mock christmas morning

since nana was coming for a visit so close to christmas and bringing the gifts with her, she thought that we should do 'christmas morning' together and we thought that was a great idea.  (we even skyped papa in for the whole thing, but with the time difference, it was a little early for him.) 

mason has been asking about presents since the tree went up (and maybe a little before that) so he was excited that nana had wrapped gifts for under the tree. she had warned me that they went a little overboard this year, but WOW!  we were very spoiled!  mason was more than happy to volunteer to help daddy bring everything in from nana's car.

mason bringing in the gifts - in his jammies.

great grandma r sent some framed pictures matt had drawn as a boy to show the kids (nana had stopped to see her on her way to us)

nana got a pool wrap - she said it was the first monogram she had received.

and we got her a copy of cinderella because it is her favorite.

i think mason ended up going first among the kids.  papa uses a lot (i mean a lot) of tape so we had to use some scissors to help them get into the boxes.

mason had a very super christmas

maddux loved the fireman outfit and the firetruck (coincidentally behind him in the picture)

the boys also got some cool tie-on dinosaur tails!  here is a little video of mason showing me his:

and manning woke up in time to get his first ever christmas present - a hippo bank.

it really felt a little like christmas morning.  we had an egg and sausage casserole (the recipe was even called "christmas morning casserole") and spent the morning at home checking out all of the new gifts.  matt and i were more than taken care of too!  matt got some weights, a sports coat and dress shirts and i got a sewing machine and an ice cream attachment for our stand mixer!  i am super excited about the sewing machine.  merry christmas, papa and nana!  and thank you.  love.