Christmas and Mama B and Grandpa Visit

On the plate:  Lots of holiday cooking, but nothing new since last time.

Soundtrack to cook to:  Holiday music 24/7.  I love Michael Buble, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, *NSync, Mariah Carey, and pretty much anything that is playing during the holidays.  Love.it.

Our new town had an adorable Christmas scene set up in the town center and had an event for when they first turned on all of the lights in December.  We unfortunately couldn't make it, as it was too cold and it was the boys' bed time.  So, we stopped by the town center a few weeks later to check out the decorations. 

Plus, my parents (known to Alex and William as "Mama B" and "Grandpa") were visiting in order to celebrate Christmas with us and my sister's engagement as well!  It was a big time for celebration in our household.

Alex enjoyed seeing some of his favorites!  He had to stop by Winnie the Pooh first.

Then Thomas the train, of course.  :)

He had fun getting on Santa's sleigh and holding the reins for the reindeer.

He loved this!

Alex and William in the town's center.

The gentlemen that were fixing some of the inflatable exhibits told us
that their family had been doing this for decades.  What a wonderful tradition
to continue as a family for an entire town.  :)

Alex with a GIGANTIC Santa statue.

After walking around for a bit, we decided to go back inside, warm up, and bake some holiday cookies together!

Alex and Mama B making holiday cookies.  My mom rolled out the cookie
dough and Alex used the cookie cutters.

This is something that my sister and I used to do each Christmas.
Then, we would bundle up and deliver these cookies to all of our friends.
I love continuing old traditions and making new ones!

Mom was showing Alex how to use the roller.

Alex did a great job of decorating the cookies after I had put icing on them.

The next morning while I was working out and William was sleeping, my mom and Alex worked on decorating a gingerbread house together.  My mom piped the frosting onto the house, and Alex used the candies to decorate it.  (Alex may have taken a few liberties and stole a few pieces of candy for himself.)

Mom and Alex decorating the gingerbread house.

Alex did a great job placing the candies carefully.

It was a fun bonding activity.

Alex loves little projects like these where everything is neat and strategically
placed...I wonder where he gets that from?

He was SO proud of his gingerbread house!

The front door

Side view

Back door

Mama B and Alex had a great time!

Alex and William playing piano on my mom's iPad.  The boys loved this.

However, it got a little competitive about who got to
touch it next.

New tradition!!  I found the most adorable pajamas at Target and couldn't wait for the boys to wear them.  So, on Christmas Eve, I made a knocking sound on the front door and told Alex that there was a package that someone had left for him and William.  We started a new tradition!  Christmas Eve pajamas! 

Here's Alex picking up the package from the front doorstep.

He was very excited to see what it was and who it was from.

One happy boy, ready to start a new tradition :)

"Mommy, can you read this?"

The note said:
To:  Alex and William
Merry Christmas!
Love, Santa

Christmas pajamas!!!

Alex was interested in the pajamas and William was interested in
the note card.  Too funny!

Our cute boys on Christmas Eve 2013

We were trying to get William to pose with his
pajamas, but he wasn't having it at all.

Mama B tried to help.

Nope, ever since this kid became mobile,
he has decided that he cannot and will not
be contained.

Alex was standing so nicely and William was being
a naughty little panda.  That's very much their personalities.

Every year we've been so sleep deprived or just plain forgotten to leave Santa some cookies on Christmas Eve.  This year, we finally remembered and both boys are finally sleeping through the night.  Hallelujah!

Alex chose 3 cookies for Santa (his reasoning was because he's 3 years old)
and dictated the following note to Santa:
Dear Santa,
William and I have been very good and nice.  We promise to
make good choices.  Enjoy the milk and cookies!
Love, Alex F, William, and Oscar 

After we laid out the cookies, we bathed the boys, put them in their Christmas pajamas, and put them to bed.  Then, we went straight to work on setting up the presents and stuffing the stockings for the next morning.

Our Christmas tree with all of the presents.

That next morning, the boys woke up to find that Santa had eaten almost all of the cookies and left them a note.

The note said:
Merry Christmas Alex and William!
Keep making good choices and being good boys!
Love, Santa
PS - Thanks for the cookies!!

Alex was so excited to see Santa's footprints (at the bottom of the picture)
and the note that he had left the boys.

Christmas morning, 2013!  Everyone comes downstairs in our pajamas, we eat our monkey bread, and then we open presents!
Tita Kristen and Uncle Pete joined us very early that morning, because our boys, and thus our household, wake up very early in the morning.

I was helping William open up some of his presents.

Alex was definitely more into the gift unwrapping than William was.

However, Oscar LOVES to help unwrap gifts.  It's pretty funny.

Kristen helped to take pictures, operate the camcorder, and do crowd
control that morning.

Do you see Oscar in the background?  He's a sneaky little guy that LOVES
to get into boxes and take out their contents.

Here's Alex checking out the contents of his stocking.

Christmas mess 2013  :)

William was finally getting in to the whole unwrapping thing.

William loves to laugh.

He enjoyed shaking his goldfish crackers.

Yep!  All of those wonderful presents and he loved the boxes that
they came in and goldfish crackers.

Oscar, of course, has a stocking of his own, and he got some treats
and bobos.  Here's William playing tug-of-war with Oscar.

William thoroughly enjoyed his Jake and the Neverland Piratesscooter.  It had lots of bells and whistles that he loved exploring.

After we cleaned up the mess, we decided to open up all of the toys
and play!  Here's Joseph playing Hungry Hungry Hippos with Alex.

Both of our boys love this game!

Alex loved his fire fighter costume from Grandpa
and Mama B.  William was busying himself with
his magnetic building blocks from them as well.

Happy Holidays!

Meanwhile, Dad was hard at work assembling
one of William's ramp toys.  Thankfully this was
one of the few toys that required assembly.

After a day of leisure and fun playing with toys and watching classic Christmas movies like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (one of my favorites!), we had a lovely dinner.  I prepared all of the sides and dessert, and my sister Kristen took on the difficult task of cooking the delectable turkey.

William, Joseph, Alex, Kristen, Pete, Dad, and Mom, sitting down to
our Christmas dinner 2013.  It was a wonderful feast!

Oscar, Me, William, Alex and Joseph on
Christmas 2013.  Our darling little ninja turtles.  :)

Oscar was one pooped pup after having his
share of turkey and sides.

William, our proud and very naked little firefighter!

He was very proud of himself.  Love it!

William with the firefighter's hat, while Alex
played with the fire truck.

Our beautiful boys :)

A few days later, my family, and my sister's fiance's family celebrated a lovely engagement party together.  My mother and I felt that it was important for my sister and her fiance to have their first official "wedding" gift, so we got them a super duper crock pot!

Pete, Alex, and Kristen, getting ready to open the gift before the dinner.

Awwww, how cute are they?

She likes it!

Awww, aren't they cute? 

Meanwhile...here's some cute pics of our boys....

A completely unprovoked hug.  Love it!

After Christmas, my parents and I took the boys for a fun-filled morning at the Children's Museum in Boston.

My Dad (Grandpa to the boys) and William
playing with a bead jungle at the Children's Museum.

William enjoyed watching the fish.

These seats play music when you sit on them!
A whole new view on the game "Musical chairs!"

Alex loved being on TV in the Arthur show.

Alex and Mama B, changing Arthur's clothes.

Alex, using a saw, and sawing a piece of wood.

He's using a screwdriver, here!  Maybe
I could use his help around the house more often?

Alex, getting ready to file down some wood.

Alex, playing in the construction zone
section of the Children's Museum.

Both of the boys loved playing in the tunnel.

William loved playing in the tunnels as well!

Our beautiful boys at play.

Mama B and William, banging on the drums
in a musical exhibit.

Alex was totally into a dance exhibit.

Alex, getting down with his bad self!

My mom left the following day to hang out with my aunts and uncles (her sisters and brother) in New Jersey.  My father stayed behind and hung out with us. 
We took the boys to see a dinosaur movie and then went out to a delicious lunch at the Yard House in Dedham.  Then we put the boys down for a nap and dropped my dad off at the airport.

William, getting ready to order his dish.

Alex drew a ghost while we were waiting
for our food to arrive.  We were pretty impressed!

William at the restaurant.

Grandpa and the boys!

One last snuggle before he left.

We had a great Christmas together where we got to continue old traditions and make new ones.  It was lots of fun to share this special time with the boys and see them experience the excitement that I know my sister and I did when we were children.  Great times with family.  Thanks so much, Dad (Grandpa) and Mom (Mama B)!!!
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikk