Christmas morning we were awakened early by Brayden... not because he was excited it was Christmas, but just because our child likes to wake up before the roosters. We finally meandered out of bed around 6:45. When the boys walked into the living room Brayden exclaimed (with hands in the air) "Birthday presents! For meeeeeeeeeeee! And I can open them!" hahahaha. I guess he was so wrapped up in the fact that it was Jesus' birthday that he thought the presents were birthday presents for him! Both boys bee lined it for the presents, so we had to stall them both off by reading the letter Santa left them (I'll post more about the Santa letter later this week, because I want to remember what I did-ha!). Then we talked about the manger, and how it was baby Jesus' birthday and we were celebrating him on Christmas! We read the Christmas story from the toddler bible. Brayden helped tell the story :)
The boys got to dump out their stockings (brought from Santa). Brayden was in heaven with all of the lollipops (that Santa bought 1/2 off during the Halloween clearance sale ;) )
Connor even got a lollipop. YUMM!
going through all of the loot
this is Connor's present. Notice who's opening the gift.... big brother. C-man didn't stand a chance at opening his own gifts this year. I'm thinking next year will be a different story, what do you think?
this was a football from Mamaw and Papaw
Mamaw loved her gift-- a framed picture of the fam!
Uncle Mike and Aunt Rina gave Brayden a giftcard for Christmas. Drew and I decided to pick out a gift for him from them and let him open it on Christmas day. These next few pictures are my absolute fave from Christmas.
not sure what it is yet
he figured it out-- a Razorback football helmet!!! Trying to rip faster now...
gotta find someone to get this thing out of the box!
Papaw to the rescue! Notice how B is saying "OHHHH!"
getting it ready to put on...
a little more assistance from Papaw
he grabbed the football and was OFF running...
scoring a "touchdown!"
and an unprovoked Heisman stance. Tongue out and all. LOVE.
later Christmas morning we Skyped my parents so that the boys could open their gifts from them.
the batcave! which my mom then said "it's like a doll house for boys!" haha!
guess who opened Connor's gift from Gigi and Poppa D?
Papaw and Brayden went outside to play football after we were done unwrapping gifts. Somebody wanted to play with the big boys :(
boo hiss.
Aunt Kelly, Uncle Paul and the girls came to eat Christmas lunch with us. They also brought a few gifts for the boys. Connor broke out in "oooooo's" when he saw the presents. it was his first time to say that and was SOOO cute. We all kept laughing.
I love C's facial expression in this shot. He was so excited about his new puzzles!
Brayden got a nerf gun. It was a hit! The day after Christmas he was playing with the gun and stopped for a minute, looked up in the sky and said "Thank you Uncle Paul and Aunt Kelly!" Soooo sweet. he's also shot Connor in the face with the gun, so we're grounded from the gun for the moment. Ahhh brotherly love.
they also got a joint gift-- a moon bounce (one of those balls that has a handle on it). Best gift ever. Brayden loves it!
After naptime we all sang happy birthday to Jesus.
And like that, it was over. Everything we had prepared for for over a month was done. The day after Drew's parents left we went out to eat. A lady approached our table to talk to the boys, and she asked Brayden what he got for Christmas. Brayden looked at us and so I asked him the same question. I could tell he was really thinking about his answer, and he looked over at the lady and said "Baby Jesus!" The woman chuckled, and I beamed proudly. She then asked him what Santa brought him and he said "my stocking." You know, I had questioned whether or not he really understood everything we were teaching and saying to him about Christmas. But it was clear in that moment that what we said had stuck. That Santa brought the stocking, but what we really got for Christmas was Jesus. And that made it the best Christmas I've ever had.
