Christmas Craziness

All in all, this was definitely a happy Christmas. No one was disappointed. Family was here. Santa was generous, but not nearly as generous as family.

Actually, Santa was not *that* generous, but he brought all the right things. Fireman? Check. Map of Australia? Check. New library book bag filled with books? Check.

He even brought books you may have asked for three months ago, and then forgotten you even asked for. Little House on the Prairie? On the Banks of Plum Creek? Check. Check.

Dinosaur books? Check.

But there's nothing like opening presents from family that have been sitting under the tree for the last few weeks, just begging to be opened (the presents, that is, not the family). So. Hard. To. Wait. Can we pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssse open the presents now?????

So many presents. No really. Sooooooo many presents. It took the greater part of the day just to open all the presents. Did I mention that family was very generous this year?

The kids loved everything. Really. Everything. I cannot think of anything they didn't love. How's that for a happy Christmas?

Happy Day!

It Is Better to Give than to Receive

It's wonderful when your children begin to truly understand that idea. Especially when most adults still don't. We did some homemade presents this year, and Lu decided to make a book for Scott. She illustrated the whole thing and then dictated the words to me. I happened to catch the whole "giving" experience as it unfolded.

She was very excited.

He was very excited.

There was much love.

Christmas Jammies

Another example of my ongoing struggle to get one decent picture of the kids together:

Me: Let's try it with your arm around Phx. Ok, now, look at the camera. Not down. Look up here Lu. Look at the camera.

Good! Can you smile? You need to smile. Say cheese. Say whiskey. Can you smile? I think you're choking Phx a little. Can you let him go? Yea, let him go.

That's better. Now look up and smile. Up. Look up. Not so far up. Look at the camera, Phx. Look at the camera and smile you guys.

There!!! Yes. Good. Now, really give me a good smile, a genuine smile. What? This isn't fun?

Good enough.

Christmas Eve Bowling

What? You don't go bowling on Christmas Eve? I thought everyone did that.

Ok, so it's not actually Christmas Eve, but rather, Christmas Eve morning. It's become quite a tradition in our ward, and I have to say, that bowling is much more fun when you are surrounded14 lanes deep by friends and family. Lu and her friend Maren posed for the camera, but it was a bit more difficult to get a smile out of Lu.

Aren't those great shoes? Better even on kids than adults.

Where is the ball? Is it coming yet?

This is just how much fun it was. Maybe you too will add it to your Christmas tradition list.

Nothin' Much Happening

Around here. At least I haven't been taking pictures of any of it. And since yesterday was the last day of school for the year (yeah!!), we are all just taking a break for a while. Still and all, you want pictures, don't you? I know you do. So here are some pictures that Lutece took so you can SEE (and not just take my word for it) that we are really doing nothing.

Lu's really been into taking pictures lately. She must have just gone around the house and taken a shot of everyone. Not bad.


Enjoy your weekend. May you sit around doing nothing too.

Jingle Bells

Phoenix was in his very first Christmas program for preschool last week. Here he is, mid-song, with his class, the Shining Stars. There are about 12 children in his class, and 10 of them (or is it 11?) are boys. Phx is one of the youngest.


Here's the live version. Although you can SEE that he's singing, the little voice you're HEARING is Lutece's.

And then later, at home, the kids got down to the didgeridoo. Cause, you know, it's a toss-up as to which is cooler: jingle bells or the didgeridoo.

Slamina

"Slamina," Lu says to me this morning at breakfast. "What?" "Slamina," just as natural as can be. "What is that?" "Animals . . . backward." How delightfully odd.

Silly Faces

"Take silly pictures of each other and post them on the blog." Lutece attacked this advent activity with gusto. So many silly pictures; it was hard to choose. I took this one, but Lu took the rest.



After the people pictures, she went around and took pictures of nearly every Christmas-related item in the house. I won't post all of them (for your sakes), but I like the "footnote" at the bottom of this one (pun intended).

And she insisted I post one of the tree. There were at least 10 of these. Enjoy!

We Had to Make Sugar Cookies

We HAD to. Because the advent calendar told us to. And we HAVE to do what the calendar tells us to do (although I've been known to sneak a peek the night before and exercise veto power on a couple of activities. "Nope. No way. I'm not doing that tomorrow. I'll just re-write this and . . . there! Much better. I can handle that activity." Last year, Lu couldn't read, so if I had second thoughts on an activity, I would just pretend to read something different. This year, she reads all the activities, so I actually have to go to the trouble of changing things the night before. Curses.)

Sugar cookies are such a pain, what with all the mixing, chilling, cutting out, cooking, frosting. But, oh, can you imagine Christmas without them?? I ask you?



Hey, hey there. Keep your grubby hands off the dough.

Eating the scraps . . . of course, the best part.

I made a double batch and froze most of them. There may actually be some left for Santa after friends and family have eaten their fill.

Game Day

On Sunday (yes, I know that it's now Wednesday) the advent calendar activity was to play games as a family. After a rousing game of Blokus, Lu chose Go Fish. Phx is finally old enough to really play (as opposed to fake-play).

Still and all, I can only hope family games get better from this point forward.

Lu, at least, holds her cards (mostly) in her hands . . . although you can still see exactly what she's holding.

Phx is not quite there yet. It's hard to really feel challenged at Go Fish when one of the player's cards are splayed out all over the floor around him. "Phx. Do you have a car? What? Really? You do? What a lucky guess."

And finally, I would draw your attention to the matching skirts. Those are their Christmas skirts. But of course you already knew that.

What I Really Want for Christmas

As a member of the activities committee, I was running around at the Ward Christmas Party for most of the evening. At one point, I looked up and noticed that my kids were the last ones on Santa's lap. Actually, Phx was the last one. Lu had already had her chat. I scrambled to get a picture or two, but I didn't hear what they told him. When I asked them later, Lutece was distraught. "I didn't know what to ask for. I already have everything I want." This is, in fact, the same thing she wrote in her recent letter to Santa:

Dear Santa,

Please bring some stuff in my stocking.

I love you, Lutece

Phx, on the other hand, had been sitting on Santa's lap for a while, reciting a litany of items that he, also, has already relayed via his letter to Santa:

Dear Santa,

I would like a firefighter for my firetruck. I would like some things in my stocking. I would like some cars like Ashton [a friend]. I would like some Playmobil. I just want a map to hang in my room.

Thank you Santa. I love you,

Phoenix

After we wrote that together, I was rather dismayed to find that, for the first time, he actually has opinions of his own regarding presents . . . especially since I've already bought all the presents. We'll see what Santa brings. Maybe he'll be more obliging than I.