Ho ho ho!

It is so hard to believe that another Christmas has come and gone already!  I was sooo in the Christmas spirit before we went to CA and while we were there, I kept forgetting it was Christmas time. I was quickly brought back into the spirit once returning home!

We got back on Thursday the 22nd at night and on Friday the 23rd, we had a little Christmas get together with my brother and his family, who were heading down to Savannah to spend Christmas with my sister-in-law's family.  Cal wasn't opening gifts, since he would get gifts from my parents on Christmas day, but he was surprised with a BIG WHEEL!  Jackson and Catherine both got them, so Cal got his early to be able to ride with them.  He LOVES it.  It is still a little big for him, but he really had fun just scooting around on it. 

My parents had a friend of theirs dress up as Santa to  come in during family Christmas.  He made a huge entry and the kids were all excited for him-- it was very cute...

My pictures from the family Christmas stop there because Cal was on my lap terrified of Santa...again.  Sigh. Oh well!  Once this Santa handed Cal a gift, Cal gave him knuckles, but wouldn't get much closer.  Side note-- Santa gave Cal and Jackson the Hess truck and car-- huge huge huge hit!  If you have a little kid in your life who loves cars/trucks/things that make noise, go to the Hess gas station to get one for them!  I couldn't believe it-- a friend of mine wanted one for her son, who got one last year, but really wanted this year's, and she couldn't find one in the whole state--!!!!  I guess our Santa got really lucky!!! Here is a link to the truck, for those curious...

So, that was the morning of the 23rd... Eddie's parents arrived that evening after the kids went to bed, so I spent the rest of the day picking up the house, unpacking, and trying to get laundry all done. 

On Christmas Eve, we spent time around the house and Eddie and his parents did some shopping for Christmas.  Eddie's sister got in around noon.  We met up with my parents for the children's service at church at 5:30.  It is a chaotic service that is totally for the children.  I love the 8:00 candlelight service at our church, but there was no way CalBoy and Andy could have made it through that and I didn't want to have them in the nursery on Christmas Eve!

Cal walking into church with Mimi and Poppy

 All of the children are invited to the front for a reading of the story of Jesus's birth.  Cal and I went up there and after about 60 seconds, Cal was over it!  My cousin was with us in church and he decided he wanted to sit with her.  So Cal and I had to get up and crawl through everyone to walk back to our seats:

family shot after church-- can't you just see the fire in Cal's eyes??

After church, we went over to my parent's house for some food and fun.  It was SUCH a wonderful night... I felt to lucky to have both of our families together like that.  I was thrilled to be with my parents, and looking at Eddie, I could tell he was so happy to be with his parents, and we were able to do it all together, which made it so nice. 

Eddie's mom used to be a choir teacher and she still can play the piano.  She sat down at my mom's piano and played some Christmas music for us, which was so much fun!

here, Mimi, let me help you with that

yayyyyyy!

Christmas Eve was really, really special.  We all really had a nice time enjoying each other and being with family, and that's what Christmas is all about!!!

Everyone was asking what time we would be starting the fun on Christmas morning and I had no idea what to tell them.  The boys were so screwed up from the time changes from San Diego and they were beyond worn out from traveling.  The first morning back, Cal didn't get up until after 8 and Andy didn't until after 9 (he was up in the night, obviously...). 

Well, Christmas morning, both boys were wide awake fairly early.  Andy was up around 6 and Cal was up before 7.  I was supposed to call my parents to tell them to come over, but we all thought that would be closer to 8ish.  I called them at 7 and told them everyone was awake and they needed to haul it if they wanted to see anything!

I brought Andy down stairs and sat him on the floor surrounded by gifts.  He was just smiling ear to ear, happy as could be!  I wanted to be downstairs with the camera when Cal came down the stairs.  I actually really wanted to get a picture of Cal at the top of the stairs waiting to come down, but there were a few people (okay, one person...and I am married to him!), that were not patient and didn't want to wait for a picture! So Eddie was a little excited and brought Cal down the stairs.

who needs toys??

coming down the stairs!

The boys got a new wagon... well, it's Andy's wagon, but Cal thinks it's pretty amazing too!  I love this picture of them in there together.  They are just going to be best buddies...either that or they are going to do their best to throw each other out of the wagon.  Let's not think about the latter. It's Christmas, after all. 

Cal's big Santa gift this year was a Lightning McQueen bike and helmet (safety first.).  He was super excited about the bike, but he can't quite pedal just yet.  He loves to sit on it though!

A few little side note funnies that I will want to look back and remember...

1. see the adorable jammies the kids are wearing?  I told my mom that I really wanted the boys to have matching jammies for Christmas morning-- whether or not you think it's cheesy, I do not care.  I think it is super sweet.  Well, my mom found some matching and gave them to me as a surprise.  When I opened them, I noticed the scalloped neckline.  I ignored it because I was excited to have jammies for the boys, but then I noticed that the little reindeer had eyelashes...like, curly q eyelashes.  Then, upon further inspection, the reindeer had on PINK collars! hahahahaha.... yup-- these were girl pajamas!!!  We didn't care!  Those boys were going to be matching, darn it!  Look above in Cal's picture-- you can see the pink...hahahaha

2. On Christmas Eve morning, I told Eddie I didn't care what he did the whole day, but during nap time, I wanted him to take some time to assemble a few gifts.  I had ordered, shopped, wrapped, EVERYTHING, and I needed some help with the wagon, the bike and the last part of the plasma car (SUPER cool, by the way).  Eddie kept saying all day that he would do it.  Welllll.... he didn't.  So he knew, once the kids were in bed, he was on a mission to assemble those darn gifts.  Eddie and his dad set up shop in the upstairs playroom while Eddie's mom and sister helped me carry gifts down from the attic.  At 10:15, Eddie's dad came downstairs and said, "go ahead and call Target and see if they have a bike already assembled that we can buy."  I told him that they were all in boxes, so he said, "go ahead and call Target to see if they are still open.  We might be needing to buy a new bike."  HUH?!?!  Well, in their efforts to attach something to the other, they stripped one of the screws so it wouldn't attach properly.  I called Target, but of course they were closed; it was Christmas Eve!!!  Eddie hopped in the car and drove over to my dad's house to locate the necessary tools and returned to fix the bike.  The whole time this was happening, he had a sheepish grin on his face because he knew he should have done all of this earlier in the day, but he chose not to.  I never said I TOLD YOU SO... didn't have to... he knew!

3. Cal is obsessed with Lightning McQueen, as we have previously established.  We also have established that he was wearing some little girl jammies (although they were realllllly cute....).  I found the most hideous Lightning McQueen t-shirt while I was out shopping and wrapped it up for Cal.  He opened it and you would have thought it was piped in gold.  He wanted it on right that very second so he put it on on top of the jammies and then got super hot so I had to peel off the jammies under the ugly t-shirt.  He wore that t-shirt the rest of the day with pride.  And I was pretty proud too, that I gave him a gift that he didn't want to take off...

After opening presents at our house, Eddie cooked a huge breakfast on his new Big Green Egg.  He's obsessed.  We then headed over to my parents house to open gifts from them...


Cal is also obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  I think I posted before if you ask him what Mickey says, Cal says "Ohhhh, tooooooodles!!!!"  It's hilarious.  My parents found this gigantic Mickey Mouse several, several months ago and have been hiding it for Cal for Christmas.  We walked in the door and Cal literally gasped, ran to Mickey, and body slammed him like it was the WWE. 

please note the non-matching socks.  Also, please note that those are Andy's. 

 He LOOOOVES his new Mickey!

Momma got some new dining room chairs-- wooohoooooo!!!  I. LOVE. THEM!  We currently do not have chairs in our dining room (whatever- work in progress), and these are AMAZING!  love love love love love!  thanks, santa!!!

When Cal walked out on the back deck of my parents house, he saw his new bounce house!  He was sooo excited about it and didn't want to get out!  The best part is, this thing collapses and folds down to fit in a bin.  Also the best part is it blows up in like 10 seconds. And the other best part (apparently, there are a lot of best parts), is it will flat WEAR out your energetic kid!  again, I. LOVE. IT!

you work that tacky t-shirt and mismatched socks, boy!

 Andy got a new chair, which is just adorable.  He loved sitting it in like a big boy.  He was giving me the cheesiest, toothless smile ever-- wide open!  He is such a happy kid and I can't help but smile when he looks at me like this:

My mom also managed to find another chair for Cal, this one a tad tackier than Andy's... yes, that's right: it is Lightning McQueen! It's hard to tell in the below picture because his shirt blends in with the chair (ahem...), but the chair is McQueen, and get this-- it even makes noise! hahahaha  Cal loves it, obviously!

By the time we finished opening gifts over at mom and dad's house, everyone was exhausted.  We headed home for a little down time/nap time.  We were going to meet back over at their house after naps for dinner.

This time, Cal found this hat in the car and realllly wanted to wear it.  okayyyyy....

Cal and Mimi being silly

 After taking a little power nap and a shower, I must say, it felt awesome to brush my hair and put on some makeup.  I was a bit of a hot mess the whole morning.

My parents have a train that goes around their tree and Cal really loves it.  I like this picture below with my dad and Cal and Andy watching it go by.  Okay, well, Andy isn't really watching it so much as sucking on his fingers staring at my dad, but kinda.... you get where I'm going with it, right?

After a fabulous meal, we headed for home to get the kids (and adults) in bed.

It was a very, very, very wonderful, special and memorable Christmas.  Just to make sure we didn't forget the reason for celebrating, we did sing happy birthday to Baby Jesus-- Cal is all about Baby Jesus lately!

I hope those of you who have read this far in this disgustingly long post had wonderful holidays.  I wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, and a super happy New Year (and any other this time of year holiday I might be missing)!