The Brudam Brigade: A Very Brudam First Christmas . . .

It was an amazing first Christmas - defintely one that exceed our expections with respect to the boys' awareness and stamina. The boys seemed to enjoy every aspect of the day . . . hard to say whether they enjoyed the company, the gifts or the food more, so we'll call it a three-way tie. Adam and I really enjoyed thinking through the family traditions we'd like to create and this first year was a great start.

First up is a series of pictures of us opening presents with the boys . . . they exceeded our forecasts and actually seemed to enjoy the presents and the activites more than the shiny paper and ribbons (which is where I'd placed a considerable bet) . . . I love the third picture where Adam and I are both trying to drum up some excitement/

Gramma and Papa were a big part of the boys first Christmas. The four of us enjoyed a lovely dinner on Christmas Eve and then they stayed over at Casa Versailles so that they could be on hand for every aspect of the Brudam Brigade's first Christmas. Ethan and Noel let them sleep until 8:30 before making an appearance downstairs to announce the kick-off to Christmas Day.

Next is a series of pics showing the boys really enjoying the plethora of "big boy" toys that they received . . . Uncle Ronnie appeared in the early afternoon for wave 2 of presents and Christmas dinner. The boys received a ton of great stuff and we'll definitely be getting a lot of use out of each of these as the boys head into their second year . . .

-Their first train set, which was an incredibly thoughtful/poignant gift from Papa and Gramma. Papa stayed up all night putting the train together so it would be ready for us and the boys when we made our way downstairs. Definitely a big hit!

-A "chirping ball" from Pai and Dad that fills their current desire to roll and chase anything and everything around the house

-A fantastic Lego dumptruck from Pai and Dad . . . Ethan begged us to place him in the bed of the truck for photographic purposes and we had no choice but to comply!

-A crawl mat with animals one one side and instruments on the other side from Gramma and Papa . . . sounds are all activated by where the boys crawl and touch. They were shockingly aware of how this worked and it was definitely the biggest hit of the day.

-Lastly, Uncle Ronnie definitely outdid himself and gave the boys their first ATVs . . . Ethan fell in love with this . . . Noel was less certain and their is an entire series of attemted photos where Noel is screeeeeeching to get off. Once we pushed them around the house a bit, he warmed to being on the bike, but his interest still paled in comparison to Ethan, who was pushing himself forwards and backwards by the end of the evening . . . definitely big boy activites.

Next is our first official Christmas "Family Shot" . . . the boys are decked in their one-time only Christmas pajamas that we let them wear all day (jamma day) and light blue Santa caps that they allowed us to place on their heads for exactly 4.3 seconds . . . Uncle Ronnie was quick with the camera . . .