Christmas weekend

We had another fantastic Christmas at our house, and apparently, the boys must have been pretty good in 2016 because Santa made it to our house on Christmas Eve. 

We had a quiet Christmas Eve dinner at our house and were joined by MaSha, who had just come back from Charleston where she was staying with her granddaughters down there for a few days.

Boys are ready for dinner!

Ham biscuits, asparagus, watergate salad,
hash brown casserole and cooked apples.

Watching "the TRAIN movie" aka Polar Express before bedtime

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

MaSha and the boys

We made sure the boys knew that they had to go to sleep if they wanted Santa to come. During our nightly story time, we even heard Santa's bells on his sleigh go by. He must have been passing over our house. Magical!!!!

After the boys went to bed, the grown-ups watched It's a Wonderful Life and fell asleep on couches before going up to bed to fall asleep in anticipation of the excitement of Christmas morning. I got up early on Christmas morning and snuck downstairs to get breakfast started and to check and see if Santa came. HE DID! I snapped a few pics of the scene.

Christmas tree

Ryan's gifts from Santa

Stokes and William's gifts from Santa

Cookies were eaten and milk was gone.Santa even left a note!

He filled all the stockings!!!

We got the boys up and the fun began! Stockings and Santa gifts came first.

Stokes checking out his tool belt

Ryan and his light-up drum set

William looking at his stocking goods

Ryan checking it out!

Lots of loot!

Happy boy!!

Time for Mama to open her stocking

And Dada, too

We took a break from gift action for
some Christmas breakfast.
Eggs, bacon, Christmas tree cake,
fruit, sausage balls and hash brown
casserole.

Time for our little elves to open gifts
under the tree!

So much fun!

William is a pro

MaSha helping Ryan

So excited!

He tried out his new sleeping bag from Abby!

Dada loves his new Clemson slippers! LOL

Santa even remembered the doggies!

Esso and ginormous bone

General and ginormous bone

Love our family <3

Merry Christmas!!!

MaSha and her boys!

Lots of fun having MaSha around for Christmas morning

After opening presents, we got showered and saw MaSha off to church while we got in the car to head to Virginia to visit Thomas's family up there.

We went to Abby's house first and got a bit settled but then it was time to go to Granddad's for the annual Christmas dinner.

Thomas, Ryan and Granddad

Stokes learning lots of important things!

Jerry and Ryan

William sitting on Granddad's lap

After dinner it was time to open even more presents!

Going for it.

New Paw Patrol slippers!!!!

We love all our new gifts!

After Granddad's we spent the rest of the weekend at Abby's house - just hanging out, driving around town, riding around on the tractor (well, Stokes did, William was scared and Ryan hung out with Mama). 

Sunset over the mountains at Abby's

Stokes and William with Dada

Joey came over and hung out with us for the afternoon and evening and ate oysters with all of us. Later on, Lisa and Davis joined us as well and Davis and the boys had fun playing.

All the boys on the couch

No one is looking!!!!
Stokes, Ryan, Davis and William

Lisa and Davis with William and me

Cheese!

Thomas and Ryan with Joey and Stokes

This is what he did most of the time
at Abby's house...talk on the phone.
He would just talk and talk and talk.

Opening more gifts from Abby!

Cool!!! It's a tool workbench!

We drove back home on Tuesday after Christmas and (still) have a lot of clean up and organizing to do to make room for all these new gifts. We are spoiled. No way around it. Not only from a material standpoint, but from a family and love standpoint. We loved the opportunity to spend quality time with family, although it's never enough time.

This Christmas was good. Very good. I loved seeing the boys' reactions and their intrigue and excitement around Santa and our elf, Jim Bob Elf. It's a magical time of year.