Christmas Festivities!

My parents were in town for the week of Christmas and we had a wonderful time celebrating with friends and family together. My nice camera chose a very bad week to break and I only have iPhone pictures and some pictures that Amberly took on Christmas Eve. It is officially the least photographed Christmas on record, and I am kind of sad I wasn't able to capture more of Christmas morning. We started Christmas Eve with having the Leaders over for brunch. It was great to catch up and we had very yummy food.

 We then headed up to Ft Collins for our annual Christmas Eve get together at Dave and Katie's.

The best I have of the cousins in their nice clothes before changing into their matching Christmas pj's.

 Goofballs.

 The kids were all SO excited to open presents. It was kind of an unwrapping frenzy.

Taylor was so happy we got her a Rainbow Loom, and James was so excited to get a Super Mario building set. He has become obsessed with the thought of Super Mario after seeing an ad in his National Geographic magazine. Since I am the mean mom who says a big fat, "NO" to video games, he has been making Mario characters out of applesauce caps and was thrilled to finally have some actual Mario figures.

Mac was a little overwhelmed by all of the action. And then he go to pull the blanket off the big present in the background-his gift from Steve and Amberly.

 His own ride on Harley. Complete with an extremely annoying soundtrack and lights. I don't think they like us very much ;)

Neither boy fell asleep on the way home, so they were able to put out cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer before they crashed and Tim and I were able to get to work assembling. 

We finally got to bed well after midnight. 

 The boys were so excited to run right out and see if Santa had come. We had to stall them for a few minutes while my parents got ready and made it upstairs, but they were finally able to run in the living room and discover the Lincoln Logs and Batcave with criminals that Santa had left for them.

They were so excited, it took them a few minutes to realize there was another toy that Santa had brought-a first at our house! A Lego Train! I wish that I could have captured their reactions. Darn my broken camera! They both danced around like crazy and then settled down to check it out.

 The boys took their time playing with their Santa toys before digging into their stockings. After stockings we took a break and ate breakfast and then opened up the presents under the tree. They were completely thrilled with everything and we spent a very lazy day assembling, playing and eating.

The hit of Christmas morning besides the train was probably all the little Super Mario figures that were in James' stocking and Mac's Lego storybook from Jenny. Christmas time was absolutely magical for both boys this year and we have had so much fun the whole month leading up to the big day. While I am a little sad all the excitement of the holiday season is over, it will also be nice to settle back into our normal routine. I am glad we still have a week at home before school starts back to relax and let the boys enjoy all their new things!

Christmas Flair

It just doesn't feel like Christmas without a multitude of holiday outfits.

 And don't forget holiday pajamas!

Santa Brunch

Yesterday we went to Santa Brunch with the rest of the Nichols crew, one of our favorite things to each year! And whoever says that girls are more fun to dress have clearly never seen little boy suspenders and bow ties. I mean, seriously. This level of cute is almost too much for me to handle.

 We got to Ptarmigan a little bit early and when we walked in, Santa was sitting right by the door and exclaimed, "You boys have grown so much since last year!" They were both glowing. Mac hopped right up on Santa's lap and asked him if he could bring him a Batcave with a criminal on top. James was a little less decisive and told Santa he wanted something to build with.

 Candy canes straight from the North Pole.

 Papa and his boys.

 All the Nichols cousins!

 Santa walked around and talked to the kids during brunch. He asked them all kinds of questions and answered all sorts of questions about the North Pole and his reindeer very patiently. James asked what his favorite cookie was and he told him chocolate chip, so I think we may be baking some on Christmas Eve.

 One last picture before leaving.

I love seeing the magic of Christmas through the eyes of these kids!

Mac's Holiday Show

Friday night was the annual Holiday Show for BellaVita. The past 3 years, we have gotten to watch James perform, and this time it was Mac's turn! Since Mac can be somewhat of a loose cannon, we really didn't know what to expect from him. It turns out, he loves to perform!

He walked right in and found his seat with his name on it and waited patiently for all the other children to show up. No stage fright for him!

Once the show started, he sang his little heart out. Mac was the second loudest singer of the group. You could definitely hear him above everyone else, especially during Jingle Bells.

Jingle Bells was the song that Mac had practiced singing the most at home and he jingled like crazy and sang at the top of his lungs the entire song. Even when he wasn't supposed to be jingling, he just rang his bell like crazy (even when his neighbor tried to stop him). I personally thought he stole the show, though I may be just a bit biased :) I was so proud of what a big boy he was and how brave he was to sing in front of such a large group. He had an absolute blast and we had so much fun watching him shine!

An excerpt from Jingle Bells. Pay special attention to when we scan across the crowd and you can see James' reaction to the song. (He is sitting in the front row in a red shirt)

Oh, Christmas Tree!

On Saturday, we left the cabin bright and early and met up with Anne and her family and about 10 other families they are friends with to go cut down our Christmas tree. I absolutely love this tradition and am so happy that the O'Reilly's include us! Last year we missed out on the annual tree cutting because we were in Florida, so we were happy to take part again this year. The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful time, it is the perfect way to kick of the Christmas season!

We walked less than 10 minutes into the forest and James stopped in front of a tree and said, "This is it! The best tree in the forest!" He might have just been tired of walking, but who are we to argue with that type of proclomation? He was very excited to help Tim cut it down and yelled, "Timber!"

 Carrying the tree back to the car.

All the families hung out and had a campfire and chili lunch that Anne had made after everyone found their trees. I have to say that the families who took a little more time choosing their tree ended up with some beautiful ones!

 James and Mac had a blast running around with George and Gus and all the other kids there. They never stopped running, so this is the best I could do at capturing the 4 of them.

 Mac and his thematically appropriate shirt.

As soon as we got home, James insisted on getting out all the decorations. He was the most excited for the books and ornaments, but he and Mac were also quite pleased to be reunited with their Christmas stuffed buddies.

 We got about half decorated and then saved the rest for Sunday morning. The boys get an ornament from me each year and they couldn't wait to see what I had picked out for them out this year. I think it is all the years of watching Hallmark Hall of Fame movies with my mom and those sappy Hallmark commercials, but I am a total sucker for Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments and love picking one out each year that I know my boys will love and will always remind us of something they loved from that year. This year James got a Nightmare Before Christmas ornament since it is his favorite movie and Mac got a Batman ornament since he loves dressing up as Batman.

 I am also a total sucker for matching holiday themed jammies. I mean seriously, does it get any cuter?!

Once we got our tree home and set up, I realized it is probably the saddest and scrawniest tree we have ever had. But we love it and being so scrawny, it does a wonderful job of showcasing our ornament collection. Yay for Charlie Brown trees!

James gets SO excited for our holiday book collection to be brought out each year. Each boy gets a hard back Christmas book from me on Christmas Eve, and they get one from my mom as well. So we have that collection in addition to the multitude of paperback and board books we have about Christmas/Winter/Hanukkah/Kwazaa that I have been accumulating since I started teaching that we only have out in December. (Apparently I am a total sucker for holiday books too) Tim tried to tell me that we had too many holiday books and I tried to convince him otherwise, so James and I counted our collection. 71 books. I guess Tim wins that argument. Oh well, I say there are many worse things to hoard than children's holiday books.

 Hooray for Christmas decorating!

 My favorite picture of the boys in a long time. 

We are full blown in the Christmas spirit at out house. Decorations, books, constant Christmas music, holiday dishes, the list goes on. I am so excited for all of our December traditions this month as we lead up to Christmas!