Pajamas, Pancakes, and Pandemonium: Our Christmas Day Brunch

This year we decided (okay, it was my idea, and everyone else was nice enough to go along with it) to make our annual brunch a pajama gathering. I bought new pajamas for everyone. Nobody matched, though, because that would be taking my cheesiness just a little bit too far.

I think everyone should get new pajamas for Christmas. 

Of all our Christmas celebrations, I think this one was my favorite, because it was so low-key and fun. We played with the boys, chatted, and ate all kinds of naughty foods.

Speaking of naughty foods. . .

Greg's Christmas gift to me was some new hoodie-footie pajamas. He had noticed that I've been really cold all the time lately, and thought these would help.

These are the most comfortable pajamas on earth, even if I do look like an obese Smurf.

At the time I was trying these on, the kids were watching A Christmas Story, and we decided that the only thing I needed was bunny ears on the hood to look like Ralphie. I decided to wear my Christmas pajamas and save these for a chilly day. Here was our pajama picture.

Henry had polar bear pajamas, and Nicholas had penguin jammies. 

Henry and Nick were SO excited to see their aunt and uncle.

Check out those grins!

It turns out, Aunt Sarah is a whiz with transformers, and she helped Nick with his complicated one.

Nick decided he wanted to take pictures, too, though most of them ended up blurry.

Our brunch was simple: pancakes, scrambled eggs with goat cheese and peppers, and fruit.

Nothing fancy, but plenty of love, bacon, and sticky fingers (oh, and carbohydrates, of course).

Do you think I made the right choice with the penguin jammies? I think I would've been a little overheated in my smurf jammies, though I wore them the other day for 32 hours straight.

There were plenty of gifts to go around, and our entire afternoon was taken up by the gift-opening and the disposal of wrapping paper. Grandma Toni was very specific about throwing away the wrapping paper.

Henry adored his new binoculars, but refused to look through the correct end. He can be stubborn sometimes.  

Nicholas loves the tight hugs from Aunt Sarah best.

Nicholas adored his new cubes, which stack in really awesome ways.

They make the coolest kids' toys nowadays.

Darth Vader modeled my beautiful new jewelry. He has good taste. 

Henry adored Uncle Jay's boots, but he didn't quite get how to put them on correctly. 

Everyone was exhausted at the end of our Christmas brunch extravaganza. Hey, at least we were all in our jammies, so naps were pretty easy.

Santa Came! (Despite Multiple Displays of Naughtiness)

After finally passing out around 2 a.m., we woke up around 7 a.m. to the early morning question that parents hear every Christmas morning: "Did Santa come?" We stumbled, bleary-eyed, down the stairs to see what Santa's verdict had been: naughty or nice?

Nick was very excited that Santa did NOT fill his stocking with coal. Let's just say he had reason for concern.

Yup. He came!

In fact, Santa was pretty good to the boys this year.

The stockings were full and each boy had a pile of gifts to savor. We also all had full stockings, so I guess everyone ended up on the "nice" list this year. (It was a close call for a few of us, though, I'm sure, myself included.) Henry snuck candy every time we weren't looking, and it wasn't until we found all the wrappers later that we knew how extensive his sugar orgy had been.

Henry had a mouthful of chocolate and several more pieces clasped in his fist, though I didn't know it at the time.

Nicholas convinced me to make him some "kid coffee," which is basically a tablespoon of coffee in some warm milk with whipped cream. Like this kid needs caffeine! He tries to steal my coffee if I don't make him his own.

Henry snuggled in Grandma Toni's arms with both Darth Vader and Kwazi from the Octonauts. He's been carrying around his Darth Vader dolls just I did with my Strawberry Shortcake dolls when I was a little girl.

Santa left each boy a letter congratulating them on their achievements and giving them some behaviors to work on throughout the year.

Nick received his requested Transformer, though Greg got really mad at it. Apparently, actually transforming the darned thing is a 27 step process, and has become much harder since Greg had his own Transformers as a little boy.

Henry really, really liked these little Star Wars action figures. He lined them all up and stared at them as if they were gold. Well, C3PO was gold, but you know what I mean.

My stocking was filled with a very tightly sealed container, which gave me fits trying to get it open.

It was fancy loose-leaf Earl Grey tea. My favorite.  :)

Greg laughed about his shower gels, because Santa brought us matching ones.

After watching "The Santa Clause" and several other Christmas movies over the last few weeks, Henry and Nick were both filled with excitement about Santa's visit. It was a great start to the day, even though Greg and I were both working on very little sleep.

So Many Presents, We Had to Have an Intermission: Christmas Eve

Each year, we spend Christmas Eve with my mom, stepdad, sister, and stepbrothers. My grandmother and mother-in-law usually join us as well, and it is a fun, low-key evening, with yummy sandwiches, plenty of cookies, and presents galore.

Henry enjoyed the dog toys as much as the ones meant for him. 

Passing out the presents took a long time this year, since everyone was apparently very good.

Uncle Andy gave the best present--BIG hugs for the boys! Nick and Henry like the tightest hugs.

Uncle Justin showed Nick how tall he could be if he keeps eating his vegetables.

Judging from his shoe size, Henry will likely be taller than Nick, regardless of vegetable-eating habits.

You can never have too many Christmas hugs.

Grandpa Ray adopted a new look for the occasion.

Grandma Toni and G.G. dressed in matching colors, almost as if they'd planned it. (They hadn't.)

Henry was just a little bit excited about his new dinosaurs set.

The dinosaurs have already been having fights with the Star Wars toys. 

Henry slept with his new planes toys the other day. He's been carrying them (and his little Darth Vader) around the way some little girls drag their dolls around.

Here's Nicholas showing off his new watch. What time was it? Time to open more presents!

Greg was excited about his new shirt. . .

But not as excited as Henry was about his Mr. Potato Head set.

We had so many presents, we had to have an intermission. Food helped give us energy for more present-opening.

Sandwiches, cookies, and homemade brownies. No one was counting calories on Christmas Eve.

No, that is not Henry's beer. Though he probably would've drank it if we had allowed him to--Henry is a veritable bottomless pit.

After we'd fortified ourselves, it was back to the presents.

I can't remember what Mandy got here, but she looks really thrilled. 

This was right before Henry pounced on his new beanbag chair. He loves it!

As usual, Christmas Eve was one of the highlights of the season for my boys. I wanted a family shot, but had to settle for a picture of Greg and me, since the boys couldn't sit still due to all the cookies and excitement. Half of my pictures from this evening turned out blurry due to constant child movement.