Christmas Day 2014

After being up until midnight on Christmas Eve, Kenny and I were wishing and hoping and praying that the kids would sleep in on Christmas morning. Alas, we were not that lucky. They woke up within minutes of each other around 6:30am, even though they both really did need to sleep more: we didn’t get them into bed until almost 10pm the night before.

Rory got up first and we luckily caught Riley on the stairs before he made it all the way down. I got their annual top-of-the-stairs picture and then we let them loose to see what Santa brought.

Their main gift was a joint one, and it was a big one: a Little Tikes bouncy house, which Santa set up in the dining room. This unfortunately meant that there wasn’t much for the boys under the tree, just a bucket of Legos for Riley with his requested Christmas trucks and rock wall already assembled. But neither of them seemed to mind.

 

The rest of their loot was in their stockings, so we moved in front of the fireplace to open those. Riley got Scooby snacks, Scooby PJs, Scooby stickers, a penguin Pez keychain, and Yorks. Rory got Scooby snacks, a Scooby beanie baby, How to Train Your Dragon 2, a set of Mickey figurines, a reindeer Pez keychain, and Yorks.

I also found Kenny an ornament that looks like a Wagoneer. Isn’t it cute with the little tree on top?

After stockings, Riley played with his Legos a bit and then decided he wanted to bounce. Kenny put Rory in there too, and he promptly lost it. He was so tired from the night before that I ended up putting him back into his bed for an hour. I don’t think he ever fell back asleep, but it gave him some quiet time and he was much happier when I got him up.

Kenny made fresh pancakes for the boys to tide them over, we all got dressed, and then we headed over to Nola and Nopsi’s. Cub and Uncle Bill had Bop’s customary breakfast well underway; they did a fantastic job cooking everything. And Nopsi even made muffin bread!

 

 

Riley was desperate to open more gifts, so he was thrilled when everyone finally moved into the living room. The boys’ pile of gifts towered around them, making Santa look cheap by comparison. I’m not sure Riley could have been more excited.

And while everyone had their own gifts to open, all attention was focused on my two boys and their wonder at each new thing they discovered.

We said goodbye a short while later and headed across the Causeway to Mandeville for Christmas with Kenny’s family. Of course this meant even more gifts!

 

After the last present had been unwrapped and the boys were happily playing with some of their new things…..

 

…..I said goodbye to everyone and drove back to the south shore. Kenny was very sweet to let me spend more time with my family since they were all in town and since it was a hard year for us not having Grammy and Bop around. Aunt E, Uncle Jeff, and Kate arrived from Slidell a bit before I did, so I got to see my goddaughter open her gifts. Her expressions were so cute.

 

  

We had a really nice dinner with lots of Grams’ traditional dishes (hash brown casserole, mushroom rice, etc.), and Cub gave a very heartfelt toast beforehand that made many of us tear up. Kenny and the boys made a repeat appearance just as we were finishing up, and the three cousins had fun playing together the rest of the night. Throw in good wine, decadent desserts, and a movie on Billy’s laptop (The Interview), and our Christmas was complete.

Hope everyone had as nice a holiday as we did!