Christmas Wishes

Can't believe Christmas has already come and gone! Our Christmas started off with a very sick Alex last week who had a stomach bug up until Christmas Eve. With the big snowstorm we got here, it was probably for the best that we didn't leave the house. Earlier in the day, Chris got his wish of using his new snowblower that he got as an early Christmas gift a few weeks ago. Doesn't he look happy?

It was the first and only Christmas Eve we have spent at home, just us, and it was quite peaceful. We decided to let them open the gifts they had bought for each other on Christmas Eve. Anna bought Alex some skull/rock n roll pajamas and Alex bought Anna a miniature bear playset. They both bought Sarah clothes and Anna got her a really fun stacking game that she figured out right away.

 

The kids were actually begging to go to bed by 6:30. We got our wish of an early, uneventful bedtime! But, not without a plate full of cookies for Santa, a note and some milk!

Christmas morning arrives! Alex and Anna were beside themselves with excitement. Alex was feeling better and was up by 4:30 begging us to wake up. We convinced him to go watch cartoons for a couple of hours until the more manageable hour of 6:30 arrived. Then, the chaos ensued!

Alex's favorite gift of Christmas morning was his deer decoy he received from Santa along with the mighty crossbow. Had to get the obligate dead deer shot :)

We spent the next couple of days with family and the kids got even more spoiled!

In the end, I think we all got what we wished for- a little time to ourselves, a little time with family and a lot of good memories. Now comes my favorite picture of the holiday- gotta read the shirt to appreciate it :) Merry Christmas!

Santa, Reindeer and the Gingerbread House

Just a random posting about our last few weeks of getting ready for Christmas. We took the kids to see Santa- although as you can tell from the pictures, only Anna actually spoke to him. Alex was in one of his moods that day and refused to talk to him and Sarah basically screamed and clutched onto me as I tried to pry her hands off and put her on this stranger's lap. It was then that I decided it was not worth the battle. We have always felt there are certain things in life we have to make the kids do- sitting on Santa's lap for a cute picture is just not one of them. Oh well, she was much more entertained by the "real life" reindeer anyways.

Speaking of the reindeer, Alex and Anna have been asking harder and harder questions about how Santa actually gets all of this done and can his reindeer really fly, etc. It has become more difficult to lie to them and I'm finding my own made up stories more and more pathetic. I think there is a part of Alex that secretly knows the truth but is afraid to say anything. Oh well, I will try and relish this Christmas because I think it may be the last one where Alex will buy the lies. It's sad that they have to grow up so fast!

In other holiday type news, I spent some time in Anna's classroom last week making Gingerbread houses. It was really fun to see her in the classroom setting and meet some of her friends and their parents. She absolutely loves school and was so proud to show me everything she has been working on. It was a far cry from earlier in the week when I chaperoned a field trip in Alex's class and he refused to sit by me and barely even acknowledged that he knew me.

Here's hoping for a very Merry Christmas!

Top Ten

These are the top 10 signs that your 7 year old has watched a few too many infomercials......

10. He thinks everything costs 19.95

9. He knows what the Sham Wow is and does and can use it appropriately in a sentence

8. He has the phone number memorized to order the Bendaroos

7. He has an ongoing memorized list of ordering websites and can tell you them instantly if you even mention an item

6. He knows several easy recipes for the Magic Bullet

5. He received a Snuggie after begging us to understand that his regular blanket just "slips and falls" and this would actually make doing his homework a "breeze"

4. He has attempted to order me the Buxton over the shoulder organizer on more than one occasion and whenever I am unable to find something in my current purse reminds me that if only I had let him buy aforementioned item for me, I wouldn't have this problem

3. Never misses an opportunity to tell us how dry and cracked his heels are and if we'd only gotten the ped-egg how this dilemma would be solved (note- we did purchase this item and it actually does work!)

2. Actually put on his Christmas list a request for a new mattress since his current one has "springs" that are "poking into his back" (nevermind that I don't even think there are springs in his mattress, pretty sure it's all foam)

AND....the #1 sign that your 7 year old has watched just one too many infomercials.....


 Loudly exclaimed tonight that as soon as he turns 25 he is going to order the "penis pills" because everybody knows that after 25 your penis just stops working

Oh God, help us.