Christmas Morning

December 25, 2011 

We told the boys we weren’t going downstairs before 7am so there was no reason to get up early. I think they were both up around 6am and crawled in bed with us. Nathan was insistent before we went downstairs that he and Nicholas make a pledge that first they open their stockings and then they wait to open their gifts until each member of the family had a present to open. Nicholas played along, but he just wanted to get downstairs!

They were so excited when they came down the stairs. They announced each item in their stockings including: Hexbugs, Lego mini figures, toothpaste, an electric toothbrush, Nerf darts, water bottle, pencils, erasers, glow in the dark sticks and Angry Birds figures. They noticed they always seem to get the same things.

 

Once stockings were done We checked out the Norad Santa Tracker and saw where Santa had been while we were sleeping. Then we noticed Santa took two huge bites out of the cookie the boys made for him and drank his milk. He also took the picture of the boys Nathan had left for him as a gift. Then we ate coffee cake from my Mom and Chris and I opened our stockings. Santa did much better this year than last with ideas for my stocking. And the card Chris gave me really was one of the best he's ever given me.

Then it was on to opening presents and Chris turned on the video camera and announced “The first gift of Christmas” (a line from The Polar Express) to which Nathan responded “Was yesterday.” HAHA!

Nicholas’s first present was an Angry Birds t-shirt and he was excited because Carson in his class has the same one.

He also got pants and shirts that he was very unhappy about and asked why we always had to get him clothes. “Because you need them” I answered.

He knew before he even opened it that he got the Angry Birds board game. I'm not sure if it was the size of the box or the sound when it shook.

Nicholas knew the Hexbug Hive before he even opened it because of the shape. That was the one thing he asked for from Santa. As you can see Nicholas was good at guessing gifts this year.

At one point when Nicholas was waiting for permission to open a present he started speaking as if he was the box and said “I’m ready to be opened. I do not like being in this wrapping paper.” It was a pair of skiing gloves. What a jokester!

Nathan’s got a lot of Lego related stuff, as is to be expected. He got Lego Hogwarts Castle, Lego Harry Potter years 1-4 for Wii, two Lego Ninjago sets and Lego Star Wars character encyclopedia.

When he opened the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Cabin Fever book he said; “Thank you Mom and Dad”.

Lego Hagrid’s Hut was Nathan’s one gift he asked for from Santa so he was super excited when he got that (check out his mouth in the photo). Although I think Nicholas told him what it was and was trying to encourage him to open it earlier.

Nathan and Nicholas got each other an Imaginext gift. Nicholas got Nathan the Ninja base and he was so happy he jumped up and gave Nicholas a hug. Nathan got Nicholas the Robo Dinosaur and he clapped and jumped up and down. 

Nicholas took my first gift and opened it where I couldn’t see it and then brought it back for me to see when it was opened. He yelled “Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides” movie!"

I also got a jewelry armoire that I exchanged for a larger one to fit all my necklaces although I'm still waiting for it to arrive. 

 the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie, the new Nickelback CD, Lady Antebellum CD, Daughtry CD, travel pillow, winter hat (that I bought for myself and it still had the safety tag on it so I wonder how I got out of the store).

The boys got Chris a pink striped tie for Pink Tie Friday at work. He said he gets a lot of comments on it. 

I got him a Spyder sweater that he returned for a North Face jacket.

His big gift was a Toshiba tablet. He is constantly surfing the internet and doesn’t need a full keyboard or file saving capabilities (he is always hogging my laptop) so I thought that was perfect for him. Brittany and Brandon went out shopping on Black Friday and offered to stand in line at Best Buy for me since they were going to be there anyways. I was so excited when she texted me and said she got it. Then I had to keep it a secret so I paid Brandon out of a separate account and had to arrange delivery from her sometime when Chris wasn’t around. It wasn’t easy, but I’m so glad I pulled it off! He loves it and uses it all the time now.

The boys got sports themed Pillow Pets too. Nicholas got the Boston Bruins Bear and Nathan got the Red Sox green monster.

Grammy and Grampa Gray got the boys each a $50 Visa card (among other things). They were very excited and thought about buying one big Lego set, but later decided to buy smaller things in the stores. They did really good keeping track of how much money they had to spend and deciding what they wanted the most.

Halfway through opening our presents it started to gently snow giant white flakes. It was very picturesque and perfect for Christmas morning. And we were all sure to remember that it was Jesus' birthday.