Have A Handy Dandy Christmas

Even with the strongly worded letter I wrote to Santa about all the mischievous things my kids have done this year, he still had it in his heart to grace Eli and Carson with an abundance of goodies waiting for them on Christmas morning.

Carson's stash:

 Eli's:

Santa decided to venture away from cars, airplanes, and anything with wheels. He thought it was time for the boys to culture themselves in the world of toys. So Santa introduced tools to the kids this Christmas.

 I love Mary's beautiful Christmas tree!

Christmas morning. Eli was confused why he had to wait to go downstairs. We had to wake Carson up at 8:00 so the boys could go down together.

I love when Eli gets around a lot of new toys. Or just in a new environment in general. He gets really serious and keeps it calm -- his face completely expressionless. I'm pretty sure he was excited, even though his face suggests he was unaffected by the wrath of toys that greeted him Christmas morning.

Sadly, this is the only brother/Christmas Morning Jammies picture I got of the boys. I know. I'm disappointed in myself, too.

Blame my lack of posed pictures on the fact that Jeff and I were pretty sick on Christmas day. Which sounds miserable, but I've come to decide if there's a day for me to be sick -- it's Christmas! The kids were busy with their toys all day long, I barely even had to worry about feeding them. It was the perfect rest and recover day.

Safety first.

I think they ended up with 3, maybe 4 screwdrivers after all the presents were opened. Maybe we Santa went a little overboard.

Eli got an awesome truck with a trailer holding a 4-wheeler from Grandma and Grandpa Excell. He even cracked a smile for this one. So you know it's good.

The week before Christmas my curtain orders stopped coming in for the holidays. That left me with what felt like a lot of extra time, so in a crazed last-minute effort, I used my extra sewing time to put together quiet books for Eli and Carson. I slaved away on those things. They were really fun to make, but I was so worried they wouldn't even care about them after all the work I put into them.

As people were opening presents left and right, Eli opened up his quiet book. In the middle of the bustle, Jeff took a minute to tenderly show Eli every page of the quiet book. Eli loved it! It was such a sweet moment. I loved that he loved the book enough to sit there for a few minutes to try out the pages before moving on to his next gift. And then he requested his quiet book for every nap time and bedtime the whole week after Christmas.

My view of Christmas. It was so fun. Ben and Tana's boys got all the same kinds of things we got our boys. So there was no fighting over toys or anything. The kids were all so good!

Eli and Carson were so darling. After every present they opened, they (on their own) would go over to David and Mary to proudly show them what they got.

Carson at one point had a whole lineup of all his gifts on David's leg. Carson adores David.

Here's the tractor Carson got from David and Mary.

Jeff and I made an agreement not to get anything for each other this year. Which we have done before, but Jeff has always gone behind my back to get me something anyway. Well. He did it again.

Cutest gift ever! Jeff and I have been dying to play Nintendo64, but we thought we lost some of the parts to it. Jeff rounded up all the parts of our Nintendo from different boxes in our garage. It was the perfect gift!

I gave Mary a bag I made.

I was pretty impressed my first attempt at a bag came out so nicely!

Christmas Jeffery. Being sick.

We got the boys a car and an airplane that you can take apart and put back together with tools. They've been a big hit! I've been impressed that Carson has even been able to figure it out.

Grandma and Grandpa Thomas gave the kids a cash register.

Then it was time for the sibling gift exchange!

This year our theme was an "Educational Christmas." Ben and Tana gave us a dutch oven with a hilariously written syllabus and a degree for when we graduate dutch oven school.

Laura and Ben gave Bryan and Celeste a map of the United States.

We gave Ben and Tana "The Dangerous Book for Boys" and "The Daring Book for Girls."

Bryan and Celeste gave Laura and Ben a year subscription to National Geographics.

The rest of the day was all play. Eli wore his backpack around the house most of the day.

The boys were all enthralled with the car racetracks Ben and Tana's kids got.

Carson was eager to show off his second pair of Christmas jammies to his Grandma.

And we ended the trip with the cousin book exchange and Don't Eat Pete.

We had such a fun time!