Christmas Part 1

Even if they are 8 and 5, I made them wear matching pjs at Christmas.
Those smiles are fake, they were not impressed. 

We have our Christmas tradition where we take both boys to pick out a gift for the other.  Mason is so good at picking out gifts for people.  So good.  Brody always talks about this Hello Neighbor game and the boys play it outside with their friends.  I thought it was just a game, but apparently it is a video game. Had no clue.  Mason found it and said he HAD to get it for him. 

All wrapped and DONE. 

The elves got Dad again this year.
The boys LOVED it. 

We did Christmas with the Browers on Saturday morning with a yummy brunch.  We had a great time just hanging around and catching up.  But of course the kids were being good waiting to open presents. 

Anderson and Brody

Griff and Anderson picked out these masks for the boys.  

Now they can really nerf gun battle. 

All the grandkids. 

Brothers and sisters. 

J Brower fam. 

Not sure where we were looking here. 

Annual Brower pic. 

These kids are growing growing growing. 

The last three years. 

We were going to go ice skating with the kids after, but the road was blocked off to the rink. 

We decided to just let the kids play at Robert and Becca's and test out their new toys. 

Guess the adults did some testing too. 

We had a super fun day. 

We got home and the boys wanted to put together their forts from Gma Judy.  They were in heaven.  There is even a light in there.  

It has gotten COLD here.  Like brutally cold.  Christmas Eve was no different.
Mason asked for a trampoline from Santa this year.  He was pretty smart about it too.  He knew John disapproved of a trampoline for multiple reasons.  So he asked Santa, not Dad, and only asked for that.  NOTHING else.  John got played.  Ha.

So Christmas Eve, we went to church that morning (which was amazing).  I honestly wish Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday every year.  It was just an awesome service with beautiful music.  It is so hard to get wrapped up in the shopping, cooking, etc.   It was so nice to have an hour devoted to the meaning of Christmas.  We stopped all other things and truly focused on the only thing that should matter this time of year.

But then it was back to work.  It is so fun to know you are surprising them on Christmas morning.  It is so much better than receiving.  Like our pastor said, when his kids asked what was he looking forward to the most, he answered with "the same thing you are, your gifts".  And it is true.

John and I took the kids to my parents after lunch. If this trampoline was going to get put together, it would have to be in the daylight.  It took about 3 hours and it wasn't difficult at all.  Just time consuming and FREEZING.  It was even spitting rain a bit.  And oh so windy. 

But we did it.  And then moved it over to the side so the kids wouldn't see it.  We also picked them up as it was turning dark, so it all worked out.  

We have done Christmas Eve dinner at our house the last couple of years.  

We cooked a standing rib roast along with lots of other food.
Pretty sure we could have fed several other families.

It is always so nice to be able to sit together and have a nice meal. 

The boys get to open their Christmas pjs that night as well as their gift to each other. 

I love this because they also receive more joy giving to each other as receiving.  

And the looks on their face are priceless. 

Brody picked out Pokemon cards and a race car for Mason. 

And Mason got Brody that video game. 

He just couldn't believe it. 

Christmas pjs from Mickey Mouse. 

Mason went on and put his right on.  

And of course I made them take more pictures. 

Putting out the reindeer food. 

And milk and cookies. 

Part 2 coming up.