Christmas Fun

Christmas Day has come and gone...and it all happened so quickly!

On Christmas Eve, Jaydon was so excited to get ready for Santa's arrival...
First, we went outside right at dusk and sprinkled the yard with reindeer food so that the reindeer could find our home. Then we came in and baked chocolate chip cookies for Santa. "Mom, Santa needs 6 cookies." Oh - you couldn't be more right, son - you must know Santa really well! (SCORE for mom & dad's midnight treat!) When those were ready, we poured Santa a cup of milk in a Christmas mug, and we put a bowl of water out by the fireplace for the reindeer too. "Mom, the reindeer will be thirsty just like Santa." Absolutely, Jaydon!
Then we had to make sure the chimney was open - he wouldn't let us forget a thing!
Once he was in bed around 9:00, we read a Christmas bedtime story. Then we had to pray so that Santa wouldn't get into any accidents, and so that his reindeer wouldn't get sick. It was too sweet to see Jaydon's mind racing with Christmas joy.

On Christmas morning, I awoke at 7:15 to find Jaydon in front of the fireplace on his stomach not making a sound. It was the cutest sight - he was just staring at his 2 Santa gifts. (No, not every gift comes from Santa - he can't fit that much in his sleigh - DUH!) You see, just 2 days prior, he had gone to sit on Santa's lap and he asked Santa for a robot and a gingerbread house. Miraculously, Santa delivered! (Thank you to Tia Jessenia for playing Santa this year.) He was just amazed that Santa brought him exactly what he asked for. Then of course he wanted to open the gifts...so we let him.

Jacoby woke up soon after that, and we hung out at home. Tia Jessenia came over around 8:30 and we opened the rest of the gifts. She loves watching the boys open their gifts. Both kids got a lot of stuff from toys to clothes, and everything in between.
After that, Tia left, and we spent the morning cleaning up. Aba came over at 11:00 to finish helping us cook lunch. At 1:20, Jessenia came back with her boyfriend Tom, and his sister Stacia. The 6 of us (plus 2 boys) ate a most delicious lunch which consisted of turkey, white rice, fajita meat, guacamole, salad, rolls, tamales, and then 3 desserts - crazy pecan pie, pumpkin bread, and Oreo chocolate cake. The first two were homemade. EVERYTHING was so good, and it was nice to be in good company. Jacoby really enjoyed the tamales. That boy wants to eat table food so badly - he is nothing like Jaydon! (Oh, and my turkey and guacamole "leftovers" sandwich today was SO, SO, SO good!)
Aba stayed to help clean up, and then left around 4:30. That left us alone for the rest of the evening. Jaydon watched 2 new movies he got earlier in the day, and played with his robot. He played with his new trains too. Jacoby played with his new push toy and he loves it. That boy will be walking in a few weeks. He pushes that thing all around with such ease. We regret not buying it sooner. He even lets go and has taken as many as 12 steps (that I have seen/counted) on his own!

Typically on Christmas day - in the evening - we go over to Jeremy's side of the family to celebrate. This year, it was just going to be too tough. They don't have people over until 6:00, and that's too late for us. Aside from that, it tends to be an older crowd - no younger children besides ours - and it's just boring. (This is nothing that we all don't know - it's not me being rude.) They tend to favor girls...okay, they REALLY favor girls, so our boys don't get much attention. (We need to live in China or India where they cherish boys. We are in the wrong country!) ...and on top of it all, we were broke as can be and just couldn't afford to buy gifts for everyone like we usually do. We REALLY need to do a name draw next year and since Christmas is at my house next year, I think that we will! :)
Both kids were asleep by 7:00 on Christmas day, so we are glad that we didn't go because it would have been stressful for all of us. There isn't anybody for Jaydon to play with, so it's not like he missed it, or asked about it anyway.

Overall, our simple Christmas suited us JUST fine. We have spent the entire day at home today just relaxing and hanging out together as a family. Jeremy washed both cars, he & Jaydon played baseball outside in the 30 mph winds, and Jacoby & I watched.
Then this evening, we made Jaydon's gingerbread house. Surprisingly, Jeremy, Jaydon, and I were all virgin gingerbread house makers. It was a simple gingerbread house with just a little bit of candy, but we got as creative as we could considering it wasn't from a box. It was the perfect end to the Christmas season. :)

We hope that you had a good time as well...

PS: We got a few videos in on Christmas Day since it was Jacoby's first Christmas, but my husband decided that he would videotape the boys with me in the background. Let's just say that no bra & pregnant while sitting down does not make a pretty backdrop for a Christmas video. The videos will just have to be kept on our flash drive - not accessible to the public. ;)

Jaydon at his Kindergarten Classroom Christmas Party

Reading his Christmas book before bedtime on Christmas EveSCRUMPTIOUS cookies for Santa!

I guess Santa was hungry...

Opening the 2 gifts from Santa...

Jacoby LOVED the wrapping paper! (I don't know why we bought him gifts?!?)

Brotherly Love

Good times!

The Very First Rogers Gingerbread House

Click on this one to enlarge...On the left is Jaydon at 13 months in 2003, on the right is both boys this year - 2008.

Jaydon getting to put the last decoration on the Christmas tree a couple of weeks ago...