Merry Christmas! We made it back!

Well, we made it back from Disney very late on Christmas Eve and Santa found us in our home on Christmas Day.

This was actually the first year we have been in our house in England on Christmas Day. 2006 was spent in Malaga, Spain with Austin, David and Kara and we were in Brussels for 2007 with Kara (Austin visited the week before and Dave had to work.). It has been wonderful being able to travel over the holidays, but we really do miss all of our family and friends terribly! Maybe we will be back in the states for Christmas 2009! Kara will be graduating from the U of IL in December so we will have to make a trip then to witness that major accomplishment.

Max didn't wake up until almost 8:00am on Christmas Day and it was a good thing because Dan and I didn't get to bed until about 1:00am. Max just came upstairs as normal for a snuggle and I wondered how long I should wait to say something. I waited for a few minutes and then asked if he remembered what day it was and he didn't. As soon as I said he could go see if Santa came, he was off. I told him to just look and not to wake up Blake. Well, neither one of those requests were honored and we were all in the family room a few moments later. We started out with our annual tradition of reading The Christmas Story before opening any gifts.

(Austin, David, and Kara - Did you all continue this tradition?!) The boys were keen to say that it was the birthday of Jesus, Henry Peasgood (Max's classmate) and Grandpa Naylon. (Hope you had a great day Grandpa!)

The boys cleaned out their stockings first and daddy just couldn't wait to eat breakfast so we had to take a break. Dan fixed the regular meal for Saturday mornings...pancakes. Max is generally a slow eater except when it comes to pancakes. Blake likes his with peanut butter and syrup which is a Shoemaker trait. They weren't really in that big of hurry to open the presents as they received a couple of guns in their stockings and were just happy to play with those for awhile. It gave me some time to get started on cleaning out the suitcases and the laundry!

(Thanks for the cozy socks Grandma N!...and for a few other stocking stuffers!) Blake's favorite were the peppermint Tootsie Pops!

The Buzz Lightyear gun that Santa brought all the way from Disney! Not sure why he did that as they are quite loud!

We finally got back to the gifts and here are the favorites.

Blake's new motorbike that pops wheelies and a Fireball race track.

Max liked his Power Ranger puzzle, a "home" for all of his dinosaurs and a remote controlled T-Rex.

We spent most of the day in our pjs as I was trying to get the laundry done and the house back in order and the boys were busy with all the new toys. (I will post the pics from our trip next.) We did have a Christmas lunch but I decided it just isn't much fun when you don't have other women around to help cook and clean up. Just feels like a normal day! Kelly's family invited us over for a drink around 4:00p so we walked down and stayed a lot longer than we had planned. We both had a little bit more than just one, but I would have to say that I was in a lot better shape than my hubby! Austin, David, Kara and Dan's parents all were lucky enough to talk to him after a couple glasses of scotch! It was great to be able to share the holidays with Kelly and her family and help us not feel so lonely. Thank you!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and has a Happy New Year!