And Then There Was Christmas

Right...and then there was Christmas. The build-up for Christmas was lengthy this year for our household. Busy schedules and many out-of-town trips for Jennifer "necessitated" putting up the trees and decorations early this year. The argument being that if not early then much too late to throughly enjoy. By the time it came Pops had already had his fill of the season, but it came none-the-less. According to Diamond D, it was "the best Christmas ever". All humbug-ness aside, it was pretty fun.

For Desmond and Emma it was a bumper year for presents, to be sure. There were presents to open on Christmas eve, Christmas day and 'round New Year's eve too. We had planned to visit Grandma/pa in Nebraska the day after Christmas, but they were being dumped on by a massive winter storm. We opted for a visit later that week.

Alright...here we go. Prepare yourself for a bevy of photos, and try not to become overwhelmed with how spoiled our children were.

The madness started in earnest on Christmas eve. We had a bunch of visitors including Nana, Aunts Dawn and Heather, and Uncle Lawrence (Heather and Lawrence visiting from Chicago). There was a big meal, the kiddos put on PJ's and we were off.

Dawn took a turn at trying to contain Lady E...no easy task.

One last photo in nice clothes before the unwrapping.

We have many photos of the present opening, but the gist is there were many, some big enough to stand on.

And some big enough to sit in.

"Some assembly required" meant that some of us were put to work. Lawrence shown here explaining this to D who is clearly overwhelmed with the complexity of the task.

Dawn too.

Dawn's efforts made it possible for Pops to assemble D and E's new table and chairs (from Grandma/pa). Emma liked the size of the new furniture...it fit just right.

With all new things assembled we could relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. But it was just the beginning...a precursor to the insanity that was to come to following morning.

Has Santa lost his mind? Were the kids really that good? Santa has lost his mind!

Desmond got a bicycle.

Emma got a kitchen, but I guess Santa was expecting them both to want to play with it...

...so they both got chef's supplies.

Desmond also got the remainder of his motocross gear. It may be a good time to point out that Santa found some of the more expensive stuff on craigslist, so while it may seem out of control, the giving free-for-all is tempered with some frugality.

And all of the season's joy is tempered with, well tempers. Tempers lost, thrown and otherwise tried. For instance how do you, without losing your temper, discipline someone who seems to enjoy being in trouble. Emma shown here making the best of her time out.

Pops in defeat.