Christmas!

This year marked our very first Christmas morning in our own house since we decided to stay in Milwaukee! Well, all of Christmas in our house! I was very excited, especially since it's also the first year that Avery remembers the previous year and what it's all about.
Avery was very proud of his milk and cookies for Santa. We made the chocolate chip cookies that day. We also had to put out a piece of cheese for Santa Mouse, as I always did as a girl.

Read the fabulous Santa Mouse
by Michael Brown for more...

Christmas morning, we heard Avery thump out of bed and go running down the hall. pause. Then he came running back.
"Mom, Dad, come look, I gotta show you something!"
But without waiting he ran off and the ran back carrying the empty plate.
"Look! It's empty! Santa came! He ate them!"
I love that that was his first big excitement rather than all the presents under the tree!
Avery was excited for the presents too of course, but he had to wait for Carson to wake up and then get dressed and eat breakfast first (I know, such mean parents - hey, I said breakfast first, Travis said dressed first)
So Travis made Mickey Mouse pancakes for the boys.
Make sure you eat his nose first, Carson:
Finally, we could open presents. Wait! Picture first! Carson dosen't look very thrilled here does he.
Emmett spent the festivities eating first, then doing this:
Eventually Emmett woke up after all the unwrapping and un-packaging. While I was holding him, Carson plopped down for to read one of his new books. Obviously that meant Avery had to come sit on me too:
Carson likes to mimic the faces in many of his books. This one was no exception. See the insert on this picture to see what he was mimicking:
The boys got this great collapsible toy box. Avery spent probably 45 minutes in it playing his new Hungry Hungry Hippos. Then returned to it later for another long spat but took with him Emmett's new wooden ring stacker. Can you imagine being in there that long? My knees and back hurt just thinking about it.
Travis and I decided instead of gifts for each other, we'd go for a family gift. Wii! Here Travis is teaching Avery how to bowl:
But way more entertaining was watching them box each other. Then Travis and I boxed. Wow, am I sore today! What a great way to get a work out! It felt great to loosen up the soreness doing it again today.

What a great Christmas!