Our Christmas festivities began around the 1st of the month when Elfie came to visit. This is the first year we've ever "done" Elf on the Shelf and while there were many nights that I began peacefully drifting off to sleep only to remember that Elfie required some...ugh.... assistance, the boys LOVED him and we look forward to having him around next Christmas. 
Christmas Eve we all piled in the car with our hot chocolate (that one boy dropped on the car floor) and Christmas light necklaces and drove around to look at Christmas lights. We have a significant amount of German families in our neighborhood (due to a German squadron that trains German pilots locally ) and they go all out when decorating for the holidays. They really pull out all the stops for Halloween (and not in the cute pumpkin and scarecrow kind of way, but a severed heads, blood splatters on the garage door and skulls everywhere kind of way ....family bike rides become quite interesting come October.) but Christmas is a close second. They rival Wal-mart in their enthusiasm and begin putting up Christmas decor shortly after Halloween passes. Ambrose started calling all the homes that were decorated with Christmas lights "Christmas houses" and would continually remind us that everyone else had Christmas houses, but not us. We were a giant disappointment in the outdoor holiday decor. We sure are glad that others carry on with the tradition because come Christmas eve, we drive around and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Ambrose was the first one up on Christmas morning, and he immediately noticed Santa's gift (Lego's...of course). Since Bram (and John) took a more leisurely approach to Christmas morning, I was able to enjoy some quiet time with my oldest boy while he built Lego's and I baked our cinnamon rolls. One Bram woke up standard Christmas excitement ensued and we all enjoyed opening gifts together. We truly are blessed upon blessed over here!
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