Christmas was pretty great this year! The boys are at about the best possible age to truly enjoy the holiday season. They both still fully believe in Santa and are super excited about everything. Between their enthusiasm and having our first Christmas at the new house, it really felt like a magical time of celebration.
On Christmas Eve morning we got ready as early as we could and headed over to Greg’s parents’ house for The Noe Christmas. We had a wonderful brunch and then gathered around for present opening.
Caden got a basketball hoop from Grandma and Grandpa. I think it’s something that the boys and all the neighborhood kids will get a lot of use out of for many, many years to come!
Shepard was really excited about his new telescope. He loves looking at the moon and stars and always has a great view out of his window at night.
I got a new table for my sewing room!!! This is what I was hoping for the most, so it’s super exciting my in-law’s bought it for me! It’s going to be my work table (I was currently using a plastic folding table), but also double as a nicer and bigger seating area for when we have company or just want to have a fancier meal. My sewing room is technically the dining room of the house, so it’s a good spot for an awesome table!
Obviously the best place to holster his crossbow!
Caden was really excited about the upcoming hotel stay at Great Wolf Lodge gifted by Grandma and Grandpa.
A heater so Greg can keep working in his basement “office/game room” during the winter. He actually got two of same heater, so everyone knows how cold we’ve been!
Neko played with his new toys for literally ten seconds and then passed out from exhaustion. Getting old is tough.
Lots of great gifts were had by all!
After we opened we enjoyed our new toys! There was a whole lot of techy/coding/programming talk going on between Greg, Andrew, and Caden.
A rousing game of Hungry Hungry Hippos.
Around 1:00 we headed over to my parents’ house to spend time with that half of the family. They were just getting lunch on the table when we walked in the door. And not even half an hour later my dad came home! He works for FedEx and we’re usually waiting late into the night for him to get home so we can open presents. It was shocking to have him there so early! Definitely a record. It was awesome we got to do everything so much earlier, though it threw off the timeline of events we were all thinking would happen that day!
Timmy and the boys went outside for awhile to run off some steam.
Juno loves eating sticks. She was pretty excited to find such a tasty red swirly stick in the snow! 🙂
It wasn’t great sledding snow, but they made the most of it!
A little later in the afternoon we gathered for presents. Shepard was sneaky and saw that the present bags on these gifts didn’t go all the way to the floor!
Taking a quick break to make punch.
The boys played with these sleds at Fleet Farm for at least half an hour about a month ago. I was really hoping to get them to a real sledding hill this week, but it’s been so rainy and warm I’m afraid we won’t have any snow left!
The dogs were obviously so tired, but they couldn’t leave the action. They’re a lot like Shepard and need to be where the action is every second of the day!
Timmy got a little obsessed with beating a Rubik’s cube in under a minute this year. Everyone caught on and bought him related gifts!
As a side note, I realized Brittany didn’t show up in a single picture. 🙁 She was there…on the couch between Timmy and I. Sorry, Brittany.
We got my dad a Costco membership because he’s always talking about all the Costco food his coworkers love. Hopefully he can make good use of it!
Again, many good gifts had by everyone! Caden got Pokemon Sun, which is what he wanted the most. He’s had games taken away for a couple of months now, so he was taking full advantage of getting them back on Christmas.
And that’s a wrap for Christmas Eve! We were back home with cookies set out and the boys in bed by 8:00. Earliest Christmas Eve ever!
Santa was able to come around 9:00 this year! And took a picture before anything was messed up. 🙂
I’m a little obsessed with stockings. I took full advantage of the gigantic ones I ended up hanging this year. Despite their length, all the gifts still wouldn’t fit! I wish I had gotten a picture of the cookie plate before Santa ate it because Shepard made a reindeer out of carrots, for the reindeer. It was really cute how excited he was. Normally every year they fall asleep on the way home from Beaver Dam and I just set something out on my own.
Christmas morning! It was the first night in probably a month and a half that Shepard slept the entire night without coughing. Which was fairly amazing considering he coughed almost nonstop all night every night up until the night before. I kept waking up and worrying about him! Surprisingly, Shepard slept until 6:00 and Caden 6:20. We were expecting a much earlier wake up call!
Shepard was really excited about his new motorcycle bike!! It’s just a bike, fyi, but looks like a motorcycle. 🙂
Caden doesn’t do jokes. Not so amused with “reindeer poop.”
We did stockings first and the guys each got three minifig bags. I was looking at the sheet of paper after Caden opened his and was really excited about the mom and baby set. So Shepard and I were THRILLED when he opened his and we got it!
CUTEST LEGO EVER. I’m totally stealing it because he’ll forget it even exists after a day or two.
Minifigs are awesome.
I got a Steiff collector’s edition teddy bear in my stocking! I saw this bear about a year ago and totally fell in love with him. I’m always on a treasure hunt at antique stores for vintage Steiff bears, but occasionally check out their website for new ones. When I realized this bear was already sold out, I couldn’t resist an ebay search. I think a collector’s bear might have to be a new Christmas tradition! I loooove teddy bears.
His official name is “Big Timmy” which I thought was pretty funny.
Whereas Shepard got a bike, Caden’s big Santa present was a huge nine person tent. Now that we have a yard to set it up in, I figured it was worth the investment. Greg hates camping, but I think the boys are old enough now I can probably handle taking them on my own a couple times over the summer. It will be fun! And we have room for other people to join us if they wish!
After presents, Shepard had to get his bike in action! The annoying thing is that the seat isn’t adjustable and he’s just a tiny bit too short for it. I think he’s starting to get the hang of it now, but he was having a tough time getting started on his own.
It was a weird, rainy Christmas morning.
After a couple hours of playing and relaxing at home we headed back to Noe’s for more family time. The boys love sitting on laps. I wonder when Caden will start feeling too old/big to do it anymore.
Melissa and Shepard building the giant Star Wars set she gave him.
I think this was the first year all ten of us were there for all three days of parties. The occasion needed a photo! Wish I had thought to bring my tripod!
Sadly we had to say goodbye as everyone got ready to go their separate ways last night and this morning. I’m not sure when we’ll all be in the same place again.
And finally, one last Christmas stop at my parents’ house. This is all the dog stuff my mom got! Plus three pairs of socks that didn’t make the picture.
Oscar graced us with his presence this day.
Caden spent all day playing Pokemon. I spent most of the day reading a book in the midst of everything, so I can’t really blame him.
My mom and I both loved brie, so we basically had this for dinner. It’s a caramelized onion baked brie with onion, cranberry, and pistachios. It was delish.
Shepard was too excited to sit still doing anything for more than a few minutes at a time. He loves being by people!
And that’s about it! I had one of the best Christmases ever. I hope you did too!
