Christmas 2010

Christmas was great this year. We celebrated with D's family on the 24th. While getting everyone showered, dressed and fed and getting all our Christmas stuff and baby gear thrown in the car is a challenge, it's worth it. I always try to get as much stuff as I possibly can get done the night before. I get clothes laid out, suitcase packed (we can fill a carry on with baby stuff even if we are only taking a day trip), presents in a laundry basket set in a visible, yet untouchable location. We don't to forget them but we don't want the boys to get ahold of them. In the morning when the troops are fed and dressed I throw the last few things in the suitcase and pile things by the back door. When things are by the door that's D's cue to start loading up the big black sleigh, err truck. The moment I check off the last item on the packing list and sit down in the car is the moment I start to enjoy the holiday. I usually make an audible sigh of relief that everything and everyone is on it's way to our destination....Then the kids start to ask for things and I'm reminded that being the driver is an easier job than being the passenger.

N doing some Christmas themed activity pages in the car.

As I was saying...We spent Christmas Eve at D's parents. Maybe the pep talk I gave N in the car on the way to T's house actually stayed with him because he waited his turn to open his gifts like I asked him to. Good job, Buddy! A gorgeous snow fall took place while we opened gifts. It was really neat to look across the room and watch family open presents while the snow fell outside the window in the background. We enjoyed opening presents, eating lunch and playing with all our new toys/presents. The snow fall mentioned above was gorgeous, but we needed to head home before the weather got too bad and the roads impassable, so we headed out. When we got home we had enough time to unload, take naps and get dressed in time to head to church

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Honestly, we are not regular church goers. Every weekend we talk about going to church, but have a hard time doing so with L's current nap schedule. Since we don't get to church too often we weren't sure how the boys would act at service on Christmas Eve. We decided to attend the"Family" service. This option did not offer child care, but it worked out well because the majority of the people attending had children with them, so they were understanding of any "kid activity" that took place throughout the service. N went down to the front of the sanctuary for children's time. I was very, very proud of the way he conducted himself up there. He kept his hands to himself and sat still during the whole thing. He did not stand up and attempt to pull over the advent candle as he did last year. He's come a long way! After church we came home, ate supper and got ready for Santa. N sat out a cookie bar and a couple carrots for Mr. Claus and the reindeer. We forgot to sprinkle reindeer dust outside, but the Big Guy and his crew managed to find their way to our house anyway. ;)

N was super excited for Santa to come to our house. He asked me a couple times if our chimney was clean so Santa could come down it without getting dirty on the way down. I assured him it was clean. N was very interested in hearing Santa's sleigh bells. We have a video monitor set up in both boys' rooms, so I watched N all evening to see what he doing. Every time he heard a sound he'd jump out of bed and run to his doorway. He'd stand there a few seconds, then run back to his bed. He did this for about an hour before laying in bed. When he'd hear a sound he'd sit up in bed, then lay back down after a minute or two. When that got tiring he finally fell asleep.

Christmas morning was wonderful. The boys actually slept in until a decent time. I do think L was up in the night, so we didn't get a full, uninterrupted night of sleep like we'd asked for on our Christmas lists, but we woke up fairly rested anyway. I popped an egg casserole and some cinnamon rolls into the oven while we opened Santa's gifts. We ate then we opened our gifts from Mommy and Daddy to the boys.

N is in LOVE with the huge combine Santa brought him. I pleaded with Santa not to bring this. I told Mr Claus that we need to broaden our kids' horizons and get them toys related to things other than farming machinery. Good thing Santa did not listen 'cause N says "it's the one thing he's always wanted and the best thing he's ever gotten."

I got a "kitchen helper" from the boys. I've always wanted one of these. I've been wanting one for a few years but could never justify the cost. I get the One Step Ahead magazine in the mail all the time. I flip it open to the page with the kitchen helper (or their version of it) on it. I guess I must have left it open to that page enough times for D to pick up on my desire to have one!

If I had to guess I'd say D's favorite gift is the Wii we got for the boys. I had no idea how quickly he'd get sucked into those games!

L hasn't latched onto any one toy yet. He's still at the age where he just wants to do whatever N is doing.

Even though we all have our favorite new toys, we've been playing with everything we received. We are very fortunate that we had all day Christmas day to play and get ready for the company that came to our house on Sunday. It was a relaxing, yet productive day.

Sunday was fun. My family came to our house for the morning and early afternoon. We Skyped my sister who lives over seas (as you can see in a previous post). We opened gifts after enjoying a nice thirty minute conversation with my sis and her hubby. Gift unwrapping went really well. The kids did a great job of taking turns! N loved the first gift he opened (Magniformers from Grammy and Grandpa) so much that I had to keep asking him to please put down that toy and open another gift! We enjoyed a nice meal and some play time before my sister and her family had to shove off. My mom hung around for a little while after everyone else left to chat and help clean up.

I think we have most of the Christmas dishes cleaned up and put away by now. All our new toys are still out, but all the wrapping paper and packaging is thrown away (or recycled if possible). The tree and decorations will stay up a little bit longer before being tucked away again. Even though all of our celebrations are over, I'm still not ready to put the tree away. We are lucky enough that D gets a nice long break over the holidays. Usually when we put the tree away that marks the end of D's break and means we have to get back to reality. I'm not ready for that just yet. I say, "Let's enjoy Daddy's winter break and ease back into reality as gradually as possible."