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.

Family Togetherness

Back to our tales from Texas...

It was great to spend some time with my parents and my sister and her family over Christmas, but we were lucky to be able to spend the holidays with even more of our family as well.  A few days before Christmas, Great-Grandma Dot, Great Aunt Karen, and my cousins Courtney, Whitney, and Whitney's husband Blaise all arrived in Texas.  Yes, that's 14 people including those of us already there.  Oh, and don't forget about the five dogs that were also visiting, that's right, five dogs! (My parent's dog Riley, Rip, my sister's dogs Max and Albert, and my cousin Courtney's dog Riley)

It was a full house and we definitely enjoyed the time we had to spend together.  It was actually a foggy Christmas eve, so we spent much of our pre-holiday time inside, eating, playing, eating more, and just enjoying the season.

We wrapped presents...

(Courtney, Audra, and I do a little elfing.)

Played with the boys...

(Courtney and Evan read about Thomas the Train.)

(Grandma and Evan peek out of the window to look for Santa.)

(Whitney and Jack take a cuddle break.)

(Aunt Karen and Ben share a private joke.)

(Ben and Great-Grandma Dot take a little snooze.)

Played with the dogs...

(Blaise naps with four dogs...Riley on the head in a little Santa outfit, Max on his lap, Al under his hand, and Rip on the couch)

Cooked and ate...

(Great-Grandma and Grandpa make some smoothies.)

(The infamous Bitler goodie tins)

Made a gingerbread train...

(Jack prefers eating the candy to decorating.)

(Evan and Great-Grandma with the beautiful train)

Played games...
 

(A little friendly card game)

...and just hung out.

(Santa's helper)

Before we knew it, Christmas eve had arrived.  We put the boys in their matching PJ's, read the night before Christmas, put out the cookies and milk for Santa, and waited...

(Twas the night before Christmas)

(What a trio!)

You'll have to wait until our next installment to find out if Santa actually came, but by the looks of things, I think he might have stopped by...

Christmas in Durham

I knew from the amount of pictures that I had from this holiday season that I would have trouble keeping the entries in any semblance of order.  I was right, so you'll have to bear with me as we have a bit of a diversion. 

Before we went to Texas, and before we met the big guy himself in Bass Pro Shop, we celebrated Christmas-Durham style when Ian's parents came up to Durham the weekend before we left for Texas.  We had some presents that were far too big to take to Texas and we wanted to have the opportunity to do a little celebrating with Gram and Gramps.  So, they arrived, and like Santa, they unloaded their white-Venza of a sleigh.  It made for a very happy tree.  They arrived late at night, so we were all waiting around for Evan to wake up so we could open gifts and have some fun.  However, of course he decided to sleep in that morning and almost slept in until Benny's morning nap time! 

When Evan came down the stairs and his eyes alighted on the tree, he was very interested.  So, we all headed in to the living room and started opening presents.  Evan's first present was a "Follow Me, Thomas" where you take a flashlight and shine it in front of a toy Thomas train.  He will then follow the light.  Evan opened the train, and proceeded to play with it for the rest of the day.  It was definitely the big hit.  It was also a big hit for Ripple.  He has always loved lasers, so Thomas's light drove him absolutely crazy.  He spent the day running around and biting at the carpet wherever Evan would shine the light. 

(Evan and Rip investigate the happy tree.)

(Evan and Ripple play with Thomas)

(Evan creates some brilliant artwork on his new easel.)

Benny wasn't too in to the whole present thing, but he did enjoy playing with his stuffed animal aquarium.  It had lots of great little stuffed animals that he could put in his mouth.  He also got a learning house with has all sorts of great bells and whistles to play with, but Ian and I got ready to assemble it that weekend, and the manufacturers had conveniently left out the bolts needed for assembly.  Poor Ben will have to wait for his learning house a little longer.

(Ben has some present opening fun.)

Ian and I also had a gift to contribute to the boys that weekend.  We had been diligently working late nights the previous week to assemble a swing set in our garage that would be a joint present for both boys from Ian and I and Gram and Gramps!  Turns out it wasn't even that tricky to put together, we were very proud of ourselves.  So, Saturday morning we hauled it out into the backyard, and told Evan he could go look in the backyard.  Of course, both the boys loved it, but I don't think they were nearly as excited as the adults.  We all headed out there in the chilly weather.  Evan and Ben both had turns in the bucket swing.  Evan climbed up and drove with the steering wheel.  He took a turn down the slide, followed by me with a Ben on my lap.  I think it's a great addition to the backyard, and I can't wait to complete the project when we add our fence in the new year!

(Ian and some garage play set assembly)

(Evan swings...)

(Ben swings...)

(Ben drives...)

 

(Evan drives)

 

(Gram and Gramps pose with the boys.)

It was a great weekend with good company and great food (a little trip to Dame's to get some Chicken and Waffles).  It was also a fabulous way to kick off our holiday celebrations.  Thanks for coming to visit, Gram and Gramps, and thanks for everything!

Next time, more mixed-up tales of our Christmas celebrations!