Christmas 2008

Well, I had great intentions, and even had my cards ready to get mailed, but then I got sick. I didn't get any of my Christmas list taken care of, and I barely got through the regular traditions we have with the kids last night. I started some antibiotics today, and they seem to be helping, so hopefully I will be getting better in leaps and bounds over the next couple of days. We did have a nice Christmas, though. It was small and quiet, and that really made it very nice. Merry Christmas to all our loved ones out there! We miss you and hope you had a great day!

I did get some photos taken of some of the things we did get done this week. Todd, Chet, and Kyle all sang in Christmas concerts at school. I love school Christmas concerts! Todd was so excited and thrilled to be a reindeer, and he had so much fun at his concert! I loved the floppy antlers!

Chet was an angel, and I really have no idea why they all looked so unhappy, but it didn't surprise me one bit to see him up there surrounded by girls. He gets letters every single day asking him to be somebody's boyfriend. He is even being asked out on dates. No!!!! I am going to start spraying him down with girl-B-gone each morning before school starts... lol. His counts came up another 10,000 to 63,000 this month, and we are all hoping and praying he just keeps on bringing them up 10,000 at a time!

The little kids were part of the Children's program on Sunday, and I forgot to upload the photo, but Matt was also part of lighting the Advent candles. It was a really fun program. We went to the candlelight service Sunday night, and that was simply beautiful. Between the candlelit chapel, the calm silence, and then the soothing sound of "Oh Holy Night", Todd fell fast asleep in his pew.

I also didn't get any of our normal baking done for Christmas this year, but that isn't all bad. Since I didn't have any appetite to eat all the fattening goodies that are so abundantly available at Christmastime, I managed to get through the season without regaining any weight I have been working so hard to take off. However, Santa just can't come visit and not have some treats offered, so the kids and Jack and I made some rice krispie treats and Russian teacake cookies yesterday.
Tipsy found the entire process incredibly fascinating and kept popping her head up over the edge of the table to see what we were up to.

Yesterday was Jack's 40th birthday. I had plans to throw him a surprise party, but between his work schedule and whatever bug has been attacking me it just didn't happen. But happy birthday, Jack... I love you!

My mom sent the traditional Christmas Eve jammies for everyone, so we let the kids open those up last night and then had them get changed into them.

Here are all the fellas... what a cute group of guys!

And she sent the girls and I penguin jammies....I love penguins!! This was not my finest photo moment... lol. My head was hurting, I was coughing up a lung, and my face has been terribly swollen... but here we are in our penguin glory!

It was then time to set out the goodies for Santa and the reindeer. We left a penguin by his plate to make his night merry too, and put out the carrot for Rudolph. Faith was sad that we didn't have eggnog to leave for Santa and we had to leave him milk... I felt like such a bad mommy for forgetting the eggnog! LOL... Santa (and some greedy kitty cats) did enjoy the icy milk though!

Then the kids threw the magical reindeer oats out in the yard to feed the rest of the reindeer team, and then they were off to bed.

Of course, that is when Santa's job begins, and this year we were up until 3 am trying to figure out this silly doll house. It has a working elevator which I thought was really cool, but Jack wasn't so impressed when it came time to put it together.. lol.

I was in charge of assembling the furniture that came with the dollhouse, and I had to laugh at the proportions of the silverware vs the size of the turkey.

At last we had presents wrapped (well, actually, I had everything done in under an hour, but that house kept us very busy... lol) At one point I turned around to find Skittles tucked in snugly among the boxes and bags we leave out for Santa to wrap presents in. The stockings were hung on the bookcase with care.

And at last the presents were done and around the tree. We kept Christmas small this year, but it always amazes me how much it all still ends up looking like when we have the boxes around the tree! So we went to bed at 3, and those monsters were wide awake by 5:30 and clamoring to open those presents and see what Santa had brought them. Aaagghhh! We dragged ourselves out of bed and got ready to open the presents. I love Christmas. I love seeing their expressions when they see their presents. And even though we were sleep-deprived this year, I just loved being up early in the morning to share this with the kids. I love Christmas!

I have made a very dear friend, Roberta, through work who has essentially adopted the kids as her honorary grandkids. A couple of months ago I told her about a bowl I was keeping an eye out for at yardsales and estate sales. I had found a couple at antique stores, but didn't want to pay their asking price. However, these yellow bowls look like the one my gramma had and taught my mom to bake in, and I wanted one. (Bowls are really the only thing I sort of collect... I like pretty ones and keep an eye out for them at yardsales.) My dear sweet friend found me the yellow bowl, and bought it for me for Christmas. Jack has to hurry and build my bowl shelves now, and this one gets its very own special spot on those shelves!

Here are some shots of the kids with some of the presents. Cash is always Chet's favorite thing... lol.





This isn't a Christmas picture, but I had to take it yesterday when I saw what B was doing. She found Todd's Spidey costume and put it on. Then she went around the house being "Spidergirl". When Todd saw how she was posing in his costume being the girly girl she is, he was highly offended. "That is NOT how Spiderman is supposed to stand!" he said... lol.. I thought it was cute, though!