Christmas (finally)

This was the first Christmas that our little family has been entirely on our own. Last Christmas Doug and Barb flew in on Christmas day and so we got to share the day with them. While I missed being with family, I found it delightful and simple to be on our own. We took the traditions we liked best from each of our families and came up with a few of our own.

Since Christmas day I keep opening my iPhoto library and looking at my Christmas pictures, hoping they would somehow improve upon further inspection. Alas, they haven't and this is what I have to offer to the Christmas roundup posts.

Christmas pajamas were fun this year. I found matching pants for the boys on clearance and then altered them to fit because, let's be honest, if it's on clearance it is very unlikely that there will be the sizes to fit three boys. I made letter shirts for Nat and myself and threw in pants for Nat and voilá, matching Christmas jammies (pajama pants for me are notoriously frustrating-- I have very long legs). The best part of this picture is the fact that Noah is pretending to be asleep. That kid is a piece of work.

The two pictures above are from our nativity scene, the boys looked more like ninjas than shepherds and Noah's role apparently involved inspecting baby Jesus' eyes with his tongue hanging out. We ended up using both of our boy babies because Isaac and Noah were both very interested in caring for the newborn king.


Luke opened his stocking with great interest and care this year, taking his time to examine everything and comment on each item. I pulled my usual stunt of putting a bunch of things that they needed anyway into the stockings. Luke was obligingly appreciative of everything, including the underwear.
Emptying the stocking made the most sense to Isaac this year. He was thrilled to discover his very own pack of tic tacs to walk around and shake. He also carried this container of puffs around for a good hour.

It was a Lego Christmas and Luke sat at the table all day assembling castles and airplanes. He can follow the instructions almost completely independently. He is his father's son, to be sure.



Isaac was very interested in the tree this year. He loved playing with the ornaments that were within his reach, feeling the spiky branches and tasting the cranberry garland (even though he acted shocked every time he tasted how tart cranberries are).

What is Christmas without some post dinner wrestling?

The boys in one of their matching Christmas outfits after Christmas dinner with these dear people.

While Christmas is lovely and wonderful I am always glad to say farewell to the season. Our tree and all the Christmas decorations were taken down by ten a.m. on the 26th. I was ready to get my house back and get back into our routines. Noah, however, is still asking for an advent chocolate every evening before bed.