Christmas - A Recap

As usual Logan was up early at about 5:30. Luckily he had forgotten that it was Christmas so he was happy to watch some TV in our bed while we tried to sleep spent quality time with him and waited for Jack to wake up on his own. Unfortunately Jack got up a half an hour later and we headed out to the living room.

Jack had asked for one thing from Santa...a blimp (named Al Oft) from the Cars movie (they are so easy to please at 3 years old!) so he was very happy to find that in his stocking. Logan was most excited about the chocolate race cars which he promptly opened by himself and ate them double-fisted. (Why is it that kids are never able to open healthy snacks themselves...but give them candy and they will find a way all on their own?)

We had very limited time before we need to get on the road and, as an immediate family, we are very slow present-openers so we barely made a dent in the presents under the tree. After showering, stuffing chocolate croissants in our mouths and packing enough stuff for a 3 week stay (though we were going to be home that night), we headed out for the day.

This year we were headed to my in-laws where 25 of us would participate in the the mad dash to open as many presents in as little time as humanly possible. This year my husband and I secured seats on the much coveted sofa so we wouldn't be trampled as in previous years. Yesterday there were a couple of times when the boys squeezed their little bodies close enough to the tree to grab a present or two but I feared for their safety. Luckily we left with all our limbs and no damage to our vital organs some really nice loot.

My mother-in-law must crash on the 26th of December. Can you imagine buying for 25 immediate family members? And she is so careful to spend the same amount on each person and try to have an equal number of presents! I don't know how she does it. If it were me, I'd make everyone say our family motto as they enter the house...you get what you get and you don't get upset!
This is what my in-laws tree looks like with just the presents that my MIL buys:

The real fun happened when my sister-in-law realized that she threw $100 away. We had to haul out the several bags full of wrapping paper and go through everything. Luckily, on the second pass through I found it.

Considering the boys had eaten approximately 376,714 calories of junk food and missed their nap they fared pretty well. It was a long day and not without tears (from the boys and nearly my husband and myself) but a happy day none the less.

Today I was on a mission to get things back to normal...no more candy and plenty of rest. It looked like unwrapping presents here on the homefront was going to take a full three days but we managed to push through and get everything opened by this evening. My parents got the family Wii so we have spent some time tonight looking like lunatics as we try to figure the games out. It's been an amusing way to burn off some of those extra calories consumed yesterday. (I can actually hear Scott grunting in the family room right now...I'm guessing hoping he's playing tennis.)


Note to self - Remind Santa to not buy candy for the boys' stocking next year!