10 Things You Should Know About Our Christmas

1. We started things off right by heading to church on Christmas Eve. Instead of going to the kids' room, Noah stayed with us during the whole service. He clapped to the music and listened so well during the sermon - it was very sweet. And then, in classic Noah fashion, almost had a panic attack when he realized he would have to hold a lit candle during the song Silent Night. I watched his face become awash with terror as Wes lit his candle and the wax started slowly dripping down the sides. Thankfully the song ended without any major mishaps and Noah breathed a sigh of relief.

2. Right before bed I let the boys open one present. It was their new PJ's. Blue with green Yoshi for Noah, and blue with red Lightening McQueen for Liam. That is kind of Christmas-y, right?

3. Christmas dawned bright and early - for the parents. We actually got up before the boys to finish making our Christmas breakfast.

That is my why the heck did I decide to make this stupid breakfast at 6 in the morning? face. It's pretty huh? And of course, we got up all early and that was the morning that both of my children slept until 7.

4. It was the usual excitement as the boys woke up and came down the stairs to see their gifts. It was really cute this year because now that Liam is older they came down together and Noah had someone to share all his glee with!

5. This year we did minimal Santa gifts - all the big things came from Mom and Dad - in an effort to focus more on what Christmas is really about. So, after Noah got his stuffed Yoshi and Liam got his Thomas bath toys, we headed to the kitchen to blow out the candles on Jesus' birthday cake. (Which was actually the monkey bread I made.) We even sang Happy Birthday to Him, and even though my sis was making fun of me the whole time, I am glad we did it.

6. Our tree was obnoxious. Seriously...did we need that many presents?!

Hey, don't get me wrong. I loved them all - my family was very good to me this year! (Wes got me a Kindle and tickets to see Wicked when it comes here in April!) And the boys got so many fun new toys that they are very excited about.

7. Noah's highlight? Anything having to do with Mario or Angry Birds. Liam's highlight? Hands down, it was the giant pop-up Thomas the Train tent from Aunt J.

He had already changed into his Thomas shirt - from me -and the minute that tent made its appearance the rest of his presents were irrelevant. The boys have been making good use of it ever since.

8. And do you want to know the highlight of my morning? Good, cause I'm going to tell you. It was when we unwrapped the a present to Liam from my mom. It was an Elmo shirt she had found for him at Old Navy, and she was very excited about it. He was too - enough that he immediately wanted to take off the Thomas shirt and put on Elmo. We obliged, but as soon as we slid it over his shoulders I realized something was wrong. Can you tell what it was?

Are you thinking that the shoulders of the shirt look weird? Well, that's because they do...on a boy! It was a little girl's shirt with puffiness at the shoulders. We all just died laughing, including my Mom who kept insisting she really had found it in the boy's section. The best part was that there was no way Liam was going to remove the shirt once it was on so he spent all morning wandering around in a girl's shirt! Classic.

9. When we invite people over for dinner they are required to pay for the food by entertaining my children. 

Poor Jamie may want to fake a back injury the next time she heads our way.

10. And the last thing you should know about our Christmas. It was so fun...but it made us really tired.

Here's to getting lots of rest between now and the new year!