A WHITE Christmas!

Not surprisingly, William was the first person up on Christmas Day (Amelia had been up several times through the night, but I'm not counting that). John and William went into the living room and had the following conversation (roughly):

J: Do you know what today is? It is a very special day!
W: .....It is my BIRTHDAY!
J: ???? No! It is Christmas today! Today is going to be a fun day with everyone here.
W: No. It is not Christmas anymore - Christmas is all done. It my BIRTHDAY! Mama says first it Grandpa Tom's Birthday, then Christmas, then it is MY BIRTHDAY! We will have cake.
J: Sorry, buddy. It is still Christmas. Not your birthday.
Quick subject change occurs.

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Wellllll, overnight it kept snowing and snowing and snowing. Luckily, we were stationed at the McGarry's house - which is where all the fun was happening.

We went out early to get a handle on the shoveling. Being it was a holiday, we weren't sure if the shoveling service was going to clear the driveway for us today. (PS A HUGE thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for allowing us to park in the garage. We did not have to dig out the car - that would have been a LOT of work!)

A little work gets a big reward! GranGerry makes yummy carmel rolls (one of my FAVORITE foods. Ever.) for breakfast on Christmas morning. No wonder my pants don't fit. Shortly after we were finishing with our feeding frenzy, Grandpa Kevin and Grandma Kim rolled in to the freshly shoveled driveway.

While people were getting ready, William and Grandma read a book to the waiting crowd. A book about trucks, of course.

Amelia and daddy opening her warm, fuzzy jammies! So cute!

William opening his warm, fuzzy jammies - WAIT THERE IS A CAR ON THESE JAMMIES. It was a lot of work to keep him dressed and out of the jammies. Have I mentioned we like cars?

William got some BIG kid pencils! He was so excited to have his own pencils!

I'm not sure he is even breathing in this picture. He just sat and looked and looked. He finally looked up at me to whisper "cars!!!".

Sticking to the plan, Amelia was with John and William was supposed to sit with me. However, that didn't work out so well because he 1)wasn't interested in sitting with me 2) Wanted to show John each and every item he opened 3) wanted to help everyone else open their presents 4) Didn't want to sit still. Period. So, there was no enjoyment of the holiday with a kid upon my lap. Suddenly it became clear that I needed my baby girl on my lap and John happily turned her over.

SOCKS! We love getting socks! Daddy is being a great example (no, really!) about how to be excited about socks!

Amelia got a gloworm. She was fascinated!

And happy!

My goodness she loves this gloworm. She hugs it, kisses it, tries to crawl around with and and wipes her nose on it. Definitely a hit!
After some more eating and a little napping by a few of us, we went over to see if Santa had come to town (during this time it is still snowing, snowing, snowing) at the Wennersten house. On the way over, we got VERY stuck in the entrance to the subdivision my grandparents live it and required both pushing and shovels.*

Amelia got a stocking that matches the rest of our family from my Great Aunt Bonnie. It is BEAUTIFUL and we are so thankful for her hard work!

Amelia got a new bib!

William was thrilled to be opening MORE presents!

HURRAY! SOCKS! We knew there was a strong possibility of him getting socks and so we were working hard to play up the excitement of receiving socks. Although we really do get excited about receiving socks. Really.**Amelia showing her new trick!** Anything that shakes, rings, jingles or beeps is considered a phone in her book and she holds it to her ear. Like it is a phone. And the she says "Eeeeh?" and looks at you expectantly. Even if she hears beeping or ringing, she'll put the palm of her hand on the side of her face and loudly "Eeeeh?".***

*I like to point out that I pushed a baby out of my body in just about the amount of time it took to get the van unstuck. John likes to point out this comparison isn't very Christmas-sy and is borderline appropriate.

**Please note totally adorable/cute/amazing Christmas outfits! I have zero pictures of them together on Christmas Day.

***Also note: Amelia started running a fever on 12/24 and was still not right on 12/25. Amelia also had not slept through the night since we left Missouri. I thought this was related to the teething situation, but in hindsight it appears it may have been a stomach virus in conjunction with the teething. Poor kid, poor mama. If either one of us looks "off" in any of the pictures, you will clearly see why.