Let's go all the way back to Christmas Eve now. Here we  have a whole Saturday stretching before us and a few last minute errands to run sans kids. Given the option of running the errands (three different stops) or taking the kids to the Children's Museum, John opted for the museum. This might be a good time to mention that the Iowa Children's Museum is AT THE MALL! I worried that it would be a horrific experience for all, but apparently they got an easy parking spot and walked right in, unperturbed by the last-minute shoppers.

Later in the afternoon, we all headed to Grandma and Grandpa's to kick off the Christmas festivities with dinner and presents. A huge success on both fronts.

Here are the boys with their shared gift for this year, a large red barn. (Gift for Mom and Dad: Grandpa put it together--woo hoo!) Then each of them unwrapped a tractor, pick-up with animal trailer, some animals and fence pieces to make a full farmyard scene. Definitely a hit.

Daniel is still in the stage where any gift is a thrill to open--even if it's new socks (which it was.) He also loves to help others and was ready and willing when it came time for the adults to dig in to their piles.

On the way home we decided to drive past a legendary Coralville home, which has outdoor lights to end all outdoor light displays. Real trains on two different tracks, animatronic Santa's workshop, more than 100 Santas, including three on the roof, including two that were mechanical popping in and out of chimneys. It was a sight to behold. We actually couldn't see from the car because so many people had gotten out to stand on the sidewalk for a better look. We had to wait for traffic to clear and then drive around the corner to park and walk back. The boys had changed to pajamas at Grandma and Grandpa's to facilitate quicker to bed when we got home so they were not wearing shoes. We briefly considered digging them out of the bag and attempting to put them on over the footie pajamas, but opted instead to carry them. BIG mistake. These boys are HEAVY. Back-breaking. On the other hand, they LOVED the display, so that erased some of the agony. Next year we're wearing shoes and going on a week-night well before Christmas though. WOW!

Here's what it looked like after Santa had visited:

This video of Christmas morning 2011 is probably the kind only a grandparent could love, and even they might be hard pressed to stick with it for three-and-a-half minutes. I tried to edit, but just couldn't bring myself to do anything but trim a few seconds here and there. Forgive me, blogosphere!

The last segment of the video is Edward opening his "secret present," which was a snow globe. It has a light that fades from one color to another but is dim enough to make a good night light. About a week after Christmas I went into his room before heading to bed myself to turn off the light (batteries, people!) and it wasn't on its shelf. Upon closer inspection, Edward's bed was glowing. He was curled up with it in his arms like a stuffed animal. Yeah, I'd say it fit the bill.

Other Santa treasures were a firefighter tool belt for Edward and a pirate get-up for Daniel.

Once the flurry was over and the wrappings collected, we had some playtime before getting dressed for 9:30 Mass. (Boys were up at 7 a.m., a reasonable hour by our standards.)

As soon as we got home, it was time to put the Lego together. John helped Edward with the Star Wars Landspeeder and I helped Daniel with the Lego Duplo Mac semi. I definitely got the better end of that bargain, but the boys persevered until the Landspeeder was ready to cruise.

Now I'm seeing that my erratic blogging is actually working out well because the next post, while written first, actually picks up where this one leaves off. Christmas is over and its time for the big birthday!