Merry Christmas!

Christmas is so much fun with little kids! We had a great holiday and the boys were so sweet this morning as they opened their gifts. They were excited about it all and did a decent job sharing their toys with each other, which made me happy.

Here's Eli singing his version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (instead he sang, "Santa Claus is Coming Tonight"):

Santa Claus is Coming... Tonight! (Christmas Morning 2010) from Sarah on Vimeo.

Gifts from Santa were by the fireplace:

The rest of the presents under the tree:

Charlie was so excited about this big truck that holds little cars:

Eli asked Santa for a marble tower, so he was excited when he opened this:

Marble Tower (Dec 2010) from Sarah on Vimeo.

The boys were super sweet one minute:

Then a little possessive over their things the next:

We took everything at a slow pace, which was fun, because the kids were enjoying and playing with each toy as they opened it. 

Charlie's favorite place to play with his new cars = on the office radiator, which is nice and long (albeit a little high for the little guy)

This is my favorite shot of Charlie from the day:

Eli seemed so big to me. Here he is lining up his army guys.

It was a Lego Duplo Christmas... Charlie got this Mac truck and was so so excited. Eli was excited too :)

Eli: "That's So Amazing!" about the Legos Present (Dec 2010) from Sarah on Vimeo.

I set up the tripod and got a quick family shot that turned out so-so, but it's proof I was also here for Christmas.

This picture below makes me think about one of Ben's gifts to me - a homemade certificate that he will hang 10 pictures up on the wall (we have so many things framed and not up on the walls, it's silly. We both have nail phobia of making holes in our old plaster walls).

I cooked all afternoon, Charlie napped, Eli played with toys, Ben went for a jog in the snow... by the early evening, it was time for my family and our friends, the Lunds to come over. Here's handsome Eli ready for dinner.

I tried to be extra festive with our table this year. I picked up some red chargers on clearance at Target and made a red drink with cranberry pomegranite juice mixed with sprite. My roast took forever to finish cooking, so we ate in courses. First, chips and homemade salsa (since it's red for Christmas), then a salad with spinach, butternut squash, sliced almonds, pomegranate seeds, etc. We had some fruit and then the main course of roast and vegetables was finally out on the table.

Charlie mostly just ate chips/salsa. 

For dessert, I made a pumpkin orange cake, substituted buttercream frosting for the cream cheese frosting in the recipe, and made it festive with the mandarin oranges and pomegranate seeds (I'm on a pomegranate kick, if you couldn't tell by now!). This was tricky because the oranges kept sliding off the cake. But I thought it tasted pretty good and was pretty on one side of the cake, even if the oranges weren't cooperating on the back.

Here are a few pictures from opening presents - 

Sorry dad, I caught you at a funny moment :)

Hiding behind the calendar I made for them:

Eli hugging the bear from my Aunt Mimi. He has declared the bear is his froggy's best friend. :)

Charlie got a moose:

It was a very Merry Christmas!