More Christmas

So many things to do for Christmas! We really whiddled it down this year, and yet, we still had a long list of things to accomplish.

 Santa's snack.Check. Reindeer snack in the backyard. Check.

 Note for Santa. Check

 Stocking shot, despite the fact that H's was not sewn completely. Check.

 Daddy gets a picture of his girls. Check.

 T'was The Night Before Christmas. Check.

On Christmas morning, we gathered on our bed to ooh and ahh over our stockings. Then A and I went downstairs to start breakfast as the kids gathered at the top of the stairs, awaiting our cue to come down. O and W didn't listen. They walked right into the living room seeing everything. It wasn't very climactic.

Thanks to everyone who shared Chistmas with our kids. We received some very thoughtful gifts.

 Santa left the boys bikes!

 The Talent Show tent is awesome.

 The disco ball is perfect.

Oooooo!

Sweet Baby's first Christmas.

Rocket Launching. Yes, it is Christmas time and O is wearing his floatie suit and crocs. He didn't forget his hat!

Roller Skates. She fell with grace every single time.

 At Grandma and Pa's house the kids put on a show, of course.

We all gathered outside to watch the light show. Watch out for the flying wands!

 

 If you look in the background, you'll see O in the floatie suit, yet again. You can just make out his bare legs and coat.

This girl really gets into character. I love her creativity.

Christmas Season

Well, since things were a little crazy after having Baby H, our Christmas was really simple. No sewing, no baking, no new Christmas pj's, and hardly any decorations. We, as in A and E, did venture out to bring home a tree. We were unable to make it to the mountains...again, but our tree from the local Lowes served us just nicely. We didn't put too many decorations on it. The kids added their ornaments from school and depending on the time of day, we may have all of our lights working. Yes...W loved the lights and constantly plugged and unplugged them or he just went ahead and unscrewed the lights from their strand.

 E organized her "Manager Show" which told us the story of Christ's birth. Joseph is trying to keep little man away from baby Jesus.

Mary and baby Jesus

Two of the three wisemen

Baby Jesus under the star of Bethlehem

The boys had a Christmas program at their playschool, which was a presentation of several songs they had learned. Although I was post baby (aka walking zombie), I really wanted to see the boys sing their songs. The flyer said "wear red and green". I could handle that. I'll throw on a red or green shirt and they're good to go. But as our family approached the doors to enter the church...it dawned on me like a big punch in the gut. It was a church program and everyone was dressed up nicely. Christmas duds, fancy jewels, strong perfume on elderly ladies. Were we dressed for the occasion? No. No. No. NO!! What was I thinking? That's the problem...I wasn't thinking. I couldn't think. I was wearing black drawstring pants and a long sleeve purple shirt that lovingly adorned  my newborn's spit up. Why didn't A catch this? Why didn't I catch this? So, how humiliating was it to not only walk into the crowded room, but make our way to the front- to the row of seats they were just now creating for us. I wanted to die. I was was literally trying to hide behind A. It was so embarrassing. But once the show started, I was engulfed with the sweetness and humor of young children singing.

W sang his heart out and loved the attention.

This was O.

Yip. THAT kid was my kid.

And then as the class was singing, he announced he needed a tissue...very loudly. The song continued and he finally got a tissue passed to him. He then left the stage in search of a trash can only to be sidetracked a moment later by a little boy playing with hot wheels. He sat down to play with him. I motioned for him to get back to the stage. Oh yeah, I'm singing...

The boys were great. They sang the majority of every song and remembered to follow their teacher's directions. Both boys love to sing. Despite the fact that they were casually dressed, they were shining stars who provided a bit of love and humor on what started out to be a humiliating night.