Super Sized Christmas

We realised that it was time for us to have our own Christmas this year, because Boo asked if we would have presents under our tree. This was the first f my 27 Christmases to not open my presents at my parent's house. I was worried that it would be weird. It ended up going really well.

Because of the craziness of our family, we've always had to do a lot of running around on Christmas.

First, we had our Nan Christmas. Giving presents to the kids is quite honestly what Nan lives for all year. We used to go to her house in the evening on Christmas day, but then the kids were tired and cranky and Nan felt short changed. So a couple years ago we started to have our first Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve. I had to work all day, then Lee dropped me off at Nan's house. I wrapped a few last gifts and walked the dogs (Nan's dog and my MIL's dog) while I waited for her to come home. When she got home, we threw the kids into the bathroom and shut the door. Nan hurriedly pulled out all the packages, then shook some jingle bells outside the door.

This gave the kids an hour to drool over the gifts before Lee got off work. He got back a bit later than we wanted but he came bearing pepperoni pizza so it was ok. Sometimes its good to be in food service.

The next morning, we woke up to the phone ringing at 7:15 - it was my father in law wanting to see if we were up yet (ha - we weren't) and wanting to know when we would be over. Then we got up, let the kids peek at the presents and open their stockings.

Then we had cinnamon rolls read the Nativity story in Luke 2 (because, yes, that is what we did every year at home and I will keep doing it with my kids!) and opened our presents. It felt a little weird that we had less presents for the kids than Nan did, but I think we all know that doesnt really matter. The feeling went away really fast because we were all really happy.

Lee and I really enjoy exchanging gifts with each other, too. We know each other really, really well, and can surprise each other with things that we "never knew we always wanted". The best thing was a beautiful winter cloak which I really have always wanted one of. It goes with my Ren Faire dress, but I will wear it all the time.

Lee double and triple wrapped my presents and used as much tape as was humanly possible. He is such a goofball.

After we were done with our own Christmas, we headed over to my parents. There I got my favorite present of all - Lee and my dad talked for two and a half hours. Lee has such a need for someone to talk to him about real things , and it was awesome for him to get to talk to my dad. Me and Mommi talked, too, of course, and Sarah called, I got to talk to Daniel a little bit, and the kids ran around with each other and played with all their new toys. Of course they enjoy each other way more than they enjoy the toys!

Around lunch time, we headed to our last stop - Lee's sister Jackie's home with her boyfriend Danny, my precious nephews, and my father in law. Unfortunately, my father in law decided we were taking too long to show up and he decided not to wait, so it was just Jackie and Danny and the boys. But we still had a blast. They had a god turkey dinner and we exchanged presents and talked family. We all get along very well and that is building into a nice healthy adult sibling relationship. That is awesome.

All in all, it was a very good Christmas, with NO FIGHTING. The kids were grateful and well-behaved. I think we balanced family as best as we could, and still managed to have a peaceful day. Next year at this time we will have a 6 month old to complicate things even more. Woohoo! Only 366 days til next Christmas!

St. Lucia Day

I have memories of us celebrating St. Lucia Day when we were kids, but I couldn't remember why at first. Then I remembered to check in our Childcraft books and there it was. A girl in the household dresses in a candle crown and wakes the house with singing and breakfast. Being short of candle crowns and since Livvy only knows how to sing the ABCs, we skipped the singing and crown until next year and just had us a darn good breakfast in St. Lucy's honor.

Thursday was a day to empty out the worry box. After Lee took the next to last of his exams, he came home and we ran a bunch of neglected errands. While I was getting ready, Lee caught me standing sideqys and noticed that my belly has popped out. He thought this was awesome. He was laughing, but he was excited at the same time. I went to change into something a little more flattering, and he stopped me and said. "Knock it off. You're carrying my child. Take that as a compliment." He's such a sweetie in his crazy way.

He also took this adorable picture of the kids while we were on our way out the door.

We had Avon to deliver, bills to pay at archaic places that don't take online payments (how neanderthal! lol), and eye issues to finalize. Lee is switching to contacts, a long-cherished dream of his. We bought him a nice pair of sunglasses as an early Christmas present - nice sunglasses being another long-cherished dream of his.

Friday we both have one more exam to take and Saturday is the Veggie Tales party. After that the biggest thing in my worry box will be the fact that the only presents that are wrapped so far are Lee's, and that's only because I had them delivered to Nan's house and she talked me into wrapping them before I took them home.

Isn't she lovely? :) :)

A Thousand Words

Well, close enough.

Musings While Folding Laundry

So I am folding laundry as I write this. Why? Because I am ADD and can not do one thing by itself at a time. Because I am cranky, having been DOING things constantly for a week or two and rather sick of it. I am a little lonely, as DOING THINGS takes away from time from bonding with my babies. And I have't really seen my mother in like a month and that makes me emotionally imbalanced. And I am itchy all over my legs and arms. Now that is a bit of a mystery. I was itchy for the last few months of Boo's pregnancy, but not really itchy with LIv. I think it is from being prego in winter, when it is so terribly dry. If so, I am in big trouble. There is a lot of pregnant winter to go.

Olivia now knows almost all her letters by sight. I do not know how that happened, although her dear father is taking credit. He says he quizzes her all the time (that gives me warm fuzzies). I didn't even notice until she pointed at Daddy's Craftsman toolset and said, hey - USA. I was so proud.

Boo has said so many cute things in the last week that I wanted to blog about. Now if I could just remember what they were. He also independently worked through an entire numbers 1-20 workbook. In one evening. That made his head swell (and mine).

Today I am exceedingly happy because the first half of Julius's cloth diapers has arrived. I shan't post pictures beause frankly, they are ugly. Cute cloth diapers are $10-30 apiece plus shipping. Most of the ones I bought are plain white and stained, and still cost about 2-3 apiece. But that includes shipping. Plus I already had a small supply. I used them a lot with Olivia untl she grew out of the ones I had. This time I am going to use them full time, though I don't know if Lee or Nan will use them. Maybe Lee will if I make it really easy for him. Maybe Nan will if I include a wetbag for her to throw them in - maybe not. We'll see. But for myself, I had no problem with them. I want to be as frugal as possible so Lee can concentrate on his school without having to take on too much extra time at work.

Aaanywho, I am very stressed because it is the week before final exams. Therefore all major projects were due this week. Stress stress. There is just too much right now. Say a prayer for me if you think of it that I could just make it 8 more days..................................