Murray...Party of Four: Merry, Merry.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Merry, Merry.

All of the traditions, the planning, the creating, cooking and baking, record playing, dancing, waiting and anticipating came down to this...

Murray Family Christmas (at our house on 12/22):

New jammies on Christmas Eve.

I let the boys open up their new jammies before we left for our Christmas Eve celebration.

Gash/Meyers Family (Christmas Eve):

Finishing up last minute Christmas preparations.

Putting the last ornament on the tree and leaving out cookies and carrots (and oranges??).

I didn't get around to making my carrot-zucchini muffins this year unfortunately so the reindeer had to settle for plain old carrots. Max thought adding an orange would be a healthier spread for Santa.

During all of these final Christmas activities Max was suddenly convinced he heard Santa on the roof. Panic set in and he raced upstairs saying "I've gotta close my eyes! I need to be sleeping!!" The look of sincere urgency on his face was priceless. He quickly went to his bed and pulled his covers up. No last minute requests for water, books or additional stuffed animals...his eyes were tightly shut by the time I turned off his light. As I closed the door he whispered, "Momma??" I said, "What is it, buddy?" He peeked one eye open and said, "Mewwy Chwistmas, Momma." My little guy is so dear.

Billy and I got busy setting out gifts and filling stockings. We kept with the tradition of each of the boys getting three gifts from Santa since that is the number of gifts Jesus got on the first Christmas. It's our small reminder of why we celebrate with gifts at all. They also get one gift to share and a few things in their stockings. Plus a homemade present from us.

Max's three gifts:

Max's stocking:

Scissors, Toy Story movie and undies, bowling set, harmonica, dinosaur nesting doll, dino crayons and some popcicle sticks with velcro to make shapes.

Sullivan's three gifts:

Sullivan's stocking:

Wooden stacker, play silk, ball catcher, a couple wooden instruments, bubbles, crayons and snowman notebook.

A homemade gift to share from Momma and Daddy:

A gift to share from Santa:

A model of the play set Santa is having built in the spring.

Billy and I looked over the meaningful Christmas we gave our boys and felt thankful that we were able to give them so many nice things. And then stayed up and watched "It's a Wonderful Life" together.

The next morning came quickly. Max was up by 7:30. He could see the presents from the top of the stairs. "He came! He came!!! Santa brought me presents!!!" He couldn't get down the stairs fast enough :) We had to wake Sullivan up because I knew we wouldn't be able to have Max wait.
Here's a small sample of the whirlwind of joy that followed....

The boys opening up the gifts from each other...

Max was so proud of the marble holder he made for Sullivan. He couldn't wait to get it out of the bag and show him how it worked.

Daddy had one final, final surprise gift to all of us...BONGOS! I didn't even know he had hidden them in the dining room. Max, as you can see, is ecstatic. Lots of music being made in the Murray household these days! :)