Merry Merry Christmas!

And as Juliette said it best, 

"Mommy, it was around 12:00 PM and I had not fallen asleep yet..." I looked out the window and saw something very red in the sky. I knew it was Rudolph's nose. "

Me: "Juliette, at first what did you think it was?"

Juliette: "A comet..."

Juliette and Tripp had some less than perfect behavior on Christmas Eve. Of course understandably so being the night before Christmas. We did take the time though to include something from Santa about that. When Juliette read that she looked very concerned. 

Santa was hungry, thirsty and as Tripp included... 

"Mommy Santa's reindeers must have been starving!" They nibbled the whole apple down to the core. 

Santa did indeed arrive and had the presents all neatly under the tree! One of my favorite things to do late on Christmas Eve is to lie down on the couch and enjoy the tree and the gifts under the tree. There is so much prep work involved and it is so wonderful to just enjoy and reflect on the season. And that is exactly what I did. 

The babies were thrilled with their gifts! They could not wait to get into "Carro." This is the traditional gift for each child at this age. They are a little small to yet reach the peddles but they are like little Fred Flinstones getting their feet to do the moving!

Thomas here is anxious to bump Tyler from the get go. All we hear from Thomas for the first 20 minutes, "Go,Go,Go.... Tie-yer Go,Go,Go..."

Tyler preferred to get under the hood a bit, sit down, figure out the buttons and turn the steering wheel. This is a good analogy of the difference in the two. Thomas is impatient. He just wants to go, go, go. he wants to move and be outside and running around. Tyler on the other hand is also very busy but he prefers to check out his whole ride. He would like to see just how the tires turn, what the pedals do and how do they make the car move and see all the buttons he can push and what each does. We joke that Tyler could definitely be the engineer in the family if there was one. 

And here the social butterfly got a new camera from Santa. He sent her a Fuji that takes real polaroid pictures. She was SO thrilled and could not thank Santa enough for the gift. We got some real hands on pictures for the rest of the day.

Her first official look into the lens...

After Mass we arrived for our annual Christmas Eve dinner at Tessa and Doh's house. Here was the first OFFICIAL picture that was taken. As you can see she takes this very seriously. This was a family heirloom that Mom had made when we were babies that was now going to Danny for his house.  Juliette was thrilled to give Ul'Nanny the picture to take home with him.

As fun as it is to take the picture, even more exciting can be watching it develop! This brings back memories for me. I can remember when we got a Polaroid and it was UNBELIEVABLE to be able to develop something within minutes of taking the picture. 

Juliette and Tessa watched it intensely as the photo began to come to life. If she is anything like her Mama she will LOVE pictures and photography. She has learned at a young age that pictures help preserve her memories and all the wonderful times in her life. 

We had a wonderful celebration with Ul'Nanny on Christmas day. 

Santa had definitely arrived at Tessa and Doh's house as well. 

Thomas and Tyler loved their new puppy dogs that arrived under the tree. These dogs walk just like real dogs. They have special feet with traction so they even waddle when they are walking. They were a very big hit. 

And after such a wonderful day, who would not be ready for hugs from a sweet brother. We see this more and more now. The bond between the two of them is really beginning to show as they move from babies to toddlers. 

Christmas was so warm this year, the babies wore their Santa john-johns shirtless. 

Don said... "What's the hillbilly look for?"

My response.... "Hillbilly or not, these boys will be all sweated up if they wear shirts as well..."

So the hillbilly babies were off to Church... and if you ask me they looked just precious in sleeveless shirtless corduroy john johns on Christmas day!

The babies that evening got some camouflage pants from Doh. This took the look one step further! At this point, I had to laugh because they were just so hilariously cute with the pants on top now!

Santa brought some wonderful gifts via Ul'Nanny. The kiddies were so excited to open them!

Yahoo for Christmas day Tyler says!

Thomas is very curious who the baby is in the high chair and why would anyone want to sit up there? Tyler wanted to as he was ready for his delicious dinner!

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And Tripp was just about ready for night night with his new shark blankie from the Tessa Santa!

Thank you Lord for another wonderful holiday to celebrate with family.