A Holiday Morning

So, when we woke up on Christmas morning, we discovered that Santa did in fact arrive the night before, and he had been very generous!  There was a happy tree waiting for us piled high with gifts for the 14 people and 5 dogs that would be huddled around the tree that morning.

(Christmas morning around the Christmas tree)

Evan was the first one awake.  He woke up somewhere between 6 and 7.  However, Grandma Dot and Aunt Karen had been staying at a hotel and wouldn't be arriving until 7:30, so we somehow had to keep a two year old away from the Christmas tree on Christmas morning.  We hung out in his room for a while and then in the kitchen for a few minutes as people started gradually waking up and trickling in. 

(Mom and Riley wait in the kitchen in their matching Christmas attire.)

Finally, we all headed in to see if Santa had arrived.  I tried to show the boys the note that Santa had left thanking them for the cookies, milk, and carrots for Rudolph, but Evan and Jack only had eyes for what was under the tree.  The first thing that Evan noticed was his shiny new bike, right next to Jack's furry new rocking horse.  They immediately had to examine both and hop on for a little Christmas morning "ride". 

(Audra and I help Jack and Evan with their new rides.)

Afterward, we discovered the overflowing stockings and investigated what had been left.  It's always interesting to open presents with small children.  Ben was definitely more interested in looking around and Evan always opens the first present and then wants to play with it for the rest of the morning.  This time, it was a little green plastic tractor.  He would investigate his new toys so thoroughly that some packages didn't even get opened until several days later.  Everyone had lots of great goodies in their stockings, including some NC lottery tickets which unfortunately didn't produce any winnings greater than $3. 

(Courtney, Aunt Karen, Whitney, and Blaise investigate their stockings.)

(Ian and Evan find a little green tractor in Evan's stocking.)

Once the stockings had been emptied, Audra and I began our traditional duty of handing out all of the Christmas presents under the tree to their intended recipient.  Then, we all got to dive in.  We certainly were a lucky bunch.  Although, it's hard with that many people to be able to watch everyone open the gits that you gave them because so much is going on at once.  Ben quickly found all of this to be a little too much for him, so he retired to his bed for a nap before even opening one present!  The rest of us, on the other hand, found lots of goodies.  Evan was especially fond of his new guitar,  on which I'm sure he will make some beautiful music.

(My boys, their guitars, and I amidst the Christmas chaos.)

(Blaise is under there somewhere.)

(Aunt Karent and one of our Christmas treasures.)

After we had opened all of our gifts our tummies were rumbling and it was time for some food!  Ian had prepped his famous cinnamon rolls the night before so we popped them in the oven.  Mom made our traditional breakfast casserole and Dad brought out some fun Christmas morning beverages!   After a little drama with a smoking oven, breakfast was ready.  Evan being the wonderful eater that he is, decided he wouldn't eat any of it, including the cinnamon rolls, but the rest of us thoroughly enjoyed it. 

(Grandpa the Grinch makes lemonade out of lemons.)

(Is smoke a bad sign for the Christmas cinnamon rolls?)

(Evan helps Daddy ice the rolls.)

The rest of the day was filled with relaxing and, of course, more cooking!  Early that evening, we all sat down to a wonderful Christmas dinner.  Aunt Karen made some homemade crescent rolls and Dad even carved the roast beast!  Evan did enjoy some of dinner this time and ate some of the rolls, while Benny thought the whole day was just completely exhausting and fell asleep actually as he was getting fed him dinner.  That's okay because he was woken up quite effectively by the opening of our traditional Christmas crackers and their accompanying "pop".   Each cracker comes with games and riddles, but our favorite part is definitely the hats!

(Aunt Karen bakes the crescent rolls.)

(Christmas day reindeer cuteness)

(Great-Grandma spends some quality time with cousin Jack.)

(Courtney poses with Riley-in his second outfit of the day.)

(Newlyweds)

(I just like this picture.)

(The obligatory Christmas cracker hat mugshots...Dad, Grandma Dot, and Aunt Karen)

(The Mhire Family-Tommy, Audra, and Jack)

(Mom and Evan-the only one not wearing his hat.)

(Mom and Ben and his prunes)

(Courtney, Whitney, and Blaise)

(The happy couple)

What a wonderful day!  It was so nice to have so much family around with whom we could share our wonderful Christmas.  I hope it won't be so long next time before we all are together again.  Don't worry, Christmas tales from Texas aren't done yet!  Stay tuned for more tales of our trip down to the Lone Star State.