As previously mentioned, Grandma Good came over in the afternoon and Shawn helped hook up her iPod. But, I forgot to mention that as she was leaving Caleb gave her a hug and kiss. He's not real cuddly, unless he wants to be. :) Then Joshua gave her a hug and kiss. Then, Caleb ran up to her again to give her more 'love.' It was a precious moment. After playing for a little while with the boys, Daddy suggested we go see Christmas lights - something my family always did as a tradition and I had begged Shawn to do. We saw an advertisement for a house in Manheim that has their entire house decked out with lights that are computerized to "dance" with music. When you go, you tune your radio to an FM station and hear the music and watch the show. It was really neat! It took us about half an hour to get there from our house and the show was only about 20 minutes long, but I thought it was cool and the boys seemed to like it okay (especially since Daddy got them snacks on the way).
When we got home, we watched "Twas the Night Before Christmas" while dinner was in the oven, which included a chicken dish, green bean casserole, warm dinner rolls and sparkling grape juice that Daddy had bought to make our evening extra special. I also turned out the lights and lit candles and had the light of our Christmas tree (Joshua didn't like the lights being off, but he loved to "toast" with our glasses of juice!). The ambiance of the lighting and music made the meal special. I cleaned up as Daddy gave the boys a bath and got them in their jammies. Then we all headed downstairs to open our stockings.
Joshua knew which stocking belonged to each person. First, the boys opened their stockings, which included battery-operated Winnie-the-Pooh toothbrushes, raisins, goldfish, two pieces of chocolate, and I can't remember what else. One thing I have to say is that my husband - AKA Santa - did an AMAZING job. With my surgery, I wasn't able to go out much shopping, and Shawn completely took over and made sure we all had a nice Christmas. He is a wonderful husband and father!
Joshua was the first person to start tearing into his stocking!
Caleb wanted his goldfish right away, which we allowed since it was Christmas Eve (even though neither boy ate much for supper).
I love his little pout-y expression in the picture below - he is becoming so expressive!
Joshua & Caleb both thought the toothbrushes were cool and didn't fight us one bit to brush their teeth that night. The pediatric dentist recommended electric toothbrushes for all kids (and adults), noting that they clean a lot better, especially in those hard to reach places and require less scrubbing from the adults as they do the necessary motions gently.
Joshua was SO excited for Christmas. We could barely get them to bed (in fact, it was after 10 pm until we finally turned out the lights for them and started the 'waiting game' of letting them get to sleep until 'Santa' came with presents).
After the boys were done opening their stockings, Daddy went next. I got him deodorant, Tums, Advil, snowman marshmallow peeps, baseball cards, Snickers, Twix, hand sanitizer, Blistex, and the normal stocking type stuff.
After Daddy was finished, I took my turn. Once again, I can't believe how thoughtful my dear husband is. I received Starbucks gift cards, blank CDs (since we had run out), my Bobbi Brown face lotion that I had ran out of recently, Halls defense cough drops, Lornadoone cookies (my absolute favorites!), Snickers, and I can't remember what else.
Soon it was time to tuck the boys into bed. But first, we told Joshua that we had to leave a plate of cookies and a glass of milk out for Santa. We explained that Santa eats the treats and leaves presents. He wasn't too sure... this is the first time we had introduced the concept to him. But, he picked out a couple cookies and Caleb picked out one to put on a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" plate. Then we filled a cup with milk and left them by the tree.
We snuggled the boys and put them in bed, but Joshua was wide awake. UGH!
Shawn & I went downstairs and he surprised me with a cheese ball and crackers and chocolate covered strawberries. We drank a little and watched a Christmas episode on the Travel channel. Just as we turned it on, one of the top 10 most festive places for Christmas came on... PARADISE, PA! They showed the National Christmas Museum, and we laughed. We then saw Las Vegas, Mall of America... and finally when Shawn went up to check on him, Joshua was asleep! Here's a picture of both boys by the Christmas tree... notice there are no presents when they went to bed!
And then Shawn ate the cookies and I drank the milk... and we, er, I mean Santa came and left lots of gifts!
You can see train table I ordered off Craig's List. There was no wrapping it! But, I did give it a good scrubbing with bleach to make sure it was ready for play. Some of the other bigger gifts didn't get wrapped either but rather just a bow or bag on top. Unfortunately, two of Joshua's trains didn't arrive. :( :( :( But, we knew there was enough to keep him busy.
After enjoying each other's company a little more, Shawn & I finally headed to bed to catch a few hours of sleep before Christmas morning. Unfortunately, I got sick over night. UGH! I was up at 3 am and couldn't breath. My sinuses hurt and my throat was on fire, etc. So, I took a shower and laid in bed until 5:30 am when I finally dosed off for half an hour... but I was excited for the next day and knew it could always be worse. I had a precious family and a thoughtful husband, a warm house, gifts, and an amazing Savior. Merry Christmas Eve!
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