Christmas Day

Christmas is always wonderful, but this year it seemed especially so. Paul woke up unsure that Santa had come at all, but when he saw his train set under the tree, he knew who it was from. He loved his track and new trains so much that he was not very interested in his stocking or other presents. We got him to eventually, and he was grateful for and loved all of his gifts, but nothing compared to his new train set.

Santa even filled stockings for Phoebe and Sophie.

P.S. Not all of the presents under the tree were for our little family! All Richardson family presents were under there too.

Santa ate the milk and cookies and left a note for Paul!

Playing with his new set, plus new trains James and Percy (somewhere in there!).

Fascinated by Tidmouth Sheds!

Just look at that concentration!

Getting his stocking down so he can see what goodies Santa put in there. Santa brought chocolate, socks, Dinosaur Train's Buddy, Tiny and Morris Stegosaurus, reindeer bandaids.

Oh yeah, Santa filled our stockings too! Michael is showing off his shortbread cookies. Santa also brought us socks, cookies, chocolate. Michael got some hand-printed handkerchiefs (Santa and I worked together on this one) and I got a new wallet.

Michael and I gave each other a lot of great gifts this year, too. We usually talk about it before and get each other the exact thing we say we want, but this year we gave each other ideas and some room for surprise. It was very fun and I think we both did a good job! I didn't get any pictures of our gifts, because let's face it, Christmas is about the kids.

Paul picking up his biggest present -- a jumbo 200-piece box of Duplo Legos.

We didn't get to see my Dad this year, but he sent Paul some wonderful gifts! Here is Paul opening them and enjoying them. He loves the magnets and the book -- he is a big Dr. Suess fan!

After a nice morning at Papa and Mimi's house, opening presents from each other and Santa, we went to my mom's house. We opened more presents there and had a wonderful brunch! This is one of our traditions -- Christmas brunch with Grammy. We have bacon, eggs, fruit and pancakes.

Paul and Grammy

Santa also filled our stockings at Grammy's house! Lucky us!

Paul had to check out Grammy's cookies.

My mom gave Paul this Frozen Golden Book and as soon as he saw what it was, he said, "Wow!" and looked through it for a while. He hasn't wanted to watch Frozen as much lately, but he loves to read this book!

Hugs for Grammy after that one!

Paul got another piece for his train set!

We gave Mom a book about Pyrex that I may need to borrow one day.

This is Michael's excited face -- he really wanted socks and I don't think he was expecting them from my mom! He was very happy with the selection!

I got a knife a to replace one that I had melted in the oven last Halloween...

Paul got a set of Mega Bloks and he immediately started working on a tower.

Paul had a very expressive face that morning. We managed to get a few pictures of our silly boy.

Time to eat!

Paul loves his car at Grammy's house! We had a wonderful morning with my mom! We left around 12 so we could have a nice nap before Michael's family converged for the afternoon at Mimi and Papa's house. Paul slept from 1-3, waking up just before his cousins started to arrive. Paul's godfather, Doug, also came by to bring Paul a couple special presents -- two trains, Hiro and Proteus, which has a light on it. Paul had been asking for a train with a light for going through tunnels but we had not seen any before this one! Hiro is easily Paul's favorite, then and now.

Christmas afternoon was so much fun, but hectic of course! All eight cousins were together for the first time! Which surprisingly hadn't happened already, due partly to us living so far away and partly to illnesses that kept us all from getting together a few other times. Everyone gets along so well and it is so fun to see them all interacting with each other!

Stephen especially loved Paul's train set, although he has his own at home!

So much plaid!

Paul has been so sweet with babies and younger kids lately! He likes to pat them on the head like he's doing here with Caleb. He also liked finding toys for him to play with. As he pat Caleb on the head, he said, "This blonde hair!" Later, he tried to pick Hudson up, saying, "Let's just take the babies home with us." Caleb and Hudson are so sweet and happy-go-lucky, I bet Paul would love having them around to play with all the time!

Paul loves his cousin Stephen!

Hudson had a lot of fun with Papa!

Our attempt at getting a picture of all of the cousins! Of course it was difficult. It didn't help that Paul accidentally elbowed Isabella, making her pretty sad. :(

Missing Laurel and Felicity!

There's Lala!! Mysteriously floating behind the couch... And we are starting to see Felicity...

Here they all are! Success!

Lily and Laurel gave Paul this cool Thomas carrying case, which also has a little track.

I love my little family!

I wanted to get a picture of all the boys together! The twins were very squirmy but it was slightly easier than the big group picture.

Hey! They are all looking at the same camera! Success! Smiles will come later.

Caleb and Hudson started venturing off in opposite directions!

Stephen put this bow on Caleb's head and declared him "the best present".

Lily and Isabella!

Playing trains, of course!

We had such a wonderful Christmas. Paul was old enough to really enjoy it and I felt like he got exactly what he was hoping for. We really enjoyed our time spent with family and somehow the trip felt more relaxing than usual. It really got us excited to move back home soon. The next day we left for Nashville, with Mimi and Papa following. We were glad we did not have to say goodbye to them yet, although we had a lot of work ahead of us with moving from Nashville to Knoxville that weekend!