Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012 was spent up in Idaho like we usually do.  We were the only ones coming home from my family and most of Marshall's family would be there.  We spent our time jumping back and forth like we usually do.  On Christmas Eve, we had dinner at Marshall's parents.  Then we played chimes and did white elephant gifts.  The kids were all wound up, and I learned to make balloon swords which they were all excited about.  Rowan got Monsters Vs. Aliens for one of his gifts.  I asked him to smile and instead he looked really depressed.  Funny boy.

That evening, we headed back to my parent's house.  The boys opened their Christmas jammies and getting a good picture in front of the tree was like trying to pull teeth.  Instead of good pictures, I have a lot of outtakes.

We skyped with my brother Geoff and his wife and watched them open their gifts from us and the boys went to bed.  I don't think they got into bed until 10:30, it was a late night.  It was the fastest they've ever gone to sleep though!  Notice the giant snowman and grinch they slept with.  I thought it was pretty darn cute.

Santa came and spoiled the boys.  He also brought a note saying that he was taking Roland, our elf back to the North Pole.  Marshall and I were up by 8 and actually had to wake the boys up at around 8:15 since they were still asleep. They were so excited with all of their gifts.    I was really anxious for Marshall to open one of his gifts since it was something I knew he'd always wanted to do!  I got him 7th row seats to a Lakers Game in LA next month.  We are going together and taking a little couples vacation which I'm excited about.

We spent the morning playing and made our traditional brunch at my parents house with ham, crepes, hashbrowns, eggs and orange juice.  So good!!

We had a white Christmas with a lot of snow which was exciting!  In the picture below, you can see my parent's backyard and just how much there was.

In the afternoon, we headed back to Marshall's parent's house.  We exchanged more gifts with his family and had a fantastic Christmas dinner.  That night we played games and enjoyed each other's company.