Christmas festivities

Christmas festivities are my favorite. This is always the holiday I looked forward to the most.This year was a great year because both kids were old enough to enjoy the festivities with us. Well Tman was all about it and all Jbird wanted to do was unwrap and destroy things :).

We usually start celebrating in the morning and are later joined by my siblings in the afternoon for a family celebration. My mom usually spends the night with us since we have the kids (this will probably change now that my brother has a little one too) and every year in the past 4 years, hubby's parents also spent the night with us. This always makes for an awesome time on Christmas morning.

Christmas cards are one of my favorite things to get each year. I actually display them all year long to enjoy them as long as I can :). I put them on the door that leads to the garage so that I see those lovely pics everyday.

We've hosted Christmas every year for the past 3 years and each year we take a family picture. My sister always gets me this awesome picture frame with the year and I finally got my act together this year and started displaying these. I plan to do that every year as part of my Christmas decoration.

My mom and Tman chilling Christmas morning

We actually shower and get dressed in our matching pajamas before we come down to see what Santa brought us (I mean you have to look good for all the pictures :)). We let the boys open a few presents before we sat down for breakfast. I don't think they would have survived otherwise.

We had to put this toy together before doing anything else because the boys insisted. We all worked together and I love that my mom captured it. It pays to have people around

My mom and the boys

  Hubby and the boys

 We get excited about gifts around here :)

 Hubby's parents were there too opening gifts with us :)

After the first round of gift opening, we enjoyed some breakfast before going back to open more presents.

My hubby couldn't wait to get out of his pajama :). At least he was a good sport this year. The next big think Tman opened was a train set. He was so happy about it that he couldn't wait to put it together. Jbird on the other hand was destroying everything, my little destroyer.

We had to move the train set downstairs to keep Jbird from messing with it. How awesome is this all set up? Tman was so proud that he built that with his dad.

Jbird trying to help his grandma make cakes :)

I totally have to show off my mom who was looking gorgeous after she got dressed. I mean just looking at her makes me happy, since I have half her genes, I have a great chance of aging gracefully :) (one can only hope).

Love this picture of everyone working on presents before the rest of the crew arrived. Blessed indeed

Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for the arrival of the rest of the family. Oh look who came to celebrate with us, my lovely niece almost 3 months old

 Me and my sisters

 Our house was bustling with love and laughter, Christmas rocks

 My mom helping my niece open her present

The boys got a motorized car that they totally loved. It was pure joy on their face as they were attempting to ride it around the house

I got better pictures the next day when we created some room around the living room and let them ride the car. My boys were in heaven

Back to the party, my brother and his beautiful family

We also took some fun and silly pictures in front of the tree

And of course all of us that celebrated together. Can't wait to put this in my 2013 frame :)

Our Christmas celebration was awesome. 4th annual hosting and looking forward to many more. I hope you had a great time celebrating with your family too.