Christmas with the Fairs: 2016

After everyone left our house from breakfast, we cleaned up - the house and ourselves - and then headed over to Mimi and Pop's house for a little more Christmas. My aunt Pam had brought her Bingo game stuff and everyone had contributed to the prize table. And everyone played! It was so fun. The boys especially loved it.

We used dry beans to mark our bingo cards. The boys had already opened their stocking stuff at Mimi's house...and Elliot the Dragon (from Pete's Dragon) was one of the surprises inside!

Lunch was super-easy, which we've come to love. We have our traditional meal of curried meat pies, toppings, and a salad. It's so nice to spend Christmas actually enjoying family and the day rather than slaving over a meal in the kitchen! The clean-up for this meal is quick and easy too. 

Kevin brought over some of his cider and juices to mix in. Tasty!

There were two small Lego sets as prizes for bingo. They were Ethan's first two choices when he won. He gave one to Logan. Logan's first two prize choices were bags of chocolate gold coins!

Before long, it was time for presents! The boys took the part of the elves and delivered all the packages. 

With a smile!

One of the first ones Ethan opened had money inside! 

Logan got his very own bow and arrow set. And this thing is amazing - now that we've played with it some. It's so fast and goes really far! Let's see if we can be careful not to "misplace" the arrows.

This hovering soccer puck is really fun too! You just turn it on and place it on a hard floor like wood and kick it around. Aunt Pam and Uncle Steve got those for the boys. 

Mimi and Pop got Ethan a real, flying Millennium Falcon! It is so cool. Ethan tore into the box immediately. 

And Logan got a flying X-Wing. Awesome!

We stayed for a while at Mimi and Pop's house but spent the late afternoon and evening back home playing with all our new toys. 

Everyone in our family loves BB-8. When we got back home from the Fair Christmas, they were all charged and ready to go. You control his movements using an app on the iPad. It could not have been easier to get them synced and to start playing. 

Duke is the only one of us that is not sure about the BB-8 robots...he barks at them any time they move! In his defense, he is not used to having something move like that down on his level. And BB-8 makes his little beeping/talking noises too. Haha! Duke will just have to get used to him!

Christmas at Home: 2016

After coming home from Nonnie and Papaw's house on Christmas Eve, the boys changed into their Christmas PJs and picked out some of their cut-out sugar cookies for Santa.

We poured a small glass of milk (it's a wonder I even had milk since we never buy it any more.) And the boys carried it all into the living room to set out for Santa. 

Unfortunately, as soon as we set down the cookies on the coffee table, Duke came up to eat them. 

So we moved everything back in to the kitchen and set it on the island. Ethan wrote Santa a quick note to let him know where his goodies were and left it on the coffee table. 

And Santa came! The boys each asked for a BB8 robot. Ethan also asked for the Battle of Hoth Star Wars Lego set and a Nick Wilde (from Zootopia) plush toy. Logan also asked for remote control tanks and a military helicopter.

I did not get one un-blurry photo of them coming into the room on Christmas morning. Mimi and Pop were there right before 7am so the boys could come down and see what Santa brought them. 

It's funny to see what they picked up first. Logan went straight for the BB8 robot. More on him later - he's fun. But we had to set them both up to charge for a while and we didn't really get to play with them until later on Christmas Day. 

Ethan, on the other hand, went straight for his stuffed animals! He was so thrilled to see Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Chip from Beauty and the Beast too. He did not specifically ask for those, but Santa brought them anyway. 

They dug into their stockings too. Logan is not disappointed by this treat...he's actually just surprised that there are Kit Kat Santas! 

Santa knows we like Mickey!

That is one giant Lego set. And he has been patiently waiting for Santa to bring it to him. 

Logan loved his helicopter and tanks too. For some reason he is really into military stuff right now. 

After the boys had explored all that Santa brought them, they started passing out the boxes under the tree.

The boys picked out presents for each other again this year.

Ethan got Logan an Army truck, which Logan thought was so cool. He said, "Thanks, Ethan!" when he opened it. 

For some reason I missed getting a photo of what Logan picked out for Ethan...it was an Ewok stuffed animal that Ethan has had his eye on for a long time. He was so excited to see it!

And then came a couple of presents from mom and dad...the Hogwarts Express with Harry, Ron, and Hermione POP vinyl figures. 

And Quiddich robes and goggles. They were totally surprised by both of these gifts and were really excited.

Ready to hop on their brooms and play Quiddich!

Next Casey and I opened our gifts from the boys and each other. Logan is laughing here because those are Star Wars underwear for daddy. He also got some socks and a Dumbledore POP vinyl figure from the boys. I got him a special razor handle and shaving cream from The Art of Shaving. 

The boys got me two necklaces from Kendra Scott and Casey got me a Michael Kors purse. I love how they like to watch us open gifts too.

After we cleaned up the wrapping paper mess, the adults headed to the kitchen to put the final touches on our breakfast, and the boys played with the remote control tanks. 

The tanks had surprisingly loud sound effects and I was wondering why Santa thought that would be okay. I guess he didn't know how loud they would be. 

Before everyone showed up for breakfast, we took a quick family photo. I'm wearing those two necklaces from the boys! And I have no idea why, but I don't have a single photo of breakfast. I guess I was too busy enjoying our traditional fare: sausage balls, coffee cake, fruit, and an egg bake. Plus mimosas from Pop! It was a good morning...but our Christmas Day was not over yet!

Christmas with the Cookes: 2016

This year we had Christmas at Nonnie and Papaw's house on Christmas Eve. Avery was sick and so only Chelsea and the boys were able to come this year. It stinks to miss Christmas! And Grandaddy and Nana Betty were with other family celebrating that day, so we had a smaller party than usual.

Yes, that is bree cheese baked in pastry dough with cranberries. It was as delicious as it sounds. 

The adults take the folding table in the living room because it actually holds all of us. 

The kids sit at the kitchen table, which Nonnie always dresses so cute!

All the Cooke cousin stockings hung up on the mantle...

Donna always works really hard and makes a wonderful meal for us. But this year, she really wanted to to Beef Wellington, which is no easy feat. She worked double hard on the prep work and here she is making the last scoring marks on the pastry dough before popping it in the oven.

After a lot of prayer, checking the timers, and meat thermometers, she ended up with these beauties. They were delicious!

Ethan stole Uncle Jeff's boots. Aren't they supposed to look a little bigger on him? I remember when he was a toddler and they would have covered his whole leg. 

Boys waiting patiently for lunch...and then presents after (the real thing they're waiting for). 

It's finally time and you're making us pose for a photo? We told them they couldn't open anything until we took it, so...

Thrilled over his Disney gift card. He's saving it for our Disney Cruise next summer .

Ethan is still on his stocking stuff and Logan is starting to tackle the presents!

A small Nerf gun in the stocking was a hint of what was to come in the wrapped gifts...

Logan finally got some Nerf guns. He loves them! 

And Ethan got this cool bow and arrow.

And of course, a Star Wars Lego set.

Nonnie is going to be finding a few Nerf bullets in and around her house because I'm positive we did not get them all when we left...and there was a lot of target practice going on that day!