Christmas

I had dreamed the boys would sleep in on Christmas, given their late party night on Christmas Eve. I should know better. Aidan was the first one up, at 6:45 a.m. and crawled into bed with us to impatiently wait for his brothers to awaken.

He didn't have long to wait. The whole crew was up and downstairs by 7:30. The boys oohed and ahhed over the pile of presents and overstuffed stockings, but rather than dashing to rip open wrapping paper immediately - they each ran under the tree to get the presents they had made and bought for Chris and me. This was the most perfect present they each could have given us. To see our children more interested and engaged in the giving, rather than the receiving, made me believe, just for a moment, that we may be on the right track. (I lost this optimism an hour later when all three of them were engaged in a knock down drag out fight over the Batmobile Big Wheel. But it was truly nice while it lasted.)

Brennan made us a snowman picture ornament, complete with a picture of himself in his favorite Batman t-shirt. Aidan used his very own money to buy me a stylin', oh so fancy, pair of cubic zirconia jeweled earrings from Avon at his Elves's Magic Workshop at school. They match the jeweled ring he bought me last year. (He is so incredibly proud of both the ring and the earrings he has bought me. He calls them "my jewels." And yes, they do make me cry. Of course, they do. ) On the other hand, Aidan bought Chris a tape measure. (Last year he bought him a ruler. There may be a theme here.)

The present unwrapping was over much too quickly for all of us except Griffin. Griffin opened up one gift, his Batmobile Big Wheel, and then refused to open up another one for hours. I think all of it may have overwhelmed him a bit and he decided to take the whole thing at his own pace. Aidan and Brennan opted to dive right into as many toys as they could handle. The favorite must have been the Nerf tag set - complete with Daddy getting into the fun. (Chris may have enjoyed this toy just as much as the boys. Maybe more. The next day, my brothers also loved it so much that I need to hunt down a few more and ship it to them in NYC.)

Brennan's Batman underoos were a hit for Brennan. He promptly put them on and kept them on for the next 36 hours. It was almost impossible to convince him he had to put on clothes to go over to my Aunt's for Christmas dinner. After finally agreeing to get dressed he turned to me and said, "But, can I take my clothes off when I get there?"

And finally, fantastic photographic evidence that my husband got into the Nerf fun with great enthusiasm. If only I had time to post the video of Chris chasing the kids around the house and blasting each other. It's a keeper.


We ended Christmas day with dinner at my Aunt's and more quality time with family. We managed to sneak in even more celebration with a nice dinner out with my brothers, mom and sister in law the day after Christmas. We spent most of dinner taking turns telling stories from our formative years - trying to out do each other with our comic tales. At one point, Chris begged us to stop because he was laughing so hard he was crying. Tennille and I were also wiping tears from our eyes from giggling so hard our sides hurt. The only one not laughing? My poor mother... who may have just realized what little hellions we all were back in the day.

But wait... there's more. Christmas continued into Saturday. We celebrated Saturday morning with Chris's family. I wasn't sure we could fit even one more toy into our house, but somehow we now have a toddler roller coaster now set up in our kitchen. Color me happy. I think it's time we considered finishing the basement once and for all.

And now it's over, sort of. Today, Chris and I are off to our own celebration. As part of his present, I convinced my mother and brother Travis to take the kids overnight so we could go away on a skiing adventure. (Well, skiing for him and a whole lot of reading by the fireplace for me. It's a win/win for us both.) The quiet and peace of an empty hotel room may be the best present I could have asked for this year. (As long as I know I can return to the noise, chaos and love of the boys after I am completely (or even somewhat) rejuvenated.)