Christmas

This Christmas was so exciting! We introduced the boys to our Elf on the Shelf (who arrived in a blanket in a box with his book on our front porch one cold night after Thanksgiving). The boys named our elf Lark, and were very eager to see the results of Lark’s nightly antics each morning. I didn’t take any pictures of the things Lark did, but one night he toilet-papered the bathroom (it happened to be the night before Mason’s birthday, so Tyler thought Lark “decorated” to celebrate). Another night, Lark gathered some of the boys’ stuffed animals and played Candy Land with them; he found our cookies and decided to sit in the cookie container and make a mess; he climbed the Christmas tree on several occasions; he even made himself a house out of a cardboard box and played in it!

Tyler wrote and mailed a letter to Santa around Thanksgiving (asking for Super Hero Squad figures, play food, and a play store) and actually received a letter from North Pole, Alaska from Santa in return! I was even excited about that nice, unexpected surprise. Both boys got to see and take photos with Santa at Tyler’s daycare. They let us come early so that Tyler and Mason could be in the pictures together. Santa was super nice, and the boys looked so darn cute, I couldn’t decide which pictures to buy, so I bought all of them! Check them out:
BOYS SANTA PICTURES
A few days before Christmas, we took the boys and their cousins (Jenna, Lauren, and Jaime) out to look at all the tacky Christmas lights in nearby neighborhoods. There were quite a few good ones this year, but our favorite was still one house that was entirely covered in lights and had a ridiculously tall “tree” made from stringing lights from one point and fanning the strands down to the ground.
TACKY LIGHTS PICTURES?
Christmas day was a blast. Santa had arranged all the presents under the tree around the train set, and even made a few little tunnels out of the presents! After eating some cinnamon rolls with green icing, the boys took their time opening their many toys. It took us several hours, because each gift had to be opened completely and played with for a little while before the next gift was opened.
CHRISTMAS PICTURES
Mason’s favorite gift Christmas day had to have been the dress-up box I put together for the boys, which included a custom cape for each of them, complete with super hero mask. Tyler wanted to put on an Iron Man costume (actually, his Halloween costume) immediately, but it was a little snug, so he had to take off his PJ bottoms before putting on the costume. Mason must have seen him do that, so he followed suit, but with no reason to! He ran back into the living room looking like this:
MASON w/NO PANTS J
That night, we drove up to my parents house to celebrate Christmas with them, my sister & her family, and our cousins and their families. The cousins had a ton of fun with each other at Lolo and Lola’s house…and the extra sweets and more gifts weren’t bad, either :)