A Mom's Thoughts on her Men: Ho Ho Ho!

So I think we had about FOUR Christmases. I actually think this was good because it spaced out the gifts and gave the boys a chance to actually play with the toys for a bit and not be so overwhelmed. Our first Christmas was with my extended in-law family. I forgot my camera that day but we had a good time as usual and did our traditional Yankee Swap.

Next, we did a Christmas with my MIL, FIL, Aunt Jacki, Uncle Herb and Aunt Jamie. The theme to these gifts were music. The boys (Jacoby) LOVE having concerts and playing in bands. It is a daily activity here. Jacoby got a great guitar and a CD player with microphones. Garrett got a drum filled with other lovely noise makers. They also got a wagon (can you believe we didn't have one?) which they LOVED to play with. Here are a few shots of the "Soter Brother's".

Next we had traditional Christmas Eve at Aunt Sandy's. Read about our start to this day HERE. We also did a Yankee Swap here. It was the first year, and a big group. It went pretty well without too much stealing and arguing. Here are a few shots of Christmas at Aunt Sandy's with my extended family.

Lauren and Garrett

LOVE!!!

Yankee Swap getting heated!!

Jason and his sis Jamie

Yankee Swap Crowd

Meghan and Garrett

And finally, Christmas morning. Jacoby got up like normal and didn't even once mention Santa. We finally had to get him excited to come down. This kid is ANYTHING but materialistic. He never asks for anything and never begs to open presents. I hope this trait stays with him. Once he opened his "Grapple" Toy story Tri County landfill, he was done. We had to persuade him to open any more gifts, he took 2 more days to finally finish opening. The big hits were the landfill obviously, the cash register (surprisingly), more large cardboard blocks, cleaning kit and Garrett enjoyed his new hardhat. Here are just a few snapshots. Enjoy!