Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely, quiet Christmas. The boys were very happy to see those presents! Andy was ready to jump right in ad tear that paper off to get to all his treats. Don't worry, Santa brought him his dragon.

Joey was a little more stand-offish, but he was very happy to unwrap that first present and find a large blue car- just what he wanted! Joey wears out faster, and after three packages, he retreated to the quieter kitchen to play some video games before coming out to open more gifts.

Andy was also excited to get this wonderful pirate ship! He has been playing with it, and when he got stickers in his stocking, he turned it into a dinosaur ship!

Yarr! 'Tis a pirate ship, matey!

The ship has sailed all over the first floor in search of adventure. It has been attacked by dragons, laid seize to a castle, and even sailed past the fearful Turkey of Death!

It is always fascinating to watch Andy play and make up his own stories to go with his toys.

Joey got his car, but he also got some other nice toys, like a rocket and the aforementioned castle, and lots of legos.

I think he liked the rocket because Max likes rockets. The boys got personal DVD players from Grandma, and he's been watching himself some Max and Ruby! It was very calming for him, which is always a good thing. Joey did very well remember to take breaks and take his time. The self-regulation is coming right along!

Mom and JoeyAndyDad and Grandma and Uncle Evan got some cool presents, too. Joey gave me a necklace, a ring, a potholder, and a candle holder; Andy got me a lovely winter decoration. Grandma got a salt and pepper shaker set from Joey, and tea towels from Andy. Andy got Dad a mug and a tie that plays Jingle Bells. I also got a cool iPod Nano, and JoeyAndyDad got some Apple gadget thing he wanted. It's not an iPhone, but its everything but the phone.

After the main presents,we had some lunch, then took our time to open up the stockings. They had small goodie bags in their rooms when they woke up, but stockings here are full of small toys, candy, and a clementine in the toe.

The boys got harmonicas from Santa in their stockings. I have been informed that I am not permitted to complain about the cacophony.

Andy likes to perform for the singing, dancing turkeys. Perhaps he will be a musician!

He also liked sneaking up on and pouncing on the turkeys, and preying upon them as a T-Rex. Diving at them and knocking them over so their little feet flapped helplessly in the air was also a popular passtime.

Another popular toy was the shark fan Andy got from Joey's teacher, which also attacked the castle, ship, and Turkey of Death.

We also played a few rounds of the fishing games, and ate lots of chocolate. Oh, and cookies. And roast beef. And more chocolate. I need to bake more cookies next year.

One thing that Joey told us he wanted was snow. Until a couple days before Christmas, "snow" was the only consistent thing he asked for. Santa couldn't control the weather, so he brought Joey some snow in a tub- the kind you add water to.

Andy's stocking also included a volcano and plenty of chocolate, a fishing game, and plenty of dinosaurs.

The boys also got these tin lasers- no batteries required. Andy had a shoot-out with his Daddy. Old-fashioned toys are so cool- all the play value, none of the batteries (so they work better for longer!)

Get him, Andy! Get that Dad!

Watching the guys play is one of the star attractions of Christmas Day. :)

Even Dad got something cool- this solid chocolate Santa! Yum yum yum! Who doesn't want a huge chocolate Santa for Christmas, after all? (yes, I did say "solid"!)

Other hits of the day? The Ladybug game, the faux dissect-a-frog, the remote-control tarantula, and Hyperdash! I hope to get some batteries into Joey's lightning machine machine soon, and let you know what that's like.

Of course, Joey's favorites included the singing stockings- the reindeer and the puppy. As afraid as he is of regular dogs, stuffed toys are an attraction. He took the puppy to bed, singing Jingle Bells!