Christmas Wrap-Up

Phew! I always feel overwhelmed trying to do a post about our Christmas festivities, because after a few days they become a whirlwind, and I can hardly remember when we did everything. I do know that it began two days before Christmas this year as Tanya & Tenille came to town with their families, and ended the day after Christmas. Somewhere in those 4 days Thad was pumping out both our parents backyards because the insane amount of rain we got had them flooded. Thad also did a little bit of wood working with his dad in his newly finished "man-cave"/wood shop. We took family pictures with Thads family and had the traditional Christmas eve dinner & program, this being the first time in several years the entire family was there. Christmas morning we opened presents with our little ones at home, we opened presents with my parent's and Bradon, and again at Thad's parents latter that day, and again at my Grandparents that night, and had a power outage for several hours. Luckily our stove is gas and we were able to warm-up dinner by candle light. We finished off the Christmas celebrations with Sunday dinner at my parents and one last round of present opening with Walter & his family who had just got back into town.There was lot's of laughing, lot's of noise, lot's of late nights and not that many pictures on my camera. So here are a few.
Sammy was very excited to see the tri-cycle and more excited to ring the bell.

All three of them were excited to get the marble run set-up.

The results of our family picture session.

Now that Christmas is over all Andi has talked about is her birthday that is coming soon. And while she can only see from one party to another, this upcoming year has me thinking about all the new things and changes ahead in 2011. New primary classes, starting Andi at a charter school, starting Sammy in speech, potty training, house projects. . . see where I'm headed with this. The year is not here yet, and it's already making me tired.
Oh! before I forget, we reached a huge milestone with Sammy on Sunday. He was very hesitant about nursery when he started 7months ago, and Thad has spent a lot of time getting him comfortable with being there, and usually has to wait till he's distracted to sneak out the door. This week, they both walked into nursery as usual, Sammy took his seat for snacks, looked at Thad and pointed to the door. That was it. I guess he's decided he is a big boy now.

What it's all about

Thad and I still haven't come to a decision on the Santa issue. Our biggest hang up, is feeling like when we push Santa, the little ones hardly have a chance to learn about the true meaning of Christmas because they are so inundated with toys, and "I want". Andi showed me today, that she understands why Christmas is so special. This is what it's all about. My four year old with a towel on her head, telling me to call her Mary, and asking if I want to come see Baby Jesus in his manger in the front room. 

 

I asked her what she was doing, and she told me she was saying a prayer for Baby Jesus. 

Yesterday Thad and I celebrated out 7th anniversary. Emma reminded me that's only 3 away from 10, meaning, that's a long time, and we're old. It doesn't feel like a long time, in fact it feels like no time at all has passed. But two kids, two jobs, two car payments, and our first mortgage later, and you realize I guess it's been a while. Thad is a wonderful husband, and father/jungle gym, and provider. He took a half day yesterday so he could finish tiling the bathroom that he started on Saturday. And though he's a huge tease he is also very quick to do anything around the house that needs doing, and quicker yet when it's not a need, but some little thing that I want up because it's pretty.  

We did a comparison photo a few years ago, so I thought we'd do another. When we were dating: 

Last night after we got home from the movies:

Here's to another seven years. And seven after that, and seven after that. . . .

Lessons Learned

Remember how I said I was re-decorating the tree twice a day because Sammy kept taking the ornaments off. Well today I tried something new. Maybe if I don't put the ornaments back on during his nap, he will leave the tree alone in the afternoon. I mean, if I don't undo his handiwork maybe he won't feel the need to re-do it, and I can re-decorate only once a day. Not so my friends, not so. See how sparsely decorated the tree is this evening. And how it's not just the bottom that is empty. That's because he emptied the bottom of the tree in the morning and started standing on the arm of the couch to reach the higher ones in the afternoon.

Here is my pile of ornaments that I had to collect from around the house, and what you can't see is some of them have had the top hanging part yanked off. I have a date with the glue gun tonight.

Andi and I went caroling with my family Monday night. Sammy has been coughing and snot nosed for several days, so he and Thad stayed in and kept warm. It was like recital time all over again with Andi; that girl loves an audience. After a couple of stops she was reminding Grandpa not to forget her song(once there was a snowman) and she jumped out of the car saying, "yes! more customers!"
In between houses Ashlynn and I were helping her learn the words for the song the Primary kids are singing on Sunday. It was nice to realize that she is paying attention to the meaning of the songs and tries to understand what she is singing about. "Mom, what's meek and mild?",  "Why is Mary's baby a secret?"(sacred),  "How far away is Bethlehem?"
Oh! and speaking of her understanding, Sunday it was just the two of us at church, due to Sammy's plague. I was trying to get her to stop playing with the baby behind us and sit reverently as the sacrament was being passed. She noticed the boys head to the front of the chapel with their bread trays and she whispers, "And now it's time for the magic." me: "What do you mean magic?" Andi:"this is when they turn the bread into water!"   Awesome. So then we had a little lesson on what's actually happening during the sacrament and she was instantly a little more bored with the meeting.

Tis the Season

So the little beasties have been a little extra crazy this last week. Sammy has broken two ornaments, Andi has slammed his fingers in the door, and pulled one of those wrestling moves where they jump off the ropes onto the guy on the ground; only she jumped off the couch, and luckily Sammy had a pillow underneath him when she landed on him. Plus, while I was doing Andi's hair one morning, Sammy snuck into my bathroom and got into my make-up.  It's just mascara, and it came off easily with the make-up remover, but that line coming out from his nostril bothers me. I think I need new mascara.

I am a cyber-monday kinda girl. I did 95% of my Christmas shopping right here in my kitchen, and got free shipping on everything. Boo-ya. But now that the boxes are arriving I've discovered a snag in my plan.
Andi: "Mom, what's in the box?"
Me: "A Christmas present for Sammy."
A: "So are you going to wrap it and give it to Santa?"
M: "No, I'm going to wrap it and put it under the tree. This is from Mom & Dad."
A: "So there is no Santa."
M: "uh. . . I didn't say that. . . . "
Quick change in subject!
I didn't know what to say. She jumped to the no santa conclusion so quickly that it threw me off, and it didn't seem to bother her. I cold have lied to her and told her I would be giving it to Santa, but the thing is, Thad and I have never come to a firm decision on whether we are Santa pushers or not.  We don't talk about Santa, and don't put his name on any gifts, and remind Andi all season long of the real reason we give presents. But she watches Christmas movies with Santa, and we do the Santa letter on Christmas eve with Thads family. She hasn't brought it up again, and I've warned her Aunts and Uncles that she might be a bubble buster this Christmas, so for now I think we are just going to hope that she doesn't worry about it, and we can have that conversation when she's a little older.
We knocked out two Christmas parties and a Primary Acvitiy this weekend. Three more events to go!

Finishing up

We've been busy around here, finishing up Christmas projects, finding hiding places for the kids gifts as they arrive in the mail, re-decorating the tree twice a day because Sammy would rather throw the ornaments at the tree than leave them hanging nicely, and spending hours on-line looking for a gift for Thad, who is impossible to shop for. We pulled out the tree Sunday and decorated it while we listened to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It was nice to listen to the music and talks and be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas, while we made our house festive. We may have found a new tradition.
We also went to my 10 year reunion last weekend, and it was interesting. With facebook and blogs I pretty much check in on everyone I care to know things about, so going to the reunion was sort of anti-climactic. There was no need for, "so where are you now? how many kids do you have? what do you do for work?" Because we all knew that stuff already. I think we were the first ones to leave, but after a couple of hours I ran out of things to say, and my throat was sore from yelling over the DJ. When we got home I found Andi asleep like this. And yes, that dark spot on her pillow is a huge puddle of drool.

The last project on the list this year was the calendar we make for the grandparents filled with grand kid pictures. It was fun to go through an entire years worth of pictures and pick out just a few. Here are some highlights.This is in front of the tree this morning.

In Albuquerque

In Daddy's paintball gear

Feeding the ducks this summer

At the Richards in May

Back in February-ish. Look how little he looks!