Christmas….again

Seriously, when will this end? It’s practically February for goodness sake. I briefly considered just not posting anything else about Christmas, but then felt guilty that I wouldn’t be documenting the actual Christmas holiday (Thatcher’s first, after all). After a mile long post on my Christmas projects, it just didn’t seem like I have very good priorities if I didn’t so this….SO. Sorry. I will be brief.

Uh….I take it back. I just looked through the pictures, and there are approximately 230 that I would be remiss to not post. You’ll see why. MY KIDS ARE SO CUTE!

Justin’s parents came over the weekend prior to Christmas, through the day after Christmas. It was nice to have them here for a chunk of time, so we could do some Christmas STUFF rather than just a whirlwind of gifts. Decorating cookies was on my list of Christmas to-do, but I never got to it. As always, Janice comes through, and brought already made cookies, ready for some decorating. As per their usual, Thad was very meticulous in his decorating, and Thatcher drooled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thumbs up for Grandma’s pecan pie. Thad probably ate more treats at Christmastime than he has in his entire life, combined. Ah, the joys of growing up.

And how could I not post this! Thatcher started walking! He took his first solo steps, out of nowhere, the evening of the 22nd, barely 9 months old. No cameras present. The next day, I was prepared, and caught his second set of steps. Grandma and Grandpa got to see him take his first steps. Good timing, Thatcher!

And look at those sweet faces! Dressed in their Christmas Eve finest. I have about 20 versions of this picture, looking cute as all get out.

Which of course meant that by the time we tried to take a family picture, they were done. Thatcher absolutely refused to look anywhere besides the bricks.

Christmas Eve gift opening! They boys opened their Christmas Eve gift, so we could read their Christmas books and wear new jammies. The back-story of this picture is that Thad is trying to pick a booger out of Thatcher’s hair….

After the boys went to bed, we put out their gifts from “Santa”. We never did this in our family, but Justin wanted to leave some gifts unwrapped that Santa brought. Fine by me…less tedious wrapping to do. Thatcher got a cute Sesame Street set, and some new not-chewed-on-by-Thad cups. A lot of Thad’s gift ideas came from this link which I will keep using for ideas. Lots of fun stuff. Thad loves all things animals, so I got some beanie babies from a couple of different thrift stores (and washed them!). You can find them for under 2 bucks and they are perfect playing size. I have an obsession with oil bubble drippers, and I want to force that obsession on Thaddeus, so I got him 2 different versions of those. (Don’t ask me why, it’s just one of those toys that I remember thinking was awesome as a kid). Another big hit of Thad’s was a box that I filled with a couple of sets of Safari Toob animals. You can find those at Michaels, and with a coupon, they are under 5 bucks for a pack. (Sorry Amazon, you know how much I love you).

So, of course, the boys had fun getting into all their presents. And Thad tried on Grandpa’s reading glasses.

Thatcher got a multitude of adorable ornaments. Buying the kids a new ornament each year is Justin’s job, and he performed well….look at that sweet owl…just screams Thatcher to me. Love it. Baby’s First Christmas ornaments are actually kind of hard to come by, especially ones that are cute and not super expensive, but both Grandma and Justin pulled through. Grandma’s even came complete with a picture in it (thank goodness, because if that had been left up to me to put a picture in, it probably would not have gotten done till he graduated from high school….those little details are not my strong suit).

My mom and dad came a few days after Christmas, bringing a ridiculous amount of gifts. Thad got some sweet bug boots. But, the pinnacle of the gifts was a huge storage tote FILLED with crafting and art supplies for Thaddeus, put together by my mom. She has become a master garage-saler since having grandkids, and since last summer been compiling and INSANE amount of craft supplies for the 2 older grandkids. I don’t have a picture somehow, but I will do a whole post about it at some point. It needs to be documented. Unreal.

 

We are really, really lucky that our kids have grandparents who are so involved, and so in love with them. It brings me a lot of comfort to know that we have so many family members who care about us and are always there. It was an awesome Christmas. Awesome to have our little Crossland family complete now with Thatcher. Awesome to see Thad big enough now to enjoy all that Christmas has to offer. And with that, I will move on from Christmas. It is officially over. See you next year.