We celebrated Christmas while we were in TN. The boys were very excited to get more presents.

Owen loves to play on the “jumpoline”. Even though it was freezing cold when we were there, he kept wanting to go outside to jump. The problem was no one else wanted to take him out in the cold.

While in TN, we were able to enjoy some lefse (Norwegian dish).  It is one of Dan’s favorites! Owen has had it a few times and loves it. This was Alex’s first experience with it.  He ate a little bit, but later opted for Cheerios.

We left for Knoxville on New Year’s day. This was probably the best car trip we’ve had with two boys. Alex typically isn’t a fan of long car trips, but did pretty good this time. He’s reading his favorite Spot book.

Last year, we went to Brittani and Eric’s house for New Year’s eve. It was my first time playing Settlers of Catan. We had a great time. It started us having games nights about once a month throughout the year. It was our turn to host for New Year’s. It’s always so much fun when we get together. We always have lots of laughs and tons of food. Typically, one of us makes Skyline dip and the other makes dessert. This time, I made chocolate fondue. We also had tiarras for the girls and some funny looking hats for the boys. We had a great time as always playing Catan and also played Euchre. We stopped briefly at midnight to watch the ball drop, blow our horns, and drink our sparkling white grape juice. Happy 2010!

Alex loves to brush his teeth. He gets so excited every time I tell him that it is time to brush. He runs to the bathroom and says “teeth”. The boys both got a light-up toothbrush in their stockings. Alex loves to carry his toothbrush all around the house.

The boys woke up early. Alex still wasn’t feeling great. He woke up crying at 6, which woke Owen up. Since we were all awake, we decided to open presents. The boys were so cute seeing all the presents under the tree. Owen kept wanting to open more and more presents, while Alex was content to play with his first present-a toy train.  We had monkey bread for breakfast before going downstairs to open our stockings. The boys had a fun morning playing with all their new toys.

One of Owen’s favorite gifts was a guitar.  He’s been asking for one since February.  He was so funny singing Jesus loves me to the song that was playing on the guitar.  I think it was Can’t buy me love.  Later, he was making up a song about Christmas eve while playing his guitar.  Too cute!

After nap time, we were planning on going over to Dan’s brother’s house for dinner, but decided we better keep our germs to ourselves. We enjoyed a nice Christmas dinner together with leftover fondue on ice cream for dessert! Yum!

This was our first Christmas at home. I had visions of a nice dinner and fun family evening on Christmas eve. The table was set with a nice tablecloth, china, and Sparkling grape juice. About 10 minutes before dinner, Alex threw up all over himself and the carpet in the family room. So much for our appetites! The poor guy was pretty miserable Christmas eve.

Owen enjoyed the sparkling grape juice. When he first took a drink, he said, “This tastes prickly on my tongue.” After dinner, we let the boys open one present.

Growing up my favorite Christmas tradition was chocolate fondue on Christmas eve. It is a tradition that I don’t want to quit! I got out my fondue pot that was a wedding present and realized that I didn’t have the burner, so I made it on the stove. We didn’t give Alex any this year due to sickness, but Owen loved it. He especially enjoyed using the fondue forks.

After reading several Christmas books, the boys were put to bed. Then the Christmas magic began. I never realized how much moms do to make Christmas special for their family.