The Day

At 7:50am we heard the patter of little feet and an excited voice squeaking by our bedside. We snuggled together until 8:00am. Then the magic began. (A little note about the pics - I detest taking indoor photos. I didn't feel like fiddling with settings on my camera all morning so they are what they are.)

Love the tippy toes he's standing on as he peeks into his stocking...

First order of the day after the stocking is opened....What in the world is in santa's pack? Is it really a diamond?

I think we might need to invest in dad's help...

Not a diamond. A snow machine silly! Now that we're living in the frozen artic, I suspect this little snow racer machine might come in handy.

Here we have Keith opening a present from Max...a puppet made out of a recycled gift bag.

Legos. The perfect gift for a 6 year old boy. That's what he wanted. He wasted no time in getting to work...

Legos and Games. That pretty much sums up our Christmas this year. It was a good one and a fun one. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the Maxter open his gifts. He was so excited and appreciative. Keith and I didn't really do gifts this year. I did get him a new suitcase (carry-on size) because his is completely wrecked. The last few times he's travelled with it, I debated about sticking a roll of duct tape in it because I feared that it was going to fall apart completely as he zipped through the airport. We are hoping to buy some half-decent bedroom furniture so that's what we called our Christmas gift this year. We've only been married 9.5 years and still don't have nice furniture. Unless you count a $20 thrift store dresser that's been spray-painted black and a el-cheapo white particleboard Ikea dresser nice. Hmmmm. Not so much.

Every year, Keith takes Max shopping to pick out and buy a little present for me. This year Max informed me that he bought me something to add to my collection. See that beautiful necklace I'm wearing below? That's what he gave me. The last few years I've received a necklace from him. And it seems the "jewels" get bigger every year. Keith was smirking when I opened it. He told me later that he tried to steer Max towards something different and not quite so "big", but once Max laid eyes on that particular one....he could not be persuaded otherwise. Cute, huh? Love my little boy!!

Shortly before noon, we packed up and headed out for my parents house. The weather was not so nice. Grey. Rainy. Windy. Cold. 

Enjoying Christmas dinner at my parents place. Somehow we all still manage to squeeze in the kitchen to eat.

We pull names and exchange gifts amongst my siblings and nephews. Jesse had Alex's name and got him a pair of "bear claw slippers". They were hard to get on Alex's feet though and it was quite entertaining watching them try to get them on.

My parents opening their gifts. My mom pulled an infamous Nelson trick this year. The week before Christmas she went out and bought herself one of the things we were planning to give her - the Willowtree Nativity. We decided to wrap up her nativity and put it in a gift bag with money. That way she can still say that it came from us. See her laughing below when she realizes what was going on?

The We Three Kings performance. Dear Vanessa. My littlest sister. For years and years Heather and her have written up a Christmas play and performed it for our family. These past few years, they've used their nephews in it as well. I'm pretty sure that all of them have had the opportunity to be "Baby Jesus" at one point in their early lives. Heather has opted out of participating, but we persuaded Vanessa (bless her heart) to carry on with the tradition. Here they are...ready to perform their play.

There appears to be no room at the inn...

Well hello there Wyatt...I believe you are starring in the role of "baby Jesus" this year.

Keith is playing with a new toy from my parents. A paper shredder. By the time he was finished he knew what papers worked and what didn't (anything with scotch tape was a definite no no!) and had most of the Christmas wrapping paper picked up in the living room and shredded to bits. I think he kept my dad and grandpa entertained at the same time!

Max recieved some impromptu violin lessons from Aunt Vanessa...

Because the weather was so terrible, there was no annual Gerber hockey game out on the driveway in the afternoon. Card games and Settlers of Catan took it's place instead.

 

I'll end with a couple of precious Christmas photos of the little cousins. Sweet. Sweet. Sweet!

Overall, it was a lovely Christmas. Other then Max being half sick. He actually threw up once at my parents that day. Oh the joys. But at least it was only once and didn't get any worse then that. And it wouldn't be Christmas without something like that happening, would it?!