Annual Christmas Photos and Other Holiday Traditions

One thing I love most about the holidays are the family traditions that we've created through out the years. Since the boys were born, we've naturally created several new ones! And, here they are, starting with our 3rd Christmas card displaying a picture of our silly duo...

Look how much they've grown since last Christmas!

And, here is the card from their first Christmas... oh, how I miss those tiny infant days!

Last year, we decided not to put up our main Christmas tree with all the fragile ornaments because we were afraid of what the boys would do to it. We decided to risk it this year, and, surprisingly, we only had four broken ornaments by the time we took down the tree! We put up the tree one night while the boys were asleep. Here is a picture of them admiring the tree and all the sparkly ornaments the next morning...

When the boys saw the tree for the first time, I heard one of them ask Evan, "What's that?!"
Evan replied, "It's a Christmas tree."
Then, they replied, "I like it! Thank you, daddy!" :)

Another photo tradition I started with the boys is capturing them looking at the tree from the arm of the couch. It all started when they were just five months old when the arm of the couch seemed like the best place to put them to be able to get their picture next to the tree...

Then, the following year, I thought it would be fun to recreate that pose. However, at 17 months, they were much more mobile and it took many attempts to get them to stay still long enough to get this picture... (this is the year we decided to just put up our secondary tree with the cheap plastic ornaments!)

So, inevitably, this pose has become a Christmas tradition! This year, I didn't even have to pose the boys! I walked into the living room and found my two little monkeys on the arm of the couch messing with the ornaments... even though they've been told not to touch them! So, instead of putting them in time out, I ran and grabbed my camera and got these pictures... :)

However, on the night of Christmas Eve, since the boys were wearing their cute Christmas pajamas, I couldn't resist posing them next to the tree to get another picture...

This next Christmas tradition of making gingerbread houses has been celebrated by Oma and Opa Berg for many years with all their grandkids. This is the boys' second year to decorate a gingerbread house...

I think more sugar went into Bryce's mouth than on his house though...

Benjamin wasn't in the decorating mood that morning, so he just watched from the living room...

Bryce's final design...

As if Bryce didn't have enough sugar in his system already, he and Ben enjoyed a chocolate covered pretzel afterwards...

Sampling each other's pretzel...

So cute!

The next day, daddy helped Ben decorate his gingerbread house and add a few more decorations to Bryce's...

I guess I should say, daddy did most of the decorating while the boys just ate the decorations...

The sugared up artists and their creations...

I guess Bryce decided he didn't want that marshmallow there after all. Look at Ben's stunned face... so funny!

Once Bryce pulled the marshmallow off his house and dropped it on the floor, our crazy boys continued to get crazier...

This is what happens when two already very hyper boys eat too much sugar!

And, last, but not least is our Christmas tradition with The Elf on the Shelf. We asked the boys to name their elf this year, since they were too young last year. Oddly, they came up with the name "Ball." Actually, they kept saying "A Ball," which is even worse! Eventually, Evan convinced them to change the name to "Abel," but then, after watching "The Elf on the Shelf" movie a hundred times, Benjamin started calling his elf  "Chippy," which is the name of the elf in the movie. So, for now, our elf has two names: he's "Abel" to Bryce and "Chippy" to Ben. I guess we'll just wait and see what they call him next year!

The boys started grasping the concept of Santa this year. Every time they asked us for a new toy, we would tell them to ask Santa. Here is a picture of Benjamin telling "Chippy" something he wanted for Christmas from Santa...

A few days later, he decided it'd be better to show Chippy a picture of what he wanted on mommy's iPhone. What a smart kid!