Christmasing {Christmas Day}

Christmas morning was lovely and fun and full of presents and sweet rolls, just how Christmas should be.  Sam woke up first, and I fed him by Christmas-tree light while we waited for Cal to wake up.  Once she was awake, the fun really began.  She loved finding fun things in her stocking from Santa and opening so many presents.  By the end, though, we were sort of forcing them on her - I think she had had enough with the opening and wanted to get to the playing part.

The stockings were "hung" by the tree with care.
Also, please note those are Reuben flavored
potato chips on Gregg's stocking (they didn't
fit inside without the potential for crumb-age).

Cal loves gummy worms (thanks to a b-day
present from Swaze this summer), so she
was stoked to find some gummy dinos
from Santa in her stocking.

So many things to discover in there (as Sam watches from behind).

Next year this will be a lot more fun for you, buddy.

Nail polish!  (She calls it "paint".)

Gettin' a little help from Dad on the
stocking unloading.

A new sleeping bag!  She slept in this in her
bed for a good week afterwards.
Just to get it ready for summer, I guess.

A new thermometer for outside.

Cal's red sled!

Shes' ready.

We're both ready.
(Also note: the aftermath.)

Snug as a bug in a bouncer - with new toys!
(Teddy bear - "Smokey Bear, Jr." - from our
super nice next-door neighbors, the Tixiers.)

More aftermath.
(That salad spinner is the bomb, by the way!)

And again.

After breakfast, which was our traditional sweet rolls (I made two kinds: cinnamon, raisin and pecan with an eggnog glaze icing and orange-cranberry with an orange glaze icing - hom nom nom indeed!) and egg nog chow, we got dressed and loaded into the car to head North to Logan to spend the day with the Elwoods.  We opened still more presents the Richard Elwood crew in Logan and then went a bit further North to Hyde Park to eat and, yes, you guessed it, open even more presents at my Grandpa and Grandma (Cal's and Sam's great-grandparents) Elwood's house.  We enjoyed a feast of ham and funeral potatoes, veggie tray, bacon jalapeno popper cheeseball (my contribution, thanks to Mel), salads and rolls.  Later we had some yummy desserts, including Peppermint Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake (a mash-up of a recipe from Mel and one from Our Best Bites that I made), Grandma's homemade fruitcake (which I did not appreciate as a kid) and Jazz Mix (which is a sticky-sweet chex mix that I've gotta get the recipe to soon).  There was much baby-snuggling, A Christmas Story watching, and game playing to be had, as well.

Callie wanted to bring her new baby doll (which
she got from our neighbors) to Grandma's house.

Ev gets a turn on Cal's new white board easel from G and G Elwood.

Sammy snuggles for Grandma Great.

The gang tries out Heather's new National Parks
Yahtzee!

We left in time to get the kids home to bed at a decent hour, but even despite (or maybe in spite of) our praises of him being the best, calmest baby ever, Sam cried a good portion of the drive home.  Ah well, you win some, you lose some.  But we mostly won, I say.  We had a wonderful Christmas, filled with family and food and blessings abundant.