Christmas in Wilmington

I am finally going to try to summarize our fun trip to Wilmington! It was jam packed with fun, so it will be hard, I'm just gonna touch on some of the highlights. 

Gabby got to open and give presents early since she spent Christmas with her Dad out in Utah.

That means that she was not in town for Christmas brunch. Here are my niece and nephew, waiting for us to check out at Sam's club.

Warming up at a Port City Java after freezing to death trying to take the beach photos that I posted earlier. This was on our way to the caroling carriage ride with Santa through downtown Wilmington.

 

Erik photobombs precious family picture on carriage.

Trying to decide who is chubbier, when Aaron goes for the camera.

I swear, Natalie did not cause this. But it's a funny picture nonetheless.

Much to our astonishment, Santa dropped by before Christmas. He came ringing his bell at the front door. He wanted to make sure that he got everyone's last minute Christmas wishes. He also needed to check that Brooklynn was there and that this would be the right spot to drop off her presents on Christmas morning. Brooklynn got to help Santa measure the fireplace to make sure that it was big enough for the presents to fit through! Poor Dad missed the whole thing because he was out "emptying the garbage" ;)

Sammy was especially interested in Santa for some reason. Maybe he knew he was on the naughty list and figured it was his last chance to try and suck up to the man in red?

We were pretty disappointed. Natalie had been developing a lot of confidence with new people. Santa was just a little too much.

Aaron held up a little bit better before he started to cry.

Grandma and Grandpa's house had letter magnets that really entertained the babies. We were glad later when she received some as a gift, so now she has some at home!

Me looking enthusiastic. Them looking unsure.

From the outside of the front screen door. Trying to escape!

Bottle buddies

Aaron plays with his sweet table on Christmas morning

Natalie goes after the stocking first, then got to open a toy to entertain her through brunch.

Then, brunch was on. I had seconds of sausage and then we ran out of it to serve the guests. How embarrassing! Blake skyped us in the middle of it all. He is serving as a missionary in Brasil and has just been out in the field for a little while, so it was nice to see him. He seemed to be in good spirits, which we were all glad to see.

Everybody left, and the opening of gifts commenced:

Peruvian wear for the Agles

Matching  "Though she be but little, she is fierce!" shirts (A midsummer Night's Dream)

I dunno- is that enough to make the new minivan cool?

Gorgeous dress that Darlene made for me. Where did she find the time?!

Phwew! The hats fit! I was struggling to plan the sizes, but they turned out pretty cute!

Brooklynn recieves a new "Brian" (a certain white stuffed cat that she has now had to be replaced twice)

And, by the way- Brian is a girl. Ha!

Micah got me a dutch oven. Sweet! He didn't even know at the time that he was setting himself up for a lifetime of braised meats!

Backwards clocks 

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Natalie, surrounded by piles of new toys and brightly patterned wrapping paper, decides to play with.... a cardboard box. Awesome.

 Micah shows off the vest that Darlene made him. I can not believe how good she has gotten at sewing. The boys' vests were corduroy, with a lining made of the dress fabric. So cool! The shirt he is wearing underneath was my gift to him. Top says, "And God Said", then there's Maxwell's Equation, "And Then There Was Light". I was sad when he determined that there was an error in the equation. Hopefully it will be cool enough to wear anyway. I think his cohorts at Tech would get a kick out of it.

Paco plays his new Peruvian flute

Working off the Christmas calories!

It was nice to have so many family members around to babysit. We got to go to the movies twice! Which is awesome, because up until our trip, we had only gone to the movies 3 times this year. We saw the hobbit, which was very much like the Lord of The Rings, but with a bit more whimsy. I thought that the action got a little monotonous towards the end, but I certainly enjoyed it. Les Miserables I LOVED. I was surprised and pleased by how well most of the actors did. Russell Crowe was a disappointment, but at least he wasn't as bad as Pierce Brosnon. He was just very stagnant and so the character was sort of lost. We also saw Spamalot at Thalian Hall. Micah deemed it "pornographic and blasphemous". I would add that it was also hilarious. I thought the cast did a great job. 

We got to experience a tornado warning. It was kind of surprising. It was mildly stormy out, my Dad was at the Gym and LeAnn was at work, when Micah got a text. It was an alert from AT&T that there was a tornado warning in the area. We weren't sure if that meant UT (it's an 801 number), so we turned on the weather channel, and there it was- Wilmington NC and the surrounding counties. Woah! It passed, but we are still unsure why he got that magic text and how come the other 4 of us who had AT&T phones did not recieve any notification!

Well, Natalie's crying, so I will continue later with our exciting events post-Christmas!