Early Christmases!

 Josh flew in from Kansas City Friday morning, and we enjoyed hanging out for the afternoon followed by his birthday dinner at Lou Malnati's and an early Christmas celebration before/after bed!

 Jackson helped pass out all of the presents under the tree before he went to bed :)

 And, then he opened all of his presents from Nan, Mimi and Bampa :)

 It is really funny to think about all of the presents in Jackson's past that he didn't "get" how to open!  He's a pro now, for sure!

 It looks like Tuck...

 Oh!  It's the whole "Wonder Pets" crew!!!

 Such good hugs!

 Checking out his awesome new transportation themed look and find book

 After Jackson opened his presents, we put him to bed, and then exchanged grown-up presents!  I'm guessing my mom's favorite present was the set of return address labels we gave her: one design for each season!  We also got her a new bed set and some other fun stuff for the house.  We gave my dad some new supplies for his new office, since this is kind of like the beginning of the school year!  My favorite present for him was a new padfolio (I think that's what it's called...  It's a leather folder to hold his pad of paper and it has a pocket to tuck papers in.)  We personalized it with a page of pictures to tuck in the flap. Most of the pictures are of us all at various times in the original building :)  Jackson made out very well, of course!  He LOVED his set of "Wonder Pets," he got a couple of books, a subscription to Highlights High Five magazine, Flicker the Flashlight to join his other Handy Manny tools, and a few other things.  Josh was thrilled to receive a new pair of sandals!!!  He wore his last pair into the ground--we even tried taking them to the beach this past fall...along with a bottle of super glue, and they just weren't made to last any longer.  He now has an exactly identical pair :)  I got some fun decorations for the house and a Vera Bradley wallet I really wanted!  As much fun as it is to open presents, it is even better to watch Jackson enjoy handing out presents and my parents opening the present we picked out :)

Then we packed the car FULL and went to sleep so we could get up and leave around 4:30am!!!

I think we did leave around 4:30, and we drove to Staunton in order to attend the annual Smith Christmas celebration.  It certainly was a busy weekend, but it was really nice to get to visit with family :)  We got in before dinner on Saturday night, and we enjoyed a quiet night at Aunt Murph's and Uncle Larry's.  Sunday was spent getting ready for the shindig!  Everyone came over in the afternoon, and there was lots of eating, visiting, and gift exchanging.  We left Staunton after the celebration and arrived back in our OWN house late Sunday night!  Phew!