Christmas Festivities

We had such a fun Christmas. We figured we would see just how many people this house would hold and had Matt's parents, his two brothers, and his two grandmas come out and spend the holiday with us. We loved every minute of it!

While at the store, I got a call from Matt saying that Jackson was requesting carrots and celery for Santa's reindeer. So, I got the requested items and later that night Jackson and Charlie helped set up a nice little spread for Santa and his reindeer. Chocolate covered mint cookies and chocolate milk for Santa and some washed veggies for the others. The boys were so excited! (Well, Jackson was, Charlie had no idea what was going on.)
Almost done, Gramma and Grampa brought a whole car full of gifts for the boys.
Lots of balloons to make things even more fun!
Wow, those reindeer ate a lot of the veggies, and Santa was in such a hurry he knocked over his milk jug! Silly Santa, good thing he drank all his milk, I would have been a tad upset if he had gotten chocolate milk all over my carpet! And don't worry, he ate all the cookies.
Getting ready to dive into the presents.
Santa knew exactly what Jackson wanted....a scooter! What a lucky kid!
Charlie loved every toy he got. He would unwrap it and play with whatever it was for a good couple of minutes before moving on to the next. He loves this little puppy that he can drag all over the house!
Oh and he loves to pick it up by the tail and cart it around the house that way too.
Signing "more", he LOVES this cute little talking book.
Found himself a comfy place to sit on top of a couple boxes so he could look at his new Fisher Price barn with talking animals! Another favorite of his! How did Santa know what this kid would love?
Matt, his mom, and her mom! It was so nice having Great Gramma Donna here. We loved that she got to meet Charlie (Charles was Matt's grampa).
Matt's cute family!
Great Gramma Nana and the boys. We loved that she made the trip from Santa Barbara all on her own! It was great to have her here!
My sweet boys.
Could they be any cuter?
Very cooperative at this point!
Love this pic!

The True Meaning of Christmas.

Well, I am almost embarrassed to post this, however, I thought it was worth sharing. We have Matt's family coming for Christmas, including his two brothers and his grandmas, which we are very excited about. Since we won't be seeing my family Jackson got a big package in the mail yesterday from my parents full of presents for him and Charlie. We opened it up and put all the packages under the tree. Some may say this is cruel, as he is forced to sit in front of the tree staring, for very long periods of time, at the unopened gifts. He wonders and constantly asks, "Mom, what do you think is in this one?" Of course I reply, "I'm not sure but you will find out on Christmas!" But the poor kid has no concept of time and doesn't really know when Christmas is! So, as far as he is concerned he will have to enjoy looking at the presents for a very long unknown period of time rather than happily opening them and having his questions answered as to what new (and probably very loud) toy awaits him. So, after answering the above question over and over and over again, I went to tuck him in to bed. We said a prayer and after, I noticed Jackson just staring off into space, his mind probably going over the many possibilities of just what is under that tree. When all of a sudden he says, "Mom, I hope Uncle Ty Ty brings me a present!" Well, don't worry Jackson, I happen to know what Uncle Ty got you and I am know you won't be let down! More importantly, however, I think we need to have a little discussion about what Christmas truly is all about!

*As I write this post, Jackson is in the living room just staring at the tree and his presents....oh dear!