Oh, to be a little boy on Christmas

Did you know that I grew up opening presents on Christmas eve? It's so weird to Sean. But that's what we do! And that's what we did. We had a big clan, with Jenny and Co. plus Brian and Co., though we sure missed Darren and Co. (love you guys!). I didn't even bother taking pictures of the present exchange because

A) There was such little light, there's no way any photos would turn out remotely nice,

B) I was feeling pretty cruddy (remember how the boys were sick? germs sure do spread), and

C) Liam and Dash decided to be the grumpiest of grumps that evening. Seriously, who throws crazy fits repeatedly while opening presents? I think it was a perfect storm of still recovering from their sickness, catching up on lost sleep from their night of airplane travel (although they were fantastic travelers), and a whole lot of commotion.

So it was all I could do to keep my kids slightly happy, let alone wield a camera. Our family gave us some wonderful gifts and we're so grateful. I'm most excited about the boys' new toy airplane, it's just perfect for them. You'll have to trust me, since there aren't pictures.

Buuuuut, I did take pictures of Christmas morn. After a good night's sleep and a quiet house, all was happy and peaceful and really fun. It looked a little something like this...

Wake up and check out the stockings.

Guess what! I made those! Sewed the last button on while driving to the airport. Yes, I should have ironed them again after unpacking them, but who wants to do that?

The stockings held a few books and this to unwrap...

Cars! Oh there can never be enough cars in a boys life.

Liam quickly parked them in a line underneath the coffee table.

Then the boys played with their new Magna Doodles. Sorry about the morning hair, mom and dad.

Then we played on the stairs. What a Christmas morning treat.

Especially if it means sitting with Grandma.

Grandma and Grandpa's stairs are way cooler than our stairs at home. Can't play peekaboo on ours!

Then we found the Christmas Matryoshka dolls.

They are such a puzzle.

And cap the morning off with playing with new toys (oh, there IS the airplane) and Christmas decorations. What a lovely day!