Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 was a whirlwind as usual.  It began the weekend before when we celebrated with Brian's family.  Here are a few family photos in front of Janet & Vinnie's Christmas tree:

And a photo of the full group where almost everyone looks good (Evan looks like a deer in headlights):

Cousins in front of Nana & Papa's Christmas tree:

Morgan and Caylee:

Trying to get a photo with the Nana & Papa . . . but Eric did not want to cooperate:

We returned home and Brian took the boys to the pool on Christmas Eve.  Lily sleeps on these steps all of the time so the boys decided to take a rest with her while they waited for their dad to get ready for the pool:

Fast forward to Christmas morning. I snuck downstairs while it was still dark to get these photos after Santa came:

Eric's pile:

And Evan's pile:

The full tree, though we had a small patch out of lights smack dab in the middle:

All Evan wanted from Santa was a soccer ball and Santa came through:

Eric opening presents:

After he opened Olaf, he said "Olaf likes warm hugs" and gave him the most genuine hug:

Evan & Brian after the presents were opened:

And the big surprise gift was their very own gator.  I couldn't get a good picture of both at the same time, so the first photo perfectly captures Evan's joy, while the second one shows Eric's:

The aftermath from above:

After everything was opened and they had some time for indoor play, we moved outside to test out the gator:

I love this next one.   Eric still needs to work on his steering because he ended up in the bushes when he was driving and has been afraid to try driving again.  

After this, we headed to Cranford to celebrate with my family.  Unfortunately, much to my mom's dismay, I forgot to bring my camera there.  So I don't have any pictures - oops!  We had a great time celebrating with the Smisco side on Christmas day and then opening presents with my family on the 26th before returning to West Chester later that night.