Before the festivities began, we decided to make a quick run out to our local fire station. They have a miniature city next door called Safety Town, which was decorated up for Christmas. Max and Owen had fun running into all the little houses and shops to see what was in there.

This is as close as I got to a decent photo of the two of them in one of those houses.

I fared a little better when they moved to a nearby sleigh.

We made one last pre-Christmas stop by Max's school for a class party...

He had fun.

...then the week at work and school drew to a close. Thus began our multi-day Christmas celebration. We knew we'd be in Sherman most of the day before Christmas, so we decided to open some of our gifts the day before that.

Owen didn't stop messing with the ornaments until we finally took the tree down.

Max was a fairly patient big brother.

There you go, Owen. Open away.

We gave him a reprieve, though, since Owen didn't seem terribly interested in the wrapping paper.

You're on your own, baby brother!

This continued, with Max very excited about presents and Owen not really getting the idea of it all.

Old book trumps new present.

Cars? Yeah. Awesome. Look at this giant bubble wrap!

I think Christy enjoyed the gift I got her. At the very least, Max found it amusing.

When we woke up the day before Christmas, we decided it was time for us to try out one of the gifts Christy got for me. Max was understandably excited about this.

Time to make the d…no, I just…I can't do that. Sorry.

Turned out to be a pretty good spread.

Once we'd finished enjoying our breakfast (which I'm pretty sure is going to be a yearly tradition), we headed out to visit the family up north. We tried to do what we could to get some decent photos of the kids together, but that is always an imperfect science.

That'll have to do.

Hooray! A decent one.

I was looking over our post from last year and felt like there was someone who deserved a little redemption. Poor Aunt Cindy was faced with this from Owen last year.

Tell us how you REALLY feel, buddy.

Thankfully, he was much nicer for her this year.

Bemused indifference is way better than screaming.

Owen seemed to get things a little more now that he'd had some practice.

Still not quite fully there though. I bet he'll be ready by the time his birthday rolls around.

We thought Mimi and Pappaw overdid it a bit. Max disagreed.

After we opened up all of our presents, Owen promptly decided to steal one that didn't belong to him.

As the evening drew to a close, we made a few last-ditch efforts at family photos.

Pretty good.

Nice.

After that, we headed home and got the boys settled in for bed.

After a few preparations, of course. Max wanted Santa to see the picture he drew, so we set that out along with the cookie.

Then came the big day!

Why did you people wake me up?

We opened up the rest of our presents and let Max spend a little time playing with the new kitchen Santa brought for him. Before we knew it, it was time to pack everything up and make the yearly trip down south to visit Nan and Papa.

…and Uncle Mike and Collyn and Chandler and Kyle.

Owen seemed a lot more interested in everyone else's toys than he was in his own.

This is mine, no?

Once the kids opened up their presents, Uncle Mike and I wasted no time putting together the new Hot Wheels crash track thing that Chandler got.

…alright, I'll get the instructions.

This, too, was completely fascinating for Owen.

Yet somehow we weren't quite done. Nan and Papa overdid it just as much as Mimi and Pappaw.

Again, the kids disagree.

Kyle seemed to really enjoy the princess tent we got for her.

Seriously, why is Owen in my tent?

Max, on the other hand, was granted the gift of dress-up from Nan and Papa.

Kinda jealous. I don't have a chef's hat, you know.

After we finished cleaning up the giant mass of wrapping paper, we headed out for some lunch at my aunt's place. Owen immediately found his new best friend.

Please try not to put your hand in his mouth while he's chewing on a bone, Owen.

He also showed off his new sweet phase by giving copious amounts of hugs to whoever might be willing to take one.

Awwwww.

At some point, we realized that our older son had entirely disappeared from the house. After a brief moment of panic we located him.

I guess if you have your jacket on it's fine.

When all the excitement was through, we were left with the slow burn that always follows these holidays.

We checked out cuckoo clocks.

We took Nan's three year photo for Max.

We watched Owen push this stool all over the photographer's studio while Nan picked her favorite photo.

Then we headed home, where we spent a day with the kids at home so they could figure out which toys they liked best. I think we've finally finished finding places for everything, and the boys seem pretty happy with their haul.

Max most of all.

Turned out to be a pretty good Christmas for everyone. You can click here if you want to see the rest of the photos from our various travels. We'll see you next time!