'Twas The Day After Christmas...

...and all through the house, presents were scattered, oh what a mess. It was the day after excitement, smiles, and meltdowns.....

Well, even though I'd been getting ready for Christmas since September, it still manages to sneak up on you. All the months of hype, buying, preparing, decorating, and then it's done. We did have a very nice Christmas this year though. I of course had to work, so didn't get to see the excitement on my kids faces when they first saw that tree Christmas morning, all full of presents. When I got home though, there was a definite level of excitement, because in my house, we have to wait for Mommy to come home to open presents, and for a two and four year old, staring at presents for 4hrs, and not being able to open them, takes a lot of self control.

Christmas Eve we spent the evening with my family. My sister Nikki got engaged, so that was exciting news! We went to church (our once a year), exchanged gifts, and got Chinese food for dinner. Too bad I have to work this weekend, my sister is only in town for a couple days, and I hardly got to spend any time with her.

We spent Christmas dinner at my Mimi's house. After dinner and presents, the kids got a surprise from a very special guest....yup, Santa made a surprise trip back to Mimi's house to visit the kids. Ryder, who had wanted absolutely nothing to do with Santa previously, was jumping with excitement. He gave Santa a big hug, and even let him hold him. The funniest part though, was when Santa gave Ryder a present with Santa wrapping paper, Ryder proceeded to point at the wrapping paper, them point at Santa excitedly saying "YOU, YOU!" The problem was that Ryder was forced to skip his nap, and boy did that come back to bite us in the end. After we got home, we opened a few presents, watched A Christmas Story for the last time, and then when we wanted to get Ryder's jammies on, the meltdown began. WOW, is all I can say. That little boy fought me and Jay so hard, I don't think I could have gotten his jammies on alone, nope, I would have probably lost the battle. Then he freaked out on the floor for several minutes before I attempted to put him in bed. He freaked out, threw a huge fit, yah, great was to end Christmas day. Hopefully he'll wake up this morning all refreshed...(please). I spent hours last night opening packages, cutting clips and twisties off presents, and now I am faced with a pile of new toys, that don't fit into my organizational scheme.

Tonight is the last day of our "three days of Christmas". We are going to my Dad's for dinner and gifts. Then it is all done...till next year. Christmas is such a wonderful time of year (despite the cold). While we make fond new joyus memories, it's makes you reflect on past Christmas memories, and though they are happy ones, it makes me think of how Dad would have loved to be a part of our celebration this year, I mean gee, he even looked like Santa, and had the holly jolly personality to go with it. Well, before I get all emotional...

MERRY CHRISTMAS.

YIKES!!

Well Christmas is fast approaching. There is so much snow on the ground, we have no choice but to have a White Christmas. I told Sage that tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and her response was, "Yikes!...I better start trying REALLY hard to be good!".

Our "three days of Christmas" starts tomorrow, I'm excited!

Let it Snow!

Well today was our first snow storm of the season, (though Winter has not officially began yet). Sage's school was closed, along with every school in the area. So we stayed in, baked cookies, and stayed warm by the fire. Sage did insist in going out in the snow to make snow angels (Ryder and I stayed inside). The kids sure do love the snow. I would too, but it's just so darn cold! I think the weather said we got 8", not bad for one day.Our Christmas party was last weekend. It all went well despite sickness that refused to go away. Poor Ryder was sick for over a week, and Sage couldn't even keep down water and missed a couple days of school. The kids were all better by the party though, and it was a real fun time. I had all my 11 kinds of cookies done, and made my assortment of pizzas. I did though have to work the next day, and despite getting 3hrs of sleep, I functioned quite well.


The kids have been good. Ryder has been my shopping buddy. I've been Christmas shopping while Sage is at school, and that means Ryder has been my sidekick. Sage has been busy making snowflake ornaments for all her friends and teachers at school. She finally finished them all, and was planning on bringing them in today, but I guess that will have to wait until Monday. Yesterday for snack she brought in reindeer cookies. She was so proud of them. Last week she went to a Senior Home and sang with her class to the seniors. It was SO cute, and of course I forgot my camera...(argh).

Well, the countdown to Christmas has began, less than a week....yeah!

'Tis The Season

Well, the tree is up, the presents are bought, the cards are sent, and the cookies are almost done being baked. As much as I hate the cold weather, I do enjoy Christmas. Now that I have kids, Christmas has regained some of the magic that it lost as I grew up. Ryder loves the tree, and wants it lit all the time. (even though there is a lack of ornaments on the tree because of him). Sage is still figuring out the whole "Santa" thing, she understands most of it. Ryder is still clueless, he saw a Santa Claus decoration and proceeded to call it a "Monster". The kids went to see Santa and his raindeer the other day with Jay (I had to work). Sage had been practicing what to tell him, and decided to tell him "Dolls". He asked if there was anything else, which caught her offguard, so he told her he'd bring her suprises, which she is thrilled about. Ryder refused to let Santa (Monster) touch him. He did love the Raindeer (Doggies, as he called them).

It's wonderful to see Christmas through my children's eyes, you can't help but get that warm fuzzy feeling that brings a smile to your face.