Christmas at Home

For the past 31 years, Brian and I have always been in our parents homes for Christmas. Obviously things have to change, this year we started new traditions and celebrated Christmas in our home. What do you do on Christmas eve? Well, we went to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner - the boys favorite. I know a little unusual but it was fun. Then, we toured some of the neighborhood to check out all the Christmas lights. After singing some Christmas carols and seeing lots of lights, we headed home to prepare for Santa's arrival.

The boys came down in the morning to presents under the tree, a beautiful fire and a new train table in the middle of the family room.

They headed straight for the train table and immediately started playing.
When they turned around, they finally noticed all the presents under the tree. It didn't take them long to start tearing all the wrapping paper off their presents.

There was no stopping their progress and as we all know watching their faces light up and listening to them speak with excitement was enough for us.

A new train for the new tracks. Garrett really was excited about everything.

Before going to bed, Connor set out some snacks for Santa and his reindeer. In case they had some spare time, he set up a small game of memory for them to play. As you can see, Santa even found some matches before he went back to work.

The boys played for hours in the family room and it was so much fun to watch them enjoying all their new toys. While they were playing, I was trying to navigate how to make Christmas dinner. Well, that is a bit of an exaggeration. We purchased an already made Christmas dinner but I had a lot of heating up to do including the turkey. I am happy to report I didn't burn anything and it actually came out quite good. It was our first Christmas at home and we definitely had a blast. Thank you boys for always being the life of the party and to Daddy who did all the leg work.

A Whale Rockin' Good Time

The holiday season brings us many fun activities and we are so thankful that Brian's work Christmas party included the children. The party took place in a very posh club on Beacon St. in Boston. Needless to say, we wouldn't be allowed in the door of this club at any other time. :) So we went for lunch and to the kids surprise look who showed up. Santa came to visit and brought them some toys.

All the kids were so attentive and were so excited.

Garrett's name was called first. Santa knew all about him going to Gymboree and Garrett just stared up at him speechless.
When Connor was called, Santa told him that Zachey (our Christmas elf) told him that he had been such a good boy. Connor couldn't believe that Santa knew about Zachey. If you are thinking I have gone mad, please refer to the book Elf on the Shelf.

Since there was so much going on, it was difficult getting the boys to stand together for a picture but I tried very hard because how often do kids get dressed up. They looked so cute and were such little men throughout the party and during the Boston Symphony performance which we attended after the party. They are growing up so fast. It is moments like this where you wish you could freeze time for a little while.

Connor's Christmas Performace

We have some catching up to do...I know I say this every time I take a break but time sure does fly. So for now, we are going back to all our December festivities.

Connor and his class put on a Christmas show at school. For weeks he would come home singing different Christmas songs and believe it or not we didn't know some of them. He has an unbelievable memory so he really did teach us new songs for the the holidays. The show they put on was actually in a little auditorium and they were on stage.

All the 3 year old children lined up to make their entrance.
Here they are on stage to perform.

I thought this posting wouldn't be complete without a quick video showing them perform. Of course, I took video of the whole thing but here is one particular one which I think is so cute. They sang a total of five songs which is impressive considering they are only 3. Great Job!!! It definitely started off the holidays the perfect way.