Christmas Day

Xavier woke up at 4:30 AM on Christmas Morning wondering if we could go open Christmas presents.  I was NOT going to wake up Easton (I wasn't wanting to start our day at 4:30 AM regardless!)  So I told Xavier he had to wait until at least 6 or 7 AM.  He sadly walked back to his bedroom with his head hanging down sniffling and trying to fight back tears.  It broke my heart to make him so sad, but I knew he needed to go back to bed for a little while or he was going to be one tired, cranky boy for Christmas Day!  Around 5:30 AM Xavier returned to our room to see if it had been long enough.  He insisted Santa had already been to our house.  Easton was still asleep, so Mike & Xavier snuggled up and watched A Christmas Story for about an hour.  Then we heard Easton thumping his feet on the wall, letting us know he was awake.  So we headed downstairs...

Easton & Xavier on Christmas Morning

 

 

 The boys checked out what Santa had brought them and opened presents from Mama & Dada.  Then we enjoyed a quick Christmas brunch before packing up and heading south to Gramma & Papa's house for Christmas.  We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas at Gramma & Papa's house on Christmas Day and went to the farm the day after Christmas to spend time with Gramma, Grandpa, Great Grandpa and Great Grandma . 
 

 

 The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

Christmas Eve

This year was the first year we spent Christmas Eve at our own house.  Here's a little glimpse of our evening:

 

Xavier & Easton all dressed up for the Christmas Eve Church Service

 

 

 

When we got home from church, I put the Canadian Meat Pie in the oven to bake, then the boys each got to open one present...

 Easton always seems so unamused, especially when I

have the camera out!  Xavier was excited about opening a
present and was, therefore, completely oblivious to the camera!

Easton tearing into his 1st present of Christmas 2012

 

Xavier was too excited about his present to even look at the camera!

 

 

After opening their 1 present each, the boys headed upstairs to get into the tub (and try out their new toys - a Hot Wheels Splash Track and a Whale Shower Spout).  I left Mike in the bathroom with the boys in the tub and headed down to the kitchen to check on how supper was coming along, when I heard the noise the always makes my heart sink - the fire whistle.  I went back upstairs and told Mike I thought the fire whistle was going off...and off he went to help fight the fire with the rest of the volunteer fire fighters.

 

I finished scrubbing the boys in the tub and got them nice and cozy in their PJs, then headed downstairs with them to have Christmas Eve supper.  I never imagined we would have been having our 1st Christmas Eve supper at home without Dada, but I kept envisioning a family out in the cold while their house was on fire watching their young children's Christmas go up in flames as the firefighters tried to save what they could for the family.  Thankfully, that was NOT what happened - there was a fire at the elevator that the firefighters were able to put out and return home within a couple of hours.

 

After supper, the boys and I read a Christmas book (Xavier picked The Grinch) and then they crawled into their beds, excited to have Santa come soon.  After tucking them both in, I headed downstairs again, when I realized I didn't have Xavier put out the milk & cookies for Santa!  So I headed up to his room to remind him.  He quickly went downstairs, picked out 3 perfect cookies to put on a plate and filled a glass with milk to leave for Santa.  As he was climbing the stairs to return to bed, he exclaimed, "This is just the BEST Christmas EVER!!!!"  I swear I could feel the excitement radiating off of him!  It was one of the greatest things I've ever witnessed.  Then it was off to bed to wait for Santa to come in the morning!

 

 

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. ~Harlan Miller

Christmas at the Capitol

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is going to the Capitol to see the Christmas trees with our family.  The trees, music, and time with our family didn't disappoint this year either:

Easton checking out the cute little teddy bears

Xavier pleasing his Mama by pausing for a picture with his little brother

For some reason Xavier really wanted to take "silly" pictures that day.

He said he saw it on Caillou :)

 

 

 

This was the best family picture we got that day. 

Easton & Xavier look less than impressed.

 

Xavier LOVES nutcrackers and The Nutcracker Suite music :)

 

 

"What are YOU doing here, Mickey?"

 

 

Easton enjoying a ride on Rudolph

 

 

The boys with Rudolph

 

 

Xavier being silly in the background

 

Easton strangling the stuffed puppy in the background

 

 

My favorite picture of the boys from that day

 

 

The perfect Christmas tree? All Christmas trees are perfect! ~Charles N. Barnard

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!  There are SO many reasons I love this time of year.  Here are just a few reasons:



Putting up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving night:

 

 

 





Helping Gramma Deb put up her Christmas trees on Black Friday:

If you're Easton, this means sitting in

the decoration boxes so no one can decorate!

Making Christmas cookies and goodies with Xavier 

 

 

 



 Waking up to our beautiful boys...complete with "Who" hair

(you have to be festive this time of year you know!)

 

 

 

SNOW!!!

 

 

 

Xavier's Christmas Program at Church

 

 

 

Driving around looking at Christmas lights, wrapping presents, re-wrapping presents after Easton ripped the paper off of them, watching Christmas movies, doing the Advent Calendar with the boys, and best of all - spending lots of time with family and friends!  As Tiny Tim says, "God bless us, every one!"  Merry Christmas!!!!

 

 

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air."- W.T.Ellis

Advent Tradition

Advent Calendars were a holiday tradition Mike & Scott grew up with, and we continued the tradition starting with Xavier's first Christmas season.  Gramma Deb & Papa Gary got Xavier a Nativity scene Advent Calendar, which has a magnetic piece of the Nativity behind each door.  We also include an ornament for his mini tree and a small present or treat behind each door as well.

Xavier's Advent Calendar

(with about half of the magnetic pieces shown)

 

 

We absolutely LOVE Xavier's Advent Calendar and the fact that it's wooden and will last for a very long time.  Before Thanksgiving this year, Mike and I started looking for an Advent Calendar for Easton.  I thought it would be fairly easy to find something similar that I liked just as much...boy was I wrong!  After looking at about 300 different Advent Calendars, I decided the one I had in mind didn't exist :( 

Adie made some adorable Advent Calendars for Maddie & Henry last year, so I thought maybe I could find something I could make that I would like.  I was on a quest to find something that had the boxes around the outside with a space in the middle to make some type of Christmas scene.  To my surprise, I found exactly what I was looking for!  So I ordered it...and waited...and waited...Then I contacted the company wondering why it hadn't arrived yet, only to find out they cancelled my order because they were out of stock.  I found it from another company and ordered it.  Then I got an email saying it was back ordered and wouldn't be shipped until mid-December, so they were wondering if I wanted them to cancel my order.  I cancelled my order and ordered it from yet another company.  Less than a week later I had two packages in the mail - TWO Advent Calendars-the one that had been back ordered shipped earlier than they expected so they didn't cancel my order...oh well, better to have two than none, right!?  It was already December 8th though, so Advent had already been under way for a week, but I still wanted to make it to give to Easton for a Christmas present (I decided he would just have to share with his big brother this year).

I decided I wanted to do a Christmas living room scene in the space in the middle, and thus began "Opperation Advent Calendar" for Easton:

The unassembled kit:

 

 

At this point, I began to wonder if this was such a great idea.  Maybe we should have just gone with the mediocre Christmas tree Advent Calendar we found online (even if I didn't really like it much at all).  NO!  I have an image in my head of what I want Easton's Advent Calendar to look like, and it's NOT that crappy little Christmas tree one!  I CAN DO THIS!

 

 

 

The assembled Advent Calendar:

This is all the further you get with the kit.  It's a total blank slate.  The rest is up to each individual person to create whatever they want with it (including rounding up whatever you want to decorate the boxes and the center area with) - that's kind of half the appeal though...it can be whatever you want!

 

 

I decided to use wrapping paper and modge podge to decorate the boxes.  For the center area, I printed a couple of pictures off the internet and did some shopping in a scrapbooking section.  I also decided I wanted it to be magnetic like Xavier's so Deb helped me out by giving me a magnetic vent cover that worked perfectly for this project!

 

 

Finished decorating the little boxes and the frame!

(except putting the numbers on the boxes)

 

Done?  Something seems to be missing though,

and I don't love the "wall color" - the white/gray looks like a cement wall :(

It's not the cozy living room that I was hoping for, so...back to work!

 

 

Officially DONE! 

I painted the background tan (so it no longer

looks like a cement wall) and added a window. 

Much cozier, just like I had pictured!

 

I was able to make all of the pieces (except the fireplace, window, and the green part of the tree) magnetic, so one piece can go in each of the little boxes to create the Christmas living room scene one day at a time throughout the Advent season. 

 

 

A lot of time and love went into this project, and it was absolutely worth it!!  Hopefully it will be something Easton enjoys for many years to come too! 

 

 

Christmas is sights, especially the sights of Christmas reflected in the eyes of a child.   ~ William Saroyan

 



ONE!

It's hard to believe how quickly a year goes by!  Easton turned "1" on November 4.  Here are some highlights from his big day:

 

 

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to!  Now get this stupid hat off of me!!!

My little Bunkey (Baby + Monkey = Bunkey)

Birthday boy opening his presents...with lots of help and a big audience :)

Ridin' along in my new John Deere dump truck!

 

 

Playing in my new tunnel!  I'm not sure who likes it more - Easton or Jackson :)

 

Monkey Birthday Cake for my little Baby Monkey!

Sizing it up...

Really?  I get this WHOLE thing all to myself!?

Diving right in by sucking on the frosting.

 

Mmmm...

This is too good to leave any on my fingers!

It's FUN to be ONE!

 

 



You may only weigh a few pounds and you are small enough to fit in my arms, but the amount of joy and happiness you have brought in my life is larger than life itself. Happy 1st Birthday!

Little Spooks

I realize it is December 23 and I'm just getting around to posting the pictures of the boys in their Halloween costumes...story of my life :)

Anyway, I thought they were pretty cute little spooks so I decided to post it even though it's 2 months late!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xavier, Easton & our Halloween friend "Bubba" ...the boys love him (believe it or not!)

 

 

 

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.  ~Henry David Thoreau