christmas & then some

our christmas isn't quite over yet, and besides our new normal of chaos, it's been going pretty well.

christmas eve, we had our traditional shrimp and grits for dinner, then opened two gifts: our new pjs, and a game for the family.  oliver got thomas the train pjs, as we bought him a train table for his big gift.  our game choices were limited this year, and they needed to be able to be played by a 3 year old. i got us Don't Spill The Beans, and immediately regretted it and the far too many, tiny little, individual pieces.

after ollie was asleep, i put together the train table, and put the gifts under the tree. santa showed up shortly thereafter with his gifts and treats for the stockings.

meanwhile, bryan was hard at work putting together the play kitchen we had for him.  i had scored this cute wooden kitchen at Target last January on super clearance for $30, and we had been hiding it since.  it was pink, so i repainted it yellow and made a new little curtain for it from some cute green fabric with white and blue mice on it.  it had a million pieces, and took awhile to put together, but it's darn cute.

i was a little worried that oliver would wake up christmas morning and open all the presents before even getting us up, but he surprised me by coming upstairs to get us first.  he had already seen the presents under the tree, and was very excited.  he did a very good job at only opening his gifts and not being upset that not all the presents were for him.

after he made it through all his presents, he discovered his stocking - and the chocolate within.  it being christmas morning, of course he had some, but not nearly as much as he would have liked!

then it was time for the big reveal.  i think he was too taken aback to say much, but he didn't leave the basement much for the rest of the morning.

ollie was more than happy to help rosie open her gifts once she woke up, too.

i didn't expect him to take much of a nap, but he went down without a fight at all, amazingly.  after nap, we headed to Mom and Dad's house.  we decided to do presents right away since there was a nice big pile ollie was eyeing.  as usual, he was totally spoiled by the fam.

after a delicious dinner and far too much chocolate, we came home and attempted to put oliver to bed. it took quite awhile but happened eventually.


the next morning, hannah arrived!  which meant more presents.

a few days later, even more presents arrived from katie and kevin.  see what i mean?  spoiled!

and it's not over yet.  in another week is Mom's family christmas party.  THEN i swear we're done with christmas for the year!

more pictures here.

christmas, christmas time is near

seeing as how we more than likely won't be able to have a full size tree in the next few years, as rosie will be walking and getting into all sorts of trouble (if her brother's history is to be believed), i managed to convince bryan that we should get a real christmas tree this year.

i had considered a family outing to a tree lot to choose one, but ultimately decided against it. i am sure oliver would have loved the experience, but there were just far too many opportunities for meltdowns. and in the end, all he really wants is a christmas tree. so instead, bryan picked one up at Home Depot while running errands, and got it set up and ready for decorating before oliver got home from day care.

it took him a little while to become interested in actually decorating it (he mostly just wanted to play with the ornaments), but eventually he got the hang of it and he and i had fun decorating it. once we completed the task, he stepped back and sighed, "it's beautiful!" the kid sure knows how to be cute when he wants to be.

interlude (for cuteness)