Christmas - 2017

We had a nice Christmas with our family and Oma.  We were sad Julia and Ethan were not with us this year.  The boys slept in, Liam was up at 7am and Grayson was up at 9:30 (we actually had to wake him up).  While Grayson is on break we've been letting him stay up a little later so this has pushed back his wake up time.  It was cute to see the boys go downstairs to see if Santa had brought them gifts.  We threatened no gifts so many times with the elf, so it was still up in the air as to whether they were getting gifts. :)  Only kidding.  We played holiday music and opened presents, but it took so much time to open all the gifts because the boys were so overwhelmed.  Grayson and Liam got a match box garage from John, Sue and Tommy, Batman rain boots, rain coat, umbrella, train legos and an electronic train from Oma, cool clothes (white shirt with black and white polka dot tie, white shirt with black bow tie, red pants, causal clothes and new coats all from H and M from Mimi and Papa, a new train set, dinosaurs, reptiles and craft fun (pads of paper, special crayons, markers, paint brushes filled with paint and sponge paint dinosaurs), Thomas the Train & Friends Minis motorized raceway playset (Grayson, although they both love it), marble maze (Grayson), mindscope laser twister tracks with add ons (Grayson, but both love it), Sperry Ollie shoes, dish set with coffee pot and coffee cups (Liam is obsessed with coffee and loves to pretend he's drinking it, although Daddy gives him some of his latte, doctor kit (Liam), tool kit (Liam) and several other presents.  Oma got a David Yurman necklace, Maldon salt and case, earrings, robe and a coffee mug from Grayon (they had a gift shop at school).  Maria got a David Yurman necklace, perfume, clothes, shoes and jewelry.  Craig got an Apple watch, Apple head phones, clothes and a jacket.  

After we opened presents we hung out, watched movies, enjoyed appetizers, decorated a gingerbread house and played with all the new toys.  Daddy had fun setting up all the new toys with the boys.  We had pork tenderloin, gravy, new potatoes, mushrooms, and green beans for dinner.    

Santa did not disappoint this year.  Our elf Sparkle went back to the North Pole so we will greatly miss him, as this was a constant threat for good behavior from the boys.  Grayson now understands the true meaning of Christmas so that makes it even more special.  Our nanny's daughter, Viviana, gave the boys a Christmas book with a bag to leave toys under the tree for underprivileged kids.  The story explains how we leave the bag out with our gently used old toys and Santa drops it off to those in need.  It's a great way to get rid of some old toys to make room for the new toys.  We had a very nice Christmas this year and are very grateful for our family, friends and everything else in our lives.  We are so blessed.