A season of smiles

So yet another Christmas has come and gone, and it was my favorite, by far.  I'm finding as the boys get older, everything we do with them is just so much fun.  They can tell us funny stories and things that happened to them, and we had so much fun with the Santa stories this year.  I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get them to do anything now, since Santa was the enforcer in our house for a long time...

But most fun of all was watching all of the smiles. 

 First, I must show you the Gingerbread house we made.  The pictures actually make it look a LOT better than it was.  Holy cow, it slide apart and candy fell off and I just referred to it as the "Gingerbread House of Horrors" until the boys ate all the candy off of it.

 And then we have Christmas.  Actually, this was Christmas Eve day since we head out of town on Christmas day.  The boys got their presents from Santa on the 24th, and judging by the look on Connor's face, I'm not sure he could be more excited. 

 Connor was VERY excited to get shoes.  Heck, when you're 3 years old, it's not necessarily the gift you get, but the fact that it is so exciting just opening something - even if it is stuff you would need anyway.  Good thinking, Santa!

 

One of the coolest things, in my opinion, were the huge suckers Santa brought the boys.  Santa picked these up at the airport in Amsterdam.  They were awesome, it was actually a plastic container with 12 smaller suckers inside.  I just thought they were especially cute, and they reminded me of something that would come from the North Pole. 

 

 One of the only gifts Tyler asked for was his Nintendo DS.  I'm thinking this face says "SCORE"! 

 And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, we had the most beautiful snow outside.  I also had to snap a picture of the decal of the "big guy" I have on our back door.  It was definitely a White Christmas for us.

 Christmas Eve we had over to the Stanfield house.  This year, all the kids (young and old) played Bingo.  It was a blast, and for the first time EVER, all the kids sat at the table and were enthralled as Grandpa Larry called out the Bingo numbers.

Fast forward to the next day at Grandpa Breuer's house.  Another first... 3 kids laying on the floor on a blanket, all playing with their DS' (and Connor has his Leapster).  Too cute.

 Another super fun toy was the Paper Jamz guitar that Connor got.  You know it's a fun toy when you find yourself, as a parent, even playing with it when your child isn't home.  It is awesome, and sounds just like you are a professional guitar player. 

This year was so much different than the others, and I can only see it getting better.  The boys were not only excited for themselves, but for each other.  Tyler loved to help show Connor how to play his games and just how everything works.  Very cute.

It was such a great Christmas with all of our family, and it ended too fast, as it usually does.  We'll soon have to take down the Christmas tree and all the decorations until next year.  I did find this quote though that really made an impression on me:

"My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others.  Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?"  - Bob Hope

Exactly.