I was able to make some cookies. I made a quick little batch at Halloween but no one helped me so this was the first time all year I was able to make them and the boys helped. It's so much more fun with all of them in there with me and seeing how proud they are of their decorations.
I let each of them pick one of their's and we set them aside for Santa. We had a mishap last year where someone, who will remain unnamed, ate one of Santa's cookies so I put Saran Wrap on put that plate where no one could get it. ;)
We did my purple snowflake tree again this year.
I've always wanted a 9'white tree with white lights but have yet to find one. Last year, after Christmas I picked up this 6' one. All the boys have a small tree they decorate and put in their rooms. I told them this was MY tree that I get to decorate all by myself. :) I was happy to use my red & green snowman decorations that I bought years ago but didn't look good on my big tree. They looked much better on this smaller, white tree.
We were playing cards early Christmas Eve morning and Drew had been asking me to peel some carrots for Santa's reindeer ever since we made the cookies a couple of days before. I told Drew he could peel a couple while we were playing cards. Preston got up a few minutes later to find that he had peeled almost the entire 4 lb bag of carrots that was in my refrigerator. lol
I have had to wake the boys up the past several years to go see presents from Santa. I was thinking that when Preston got off at 7am on Christmas morning, we'd wake the boys up and do presents. The one time he's not home...it didn't work out that way. Ty came in at 5am and said, "mom, it's Christmas!" I told him yep, just go back to bed and when dad gets home we'll get up. Drew was in my bed and about 20 minutes later he wakes up, goes to the family room & then runs back into my room saying Santa took all the carrots and he didn't get to feed them to the reindeer like he wanted. Since those two were up I got up with them and we checked out what Santa brought. Zack asked for an electric scooter & an iPod Touch. Ty told me he wrote Santa a letter at school the last week and asked for an electric scooter. Drew asked for a RockStar Mickey (he wanted a mickey guitar). Aydon asked for an iPod Touch, hunting clothes & Brotherband Chronicles book. Santa brought Zack an electric scooter, Drew a new scooter, Aydon a big wheeled scooter like his friends & Ty got a 2DS. Ty had recently lost his 3DS that he bought with his own money.
Ty plugged in his DS and started checking it out so Drew had to give his scooter a ride around the house.
Those are his 5:30am excited eyes.
Ty & Drew couldn't wait for their brothers to wake up so they woke them up and took them to see their gifts. Since we still had an hour and a half before Preston would be home, Aydon & I got showered and I started cooking.
I got a new vacuum. The boys have broken my vacuum 3 different times and I've been using my mother in laws for the last year so I finally got a new one.
Drew was so excited about his Rockstar Mickey shirt that he had to put it on immediately.
Aydon had read a text that I had sent Preston about what we had gotten him for his birthday and this one Christmas present. He told me after his birthday so since he knew what he was getting we decided to make him work for it. We put it a box, inside a box, inside a box.
It made it a little more fun and he agreed that knowing what you get ahead of time spoils the fun.
Drew has never had his own DS, he's used Ty's hand me down and so he was excited to get one. For days though, he only listened to music on it and had never even played a game even though he got it with 3 games.
Preston asked for a Hulk shirt to match Drew's for when they workout. You can see how excited both of them were.
Aren't they cute?
Drew was so excited to get his own LSU blanket like his brothers got from my parents last year. He loves his hat that we got him. He's wearing his workout pants too.
Aydon's wearing one of his new shirts.
Ty's gifts from us.
Zack got a tablet from us along with a 2DS even though nothing was wrong with his DSi but with his brothers all being able to share the 3DS games, we didn't want him to be left out. He asked for a Mickey pen and an LSU drawstring backpack but I think he was most excited about his EOS chapstick that he got. It's the simple things!
I also got a Ninja since we make lots of smoothies.
Preston got me some new clothes, 2 pairs of boots & workout clothes.
He had put all his stuff away and I had lots of cooking to do so I forgot about it and never pulled them back out. He asked for new workout clothes so I got him 4 new workout shirts, a pair of shorts & 2 pair of pants & shoes.
He had been drooling over a watch in the mall for months and I amazingly was able to get it and surprise him with it. Usually he always ruins his surprises.
So with Santa's cookies being eaten last year, we figured this was going to be the new laugh. Sunshine gave us a Christmas card with cute a picture collage. Well, she must've forgotten how many nephews she had in her old age.
Zack fixed and wrote his name on their himself. I sent these two pictures to her & she let us know she hadn't forgotten but had just forgot to give Zack & Dexter their card.
She did a cute picture collage of Zack with Dexter the year he got him as a Christmas present.
That was nice, light-hearted and funny just like last year so when this next incident happened it was quite unexpected.
We were supposed to eat at my parents at noon but I had so much cooking to do that I didn't get it all done as quickly as I thought I would. We were rushing to get there and made it only about 5 minutes late but right as we were pulling up to my parent's house they are running out the door and it looked like my dad was carrying something and I just assumed it was trash out to the dumpster. As we got closer we realized he had a towel around his wrist and this white towel was SOAKED in blood. I jumped out to see what I could do to help. My mom had forgotten to grab her keys to the car so my dad was trying to open the passenger door but the blood was like a running faucet. My mom has white interior and I told him not to get in. Preston told him to get in our Tahoe and he would take him to the ER. Mom ran out with a couple of plastic bags and we put his hand in there to catch all the blood and off they went. By the time I had gotten in the house my Uncle & Sunshine had steered the boys somewhere else while them & John were cleaning up the kitchen. It was a mess...on the walls and floors. I guess he was trying to cut the ham and it started to slip so when he went to catch it he cut two veins in his wrist. While they were cleaning the kitchen I got a pot to go attempt to get the blood out of the driveway and sidewalks in front and it was hilarious to think that one little pot would even touch getting all that blood gone. John had to go get a hose and spray it off. Dad had told everyone to eat without them but after that mess no one had an appetite to eat. About an 1.5 hr later we finally decided we need to eat since we still had to eat at Vickey's later that evening. About 10 minutes after we finished eating, they got back from the ER. My dad sat down and my mom brought him a plate and all of a sudden he started gushing blood again. Mom said, let's go back to the ER and dad said NO! I'm not going back until I eat and watch my grandsons open their presents. So Mom, Dad & John (who had gone to sit with mom in the ER waiting room, they didn't let her back for some reason) ate and we gave them their presents as they were eating.
Shawna snapped these pictures. I was sitting holding a plastic bag over the towel that was on his wrist so he could eat and not see the bloody mess.
Jumping ahead, this was a few days later with all the bruising & redness and what looks to be a nasty scar from the stitches.
Shawna had this huge box and it had wrapped boxes inside boxes with instructions for each boy to hand it off to someone else in the family finally giving it to me to reveal tickets to Monster Jam next month.
John had a huge box with this Saints ice chest in it with another gift inside of it.
He thought it was tickets to Monster Jam too and was so excited. Shawna had to tell him look again and he was excited to see Coyote tickets. Shawna then had to tell him they were glass seats for a Coyote's game.
We got mom some essential oils. I've been using them for several months now and she's been wanting a starter kit.
Everytime my dad sees Preston or I wearing our LSU hoodie he always says he wishes he had one like it so that's what we got him.
Drew has been wearing an LSU hat that John likes and asked me to get one just like it. I looked and found the closest one to it.
We got Sunshine a Legendary Whitetail hoodie.
My mom finished eating and then started handing out gifts...normally it's a very orderly procedure so we can all see what everyone got but thinking they needed to get back to the ER we just were flying through. I had to wait until we got home to see all the things they had gotten.
Drew got a Mickey Mouse blanket.
Each of the other boys got LSU blankets with their names on them.
Mickey hooded towels, complete with Mickey ears.
These are the best, most practical gifts that get used everyday. Love them!
Zack got his drawstring LSU backpack!
Their awesome blankets
Each of them got these LSU fans that light up with 'Go Tigers' and it spins around. They are awesome.
Drew was so excited about the Family gift of the Mickey waffle maker.
He loves his Mickey blanket too.
He could hardly wait until the next morning to make pancakes. I knew the second he walked in my room what he was going to say. This smile says it all!
Aydon's gifts
Ty didn't bring his stuff to get a picture...but he did bring the shirt that he loves!
The LSU puzzle & Rudolph puzzle were family gifts but I threw them in with my gifts.
We got this LSU door banner! Love it!
Preston got the awesome gloves!
Uncle John bought the boys this basketball game. They've had lots of fun playing, especially John.
John got Preston & I this portable Spa. Preston wanted to set it up that night but I was exhausted and then we haven't had another chance. Soon though!
Sunshine also got me an personalized insulated Thirty-One bag to carry my crock pot in.
We then went to Vickey's Christmas evening for dinner & presents. We had planned it thinking that Gary would be back in but they had stopped most traffic and he got stuck in Needles. :( I had to take a picture of her purple tree. She also had some pretty purple boots on and said that her new favorite color is purple too.
Zack got this awesome Planes track. He even was able to put the majority of it together by himself and I just helped a little.
I got a giftcard to eat out & 2 candles along with a suitcase for all our trips, defintiely needed it!
Preston got a Rhino cover for his GPS & a giftcard for GNC.
Drew finally got a Buzz Lightyear Rolling backpack that he wanted last year and continued to ask for this year.
Luckily, Vickey had told me ahead of time that she had gotten Aydon the Home Alone series because we were at Wal-Mart before Christmas and he begged to buy it with his own money. I had to be mean and say no and he wasn't happy so he was super excited. He also got the new TMNT movie which he wanted to buy, & Transformers...kid couldn't have been happier.
We had a wonderful Christmas as always!
