Christmas Eve with the Martins

After our day of hard labor at the Habitat for Humanity house, we headed off to do some final Christmas shopping. Amy was very tired of working, being in the car and just wanted to get back to the house. A poor unsuspecting sister called Amy on her way back to the house and asked her to pick up cheese and crackers. The wrath of a tired Amy came down on Jen - "I havent been home, im tired, and im not picking up crackers." Whoops!

Back at the house, Logan had decided to dress himself



And Teddy looked very cute



"Teddy, this is how you play with this cardboard wheel with all these colors."



Anthony was trying to figure out the perfect gift for Teddy and Logan for Christmas. If he had his druthers, they would be showered with NY Yankees attire - jerseys, hats, etc - but out of respect for their parents, no yankees attire is gifted. But, knowing how much Teddy and Logan love trucks and cars with sirens (as Teddy calls them, "woo woos"), a set of NYPD police cars, trucks, etc seemed like the perfect gift.





Another little taste of NY was in order, so a NY yellow taxi was also wrapped up for Teddy and Logan. Because Logan is older, he tends to get through the unwrapping much quicker so Teddy is always anxious to see what Logan gets and, as you can see from the picture below, gets distracted from opening his own gift to look at Logan's. Very cute.



Round 3 of the gifts were cardboard box blocks for both Teddy and Logan. Clearly this was a difficult gift for the kids to get excited about after the woo woos and the taxis. They did enjoy playing with the big box, though and we're sure will enjoy the blocks at a later date.



After a great home cooked meal by Nancy, a yankee swap with gift certificates from Best Buy, Home Depot, Dunkin Doughnuts, Victoria Secret (which Doug desperately wanted for some strange reason), Target and Hooters (which Nancy desperately wanted for some strange reason) as well as the other swapping of gifts it was time to celebrate Ed's birthday which falls on Christmas Eve each year. Whenever there is candles, you'll find Teddy and Logan.



And then great joy when the candles are blown out....



A nice Martin family portrait in front of the Christmas tree (nice tongue sticking out Logan!).



And then one with the pool boy and max included....



A nice shot of Logan and Teddy with their grandparents.



And with Leanee and Logan as well.



This next picture is the definition of animal cruelty - someone will have to report Doug on behalf of Jackson.



A cute picture of Jen and Teddy.



"Yummy bampa birthday cake, huh Logan."



The aftermath of yummy bampa birthday cake seems to have found its way to Teddy's nose.



After cake, we hustled to church which was a nice way to end Christmas Eve. Anthony particularly liked two things - first, the shutting off of the lights at church while all the congregation held up lit candles singing Silent Night and, second, Logan's batman spiderman outfit which included slippers and a cape!

After we got back, Amy and Anthony exchanged gifts and then went to bed.

Merry Christmas!