Christmas Recap

Well... it's only a week and half later and I'm just getting to writing about Christmas.  But the timing isn't what's important.  What is important is that I'm writing it down, whether it's a day after, a week after or a month after.  I'm pretty sure that if I actually waited a month I'd forget everything that happened.  So here it is.  My Christmas blog.  Oh yeah, and a little Wisconsin trip thrown in too.  Cause I need to get caught up on my blogging.

Nana and Pop came to town to celebrate with us.  I think it made Christmas more fun having someone else here.  But since we have no other family in the area it was a pretty low-key Christmas.  Which was good.  Though there were times I missed the chaos of family gatherings.  And I definitely missed seeing all of my family.

We went to Christmas Eve mass and the kids were angels.  Kaelyn even got to go up to the alter with all the other kids and talk with the priest about angels during the homily.  Mr. B was a tad bit squirmy, but all things considered he did pretty good.  Thankfully we had extra hands to pass him around.  They were both even "squirmier" when we got home so I had a hard time getting a picture of both of them in their dress clothes by the tree.  This was the best I could do.

Santa was very good to everyone.  Especially a little princess.  We weren't thrilled about doing it, but since she had only been asking for a Rapunzel doll and the Disney Princess castle for two months straight, we gave Santa the go-ahead to bring her the castle.  (And the doll, but I don't mind that so much.)

 I do want her to learn that she can't always get everything she wants, but I wasn't ready for that lesson this year.  I don't think she was either.  Next year I think we'll have to talk about putting some more serious limits on Christmas gifts.  But for this year it was really fun to watch her come out Christmas morning and just stare at the castle.  It was like she couldn't quite believe it was actually there.  And for her.  I don't think she put the Rapunzel doll down for more than five seconds for the next five days.  And she was constantly brushing her hair.  Which was good.  Cause it truly does get tangled.  Thankfully not as bad as her wig though.  She also got some princess dress up clothes which she immediately put on and wore all day.  I had to make sure to tell her they were just for dress up in the house.  Or I'm sure she'd be wanting to wear them to school too. And the library. And the store. And everywhere.

And lest our youngest think he was neglected this year, here he is playing with his new dump truck loaded with some of his new blocks.  Yes, we like to gender stereotype in our house. (No, not really.  It just sort of worked out that way somehow.)

 
They both got plenty more than this, but I don't think anyone wants me to sit here and list it all.  Even if I could.  I actually had a hard time keeping track of everything as it was being opened.  And I'm not entirely sure where all the gifts came from.  So, if we happen to forget to thank anyone for something they gave please forgive me.

Here's one more of B chewing on some new play food the kids got.  I was playing with my new toy.  Throw it up for a new camera (ok, I know I'm a dork. you don't have to tell me).  I love how the lighting looks and how sharp it is.  Now I must figure out how to get this quality every time I take a picture. Oh, and I should probably work on my composition skills too.  But at least I can't blame the camera for bad pictures any more.  (Now I'll just blame the lighting.)

And to cap off Christmas, after dinner we gave the kids a quick bath, put them in comfy pj's and drove around looking at the lights.  We even saw a house with a light display set to music on a local radio station. I think this is a tradition I'd really like to try to continue.

Since we missed the usual chaos of Christmas, we decided to head up to Wisconsin for a visit a few days later.  But that was actually pretty low-key too.  Which, again, was very nice.  It really felt like a good visit.  Probably because we weren't crazy busy and trying to pack 18 Christmas get-togethers into one day.

Ok, so Matt made fun of me when I took my camera out at the grocery store.  But the kids were looking extra cute and I really think the lighting in the store made for some of the better pictures of I've ever taken.

A lot of the visit revolved around eating.  (Hence the trip to the grocery store.)  It was just like camping.  Once we finished one meal we started talking about the next.

 As much as he didn't like whatever I was trying to feed him, someone should still tell the boy he doesn't need to eat the dog's toys. Especially right out of the dog's mouth.

Actually he did a lot of crying and chewing during the past two weeks. And he now has two new teeth to show for it.

We also played a lot of games while we were there.  Candy Land. Chutes and Ladders.  Hi-Ho Cherry-O.  Memory.  The classics. Somehow Kaelyn managed to get the Princess Lolly and Queen Frostie cards every time she played. And she usually won too. Hmm...

Here's an intense game of Candy Land between Kaelyn and Matt.

I was playing with the "art" features on my new camera.  I kinda like this grainy look.

And of course we had a dance party.  Unfortunately even with the new camera I wasn't good enough yet to get a good picture of all the dancing.

And what would December in Wisconsin be without a little snow.

Brrr! Why didn't that poor child's mother put a coat on him?!

I should have opened the blog with this sentiment, but at least I'll close with it.  We are truly blessed.  Not just by all the material things we have but by the love in our lives.  We are not rich by American standards and we often complain about what we don't have or wish we did have, but we have all that we need and more. In fact, there wasn't an empty spot under the tree this year. Our friends and most of all our family, make our lives rich and fill our lives with happiness.  To be able to wake up on Christmas morning with each other and our two a-mazing kids I wouldn't trade for all the toys in the world.  Unfortunately my brain has run out of the right words to adequately express my heart and how lucky I think we are.  Maybe I'll tackle the topic in a future post.

Ok. Longest post ever.  Peace out.  And Happy New Year!