Christmas Day

For some crazy reason, the boys have always slept in on Christmas morning. We have NEVER had them rise with the sun. This year they ripped the paper off the door around 8:45 a.m.

Reading their note from Santa before ripping into their gifts. Lest you think they are this disciplined, Russ had to point out the note and tell them to read it first!

It's a Kindle Fire! And it's installed with the first season of The Big Bang Theory and The Hunger Games Trilogy! Woo-hoo!

Against Santa's better judgement, it's THE air soft gun.

He was awfully excited!

Madden 12...again!

Getting it on Blu-Ray didn't seem to matter when he opened it!

What happened to the days of the matching Christmas pajamas? They're still pretty cute!

Santa brought him the chest shield (he already had the helmet, not pictured). He spent some quality time in the front yard trying to shoot the alarm sign. Nothing says Christmas like a semi-automatic!

My special Christmas morning treat...Star Wars pancakes! Darth Vader is a bit crusty in this pic, but I got better with practice!

This will be our last Christmas in this little house. It was very bittersweet. We wanted one more pic of the boys sitting together on the hearth. We used to do this every Christmas and their little feet wouldn't even touch the floor. Wish I'd had Carter change out of his "Vote for Pedro" shirt!

We traveled up to Mimi and Papa's around noon. After a late lunch/early dinner, we started the rounds of opening our gifts "one at a time." I can remember doing this at my Grandma and Grandpa Jones'. There were ten grandkids and it seemed to take forever! I'm sure my kids feel the same way! However, allow me to point out: If we were all unwrapping at the same time, everyone would have missed me opening my second fabulous pair of Uggs :-)

We got Mimi the original Kindle. "I love it...I just don't know how I'm going to use it!" We need to make her a cheat sheet!

"Is it my turn yet?"

Wendy and Chris with their gift from Mimi and Papa. They got Russ and I a similar painting of the boys last year. Teri Fowler is such an incredible artist. Priceless gift!

Enough said.

Chris and Russ with a "special" gift from Mimi and Papa.

Ben and Jerry's "Sweddy Balls" ice cream. Russ and Chris love this Saturday Night Live skit...really, they just love Saturday Night Live!

All the grandkids posing with their "big gifts" from Mimi and Papa.

It's a game chair!

And another game chair!

And a wagon!

Russ retired his Nautica sweatpants to Chris this year. It has been a standing joke for EONS that Russ will never give up "the Nauticas." He has lived in those bad boys for about 15 years.

I wanted a shot with all the grandkids...

... Natalie did not.

I think this is our only family shot of the entire season! Love, love, love these guys!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a wonderfully relaxing day. We didn't even get out of our PJ's until it was time to get ready for church. We spent some quality time eating left over pizza and watching "A Christmas Story." We love that movie! Carter asked Santa for an air soft gun this year and I kept telling him "you'll shoot your eye out!" He found the humor much more to his liking in the actual movie...

All dressed up for Christmas Eve service. This year they brought back the 5:00 KidStuf service. The virtue was "generosity" which was perfect. We've been trying to impart that lesson on the boys the entire holiday season.

All my boys! It's become somewhat of a Christmas Eve tradition to eat dinner at Sashimi Japanese Steakhouse after the church service. Carter wanted to know if he could take his sweater off at the restaurant if he was "so good and didn't complain during church." NO.

It's amazing how nice they are to each other right before gifts are exchanged.

Traditionally, we open our gifts from one another on Christmas Eve.

When did he get so big?

Harry Potter Legos = Big Hit

Ugg Boots...finally! About three years ago, Mom bought me a pair for Christmas. This was when they first came out and I was super excited to be "in style" (being a mom has eliminated the word "trendy" from my vocabulary). When I tried them on, I realized they were two different sizes. When I tried to return them, they were sold out of my size. Since they were the "hot thing" that season, the production didn't keep up with the demand. In other words, it would be March before the next shipment arrived. This would be flip flop season. So, I took the store credit and did something responsible like buying the boys' Easter clothes with it. They may not be quite as "trendy" three years later, but I was still pretty excited!

Russ and his new jeans. He wanted me to note that they are a size smaller (Russ has lost 40 lbs. this year...I have not!).

Posing with their new hats. I don't think they were particularly excited about this gift (and the matching gloves), but they were definitely a necessity. Their old ones were so small that they kept popping off the tops of their heads!

Razorback frame from the boys with a picture from the Mississippi State game.

The boys' got Russ Modern Warfare III for the PS3. Carter has been banned from such games so I suspect he was sulking as Russ and Alex planned their attack.

Alex didn't ask for too much this year and what he did ask for wasn't very specific. More along the lines of "yeah, that would be kind of good" or "maybe I would like that." A watch was the only thing he was specific on..."the kind that has the actual numbers, not the hands."

Feel free to judge us...these were the boys' "gag gifts" of sorts. Alex is not allowed to wear his out of the house! After watching Napoleon Dynamite for the first time in Texas, Carter became slightly obsessed. As for the honey badger, highly inappropriate (again, feel free to judge!), but it was pop culture for 2011...and come on, it's pretty darn funny!

Each year, the boys write their Christmas wishes on these plates (gifts from Mimi several years ago). We went into a slight panic when Carter showed off his list (mind you, this was 2 hours before bedtime!): 1. Air soft gun (This has been a consistent request for months.) 2. The elder wand (This is the first we heard of this...ever! This is a wand from Harry Potter that he discovered on-line before church...on Christmas Eve!) 3. Star Wars the complete saga NOT on Blu-Ray (Santa didn't know it came NOT on Blu-Ray!) 4. Kinect Star Wars game (According to our on-line research, this game will not be released until late 2012!) 5. To move (Done! Our house sold the week before Christmas...more to follow in January!) Alex was consistent (even if Cotton Bowl tickets were a bit of a pipe dream!): 1. Madden 12 for PS3 (This is apparently a universal request by all boys EVERY year. We currently own Madden 2008-Madden 2012. Really?) 2. Cotton Bowl tickets (Alex has been to a bowl game the past two years: Liberty and Sugar Bowls. He is having a hard time accepting that his streak has ended!) 3. Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet (I love that his flexibility did not include an iPad!)

Giving Georgia some Christmas Eve love!

Getting the milk and cookies ready for Santa. Carter decided that it would be nice to leave a chair by the fireplace for Santa. "His feet will probably be very tired."

"Come sit in my lap, little boy."

"Have you been good this year?"

We started this tradition when Alex was 2 years old (Christmas 2002). The boys always sleep together on Christmas Eve, so it's been very easy to continue. We wrap the boys in their room at night so they can sleep "inside a giant present" and rip their way out Christmas morning! They look forward to it every year!

The note Santa left for the boys. Santa always leaves a little note with some type of reflection on the year.

As stated in the above letter, this was the first year that Santa WRAPPED all of his gifts. Now that they are getting older, Santa thought they might appreciate the change...and the Razorback paper!

You'd Better Watch Out...

You'd better not cry, you'd better not pout, I'm telling you why...Santa Claus is coming to Casa de Galbraith! For as long as these boys can remember, Santa Claus has been making an early stop by our house to "check-in and let them know they are on the nice list." He usually comes bearing an early gift and stories from the North Pole. Generally, good ole St. Nick doesn't appear until a couple of days before Christmas, so they were extra surprised when he made his appearance on a random Thursday night...and a school night, no less!

I love the expression of shock and joy on their faces! As Alex later said, "We weren't expecting THAT to walk through the front door!"

Alex had had a band concert early this same evening. Santa asked him to get his trumpet and play an encore performance. Alex played Jingle Bells and Santa played the real bells. Priceless!

Clark snuck in on Santa's back belt loop. He was apparently "trying to hitch a ride back to the North Pole." This is Santa giving him a stern lecture and telling him that his job wasn't finished until Christmas day. Carter thought this was hilarious!

Santa handed out their early gifts. Alex got the "Super8" movie and Carter got a couple of Star Wars action figures...go figure!

Carter telling Santa that he really wants an air soft gun and more Star Wars toys. Santa's response: "Carter, haven't I already delivered EVERY Star Wars toy my elves have ever made to this house?" Amen, Santa, Amen.

Posing with their reindeer antlers...we do this shot every year!

Russ and Santa comparing their beards...Santa wins!

Until next year...