‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a Max

The stockings were laying by the presents with care

When, what to Des’ wondering eyes should appear…

Ella knew in a moment it must have been St. Nick.

Desmond and Eleanor listen as mom reads Santa’s thank you letter for having left out the pretzels and carrots (for the reindeer, of course) with (almond) eggnog 

Eleanor mines her stocking for the next surprise

…and last, a navel orange!!

Sporting her fancy new red glitter clippy (great-grandma Jane would so approve), Ella volunteers to unpack dad’s stocking

Eleanor either steals or instinctively stows dad’s gifted jar of Huey Fong Chili Garlic Sauce (thank you, dear Billy–and Santa) in the pantry

“An orange!”

Eleanor’s “covering random objects with blankets and putting them to sleep” game is seriously upgraded with a new baby crib

A recent evolution to the family tradition of a post-stocking pretzel snack, Ella and Desmond crack open their package of craisins

Where’s Waldo? Dunno, but another generation is now searching through a crowded beach for the bespeckled and red/white scarf-wearing adventurer

Baby’s first lego set

“Backpack! Backpack! Butterfly! Backpack!”

Not sure if he’s more excited about Yoda’s hut on Dagobah, or that he now has an R2-D2 minfig

Showing off his new underwear, as you do

Present-opening collaboration for the new sushi set

Des opens Robot Turtles– an educational experience in computer science masquerading as a fun kids game

Santa is real- he got Desmond a real “remote-controlled dinosaur” (yes, apparently it’s a real thing)

Eleanor feeds her new baby

Looking over dad’s exciting new record addition- a translucent green (!) copy of A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio

And lastly, a new remote-controlled car

“Here son, let me help you with that.” Hard to tell who’s having more fun…

Eleanor is curious what this magical dinosaur robot is all about

Des drawing on the 21st-century equivalent of the etch-a-sketch

Yes, Ella is fairly excited about Christmas thus far

Where is that Waldo?

Ella modeling her new/first clip-on earings

Instantly his new favorite pajamas

Lego airplane from grandma

Perusing Cal’s new ninja turtle book

Shenanigans with grandma

The yeti is now indeed in the spaghetti

“I’ll give you [Eleanor], the Founder of the feast!”

Ella trying to start another verse of “Baby Shark”

A round (literally a parade around the table) of cheers

Everyone finds a cuddle buddy at the end of the night, drifting off to sleep with visions of sugar-plums dancing in their heads…