This is ALL Christmas

Ok. I thought it best to do 1 big long post all about Christmas and then it's done and we can move on to other things. Like Preston's birthday in 17 days.

So the week before Christmas the boys had Christmas parties at school. I try to go to all of their school functions if I can b/c I love how happy and proud they are showing me things in their room. Plus its nice to see things that are going on in their class that I can ask them about.

So first up was Jaxton's party. Lucas and Preston went along to this one. First we made ice cream cone Christmas trees. And ate them. We did other things too like play "Rudolph Rudolph wheres your nose?" and an obstacle course outside. I love their school and their teachers. 

After Jaxton got out we had 40 minutes before Preston had to go to school so we rushed to Sonic to get a "fun lunch" and ate it at the park and then rushed to get Preston to school. 

I then took #2 and #3 to go play at Rox's and went solo to Preston's party. MUCH easier that way! 

We tried to go simple for the teacher gifts this year but dressed them up by making them into snow globes. 

We went simple with our treats to our neighbors too. Nothing is more simple then oreo truffles in a makeshift basket via a paper plate!

We had a Christmas party at my grandpa's house the weekend before Christmas. It was nice to be able to continue the tradition of Christmas party at Grandpa's with a younger generation. Sad to say my boys weren't on their best behavior at the party. Missing naps and blood sugar issues bring out the worst in us. 

Christmas Eve we had our usual Christmas Eve dinner- White Chicken Chili! 

But first there were other activities before stuffing our faces. 

We started the day with an early trip to the doctor. Preston has a bacterial infection of the outer ear. 

Then we raced back over to Marc and Chelsey's house for the annual Christmas Eve breakfast party. It was sad not having Patrick with us- he had to work, but the boys and I did just fine.

That night Laura and her  kids came over to help us eat the chili and visit for a bit. 

And then finally it was Christmas!! Lucky for "Santa" he had the good sense to assemble some of the gifts before Christmas Eve. "Mrs. Clause" didn't have such good sense and ran out of tape TWICE while wrapping presents that night. 

And time out. Can we talk about our Christmas tree for a second? I feel like I should get an award for letting go of some control this holiday season. The boys really wanted colored lights up on the tree which is fine except some of the ones blinked and other strands didn't and it drove me CRAZY and I ignored it! And I let Patrick and the boys hang up all the ornaments and didn't even move them all how I wanted when they weren't looking! Thats kind of a big deal. 

Present time!!! 

Present Recap.
Preston- a big boy bike, spikey helmet, Pokemon ball, Scout boy shirt and 2 books plus little stocking stuff. 

Pretty sure he's the only 4 year old in the world who wanted a boy scout shirt for christmas. 

Jaxton- train table (thank you jimmy/mallory for picking that up on black friday!), a big big helicopter, pokemon doll, 5 Pete the Cat books & socks

Lucas- a cookie counting jar, a crank car that pops into a robot, new shoes. 

I think they were happy with what they got. It was a hard Christmas with Patrick working all day, and having worked Christmas Eve and then the days after Christmas. Takes away some of the togetherness and can make a person feel lonely. But he works so hard for our family and we are grateful for that & know that if he could have it any other way he would! 

The night ended with a lovely Christmas dinner (ham, macaroni and cheese, rolls, corn, and dessert) and then we had a video chat with Jimmy and Andrew and their significant others.
If you are wondering what a video chat between us looks like, it involved a lot of just making weird faces in the camera. 

Typical.