Christmas Highlights

We had a fun, busy holiday season. We hope yours was as fun as ours. Much thanks for the grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and cousins who kept us going and kept us full of love and the holiday spirit!

We spent Christmas Eve with Alan's side of the family, following tradition that was established many years before I came along. One thing we do is play "chimes", which are pipes cut so they (in theory) play the proper note when they are (theoretically) hit with a knife handle at the proper time. Each pipe has a number, and our parents have carefully charted out several Christmas songs. With so many kids in the next generation, we've learned how the parents must've felt when the cousins were all small; it is truly noisy and mostly indecipherable, but it's a tradition we continue.

Mason was focused on the toy dinosaurs, in keeping with this new favorite theme of his. When not playing "Rudy" (the T-Rex in Ice Age 3), he was busy playing trucks and trains with the other boys; it was a little bit of boy heaven for him to have kids his own age and gender around.

Claire enjoyed being one center of attention and hammed it up for most of the night. I actually got to eat a meal with two hands. Thanks, Erika!

Alan's brother's girlfriend, Leah, made a beautiful and yummy red velvet cake that put the dessert I brought to shame. It was so fancy, and I'm sure it took so much work!

We spent Christmas morning solo at our house, just the four of us, and then headed over to my parents. Again, this was following tradition. Without all the hustle and bustle of 12 kids ages 6 and under, it was much more relaxed and a whole different kind of fun. Claire didn't get it (we knew she wouldn't), but I think in the long run she will like her toys and she already loves her books. As can be seen above, her very favorite thing is snuggling with Grandma. This was not in conjunction with a nap; it's just how they are together. It's so cute!

I bought Mason a 100-piece puzzle. There is nothing between the chunky toddler puzzles and the ages 5+ puzzles, at least not at Toys R Us. So I bought the big one knowing that his smaller ones have become routine and also that I would have to help him. We put it together as one of the first things, and I was once again shocked by how smart this kid is, and he even stayed focused long enough to finish it. His other present from Mom and Dad was "Hungry Hungry Hippos", which we have already devoted several hours of our lives to. Santa brought him a red scooter. He's ridden it a bit, but I think he'll enjoy it more when the weather warms up a little.

I could go on and on about the two days of exhausting excitement, but I won't because I know we're all in the same boat. I also have a squeaky little girl telling me to come get her out of bed. Hope your holidays were merry and bright and all that and hope you are all looking forward to the year ahead the way we are.