We have a very small family, especially since Aaron doesn't really keep in touch with anyone in his family with the exception of his parents and brother. He communicates with a few cousins, but never sees them even though they are local. My family is very close and we celebrate everything together. Therefore, this makes for a very long, drawn-out Christmas season, especially with several birthdays falling in this time period.
We traditionally start the celebrations at Ben's house on Christmas Eve where we all bring a dish to share, which usually ends up in a table FULL of food and a million left overs at the end of the night. We used to all wait until everything was out, but the boys in our family are all men now and seem to graze on everything before it's time to eat, so everyone is eating all night.
The past few years, we've changed our gift giving from personalized, individual gifts to a secret santa game which almost always ends up in both laughter and sometimes anger because some people don't get that it's a GAME and not a war. But I digress...
This year, because of our baby on the way and more and more kids being added to our family, we set a limit on the amount to spend on the kids, and also decided that instead of toys, they would start to get books for Christmas, and we got the BEST reaction out of each of them.
Calista was very excited to get Thea Stilton books!
After Colby opened his gift of a Cars book and a Thomas the Train movie, he exclaimed "How did you know that I love Thomas... AND I love Cars???" Ummm, could it be that almost everything you own has wheels? :) I love him!
Aaron and my mom played with the puzzles
Peanut got a new pair of pajamas from Ben and Bahar
And we wore matching shirts... mine said "Baby Bump's first Christmas", and Aaron's said "The Man Behind the Bump" that my mom gifted us at my birthday party.
When we get home from those activities, we always load up under the tree with our wrapped presents and fill the stockings for each other. We typically put on a Christmas movie, enjoy a rum and eggnog, and watch for Santa! :) This year, I skipped the rum obviously but we stayed up and enjoyed the quiet for a while until Keiko decided that it would be a good idea to try to unwrap all of our gifts in advance.
It was at this point that we decided we should give both of the cats one of their gifts from their stocking... a cat nip pillow for each of them. It was then that Halo abruptly turned into a drooling hippie!
The next morning, Aaron woke up early as usual (like 6am) to get our coffees poured (after setting the timer for 6am the night before) and turn on the Christmas music. He woke me at 6:30am with a Christmas dance, at which time I had no choice but to join him for Christmas morning.
Halo continued with his Hippie routine after opening the rest of his stocking, and proceeded to fall asleep on his stocking. He was so very happy with his presents!
Keiko was totally in his element amongst all of the paper he could rip up!
As much as Aaron and I set very specific budgets for each other, we still managed to find thoughtful and wonderful gifts to give. Aaron got some new shirts and a new sweatshirt, a single pour wine aerator, a new lunch bag, a book, a movie, and a new saw! He was very thoughtful and got me a one hour foot massage, pajamas, a beautiful scarf, an ITunes gift card, roll-on cocoa butter for the mama stretch marks, magazines, and a lot of wonderful stocking stuffers.
After tidying up a little at home, we hit the road for Mom's house where we were blasted with this sight as usual...
Mom's living room is always spilling over on Christmas morning with gifts for all 5 of us. It's pretty insane!
Oakley tends to open his first, and got a brand new dog bed!
I had asked my mom for practical gifts this year, so she gave us a bag full of cleaning supplies which was strangely one of our favorite gifts!
If you couldn't tell from the mountain of snowmen behind her, my mom is a snowman collector! I even bought her a sign a few years ago that said SNOWMAN COLLECTOR! Last year I got her perhaps the cutest snowman we've ever seen, so this year I got her a similar ornament and the above guy to add to the family as they are all from the same maker. She loved it!
Aaron and my mom have an inside joke about the camel who loves hump day, so she got him this shirt that recites the entire silly commercial.
All in all, Christmas morning took about 4 hours of presents and a delicious breakfast. My mom, truth be told, upset me a lot by going overboard again after I was very specific about sticking to a budget. She went way above and beyond, especially considering that she treats all 4 of us kids (spouses included in that) equally and has a grandchild on the way. When we were done opening, I burst into hormonal tears and couldn't stop because I was so upset that she spends her very hard earned money on us when it isn't necessary at all. She proceeded to cry, which made Cindy cry, which made Aaron cry. We were a mess, but left her house with many hugs and smiles. She has since sent me a very emotional letter about how it's a parents right to spoil their children, and I'll understand that one day. I'm sure I will, but I hope she slows down before she's in the poor house and living in our garage! :)
When we got home, we went right to work preparing Christmas dinner for my in-laws!
We had a lovely dinner of brined turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, chestnut stuffing, green beans, and bacon-fried brussel sprouts. We had such a great time with them and they gifted us with the one thing every expectant couple wishes and prays for: MONEY! :)
Boxing Day is always spent at my dad's. We exchange giant stockings (they are some of the best stocking stuffers in the world) and then exchange secret santa gifts!
Wendy found Aaron a limited edition Superman bust and he was over the moon!!! Cindy got me a nursing tank top and a robe... just what I needed!
Mama-to-be with two out of her three favorite men on the planet!
Sorry for the super long post, but I didn't feel like splitting it all up into a dozen posts. As you can see, we felt very spoiled, very loved, and very tired by the end of Christmas, and I am thoroughly looking forward to Christmas 2014 when we will have a 10 month old to celebrate with as well!
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