Sunday, January 3, 2010

Holiday Hoop-la

While the rest of my friends have caught up on their holiday blogging, I have yet to do so. This year seemed to have left me more haggard than last, and I have a feeling that as the years continue, the more haggard I will get.

We kicked off the holiday festivities on Christmas Eve day, when Nana arrived to bake cookies with us for Santa. Luke, Nana and Gavin had a grand time rolling, icing and decorating festive treats for the man in red.


Then we ordered Chinese food, had a neighbor stop by with even MORE treats, and prepared for the evening. Luke and Gavin got into their pj's, got their stockings hung and put cookies out for Santa. I was a bad mom and forgot to buy carrots for the reindeer—oops. But the kids didn't know the difference anyway.



Getting the kids to sit for a picture was next to impossible. This is the best I could get. It was like taking the holiday photo all over again…GRRR.

Twas the Night Before Christmas was read and the kids were nestled and snug in their beds. Sometime in the night, Santa paid us a visit and left wonderful things for the boys to enjoy, including a kitchen, trains and many, MANY trucks—in all sizes.




As you can see, the trains were the biggest hit, and all the boys wanted to do was play with them. They could have cared less about all the other stuff under the tree. I had to coax them to open up their other gifts.

We eventually got through all the stuff, and then Mom and I prepared to make our traditional Christmas morning breakfast, while Mike played with the boys and their new toys. This is the same breakfast MY Nana made every year on Chirstmas morning; Fried dough, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs and fruit. mmm, mmm good. Gavin seemed to enjoy breakfast very much, and Luke ate nothing, as usual. (I think I made him a eggo waffle). Then mom was off to my brother's house to catch him before he had to go to work and see her other grandchildren. The boys went down for early naps and Mike and I got everything together to go to my Uncle's house for dinner. The Boys were up by 2:15, so we packed them into the car and off we went. We got there a little after 3pm, and I new I was going to have my hands full with Gavin. Their house isn't exactly "child proof" and Gavin is curious to say the least. We had a nice dinner, the works, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, corn, squash, cranberry sauce etc. Plus more dessert then a bakery. The perks of having a cousin learning to be a pastry chef at CIA.

All my aunts cousins were there from out of town, and it had been years since I had seen many of them, so it was great to catch up. We left the party around 7pm, and Gavin passed out in the car. Luke stayed awake the whole way home, how I have no idea, I was exhausted.

The next day, we got to do it all over again. The kids were happy to play with all their new toys, so I was able to hustle and bustle to get the house together and dinner cooked for the whole family. Since George had to work Christmas eve and Christmas day, we didn't get to see him and his family. So I had everyone at the house to celebrate and exchange gifts. We had a simple dinner of baked ziti, salad, meatballs and rolls. Plus my Aunt and Uncle brought all the left over desserts from the day before. Talk about being "stuffed". After dinner he exchanged gifts.

The boys got matching Ambulances—with lights—and sirens. Thanks George. I needed more stuff in this house that requires batteries and makes noise. But the boys loved them, and Luke slept with his that night.



Everyone left around 7pm, boys were in bed by 7:15, and I was in bed by 8:30. I was so exhausted.


The next day, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle taking down the Christmas decorations. I usually leave stuff up until after new years, but I was tired of the boys liberating all the ornaments from the tree. No matter what I did or said, they continued to remove Christmas ornaments. My patience was tissue paper thin, so in the best interest of everyone's well being, I thought it best to get everything put away.

The morning went well. The boys were too occupied with all their stuff to notice that I was busy packing stuff away; stockings, garlands, lights etc. I would tackle the tree during nap time. Well, Gavin woke up shortly after I got Luke down for his nap, so I only got the ornaments off the tree. The boys didn't pay much attention to the tree now that all the ornaments were down, so I figured I would leave it up with just the lights until after new years. Well, that when right out the window 2 days later. I was making dinner. The TV was on, but it was still unusually quiet. Luke gets engrossed, and won't make a peep, but Gavin could care less, so I can usually hear "what" he is doing. So when I hear NOTHING, I know they are up to NO GOOD. I poke my head around the corner, and see this




And this


Luke is yanking down the lights and gavin is chewing on them.
The tree came down that night. I had all the "Christmas" I could handle—'til next year. Can I sleep for a week now?


Oh yeah and Happy New Year everyone.

1 comment:

JJP said...

This is my FAVORITE post EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xoxoxo