roller skates for Alastair (the boy has to have something with wheels, extra points if there is some risk of injury) and a scooter for Emery.  Christmas day was rainy and miserable, which was perfect for hanging out inside.  Boxing day was clear and in the afternoon, we headed out to test the new toys.

Seriously, could this kid be cuter?

A little nervous at first.

Then off to the races!

The next day the clock started moving at the old pace as we headed off to spend a few days in Camp Wood. 

Emery has some new ideas about how to wear a tutu.

I'm not sure what Alastair was doing during this picture, but present opening was a fast and furious affair happening in two rooms simultaneously.  He was here; I promise.

Emery has a new baby to feed.

The weather was very nice for our visit and we logged plenty of good walks after being cooped up inside for the week.

The kids with their GiGi.

On the way home, we stopped by SeaWorld again and Boudreaux got to check out their complimentary kennels.  We had a great time and the dog was thoroughly worn out from shouting his complaints all over the park.  We could hear him occasionally for most of the day, but at least we knew he had not managed to escape.  As I understand it, this isn't unusual for him as the groomers are extremely prompt about telling me when he is done and ready to go.  He likes to yell at them too.

Memaw and Papaw

With a day off to clean up our house after a week of travel, presents, and general lazy relaxed housekeeping, we got to enjoy a visit from Bob and Kathy as well.  The kids loved all the attention and we all enjoyed some Indian summer at Clay's restaurant.

One busy week:

That's three sets of grandparents, one set of great grandparents, one uncle, one great aunt, one great uncle, two church services, 543,124 legos, 11 new wheels, 310 feet of wrapping paper, 43 gift bags, 32 cinnamon rolls, 65 cookies, 8 bars of fudge, and two worn out parents.  All ready to do it again next year.