Christmas day

Around 6am on Christmas morning, Teague sat up in our bed, hopped down and ran out of the room. We called after him to wait for us, but noticed instead of running down the stairs, he ran to his room. About ten seconds later, he ran back into our room, horse in hand, climbed under the covers and went back to sleep for another two hours. Neland eventually woke him around 8am so we could see the goodies that Santa might have left.

Neland could not contain his excitement at receiving the Playmobil hospital and ambulance from Santa. He was thrilled.

Teague took awhile to wake up. He was tired and snuggly (and had slept a good 13.5 hours)!

Once he had some energy, he loved playing with his new turn table (and I LOVE that it has headphones to plug in - good thinking Santa).

The boys checked out what Santa left in their stockings.

We had breakfast before we allowed the boys to open gifts from us. The past few years we've had cinnamon monkey bread and quiche for breakfast. 

The past two years I've wrapped the boys gifts in special paper for each of them. Teague's are wrapped in a Sesame Street paper and Neland's in Charlie Brown. It makes it easy for them to see their presents.

Neland opened this lunchbox first. He was very excited, exclaiming it was "what I always wanted". I honestly felt a little guilty wrapping a new lunchbox as a gift, he needed one so I thought I'll throw it in as a gift. (He even showed it to all his friends the first day back at school, he was that excited). The exclamation of excitement was quickly followed by, "Can I open another present?" which when opened was also, what he had always wanted. Silly boy.

One of Teague's presents was a Playmobil firetruck. Neland has the fire station and a truck, and now Teague has a truck too. I love the expression on his face.

We also let the boys open gifts from those far away. There is something about a gift that has traveled across the country, it's like a little piece of that person right there with you. 

Chris and I haven't given gifts to each other in a few years, but the boys always make us something in school and we relish opening them on Christmas. Neland was very excited to give us his present (and wouldn't give us a hint).

Look at that face!

After opening presents, we all prepared for the day ahead and the family coming. 

When the family arrived, our house was a sight to behold. There was very little walking room.

I'm not sure how many times Neland asked to open presents while I was preparing our meal, definitely more than ten. A few were opened before we ate, I gave in. The boys sat for maybe five minutes before leaving the table to play.

We opened gifts after dinner. The boys were a little crazy. Mumsie enjoyed trying out Teague's gift from Santa. 

Teague received two large stuffed animals (Neland received one). These boys LOVE their stuffed animals. Neland lines his up each night before bed and tucks them in. Teague has to have them surrounding his head. They were both very excited to receive their new ones!

They are the perfect size for wrestling as well.

We gave my parents a Kuerig for Christmas and I wanted to add a personal touch. We sneakily found out some of mom's favorite books and then put quotes from the books on mugs. One side has the quote, the other the title.

The rest of the night was devoted to playing with EVERYTHING (and the following day too).

And an annual family Christmas picture.

It was a very tough bedtime, for everyone. It's not easy letting Christmas fly by. Our plan is to let it linger in our house for as long as possible.