Round Two

So we left off with everyone sleeping soundly. Except for me because my parents' water pump goes off a million times a night and Frank's snores are insanely loud when I don't have white noise to help drown them out. Oh, and except for my Dad who recently had shoulder/bicep surgery. Oh, and except for my mom who had to listed to my dad groan in pain all night.

So. Um, maybe Frank, Eddie and Finn slept softly. Anyway.

Eddie woke up somewhere around 5am, turned the light on in his room and shuffled and played and did whatever a three year old boy does when he is up by himself. He called for Frank around 6, and poor Frank tried desperately to get him back to sleep to no avail. Obviously :)

Ohandplusalso? Have you ever tried to keep a toddler out of the room that Santa has so graciously left lots of cool presents while you wait for your medical patient dad to get out of bed and while you wait for you mom to come back from checking the traps in the back? Wait, what? You don't try and catch your Christmas dinner?

{Fresh, free range meat.}

(Jesus Christ, I'm just kidding. This little guy has been living under my parent's patio for a while and of course they caught him when we were all there to ooh and ahh over him.)

So anyway, I'm practically tackling Eddie to keep him in the hallway and finally we get the ok to release the beast. No, not the possum...Eddie!

And let me tell you, three is the year for Christmas awesomeness. The look on his face when he saw the toys, the bite out of the cookie, the rocking chair that Santa pulled up to take a quick break....it was wonderful. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it) my camera would not take pictures when Eddie walked into the room. I just could not get it to work, so I threw it down and realized that I'd rather just save the moments for myself. Soak it all in, and soak I did. For pretty much the entire day, the camera stayed pushed to the side. So there aren't many pictures, but the memories are plenty.

{construction set (with oats to play in) and a drum set}

{Naughty Santa! He left sooty footprints from the fireplace to the toys! Eddie was APPALLED. there's nothing more that boy hates than a mess. Except the ones he makes, obviously}

{fireplace door open, wood pushed aside, soot trail. Next year we've decided that Santa is going to have to wipe his boots on a mat}

{Eddie showing Nanna the footprints. I'm not kidding when I say that he was very disturbed by this. Also? I knew this was going to bother the crap out of him. Hehe!}

{Ah, the drums. Yes, maybe I was a little crazy. But I have to say that he doesn't beat them to be loud, he plays with purpose, really and truly, to try and make the best sound possible. This boy? He is musical.}

{ba-rum-bum-bum-bum}

{love, fascination. and now I feel a little guilty getting him the cheapest drum set ever. LOL! i figure if he loves it, we'll get a better set}

{can you believe it? The only picture of Finn from Christmas. Sorry bud! He was having so much fun watching big brother and was absolutely crazy for his little Scout dog}

Goodness, we had fun. Eddie even napped, we stopped by Frankie's family for a quick hello and went back to my parent's for possibly the best dinner my mom has ever made. Uncle Mac and Aunt Amy were there, and I think Eddie called "Uuuuncle Maaaaaaac" more times than any of us could count. That boy is crazy for his Uncle. 

Round One

So often I say how blessed I am to have married a man with such a wonderful family. The Turza's are so much fun and this really is shown on Christmas Eve. They gamble (like always!), eat, drink and are the merriest crowd around. What else makes Christmas Eve special? The appearance of Hipster Santa, of course!! Last year was the first year that Santa came and in order to disguise Matt better for Santa to see well, they threw some glasses on him and called it a day...this year was even better because Frosty the Snowman came too! So cute.

{party in pete's basement!}

{grandpa frank and finney mac}

{finn's first time gambling, trying to get 5 of a kind to win the big money!}

{eddie's turn! no luck for us this year, though}

{Maryanne won!!!}

{wait, notice that Pat looks a little suspicious?}

{poor Maryanne, tricked by her brother with the fake dice...it was an amazing celebration while it lasted, though!}

{no joke, this is where Eddie was all night, obsessed with the slot machine. When he started to go around asking people for change, I told him that he hit rock bottom.}

{cousins! eddie, makayla, shelby, finn, ellie, michael and leah}

{when the cousin picture goes wrong...ellie bumped michael with her head, michael starts crying, ellie darts off, leah is crying, shelby is over holding finn....i was surprised we even got one good picture!}

{michelle had the adorable idea to do christmas light limbo. it was so cute!}

{eddie wasn't into it, though!}

{these two were so cute - shelby and makayla were inseperable all night}

{michael, makayla and shelby}

{typical eddie, sauce all over his face}

{frosty and santa have arrived!}

{santa was hilarious this year....strangely similar to Uncle Pat....}

{Finn was obviously enthralled}

{Leah, however, was NOT amused by Santa. Her face was so funny the whole time}

{eddie, of course, loved every second of it}

{ps, don't you love his new short hair? so much better than the long....it does show his scar like crazy though}

{Isn't this picture the cutest? Leah was having to much fun bouncing on Michelle's legs}

{Wendy won for the funniest white elephant gift....the dog purse!! it was hilarious. There were some really good ones this year including what I snagged - a huge tub of Garret's popcorn!! Frank really made out with his massive Vera Bradley bag. He's obviously in love}

{I had to include a picture of my amazing dessert - white chocolate gingerbread trifle with a cranberry compote. NOM!}

{they also did an ugly sweater contest this year and Jamie went the Lady Gaga route and sewed glitter poinsettias to her shirt, lol!}

Then of course it was time to go and get ready for Santa. Eddie picked out his cookie to leave for him, the fancy glass for the milk and diligently sprinkled the reindeer food on the driveway. He went down with out a peep and Santa went to work leaving some great surprises for the morning.

{frankie and finn caught snuggling by the tree}

{and finally at midnight, finn and I gave into sleep. visions of sugarplums and all...}

Christmas Hurricane

I have a problem. A first world problem.

Our friends and family are so darn generous, gave the boys and me and Frankie such amazing things that Christmas presents are strewn around our house - the Christmas Hurricane if you will - as Eddie goes from fun new toy to fun new toy to loud new toy (Santa brought a drum set! Santa must have been high when that decision was made). And me? Well, instead of nicely organizing the new toys, going through and weaning out ones that are used or missing parts in order to make room for the new, I'm joining Eddie is the the new toy rotation, laughing as he bangs the drums, clapping at the appropriate moments, taking my turn when requested. All this to say that my house is an utter disaster, dishes are piling up and there's still spilled sugar on the counter from when I missed my coffee cup this morning.

Instead of facing the hurricane head on, I've hunkered down, boarded up my windows and hoped that no neighbors stop by. And while I've uploaded my Christmas pictures onto the computer, I'm completely overwhelmed at the amount of them, memories that are so wonderful and funny and cute they will make your heart happy. Unfortunately, the hurricane is dying down and I desperately need to get to the point of rebuilding (our sanity, that is), so once efforts home-side have been completed, I promise I'll post all the pictures and funny stories from our holiday.

Until then....

Merry Christmas!

Thank goodness for Finney...

....because he's the only one that sits still and smiles for my camera!

{finnegan's first snow 2011}

Breakfast with the big guy

Yesterday we had our annual brunch with Santa at my parent's dinner club. The food was absolutely wonderful and Eddie's reactions to Santa this year were very funny!

{eddie was a no go for pictures}

{honestly? my dad looks high.}

{finnegan the who}

{my handsome baby boy}

{i love finn's face...all "mom, seriously?"}

{this picture melts my heart.....Santa landed on the roof (!!!!) and those reindeer are NOT very gentle. There was lots and lots of banging and the roof was shaking, and I was quite sure that Santa was going to fall through the roof any second. Eddie was, quite honestly, TERRIFIED. He looked like he was going to cry at any second. And then? Santa started to wave through the skylight! Eddie and Frankie were able to run over and catch a glimpse, and all was forgiven}

{love! i cut off my dad's head while i was trying to make Finn smile, but I still love it}

{Eddie was finally open to pictures once he got cotton candy, which he loved this year after hating it last year!}

{boo on the focus on this picture, but Eddie would not let me take another one}

{so i snuck some pictures}

{wonderful picture, huh? it took a lot to get eddie to share, so i had to document it!}

{food coma?}

{finney's flash face, lol}

{eddie playing the jingle bells along with the elves and pianist}

{the boys and Santa}

{Eddie asked Santa for "construction guys" and a drum. Santa was VERY good about the drum request, telling Eddie that he would only bring Eddie a drum if he promised to only play during designated hours...lol}

It was very funny to see Eddie with Santa...right when he got up there he just started jabbering away, faster than I could translate, so poor Santa ended up doing a lot of mmm-hmmm-ing and ok-ing and such. The best way to get through a conversation with a three year old, right?!