Christmas 2014

I love Christmas time, I do not love the constant nagging everyday from a certain 5 year old asking if it was Christmas day since November.  This year Preston's constant nagging to set up the tree made me cave and yes, our tree was up before Thanksgiving.  Next year I will go back to the day after Thanksgiving tree set up.  As soon as it was up Porter would so kindly rip everything off.  And that was pretty much our daily routine until December 26 when that tree went back in the attic.

Besides all the tree excitement, we actually had a few snowfalls this December so the boys enjoyed playing in the snow.  I thought Porter would enjoy it more than he did.  He dislikes wearing shoes, socks, and flat out refuses to wear anything on his head so winter attire was not making him very happy.  Preston, on the other hand, would not come inside.  He actually shoveled the back yard because the front yard was already shoveled and he just loves to shovel.  At one point I found him shoveling our neighbors driveway because he loved it so much.  We tried sledding, but the snow was not packed down enough so you would just sink.  We also did not have the right winter gear for having daytime excursions in the snow.  Preston and I built a snow fort, we built little snow castles for the animals (Preston seemed very concerned about them for some reason) and we did lots and lots of ice chipping.

Hot chocolate made a daily appearance in our house this year.  We are not used to so much cold so our core temperatures are down, hot chocolate warms the soul :) . Preston would drink it with every meal and he likes "dad's special recipe" which includes Andes mint in it.  Porter really could care less for the stuff.

Matt and I attended our neighbors Ugly Sweater Christmas party and Matt really took it seriously and went all out.  Tights, elf boxers with little jingle bells and a lady size shirt that says "Grandma's bake shop" on it.  When he tried the outfit on at the store the associate could not stop herself from laughing.  A night worth remembering.  And he won 2nd place for his outfit.

Other fun events that we did include:
Seeing Frozen as a family
being snowed in for a few days
no school for a week
driving around to see Christmas lights
seeing Santa
dance parties to Christmas music
making Christmas cookies
making a gingerbread house
opening special ornaments --a tractor for Porter and Antonio the Gold Power Ranger for Preston
acting out the Nativity on Christmas Eve with friends

This year for Christmas Santa gave Preston a new bike and Porter a trampoline--he was even nice and set the trampoline up so the kiddo's could jump on it when they saw it in morning.

It was so fun to see their reaction to everything.  After Preston saw his presents he started jumping up and down shouting, "I'm on the nice list! I'm on the nice list! I'm on the nice list!"  I loved watching his enthusiasm. Oh, and he is so awesome on his bigger bike too.

Porter was excited but we had a hard time getting him to open more than one present.  He would get distracted by the first gift and go play with it.  As soon as they both saw the trampoline though, they were begging to go outside in the 30 degree weather.  We finally bundled them up and let them jump.  They love it!

One thing I love about Christmas morning is sharing it with my kids.  They make it so magical and so worth it!