Christmas 2011

We had a really fantastic Christmas! Having kids in the house definitley helps keeping the Christmas spirit alive.  Christmas Eve afternoon we gave the kids one present to open.  The night before Brandan had made the boys a basketball hoop out of PVC pipe and then disassembled it so we could wrap it up.  The boys were a little confused about their gift and then the light started to dawn on Dash and he put it all together.  He is still pretty sure that we didn't realize the pieces would go together that way.

The boys opening the Christmas Eve Family gift.

The boys shooting hoops.

We went to the Booths for dinner Christmas Eve night.  Later we sang songs and acted out the Christmas story.

The Christmas story at the Booths

Sport tried to make a call during the story.

Joseph

Singing carols.

When we got home from the Booths, Dash tried to insist that we all go to bed immediately in case Santa came.  We tried to show him on Santa Tracker that Santa was still a ways away, but he thought South America looked close enough.  After some fast talking we convinced him to play a game of basketball before bedtime.

One last game of Christmas Eve hoops.

After putting the kids to bed, we heard "Santa's bells" ringing outside the boys windows.  Colt was pretty sleepy so he wasn't that impressed, but when I went into Dash's room to ask him if he heard the bells, he went into a panic.  At first his face lit up at the sound, but then he tried to insist that I sleep in his room so that Santa wouldn't leave because we weren't all in bed.  I promised him I would run to my room.  We didn't hear a peep the rest of the night.
The next morning the boys were thrilled to see the brownies and milk had been eated and Santa had really left them presents.  Dash had been legitimately concerned about making it on the nice list, to the point of tears occasionally.

Christmas morning

Before church the boys opened their stockings and then actually did really well through the meeting and even allowed us to take a few pictures before opening the rest of their gifts.

Dash on Christmas Day

Colt on Christmas Day

Sport on Christmas Day

The family on Christmas Day

The rest of the days was spent pretty lazily lounging around in our new pajamas and enjoying our Christmas presents.

The boys playing with their new toys on Christmas Day

For Christmas, I got Brandan copies of his high school football and basketball games and we spent most of the afternoon reliving the glory days.

Sport and Daddy watching high school game videos.

On Christmas night, we decided to have a slumber party in the living room and watch the boys' new Cars 2 movie.

The slumber party

After putting all our Christmas things away on the 26th, we packed up and headed for Idaho.  We drove to Bozeman that day and stayed in a super fun hotel with a slide.  The boys loved swimming and eating breakfast at the hotel.  We drove the rest of the way to Idaho on the 27th and had a blast playing with cousins and grandparents and seeing all our family.  The worst part was when we had to leave.

The boys playing with the garage at Grandma Claysons.

Dash's Santa Observations:

"So I guess Santa is nocturnal."

"Mom, who is your favorite person?" (Dash) "My favorite people are Daddy and Dash and Colt and Sport. Who is your favorite person?" (Mom) "Santa." (Dash)