Our Crazy Christmas - Part 1

So, December 23-26th were quite possibly the busiest and most sleep deprived 4 days I've ever had, but oh my goodness they were some of the best as well!  Here's the breakdown of our Christmas vacation.

December 23rd:

9:30 pm - Ryan attempts to put together the boys' train table from Santa

11:30 pm - It's a catastrophic failure.  The one we bought from Costco was missing several key pieces, but we didn't realize that until after almost completely putting the whole thing together.  

December 24th:

2:00 am - After freaking out and wondering what to do for a few hours, on a whim, Ryan goes to Toys R Us and buys a new (and much better) train table. 

2:30 am - Ryan gets pulled over leaving the Toys R Us parking lot for a burned out headlight.  Awesome.

3:00 am - Ryan gets home and decides to stay up and put the new table together to make sure everything is accounted for.  

6:00 am - Ryan finally climbs into bed after waking up next to the train table that he got mostly assembled before falling asleep on top of it.

7:30 am - 3:00 pm We get up with the boys and start our day.  We get them ready to see Santa, do a little last minute shopping at the mall, make a grocery run, pick up some lunch and finally get the boys down for afternoon naps.  At that time, instead of crawling in the bed ourselves (which was so very tempting), I finished my Christmas baking and Ryan started wrapping some presents.  

3:00 pm - Boys wake up, Austin and I decorate cookies for Santa, we finish wrapping and head to Papa and Grandma's house for Christmas Eve.  We eat, we chat, we open presents...

9:00 pm - 11:59 pm We get back home, the boys go straight to bed and Santa and Mrs. Claus lay out the gifts (after opening them all and adding batteries) and then finish wrapping presents for the next day.

December 25th:

12:01 am - Ryan and I say Merry Christmas to one another because we are still awake wrapping presents

 2:30 am - We say it again as we finally get into bed, still not completely done wrapping

 7: 30 am - Owen wakes me up on Christmas morning!  Him and I spend some nice alone time together as the other two boys continue sleeping.  

8:00am -  Everyone is awake and we all start coming down the stairs, Ryan and I as happy and giddy as we were when we were kids coming to see what Santa had brought us.

8:01 am - Austin spots his train table, ignores us all for the next 20 minutes.

8:20 am - Austin spots the pile of other toys on the floor and makes his way over there.  He picks up every toy with wheels, plays with them for a few moments, and then goes back to the train table.

Meanwhile, Owen is having a fabulous time playing with all his goodies, especially his Activity Lion!

8:45 am - I made chocolate chip waffles for breakfast, but even that yummy temptation can not draw Austin away from his beloved train table.  From the kitchen, we hear him whispering "thank you, Santa, thank you" several times as he plays with his trains.  Instead of dragging him away, Ryan and I alternate taking bites to him while he plays.  

9:30 am - Owen naps while Austin continues to play and Ryan and I clean up from breakfast (finish wrapping) and get ready for our trip down to Columbia.

12:00 pm - We are finally on the road to Columbia (about an hour later than we had planned).

1:00 pm-6:00 pm - We arrive in Columbia to spend time with Mimi and Papa and the rest of the Banks side of the family.  We have a fabulous lunch followed by lots and lots and lots of present opening!  Owen is smitten with Mrs. Martin and she takes quite the liking to him herself.  No part of his body touches the floor for the rest of the day for all the people wanting to hold him.  Austin is a hoot!  He is opening gifts left and right, sneaking in the kitchen and stealing cookies off the table, being his absolutely adorable self and loving every minute of all the attention he's getting.  Those two boys were spoiled rotten the entire afternoon.  I guess it helps that they were the only two children in a house full of adults!
6:00 pm - We hate to leave, but are excited to get home for Christmas dinner with Am Ma.
7:30 - 11:59 pm We arrive home to see snow falling and about an inch already on the ground.  Am Ma is there waiting for us so we wake both boys up from their car seat naps to get ready for our final Christmas day celebration.  We eat again, open presents, play with toys, get baby boy in bed and after a few more hours, big brother follows.  Ryan and I open our presents from Am Ma and chat for awhile.

December 26th:
1:00 am - We finish opening all the gifts, Am Ma leaves, and Ryan and I race to the bed to see who can fall asleep first.
8:00 am - We wake up to blankets of snow outside and spend the morning playing with the boys, ALL their new toys and in the snow.
2:00 pm - Midnight  - We achieve double nap time and figure it's about time Ryan and I finally exchange our gifts to each other.  We finish unwrapping our wonderful gifts, clean up the mess and start heading to bed for a quick nap ourselves...until we hear both boys awake on the monitors...Oh well!  We get up and play with our sweet boys for the rest of the day and then crash for the night.

Whew!  And that's the short version!  It sure was a busy holiday season, but I loved every moment.  What a wonderful Christmas for our family of four.  I already can't wait until next year!