I've realized that somehow I don't quite feel like it is Christmas that has come and gone...maybe because we aren't in our own house this year. But on top of that, we had 4 rounds of opening gifts...each one special...but a bit overwhelming for me since I grew up with one round on Christmas day! :)
However, we enjoyed the fun of each. It was priceless to hear Joe say "thank you" when he heard someone say a gift was FROM him. Oh, and who would have thought that Jake and Joe would be more excited about the camo gift bags that Aunt Rachel and Uncle Eric put their gifts in than the gift itself? And how is it that kids get away with helping open other people's gifts?
So, the 10 days of Christmas stems from the boys being told Christmas day is Dec 25. Then, we had to have Christmas with Rachel and Eric the weekend before Christmas. And we decided to open our own gifts on Wednesday since we'd be at Grammie n Grandpa's on Friday to Monday for Christmas. And, there were the gifts exchanged at Josh's Aunt and Uncle's. So, by the Thursday before Christmas, the boys were more interested in when Christmas Day was because they were catching on to the fact that it meant more presents to open. Papa replied one time (after a confused question by Jake about when Christmas was) with, "Well, tomorrow will be your 8th day of Christmas!".
Jake's favorites...lots of gifts
Joe's favorites...cake, presents, and Jake's saws ("but I can't use them yet")! Joe was pretty excited about the birthday cake for Jesus when he caught wind of that! He kept asking when we would get to sing and he wondered if we'd blow out candles. (Of course, he was just excited about the cake itself!)
My favorite was the 2 hours of time (via Skype) that we got to "hang out" and open presents with my sister and Andy on Christmas Day. If we had tried to plan the time any more than we did, it probably wouldn't have been as perfect as it seemed to be! I truly felt like we had them at the house for a couple hours even though they were in Boulder, Colorado and we were in East Tennessee! Oh and I'm pretty sure all I did for 3 days at my parent's house was eat...and I mean eat! It was awesome!
Josh's favorites...relaxing and getting to spend time with family. (a seemingly generic statement, but he really has been busy and "away" from family a lot lately...so we were glad to spend time with him, too) I think he also enjoyed singing at our old church on Christmas Eve.
On our way home from Tennessee, we enjoyed stopping outside Cincy at the Creation Museum for a Live Nativity. The Bethlehem marketplace, replicated census, model "inn" with Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus, live animals, and thousands of lights along the nature trail and pond were well worth the leg stretch that it provided.
Overall, the best quote came from Joe as we returned to Mama and Papa's. We got home late Monday night, but two hours after Joe woke up Tuesday morning he suddenly said, "Hey, Christmas is all gone!" I guess it took him 2 hours to notice the Christmas tree and all the decorations were gone!
Memories...
ROUND 1: (with Mama, Papa, Aunt Rachel and Uncle Eric)
Round 2 : (Just the four of us...)
ROUND 4: (gifts from Jim, Sherry, Josh, Melissa, Ashley and Brad)
However, we enjoyed the fun of each. It was priceless to hear Joe say "thank you" when he heard someone say a gift was FROM him. Oh, and who would have thought that Jake and Joe would be more excited about the camo gift bags that Aunt Rachel and Uncle Eric put their gifts in than the gift itself? And how is it that kids get away with helping open other people's gifts?
So, the 10 days of Christmas stems from the boys being told Christmas day is Dec 25. Then, we had to have Christmas with Rachel and Eric the weekend before Christmas. And we decided to open our own gifts on Wednesday since we'd be at Grammie n Grandpa's on Friday to Monday for Christmas. And, there were the gifts exchanged at Josh's Aunt and Uncle's. So, by the Thursday before Christmas, the boys were more interested in when Christmas Day was because they were catching on to the fact that it meant more presents to open. Papa replied one time (after a confused question by Jake about when Christmas was) with, "Well, tomorrow will be your 8th day of Christmas!".
Jake's favorites...lots of gifts
Joe's favorites...cake, presents, and Jake's saws ("but I can't use them yet")! Joe was pretty excited about the birthday cake for Jesus when he caught wind of that! He kept asking when we would get to sing and he wondered if we'd blow out candles. (Of course, he was just excited about the cake itself!)
My favorite was the 2 hours of time (via Skype) that we got to "hang out" and open presents with my sister and Andy on Christmas Day. If we had tried to plan the time any more than we did, it probably wouldn't have been as perfect as it seemed to be! I truly felt like we had them at the house for a couple hours even though they were in Boulder, Colorado and we were in East Tennessee! Oh and I'm pretty sure all I did for 3 days at my parent's house was eat...and I mean eat! It was awesome!
Josh's favorites...relaxing and getting to spend time with family. (a seemingly generic statement, but he really has been busy and "away" from family a lot lately...so we were glad to spend time with him, too) I think he also enjoyed singing at our old church on Christmas Eve.
On our way home from Tennessee, we enjoyed stopping outside Cincy at the Creation Museum for a Live Nativity. The Bethlehem marketplace, replicated census, model "inn" with Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus, live animals, and thousands of lights along the nature trail and pond were well worth the leg stretch that it provided.
Overall, the best quote came from Joe as we returned to Mama and Papa's. We got home late Monday night, but two hours after Joe woke up Tuesday morning he suddenly said, "Hey, Christmas is all gone!" I guess it took him 2 hours to notice the Christmas tree and all the decorations were gone!
Memories...
ROUND 1: (with Mama, Papa, Aunt Rachel and Uncle Eric)
ROUND 3: (with Grammie and Grandpa...and skypeing with Aunt Jen and Andy)
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