CHRISTMAS 2012

You may be wondering where my posts have been over the past few weeks.  I wish the excuses were that our holidays have been so busy with us all frolicking in the snow, visiting friends, and up late playing games.  However, the truth is that the days surrounding Christmas were full of boogers and fevers and kids up through the night.  The cold and flu which started with Jesse 2 weeks ago, continued to cycle through the house.... through everyone.....and through poor  Janna twice!  And so my energy and free time has been quite strained.  We have all been laying low the past couple days in recoup mode.....and trying to get back on top of laundry, marking, resting.  Today the kids were both in amazing spirits,  and I am hoping we get some time later this week to play in the snow and have some fun!  And I will hopefully have some more time and energy to blog about such adventures.   However,  I thought I should just shoot off a quick update on our Christmas, though.   Afterall, tomorrow is the new year and I’ll have new things to nanner on about!

So, Christmas Day was pretty good with the kids.  BUSY BUSY BUSY, but good.  I was very happy that I had all my cooking and baking done the day before.  Dave’s parents were up visiting, and the women all did our prep the day before.  I had the first morning shift in the kitchen and tackled desserts, salads, veggies, and a lasagna for supper that night.   Sharon spent the afternoon tackling oodles of potatoes and dressing, and Katie worked later prepping the bird, and slow-cooked a ham.  

WE went to the Christmas Eve service at our church around 4.  It was packed, but we got there early enough to get seats in the back.  I figured Jesse and Robyn could make it through the hour long musical event- but one of us would probably have to take Janna out.   Sure enough, Janna was a squirmy worm- but it was mostly her giggles and singing that came out during any speaking that was distracting.  I thought Jesse would enjoy the music and being in the big service- but he mostly sat there grumpily and kept pushing his limits.  When a beautiful opera solo started he covered his ears and scrunched up his face while Janna beamed and tried to sing along.  Anyways- about a quarter of the way through Dave took Janna out, and half way through I took Jesse out.  I found Dave in the gym where the service was being broadcasted into and all the kids under 4 seemed to have pooled.  They were running around having fun, while the adults chatted and listened to the music as almost a background.  It was the place to be!  Next year perhaps we will just go there to begin withJ

 We all arrived home famished and after lasagna and caeser salad the kids tore into their PJS with delight.  We also opened a gift from my brother Josh. Growing up,  my family always opened Josh’s gift to each of us on Christmas Eve.  He usually gave entertainement gifts, and so a book or DVD would occupy us on Christmas Eve!  Well, Jesse was in heaven getting to open 2 presents and help Robyn open hers, and I could barely imagine his state come the mornings.  After the kids went to bed, we put all the presents under the tree, cleaned up and hit up the kitchen around 9 to help Katie do her GF cinnamon buns.  I went to bed pretty early and was very excited for the kids reaction in the morning.

Well, Robyn woke Dave and I up at 5:30, and decided to be up for a while, so we came downstairs and enjoyed coffee by the tree while the rest of the house slept.   Around 7:30 we heard the kids and grabbed them to join us.  Jesse greeted his aunt Katie with a big hug and his eyes widened at the sight of all the gifts.  We opened just stockings at first- and Jesse’s thankful reaction to each present was priceless.  Janna woke up under the weather- and was not interested in opening anything.  She just wanted to snuggle me for a while...and so Jesse was more than happy to open stockings for her.

PAUSE IN MY STORY.   Growing up, I did not open presents until later in the day.  We did turkey at my grandparents around noon followed by opening of gifts from non-immediate family...then opened our presents later in the evening upon returning home from hot turkey sandwhiches.  Dave did the more traditional opening of presents and stockings in the morning, then turkey for supper.  So- while we wanted to sort of meet in the middle with all presents after a turkey lunch....naps and little kids just didn’t mesh with our desire. So- we decided to do a big brunch and do all the gifts after that.

RESUME.... After stockings we all took our time getting ready for the day and then I made a big brunch for everyone.  The bacon was MISSING!  But otherwise it was good.   After everything got cleaned up, we settled in to open gifts.  Wow!  As a parent, it was sort of overwhelming.   We even did the “one gift at a time” approach. But trying to watch the kids, and help them, and watch other people open theirs, and open a few of my own, and get rid of paper in a very small living room,  was sort of crazy.  Jesse was SO excited and just wanted to move on from present to present.  As soon as something started to get opened, he would say, “and how about another?”  Unfortunately,   Jesse’s gifts all seemed to be circling the perimeter of the tree.  So, the first hour he just got gift after gift (even though we tried to space them out) but then the last half an hour or so there were NO gifts for him to open.  He started to melt down a bit, and Dave asked him to sit on the couch.  He plunked onto the couch and pouted while moaning, “ Poor ME!  Poor Jesse.”    Ugh...and so the Christmas greed begins.   We only bought two presents for each of the kids this year...but once you add in the aunts and uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents, it sure it a TON of stuff!  Next time we are at our place, I think we will do half in the morning, and then bring up a surprise pile later in the evening!  Anyways, the kids got some wonderful gifts, as did we, and we got everything cleaned up just in time for naps!

We had an early 4:00 dinner.  Our turkey turned out perfect and dinner was amazing!  Katie was not feeling well, and didn’t enjoy it so much, but we put aside all the white meat and half the potatos and dressing for her, and we’ve all been enjoying  our leftovers all week long!  I felt bad for Sharon and Rob who had to leave the next morning  (one day early to beat a storm) and didn’t get to experience the unending leftovers like we have.   Actually, we finished them entirely tonight!

Tonight, we have a bunch of friends coming by to play games/eat food, and ring in the new year with.  So, with that, I should be on my way and get some stuff done around here. Thanks for reading. I’m out.