Christmas Time 2011

It seems like we have been just as busy with my mom here as with my dad!  My mom flew in on Friday the 16th, that Saturday Royal and I went to a painting class, then on Sunday we spent a big portion of it at church.  This week before Christmas my mom and I made a big grocery list and we swore we would try and get everything we needed at that trip and then maybe go twice more before Christmas to get things we ran out of or maybe forgot.  That totally didn't work, we were at the store every single day and even had to send Royal to the store on Christmas Eve! A total no-no!  He said there was a line going into the store's parking lot AND there were no shopping carts left.  Really glad I didn't go.... :) 

My mom and I (mostly my mom!) made peanut brittle, and almond roca, and sugar cookies, and shortbread cookies, and blackberry pies and lots of breakfasts and lunches and dinners!  I got to go to the gym and hot yoga at a time other than 6am since I had a babysitter here, that was fantastic!   We had small group and I had choir practice and we did crafts with the kids and we went to Illuminations at Botanica, and we went on another horse drawn carriage ride and looked at more Christmas lights.  It just seemed like we were busy every night.  I know I felt exhausted!  And it also seems like I hardly took any pictures, I'm not sure what the deal is, other than sometimes it's nice to not be packing a camera with me everywhere we go, but then I'm so bummed that I don't have pictures of things that we did.  I have a horrible memory, so all the pictures really help me remember all the things we've crammed in!

Christmas Eve, we got up and my mom and I started cooking right away.  We did breakfast for the kids and then we made our Christmas Eve feast!  I had to be at the church at 2:30 for the choir, so we were trying to get most of the cooking in before then, but it was a really good thing my mom was here to finish up.  We made loaves of bread, bread sticks, clam chowder, potato soup, spinach salad, a blackberry pie, and the breakfast casserole for Christmas morning.  Then also some macaroni and cheese and chicken sausages for lunch and all the other snacks and foods the kids were begging for.   Our church's Christmas Eve service was so good and the kids looked so cute!  My mom said she even got Willow in her outfit and her hair done without a struggle!  I obviously need her to dress Willow more often!

When we got home from church we tried to do a family picture with us all dressed up.  This was about all we were gonna get....

Then we ate dinner and the kids opened up our Christmas pajamas!

And Jayden insisted on wearing Royals...

And Willow insisted that my boots were part of hers...

Then we finally got the kids tucked into bed and Willow crashed hard, but Jayden was just too excited and couldn't sleep and couldn't stay in his bed.  So he sat on the couch with me and we watched yet another Christmas movie, and then he helped me stuff Royal's and my mom's stockings (He doesn't believe in Santa, so don't go getting your panties in a twist), and then finally we convinced him to go sleep down in Nana's bed, but even then he had to have Nana down there for him to stay in bed, and he laid down there and talked forever.
 
Here are the kid's stockings. I think my favorite thing about buying stuff for the stockings are finding the stocking toppers.  Thank goodness I knit these stockings because that means they stretch!

Christmas morning didn't come too early this year!  I heard Jayden talking in Nana's room around 7, but Willow didn't get up until closer to 8, so we had time to get the casserole in the oven and let Jayden go through his stocking before the utter chaos of trying to prevent 2 kids from ripping the wrapping off of everything they see started.  It was fun and the kids were really excited and they got some great stuff! 
It was a nice enough day too that we got to go outside and try out some of the kid's new toys.  Jayden got a skateboard that he's been begging for - a Darth Vader skateboard - Star Wars and a skateboard all rolled in to one = Awesome!  And thankfully he didn't fight me when I told him he pretty much had to wear full body armor to ride the thing.  :)

Willow got a Rapunzel doll with really long hair to brush and play with that she loves.  But she also got her first pair of jeans!  She hasn't been able to wear jeans because cloth diapers are too bulky and girl's jeans are just too tight.  But now that she's wearing undies, regular jeans fit!

And then my mom and I spent a few more hours in the kitchen concocting Jesus' birthday cake.  Jayden told me he did not want just a regular cake, "cake is gross mom".  So, we got a little creative.  We made ice cream bowls out of cookie dough, and then put in a scoop of ice cream, and topped it with an oreo cake ball (that we ended up cutting in half because we made them so big).  It. Was. Delicious!

It was a great Christmas! 

It's always a little bit of a let down for me when we stay here in Kansas for Christmas because my Christmas' were always filled with tons of family and parties and staying up super late and getting up super early and more food and more family and more chaos.  But with the slow disintegration of my family over the past few years (my brother's death and my parents recent divorce) going home for Christmas wouldn't of felt right either.  How do you do Christmas now split between two parents homes and still have that feeling of chaos and family and too much togetherness?  Well, we didn't have to figure it out this year, we were split across the country and we got to spend it with my mom.  And really now my focus is on making it feel exciting and full and fun for my kids.  My Christmas' won't ever be the same, but theirs are just starting and they don't know anything outside of what I get to create for and with them.  And from what they said and how they were acting the past couple of days, they had a great Christmas.

And it really was a great Christmas!  Happy Birthday Jesus!