just got this emailed to me. im so glad he doesnt want to grow up. “he” is on the right and our brother in law jason is on the left. this was taken during the madness of opening presents with six grandchildren.

click here to see it bigger

i didnt have my wits about me after only having five hours of sleep so my ISO was too low and these are blurry, but i love them anyways. i particularly love jeff the zombie caboose dragging his blankie behind him.

was my favorite thing that was said christmas morning over and over again, by anna. every time she opened something, or anyone opened something that everyone knew they wanted she would happily proclaim “but mom, how did he KNOW?!”

i never ever want to forget that. such magic. other things i dont want to forget:

mckenna raising her hand impatiently waiting for her turn to open presents.

nathan’s surprised happy face when mima, ron, papa jamie, deb, tiffany, summer, and jason gathered everyone to the kitchen at the end of christmas day and asked “whose birthday is it in two days?” and then started singing happy birthday loudly and brought birthday presents and a birthday cake from behind their backs. he was so innocently happy and surprised that i cried.

drew doing his best to hold onto the magic of santa. i think its time that we let him in on the secret.

the annual wrapping of the whitney christmas presents with jon and robyn, saving me at least two hours of wrapping with robyns help.

jeff and i with our stealth sneakiness on christmas eve, dying of laughter over i cant remember what now, and shushing each other so as not to disturb the visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads. i love the secret teamwork on christmas eve. its all so quiet and magical.

the light of the christmas tree with presents huddled underneath. the stockings full to the brim.

making button trees with my aunts and my childrens great aunts, my mom, grandma barbara, and alisha. bowls of buttons and pins on the table and everyone taking turns decorating.

laying on my sister karissas bed after dinner with rachel and karissa and her friends discovering we were in their space and talking and laughing and realizing that one day six or seven or eight years down the road that it will be karissa laying in drews bed and i would not be welcome in his tight circle of teenage secrets and trust. and being okay with that because i have sworn her in as a traitor. she is my spy.

jeff and jason wearing the optimus prime helmets that were meant for our boys during the opening of presents.

sitting outside in the warm sunshine on christmas eve, all of my family sitting in a circle of backyard and kitchen chairs, talking and enjoying the day.

grandma barbara in the shade of an umbrella

the geek squad, caught talking once again about games

aunt hilary, phyllis peeling potatoes

button trees

sweet shane and rachel, my brother and my almost sister

waiting patiently to open presents

tea party for three

our crooked little tree

the rest taken on christmas morning

this morning we slept until 10am. the kids are begging for lunch at dennys. my house is a tornado of wrapping paper, candy, and our new acquisitions. today is going to be my deep cleansing breath. we are going to relax and clean up and organize the new stuff into the old stuff and enjoy being off work and school.

together, as usual.

and so help me, if they tell me once they are bored i will heave the christmas tree out the window.