Merry Christmas

I think Julie was more excited for Christmas morning than anyone else in the house. Julie couldn't wait to see Joey's reaction to Christmas morning and Santa's arrival being a 2 year old. After a late Christmas Eve night with our families, Julie didn't wake up until just after 9am. Julie premade a super yummy breakfast pizza the night before...well only the crust and bacon aspect so she assembled the rest of the concoction and threw it in the oven. We woke up Joey at 10am...yes, woke him up...and yes, at 10am...it was a rough night for the little fellow. We wanted him to get as much sleep as possible too, knowing Christmas Day would be hectic and tons of fun for him.

Chris brought Joey out to the livingroom as Julie set up shop to photograph his grand entrance. Joey walked in slowly and looked at all the wonderful presents Santa brought. He then upgraded the walk to a medium "trot" saying, "oooh, wow...oooh, wow...oooh, wow". Bittersweet.

Joey opened up all his wonderful present from Santa, Mommy & Daddy, and his aunts, uncles & cousins. Santa even left a little something for Tony and Kitty Neal so they were thrilled as well.
Joey received a new kitchen, shopping cart with all kinds of "food" items, Cars cars, Cars Mack truck, a really neat "tractor-ride" excavator toy, Little Einsteins Symphony Composer, Cars cars carrying case, Lighting McQueen, Cars pj's, Cars Color Wonders, Mr Potatohead, Madagascar movie, Thomas the Train & Toby, Emily (Thomas the Train), Thomas DVD, and much, much more wonderful presents!

We ate a yummy breakfast together, breakfast pizza, fresh fruit & fresh bagels, let Joey play some, get dressed and headed over to Grandma & Grandpa Neal's house to celebrate Christmas with Chris' side of the family.

Joey had a wonderful time with all of his relatives on Christmas Day. Any time spent with Cousin Bradley is a good day. Cousins Zander, Collin, Kailin & Makenna were there to play with as well so it was non-stop action. Joey received so many awesome presents there as well, Aquadoodle, Doodle Pro, Viewmaster, car garage, a fun car and much, much more!
We enjoyed soup, ham, potato salad, green beans, cheesy pototoes, potica, and much, much more! Yum! Everyone was stuffed.

We also played a White Elephant game on Christmas too. So many fun things. We decided to regift Chris' White Elephant Gift from the night before...you know the lovely fiber-optic flower clock combo? Well, Scott was the lucky one! He says he's putting i in his bedroom...lol.

It was a long day and lots of fun celebrating Joey's 3rd Christmas. It's hard to believe the day goes so fast when you prepare for it for so long and so hard.

Christmas Eve

We're so glad the hustle and bustle of Christmas has come to an end. We've finally had some time over the weekend to oranize and relax, although Chris had to go back to work.

We hosted Christmas Eve at our home. It was a little smaller this year but so much fun. We served pasta, chicken, potatoes, green beans, kielbasa & kraut plus many yummy appetizers and desserts, including cheesecake! Joey was so excited to have everyone over to his house. He kept saying "Merry Christmas....Merry Christmas tree....Merry Christmas tree". He received so many wonderful Christmas gifts that evening including a really neat "tractor-ride" from Uncle Frank & Aunt Carol...one that moves when you push the buttons and talks and all that jazz. He played and played and played with that bulldozer....(yes, it really was a bulldozer, but anything like that is a "tractor-ride" in his book. Joey kept going back and forth to the table, each time with a different kind of Christmas cookie. He was in heaven with all kinds of cookies and his family over to visit him, and so many wonderful new toys and books to play with!
Before he went to sleep we made sure to sprinkle the "reindeer food" he made at school on our grass so the reindeer would bring Santa this way. Joey also bid farewell to "Elf", a little elf doll that would show up each day in a new spot. At night "Elf" would report back to Santa to tell him if Joey had been a naughty or nice little fellow that day. It was now time for "Elf" to go back to the North Pole until next year. (P.S. We bought Elf and his lovely storybook at Hallmark...I highly recommend to anyone....so cute and fun!)

We also played our annual White Elephant gift exchange. Some of the "good" gifts were the fiber optic flower clock combo, and Chris' dad won a nice set of pink plastic flamingos!
Joey went to sleep in his new Christmas pj's. Christmas Eve was over. Until next year...