The One About Christmas Weekend

    We survived...barely.  I don't remember ever being so tired.  I don't know if it was because we hosted our first Christmas dinner, or just the ages that the boys are right now, but Ernie and I both agreed we were beat.  We fell into bed already sleeping Christmas night.  Despite the severe exhaustion, we had a lovely Christmas.  We spent all day today putting together toys, organizing and cleaning the toy room, and taking down our Christmas decorations.  Normally we leave our tree up until after New Years, but we both decided we just wanted Christmas to be over and life to get back to normal. 
   On Friday, we were excited because my brother Nate and his girlfriend Jessica were back from Denver.  We hadn't seen them since July.  Here they are...so adorable!

Because Grandma Rita was still in the hospital, Nate, Jessica, Shayla, and I all drove down to Norfolk to visit her.  Grandma looked really good, and was able to sit up and chat with us all.  

    Later that afternoon, Ernie, Nate, Jessica, and I went to mass, and then we all went out to my parents' house for Christmas Eve with the entire Funk clan.  Not everyone made it back, but we had a large group.  It was fun to see everyone again. The boys were troopers and stayed up until 10:00. After we got home, we left cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.  Gavin was very concerned when he went to sleep.  He was afraid that if he got up to use the bathroom then Santa would think he was up and wouldn't stop.  We assured him that he could get up and use the bathroom, and that Santa would still come to our house if he was in the bathroom. :) 

   Luckily, the boys slept in on Christmas morning, so Ernie and I were able to get up early and do our cooking for Christmas dinner.  This year we hosted our first holiday dinner with the Whiting family.  By the time the boys woke up around 8:30, we were done with most of our cooking and were able to enjoy Christmas morning with them.  Santa brought the boys a kitchen set, some play food, and a sled.  Here are some pics from that morning. 

Chef Gavin

   The Whitings all showed up around 11-12, and we had a nice Christmas dinner. It was fun just sitting around and watching the kids play.  I tried to get a good picture of Asher and his cousin Thatcher, but of course, that was near impossible.  Thatcher looks really cute in this picture.

Grandma Lois gave Asher and Thatcher each a bag of Goldfish.  The boys got along pretty well (other than a few arguments over toys), but really seemed to bond over their mutual love of Goldfish.  Gavin was very patient waiting for the babies to take their naps before we opened gifts. 

    
    On Christmas night, we went back to my parents' house to do our immediate family gift exchange.  Shayla and Mark gave Gavin some bubble wrap, one of life's simple pleasures for children.  :)

Asher hung out with Mark and Uncle Nate.

By 8:00, we headed for home and put the boys to bed.  Christmas was officially over for the Whiting family.  

   I meant to do a separate post about this, but didn't get around to it last week.  Gavin had his first ice fishing trip of the year with Ernie a week ago.  While he was fishing, a muskrat came up through the ice hole.  I can just imagine how big Gavin's eyes got when that thing crawled through.  Ernie kicked it quick, and it went back into the pond.  Gavin thought that was hilarious.  :)  Here is a pic of Gavin with his fish.