A Very Merry Christmas

We had a very quiet and relaxing Christmas here in the Nichols household.  It was the first Christmas where Jack really got into the festivities.  I can't believe that I don't have a picture of it, but he LOVED the advent calendar.  I got a felt Christmas tree that has numbered pouches for you to put candy or whatever else you want in it.  Next year we'll probably do parts of the Christmas story, but this year was all about chocolate.  Jack was fixated on the advent calendar all day.  I've never seen someone shove a Hershey's Kiss in their mouth so fast.

Jack and Owen were blessed with many gifts from family and ourselves that looked nice around the Christmas tree.  We waited until Jack went to bed on Christmas Eve to get it all set up.  He wouldn't have been able to stay away if we did it earlier.

Jack learned a love for unwrapping gifts on his 2nd birthday about a month earlier.  He was able to open most of his gifts pretty independently.

Watching Jack with his gifts was so fun, because he is an equal opportunity toy player.  We had to stop him from playing with every single gift and put it to the side so we could move on to the next one.  He really loved every single thing that he received.

Owen wasn't quite as enthusiastic about opening presents.  He was a quiet observer from his little swing.  He momentarily snuggled up with an elephant stuffed animal...

And a dog that he received...

Jonathan and I got Jack a tent from Ikea, and he loves his tent.  He took most of his Christmas gifts into the tent and played for the rest of the morning.  He did, and still does, run up to us and say "tent?!" wanting us to come play in it with him.

And here are my three guys just hanging out together on our first Christmas as a family of 4.

Feeling blessed for each of these moments.  Time continues to pass so quickly!