Christmas Wrap-up

OK, so I know I've warned of long posts before, but this one may beat all other previous posts. But I just wanted to fit it all in! And document the holiday as I remembered it. So here we have a little wrap up of our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities.
Christmas Eve started with gingerbread house making while Sam was taking a nap and while Garrett was at the office (yes, on Chrstmas Eve, yuck). So Tyler and I got to work. I think we made an awfully great team, if you ask me.
I love watching Tyler do stuff like this because he concentrates so hard.
And of course a sampling of the treats happened on more than one occasion.



Here we are with our beautiful creation (after Garrett got home, so he could take a picture and obviously after Sam woke up if you'll notice a little someone in the bottom right...).

And after the afternoon naps and a little house cleaning, we headed out to Gramercy to the Christmas Eve bonfires. We went for the first time last year and it was so much fun. It's such a great tradition...and this year was even more fun because we have been reading these books pretty much nonstop this December, especially the Legend of Papa Noel, a Cajun Christmas Story. And in the story, Papa Noel lives in the "deepest darkest swamp in Louisiana" and spends all year making toy pirogues for little boys and cypress dolls for little girls and hitches his alligators to his pirogue and makes his way through the swamp on Christmas Eve to deliver them to all the "good little Cajun boys and girls." But one Christmas Eve, it was particularly foggy and Papa Noel didn't know if he and his alligators would be able to get through all that fog, but low and behold, those Cajuns had built bonfires on the levee of the Mississippi River so he could find his way. Because of the bonfires, he was able to successfully make his way through the swamp and deliver the pirogues and dolls to all those little Cajun boys and girls. So, that is the story in a nutshell.
So, for our ornaments this year, we all got little wooden pirogues. Tyler's is green, of course. Sam's is yellow and the family's is natural wood. Tyler has absolutely loved this story and practically has the book memorized. I love hearing him quote lines from it! My favorite is when he quotes Papa Noel by saying "Mais non! Just look at dat fog rolling in. It's thicker dan gravy on rice!". LOVE it!!
So, imagine his delight when we saw this scene
in person!



Dem Cajuns definitely had the way lit for Papa Noel and it was fun to go see it for ourselves and not have to worry about him getting to all those Cajun boys and girls! While we were there, Tyler kept quoting more lines an pointing out more things (like the cane reed that was used in some of the fires).
After the bonfires, we grabbed some gourmet Christmas Eve dinner at McDonald's on our way home and got the kids to bed about as quick as we could because it was so late. Before bed, we quickly set out some cookies, opened up our new jammies from Grandma A, and wrote a note for Santa
and made sure our stockings were hung.
And then it was off to bed. Funny how I think the kids slept waaaaay better than the parents that night, though. You'd have thought I was the 4 year old waiting for Santa by the way I slept that night!
So morning finally came and we got to see what Santa brought us, and boy was it exciting!
Tyler was just discovering that Santa came through for him with the camera he wanted.
And Santa came through for Sam as well, even though he's been very naughty, if you recall!
Santa also came through with a space shuttle, phew! Good thing Santa had been on a business trip a week earlier and found one in an airport gift shop!
After Sam hopped off his rocking giraffe, he quickly discovered that his stocking was full of candy and that he had free reign over it. So here he sat for the better portion of the morning. Eating candy,

candy,

and more candy.

We finally got him over to open some presents, which he quite liked, with his mouth stuffed full of candy, of course.
One of the funnest things throughout the day was this little cheap-o $1 styrofoam airplane Garrett gave to Tyler. They put that thing together and flew it all over the house all day long. It was great! If only I had known how $1 would make this kid happy! Tyler was also very cute throughout the day...when he'd pick up one of his new toys, he would think of who gave it to him and make sure he came over and thanked you for it. So he was thanking us all day long. How nice! :)
And generally this is exactly where the airplane flew...
And when Tyler wasn't flying airplanes, he was taking pictures of EVERYTHING with his new camera! It was SO funny! He absolutely loves it. And all I can say is now I'm getting a taste of my own medicine...


He took a picture of EVERY present he got that day. He was very proud of his new toys.
And Tyler and Garrett also spent some time learning how to play their new Wii Music game.
And I got to play with my newest toy...SO excited about this.
And Garrett played with his newest toy...but not without some serious instruction reading of course. It wouldn't be Christmas without the thorough reading of instructions, for sure!

And call it a Christmas miracle or whatever you'd like, but I think I'm safe to say our little Sam is a walkin' man! And it only took him 15 months to do it. Phew! It's been a long time coming, but I still think it's the dang cutest thing in the world to watch him waddle around!

And that's a wrap of our Christmas celebration. We had SO much fun and enjoyed just relaxing, with nowhere to be and no more lists to cross things off of. I just love spending time with this little family of mine and am so grateful that we have the chance to focus on the Savior and celebrate his birth and his life. What a blessing it is! Hope you have all had a Merry Christmas!