Christmas 2011

Twas the night before Christmas.....

After our traditional Chinese dinner on Christmas Eve, we read the story of the birth of the Savior from the Bible, sat out cookies and hot chocolate for Santa, and read the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas".  The boys were all ready for Santa come in their new pajamas.  For some reason, Finn was the one to have a hard time sleeping that night.  Maybe the excitement of the evening was too much for him?  Who knows!  We did put all of our presents under the tree that night right before bedtime.  We had waited to do it because Finn is in a present opening frenzy and the one lone present that we had attempted to put out early kept getting pulled at and nearly opened.  So we had to wait.  I guess seeing all of those presents made him a sleep-less little boy.

Finn got a new magnetic drawing pad and immediately wanted me to draw him a picture.

Kai got floss picks in his stocking.  That turned out to be his favorite stocking stuffer.  He's so funny!

Christmas morning Kai woke up earlier than me and Finn (we were sleeping in the recliner in Finn's room).  Once Finn was ready to go we went into the living and began looking at the loot.  The boys were excited about their stockings and all of the presents to open.

Opening a present from Great Grandma

Santa brought both boys an easel.

At the end it's hard to wait your turn.  So, sometimes you just have to do it together!

Despite this being a "smaller" Christmas, the boys seemed to get a fair amount of new toys.  Some highlights include a new marble track for Kai, the easel from Santa, a mini-trampoline from Grammy and Papa, "Once Upon a Monster" for XBox from Grammy and Papa, Cars 2 from Grammy and Papa, and an aquadoodle for Finn.  Kai had been waiting for a marble track for awhile so he was very excited to start playing with it.  After all of the gifts were open, this was the scene in our kitchen.

I love that all 3 boys are staring at the same thing!

We had planned on going to church that afternoon, but unfortunately Kai got sick.  So, while Finn and Reid napped Kai and I put together the easel.  And then Kai did his very first drawing!

A dinosaur and a tree

 Later that afternoon, we played the new XBox game as well as watched Kai assemble some of his new legos.  Reid and I also prepared a simple Christmas dinner of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, brussel sprouts, and crescent rolls.  It was a good fun day to be together as a family.  We sure do love our family time and when it's a holiday it feels extra special.  Merry Christmas!