Christmas day dawned very traditionally - with a little one climbing in our bed, ready to check out his stocking! (Joshua is no longer terrified of Santa - but he does not think Santa is fun. So at our house we just have stockings. The gifts come from mom and dad. No chubby guy with a beard gonna sneak into our house!)
I love snuggly, Christmas morning pictures!
After church we joined my family at my parent's house. We had lunch as usual, and then the creativity began.
Grandpa had decided that the grandkids should go out to the hay barn and re-enact the Christmas story. It was an experience!
Here is Mary (Lexie) riding the donkey (Sierra) to Bethlehem.
Joseph (Joshua) kept a tight hold of the halter rope.
(Sierra was a "Shrek-like donkey." At one point she belched loudly. She was not very sacred in her acting, but she was bust a gut hilarious!)
Here are Mary and Joseph watching baby Jesus sleeping in the hay.
Grandpa was the narrator and director. He had his hands full trying to keep everyone focused (including the audience - we may have been a bit disruptive and giggly).
Here is the angel (Brenna).
And eventually Mary and Joseph were joined by a shepherd (my brother Chad) and a wise man (Adrianna).
The whole cast
Poor Jay was NOT impressed! This precious play took place in the middle of the first Celtics game of the year. He is an avid Celtics fan. Good thing he could check the score on his cellphone.
Krissy was not impressed being at the barn in her 5" heels.
And Chad, well he is just a heckler, so the crowd was as funny as the actors.
After the play, Grandma had a scavenger hunt planned. She said that we needed to do something different so we would always remember the Christmas that it was 45* outside!
(I told you she was creative!)
She gave the kids their clue, and they were
OFF!
Eventually we had a more traditional gift exchange.
Mr. Serious Celtics Fan skipped his first turn to open a gift because the game was tied!
(NO! We do not usually tolerate this degree of sports mania, but it was the first game of the season.)
However, it was NOT necessary this year! This year he was a typical 4 year old in every single way. He LOVED presents, he even pouted once when he was out of things to open. He ran and played and hugged and giggled. He was totally overstimulated, but he handled it so well.
We were so proud of him!
Our boys roughhousing
Poor Jay! Joshua loves to egg him on, but when Jay finally grabs him and wrestles and tickles Joshua loves to tattle. Joshua picks and picks - but then when Jay grabs him he yells, "Mom!!!! Jay getting me!" We all giggle about it. It is a really good thing Jamison is so patient!
Here are Joshua and Grandpa playing rodeo.
Notice the brownie with the bite mark?
Mr. Joshua grabbed it off the plate and began to take a bite.
Then Lexie called for him to come and play.
He replaced it on the plate mid-bite so that he would not miss out on even a minute of fun.
Emily and I just laughed and laughed.
It is so fun to see the cousins together!
I am not working most of this week!!!
So today, I got all my Christmas things from the main level put away.
Then Chad helped me repaint the accent wall.
Yep, again.
In the last 6 weeks it has been light grey (which looked blue), dark grey (which looked poopy green) and now is chocolate brown. I think the third time is the charm. I also got smart and raided the paint room at the shop instead of paying for paint, so if I change my mind again at least the paint was free!
I joked on facebook that you know you married the right man when he helps you paint the same wall 3 times in 6 weeks because you just can not get the paint color correct! In my defense, I have never done this before! I am usually a good color chooser!
Anyway, my main floor is back to normal. My basement is totally trashed, but that will be a project for another day.
Tomorrow I will fill the mega momma mobile with our kids and my sister-in-law and her girls. We will take a roadtrip to Grandma Great's house so we can celebrate her birthday.
I am so very thankful to be off and able to go!
