Party of EIGHT: Merry Christmas to All!

Monday, December 26, 2011

Merry Christmas to All!

We hope you all had a very merry Christmas! Ours was packed full of family, presents, food and more presents!

Owen had been waiting and waiting for Christmas to arrive, and on Christmas Eve morning, he got his wish. Our Christmas celebration officially started bright and early that morning when Owen woke up to find presents at the foot of his bed...Baby Jesus had paid him a visit! It took a while to rouse the sleeping prince charming. He was buried under the covers trying to get a few more ZZZs!

"Hey, I'm trying to sleep!"

"Oh my! Look what Baby Jesus brought me!"

Cole must have heard the excitement coming from down the hall because he soon let us know that he was wide awake. When we opened the door we saw Cole and more gifts from Baby Jesus!

"New toys!"

"How does this thing work?"

After the boys played for a bit, we got ready and drove down to Shane's grandparents house in Burnsville.

We had a wonderful time at Grandma and Grandpa Dineen's house. The boys opened present after present and then we sat down to the traditional Dineen family Christmas Eve meal of yummy Mostaccioli from Cossetta's. After lunch we celebrated Jesus's birthday with a delicious chocolate birthday cake.

Nana Judy, Cole, Owen, Shane and Grandma Dineen opening gifts

Owen giving Grandpa Dineen a big thank you

Cole, Owen and Jaden testing out her new chair

Aunt Donna reading to Cole

Owen hugging his new pal "Whaley the Dolphin"

Cole tuning up his new car

Owen playing with his remote control Lightning McQueen

The day flew by and soon it was time to throw on our fancy duds for church...

As we pulled up to our church, we knew we were going to have a problem finding a seat, we could barely find a parking spot! We parked all the way down the road and were luckily able to find 4 seats in the overflow seating. I think we snagged the last 4 seats available together! The entire church was packed! We watched mass on a huge screen. Owen was so tired that he curled up in a ball on two of the chairs and slept until Communion. Poor Cole did surprisingly well considering he didn't nap a wink all day!

With two tired boys, we headed home and were greeted by another Christmas surprise...Santa had paid us a visit!

Cole quickly got to work mowing the carpet...

And Owen grabbed some markers, threw a bit of color on his new house, and of course, wrote his name on the door just to remind us all that it was his!

After the boys played with their new goodies, it was time for a bedtime snack and then off to bed.

On Christmas Day, the alarm clock rang much too soon! We loaded up the car and took off for Fargo. My sister and brother-in-law hosted the celebration this year at their new pad. The drive seemed to take forever with two cranky boys that didn't want to sit in their car seats. Even though they each had their own movies to watch, there was no pleasing them! So our drive took a bit longer as we had to stop twice to get out and take a break. But eventually we made it, just in time for lunch! We were treated to a Klein family tradition of turkey and mashed potatoes. It was delicious!

Then the chaos began, oops, I mean the gift opening. Kids were ripping open presents left and right. Clothes were being torn off (Emma must have been a bit too hot!) It was a ribbon pulling, paper tearing frenzy!

Bev, Emma and Owen opening gifts

"Look what I got!"

Cole and Owen ripping open a present

Emma chilling in her tights as she opens her gift

Owen, Mariah and Jerilyn opening presents

James very excited over his bag of pistachios

Cole and Jess opening a gift

Owen showing off his new Grinch ornament

Owen, Cole and Shane looking at their new ornaments

After the last gifts were opened, things calmed down. The kids played with their new toys and spent some time hanging out with Nana Bev and Popi Jerry.