It's the most wonderful time of the year

The excitement level here at the Jones house hit an all-time high this past week with the long awaited arrival of Christmas Day. Christmas Eve, like usual, we had an early evening meal before heading to church. What was unusual this year, however, is that Steven had to work all day Christmas Eve, and Bryan & his family who always join in our festivities were quite ill. We missed all of them! Steven arrived home in time to make it to church with us. He was there to answer all of Matt's questions and to help me tame his wiggles.

Christmas morning I expected Matt to come tearing down the hall. That's not what happened. He woke up just a few minutes before 7:00 and went to the restroom. He returned to his room and got back in bed. He waited until he heard Will wake up and then went into his room to tell Will Merry Christmas. How adorable is that?

Matthew was so cute and displayed a typical, composed Jones-level of excitement upon seeing all his loot. My favorite comment he made was when he saw the sidewalk chalk...he said,"Mommy, look! Sidewalk chalk! Santa must have gone outside and he knew that we needed some more so he left us a bunch!" He is mostly infatuated with his Playmobil construction/garage set. It's all kinds of nerdy...full of signs, a jack-hammer, wheelbarrow, a bag of cement, cones, you name it. Suits him perfectly. Will examined one thing after another, but his favorite that morning was the Hot Wheels race track.

Will also got this really awesome donkey. Hearing him say Rody might be even cuter than seeing him bouncing on it. So far though, I've seen Matt bouncing on it more than Will.

Grandma & Grandpa gave Will this awesome Will-sized Brobee. He loves it. Brobee receives lots of snuggles and tackles. We had a lovely Christmas lunch that afternoon and then headed to Bryan & Sarah's house. Thankfully everyone there was feeling much better.

We feasted on sweets galore! Delish.

We played some games. I totally lost.

We opened presents. Throwing the wrapping paper up into the air became the most fun aspect of it after awhile. The kids went nuts. The boys had a blast playing with their cousins.

What a blessed time we had with our family. Watching the kids' reactions and their pure delight is such a joy. It's funny because as a kid I didn't sleep very well Christmas Eve because I was too excited--or because Bryan would wake me up and try to spoil the surprise--and now Steven & I both don't sleep well because we're so excited to see the kids' faces and how much fun they're going to have. But now that Christmas is over I am exhausted! I feel like I can't get enough sleep. This week has been nice and lazy! More celebrations to come...Joy and Ken's birthdays are tomorrow followed by the New Year!