Are we sick of Christmas posts yet?

I have to share some pictures from this week of Christmas before I can move onto other posts swirling in my head. Cecelia's 7 month post is already a day late and I haven't typed a single word of it yet....whoops! I know you are all so devastated about this. But hold onto your butts---if I happen to make the time for all of the posts I'm considering, it's about to get busy up in here.

Christmas this year was awesome, as expected. We went to Christmas Eve church service at 4 on Monday, then came home and had Tony/Lois/Jon over for homemade pizzas. After I put CC down we opened presents with this part of our family and it was so much fun to see Truman really 'get' the idea of presents this year. Like, he really got it. Too much. Because all we heard was 'let's find another present for me' about 150 times, even while in the middle of opening up a different gift. Sigh. Two year olds can be greedy I suppose, but he was just so excited and happy and thankfully not too whiny. But he DID stay up until freaking MIDNIGHT on Christmas Eve playing with toys and being fairly wild. I was falling asleep while pumping and he was still going strong playing puzzles and trains and everything else under the sun. But we let him sleep as long as he wanted that day for his nap, something that we don't usually do anymore----because then he will sleep for at least 3 hours and can remain awake at midnight;)

(didn't get a full family-of-four picture this year, so this will have to do. Before church. I could really die over the cuteness of my children)






(eating dinner without her pretty red dress---entire post about the fact that she eats solid food coming soon.)




(round one)


(midnight puzzle fun. Yawn.)


On Christmas morning Truman got up at 7:15 (so 7 hours of sleep total? Isn't that WAY less than what a 2.5 year old needs?!) and we immediately started opening up presents with our little family of four. Truman was floating from present to present again and was totally pumped about getting Victor the train (amongst a butt load of others, too).  Anytime someone asked Truman 'What do you want for Christmas this year?', he would always say simply, 'Victor.' The raised eyebrows he got in response from people who wondered if Victor was a geriatric man were classic. Besides his fave old man train (that might actually be Mexican if you listen to his accent?), Truman got a lot of pre-owned trains from our remaining attic stash of the summer Craigslist find we purchased for potty training. All of those Thomas items plus the four boxes of Geo Tracks we picked for him in the basement means he got a TON of toys that were pre-owned (read: inexpensive) and he loves them all to death. We did get him a few new ones along with candy and gloves and stuff like that. But it was definitely the year of the train for mister man and I don't hear him complaining one bit;)











Cecelia's first Christmas was a success although we kept it really basic for her this year. As in she got an ornament, some socks, some puff and other store-bought food, and some clothes from my favorite consignment store from us. Now don't worry, everyone outside of her parents spoiled the heck out of her and now her little toy box is overflowing with brightly colored plastic items. But really, she was just happy to gnaw on a few boxes and wrapping paper.

(her amazing ornament from Etsy seller 'TaylorJuneGifts')




(magic of the first Christmas)












(we attempted my family's traditional 'faces under wrapping paper shot'. I don't remember it being this difficult to get a good picture growing up with my brother...)




(Chaos. Pure and utter chaos.)


After opening our second round of presents we headed over to my in-laws for a yummy Christmas brunch. I feel like all we've done this week is eat in excess which is both fantastic and disgusting. Cecelia was fussy and ended up taking an hour long nap in her grandparents' bed before we headed back home to force a short nap on Truman. Why does everything revolve around kids napping these days?

(Lois has one of her gifts on display already)


(Christmas diet consists of fruit snacks and goldfish. Sweet)


(dressed up yet again while the rest of us are casual)


(brothers love candid shots)















 My mom, dad, and brother (who drove to MO from CO, and then up to WI!) came up on Christmas afternoon and guess what we did right away? Yup. Opened up more presents for round three. Just like with our gifts from my in-laws, the kids were the main attraction and got more thoughtful/fun stuff than we know how to store. A few days before Christmas I sort of freaked about the soon-to-be influx of toys in this house and we bought 5 more wicker baskets for our shelves in the sunroom. It makes me feel a little bit better to have more storage for these new toys but I don't think my OCD tendencies will really settle down until we can de-Christmas our house. Which probably won't happen anytime soon since my family is still here visiting, but we'll see how long I can take the Christmas decor invasion;)







So yeah, three rounds of gifts. Both uncles and both sets of grandparents in one town celebrating with us. Lots of fun catching up and watching the kids be hilarious. The only bummer is that both Nate and I had to work on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. I was seriously depressed about it on Christmas day, and then I was mad at myself for wasting precious time on Christmas being depressed. But I just HATE the fact that I had to work during the majority of my family visiting us. We had planned it this way from the beginning, because Lori is off for 11 days this year and we needed someone to watch our kids for us while we worked. I took off the whole week of Thanksgiving and so I felt like I needed to work over Christmas to help my department during a time when a lot of therapists are off. And to make money since I don't get any paid time off as a part time employee at my company. Sigh. Maybe next year I will take off the same days as Lori over Christmas and I will just work over Thanksgiving. Either way stinks and although I am so thankful for Nate's job and my own, it's definitely hard working in healthcare at times when you don't get extended time off around the holidays. People are still sick and need therapy and I suppose it's nice to be needed. And to have a good job. Gotta find the positive somehow! I'm off on Monday and Tuesday again next week, Nate is only off on Tuesday but hey---at least we get one day off together as a family again. Pollyanna = me.

Also, my parents and brother are freaking amazing babysitters. The 3 adults to 2 kids ratio is pretty sweet and every day they've had my kids, Truman and Cecelia have shown off with fabulous behavior. Cecelia only wants to nap while being held now which is perfect for a grandma and grandpa who need their baby fix, but not so hot for Nate and I when they leave. I guess we'll tackle that later;)









(Go Go went wild with DIY projects this Christmas. For instance: felt caboose sewed onto his...caboose)






My family will drive back to Missouri on Sunday morning and Nate's brother will be here until Thursday. I love having our out of town family with us right now. I cannot imagine how amazing it would be to have all of our extended family in the same city at all times, but I guess it makes it more special when we are all together. Eating in excess, doing a 1000 piece holiday puzzle, watching basketball, eating some more, and laughing----I love our family. It's snowing pretty good today and since it's our first full day with everyone home, not working, I'm thinking we will attempt a sledding excursion. Should be hilarious. :)











Whew. What a Christmas week. Bring on 2013, baby!