Oh Yeah - Christmas Celebrations!!!

A smidge late on this post, since it is already, ahem, February, but better late than never!  We had a pretty successful Christmas - though the bar was set admittedly low after our experience the prior year.  We had a busy holiday and welcomed oodles of family in our home. I think the boys got a good amount of presents (not too much, not too little) and everyone was in good spirits.  Once again, we were unable to make it through the holidays healthy -- Lena came down with a bad bug just before the holidays, and Oliver got something at the end, keeping him & Adam from our celebrations with the Braunschweigers.

We kicked off the holidays with the Comegys in Delaware for Christmas Eve-Day brunch.  This was the best family photo we could get, and actually, I think the only photo of all five of us that was even taken!

After presents and brunch, we attempted to decorate (freakishly-small_ gingerbread houses).

Christmas Eve itself was a bit too uneventful for me.  We had a nice dinner that Adam cooked and the kids were in bed at normal bedtime, which I love, but the evening felt too much like any other day.  We'll definitely have to tweak our plans next year.

Christmas morning with young kids is always fun.  It didn't start as early as I had feared.  I was a bit worried that the kids didn't have enough presents, when I saw others posting what was under their Christmas tree on social media, but we ended up having just the right amount.  Santa brought everyone one big present and a few stocking stuffers and then they got one main gift from us.  This year, instead of exchanging toys, the boys each bought one another a book -- I love this tradition and definitely want to continue it in future years.  Oliver came with me to pick out books for his brothers and on a separate outing, Alex & Lukas "helped" me do the same for him.

Of course there was fighting over toys!  Santa brought Alex a Playmobile airplane and Lukas a Playmobile bus.  It alternates which is the preferred toy. 

Mom, Nicole & Devon joined us throughout the day.  Would you believe THIS is the only photo of I have of their visit??? once again we had tasty Rouladen and spaetzle for dinner.

A few days later, Papa & Margit came down. Nicole and Devon had slept over a few nights, so it was nice that all the Doerr grandkids were together for this celebration.

Our final celebration was with the Braunschweiger clan, but I had my hands full juggling the twins solo and don't have any photos.  The cousins all had fun playing together, especially in teh basement with the trains, and thankfully didn't kill one another outside on the ride-on toys, though there were some close calls!