Christmas

What a phenomenal day!

It started for me about 8:30 am, when I woke up and found Nico hanging out in the living room by himself. I was amazed he hadn't touched a single present yet. Shortly after I came out, Nico starts to sort his presents from the pile, and puts each one on the couch. As he is doing this, he is taking wild guesses at what each one is. I just sat back and grinned, and enjoyed watching the magic through his eyes.

Although he was dying to, I told Nico he could not open the presents in his stocking until Lucas woke up. Nico kept going in and out of the room, trying to wake up his little brother. Finally, around 9 am, he succeeded and Lucas came out to the living room. They both began tearing paper wildly. After opening a few presents (calculator, math bingo game, scrabble slam card game) Nico says, "I think Santa is trying to make me smart". After opening a couple more (toothbrush and silly bandz) he says "These are boring, but I'm still glad I got them." Lucas basically got all the same things, with a few variations (hence the reason Nico had to wait) in his stocking.

The main presents could not be opened until the whole family was together, so I ducked into the kitchen to make some awesome cinnamon buns. Then a quick shower, and we were headed off to pick up Matthew.

Once our family was complete, we scooted over to see Gulliver's Travels in 3D (seeing a movie on Christmas has become a family tradition). I wasn't real impressed by the movie, although the boys enjoyed it. It was pretty much exactly what you would expect from a Jack Black movie. I was extremely impressed by the 3D graphics. I am one who gets motion sickness from video games, so I am surprised the new 3D movies do not cause the same effect.

Back at home, and the boys could finally open their gifts. Nico had already guessed what one of his presents was, and was super excited to find out he was correct. A new guitar for Nico, and a new electronic drum set for Lucas, and they now have the makings of a super awesome rock band. Nico loved the Knight Lucas picked out, and Lucas was thrilled to receive the Operation game from Nico.

Matthew had the biggest present, which was really five presents in one. An incredibly huge box, filled with newspapers and packing popcorn, which he was forbidden from dumping out. He had four of the five presents found in only five minutes, but twenty minutes later he was begging for help finding the last one. He enlisted both Nico and Lucas to climb in the box to search for it. Some time later, during his second trip into the box, Nico found the prize at the bottom. And that concluded the presents, or so they thought.

After all were settled down, Timmy pulled out a surprise present, hiding in our bedroom. It was addressed to the whole family, but we told the boys to unwrap it. See video.

Just after Daddy got the new Xbox hooked up, Grandma and Grandpa showed up, and the paper went flying once again. They stayed for a quick snack, but headed out just as I started preparing dinner. A lovely sirloin steak, baked sweet potatoes, and fresh steamed broccoli, with my mini-trifles for dessert. YUM! After dinner, a couple hours of Kinect play concluded our day.

I love Christmas, it is by far my favorite holiday, but I am so glad it only comes once a year. Now that's it's over, it's time to start preparing for next year.