A Lump Of Coal, Please?

He doesn't really get the whole "Elf on the Shelf" concept.  Or maybe he does and he's just pretending he doesn't.  And he really does not like taking pictures with the bearded old man.  I have the photos to prove it.  I can't tell you how many times I've explained that being a bad boy means Santa won't bring any presents.  Like NONE.  Does he care?  Did he refrain from his many tantrums?  Did it help to hide most of the presents until the morning of?  Did it help that I actually called Santa and put him on speaker so he could hear for himself that only good children will get goodies?  No, not really.  W would just argue back that YES, he was getting presents and that, YES, he is a good boy, even in the midst of a fit.  Sigh.  I guess we'll try again next year.  

Having set the tone for what it was like the days leading up to Christmas, I will say that it was a great morning of opening presents and being lazy.  I wish I could say that I made some epic bread pudding and we all drank hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows.  To be honest, I'm not THAT mom.  Not yet.  We tried to make it really Norman Rockwell and put a ring of tracks around the tree so that W could come downstairs to find a train going around the gifts.  What a disaster!  First, P assembled this Disney train set we got and hid in the closet.  It's a piece of crap, made of plastic and totally ugly.  But W really wanted it in the store, so P secretly went back that night and bought it.  The last one.  What does this tell you?  That he's an awesome papa and that there were other suckers out there who bought this POS train set.  Not only was it so small that we had to place the present OUTSIDE of the tracks, the thing was so loud I wanted to kick it off the tracks and stomp all over it.  Back in the box it went.  Then P set up this other train set he got from work and tried to set that sucker up.  Not enough tracks BUT quieter than the Disney set.  One problem though.  IT WOULDN'T RUN ON THE DAMN TRACKS!  It was a nightmare.  I mean, c'mon!  We just wanted to make Christmas morning magical for our kids.  Is that so much to ask?!  We ended up just leaving the trains with no battery on the floor and putting the tracks away.   So sad.  

Moving on.  What did the boys get?  Well, little N got some baby toys and a few books and outfits.  What was his favorite?  Anything W got.  Hahaha!  Right?  And, of course, W got a bunch of trains and train oriented items.  He got a bunch of other things like pjs, books, other toys, clothes and his first stocking full of goodies.  Other than the trains, he was really fascinated with one of N's toys.  Seriously, it's like they do this on purpose.  The morning went by quickly, but I'm glad they didn't get more presents because W is getting spoiled!

W, playing with the Train That Couldn't. Ugh.

Of course, he opened the Thomas wrapped present first.

N's favorite!  Paper!!!

N's first boom box and camera.

Our tree rotates and it's a good thing because N would've brought it down with one slow grab.

He's happy.  Enough said.

Late morning sunlight.  Wonderful.

Kinetic sand.  This stuff is so cool.  Couldn't stop touching it.

Trying on my Christmas gift.

Awwww.  Those teeth.

He gets the urge to tackle and hug his baby brother all the time.

Sorry N.  Your big brother learned it from us.

Merry Christmas!