Christmas 2011

And...it's over. Once again it has come and gone all too fast. Time to pack up the projects that were only half-completed, the Advent calendar boxes that never got opened,the waaaay too many toys that Santa and the grandparents brought, and the bows that will need to be ironed again next year.

This year was the best yet. There was little money to spare, but we made sure the kids got the Christmas they deserved. Even if Anderson is still too young to remember (and Beck is too young to even know what is going on), there is such an amazing feeling when you are able to spoil your kids once a year. To have that one time of year where you don't think twice about the "usefulness" or the "educational value" of something, you just buy it because you know they will love it. I grew up in this kind of a house where Santa never let you down and it is the least I can do to provide the same for my boys.

It began at our house on Christmas morning:

The kids of course woke up incredibly early as usual. I think Beck was up by 5 because I had enough time to go downstairs and make Monkey Bread before the sun even came up. (No pictures of that as there were some serious problems issues. Easy as it is, you need to have more than one eye open when baking. It was A-mazing, however, even if it did look terribly unappealing.) 
When Anderson woke up the sun still had not risen and we told him that Santa's rule was that you were not allowed to go look at the presents until the sun was shining. Oh- and he pee-peed his matching Christmas jammies. Figures. At least we had a back-up hand-me-down pair. We went downstairs and he didn't even know which way to look. The kitchen? The race track? The bike? The books? Maybe Santa should have taken inventory and saved something for the birthday in less than 3 months time!
It was all over fairly quickly and we didn't get nearly enough of the "important" pictures. Family photo? Not this year. At least we all got to nap by 9 am. I love that we have nothing to do and nowhere to be on Christmas morning. Thank goodness for Christmas Eve mass. I always feel bad for people who spend their holidays shuffling from house to house trying to squeeze it all in.

Then moved to the Grandparents':

In the afternoon we went to Garndma and Grandpa's house to celebrate with the family. Before kids I would spend the whole day (and most of the night before) making a 3-5 course meal for Christmas dinner. The last 2 years we ditched the formality and opted for homemade soups and beef tenderloin sandwiches. This year I got off easy, only making a French onion soup and a flourless choclate cake.
Too many gifts once again. I'm thinking next year the cousins need to draw names.

And ended the next day with the other Grandparents:

"Palmer Christmas" is always celebrated on the 26th so the festivites just keep on going. This year was the first we didn't host and it weas so nice to not have to worry about getting the house in order. More toys, more unwrapping, more pictures. Seriously, what are we going to do with all these toys? For now I am going to keep most of them hidden and bring them out in rotation. I'm not so sure Anderson will fall for it.

On a totally unrelated note, Anderson I am so sorry about your bangs. You really need to stop moving when I'm cutting your hair.