Christmas Fun!

As usual, I am way behind on my blogs. I had a list of things I wanted to blog about, but I am going to have to compress it a bit.

First, Luke had a Christmas program at school. He did great! They sang for 15 minutes. His teachers somehow managed to get his 3 year old class to learn something like 20 songs. It was impressive and adorable! We are so thrilled with his preschool.

Thomas and I were fortunate enough to get invited back to the Darrow's Annual Christmas bash. We had a great time. Somehow Thomas won the "find a chocolate chip in the snowball cookie prize" again. I legit think he has won that thing for 4 or so years running. It used to be because he ate so many (they're his favorite), but the past two years, he's just gotten lucky and they've been in one of the two cookies he's chosen. He and Alecia must think alike. We chatted, ate, played games, and then did the white elephant exchange. We got a new Star Shower (which is much better than the version we bought a couple of years ago) and a Newton's Cradle, which is proudly displayed on my desk. A good time was had by all!

Thomas has wanted to go to Mount Vernon on Christmas Day for many years. However, we are worried about a massive revolt from the kids if we ask them to postpone the enjoyment of their new toys. So, this year we went on Christmas Eve. We got there around 9:30 and toured the house, let the kids play on the ha ha wall, paid our respects at the tomb and then looked at the animals. By then, it was lunch time. We ate at the food court, then headed to the education center. We really wanted to see the new 4D movie, but it was getting late and we still had a lot to do at home (all I can think of now is bake Santa's cookies, but I feel like we had a considerable list). So, we left around 1. During this time, we were negotiating the purchase of our new puppy. He will definitely get his own blog, but it was by far the biggest on-the-fly decision we've ever made. And, for future reference, I will never again make such a big decision without at least sleeping 1 night on it. The crowd was fairly light and we had a good visit. We hadn't toured the house in a while, so that was nice. I feel like I learn something new everytime we go. It is also amazing how much of the stuff in the house is original. For example, in the dining room, you get to stand on the same floor the General and his guests stood on, while looking at paintings he personally chose and viewing actual chairs he sat in. How cool is that?!?!?!

Luke wouldn't be in the picture, but Kolten came with us and was happy to pose. I wish they'd stood closer together, I love this picture.

We got home around 2:30 and decided it was too late to make our big Christmas dinner. We had something quick and easy instead. We baked two types of cookies, wrapped presents and cleaned in preparation of the Christmas mess. The kids put out the reindeer feed from school and opened their traditional present of matching pajamas. Thomas read "It was the Nigh Before Christmas" and the kids were all in bed at their usual time. It was a nice, but busy day.

Everyone loves to roll out the dough!

Not a creature was stirring...

We put out the rest of our presents (way too many!) and went to bed around 9:30. Only Anna was alseep. We had told them they could wake us up at 6:30. Of course, I was too excited to sleep much. I woke up at 3, 4, 5 and finally got up for the day at 6 and was showered and ready when the kids came in. Jack said he had woken at 5:15, Kara at 5:45 and Anna and Luke right around 6:30.

I love that moment when the kids see the plethora of presents waiting for them. I know Christmas is not about gifts, but it's still pretty fun. And, my excitement is always over what people will think of the gifts I lovingly chose. I was super excited to see the reactions of my beloved family. As tradition dictates, we emptied our stockings first. This year we tried something new and chose names randomly from a hat. We let that person choose a gift, open it, and then pick the next name. We did that for a couple of rounds, then moved on to our breakfast of cinnamon rolls. Then, we finished opening and moved on to the relaxing part of the day when everyone goes off to enjoy their gifts.

Favorite gift:
Thomas: Christmas truce box, an old newspaper, and a Nationals Jersey
Kara: her American girl Saige and her horse and accessories and the LPS cruise ship
Luke: "I like the chubby puppies. I like the pogo stick and the last thing is I like my Daniel Tiger karaoke machine"
Anna: McKenna and her gymnastics set, the JoJo book and the birdsongs book
Jack: his books, Mario Kart 8 and his Disney Infinity
Kori: a new watch, tickets to see Adam Corolla (I love an event and Thomas has even coordinated with the babysitter!), and my fun Lego sets (which, thanks to the puppy, I haven't been able to start).

Anna and her favorite gift

Jack

Kara

And, Luke, who showed great restraint while waiting for others to open their gifts (much to my and Thomas' surprise)

Part of the reason I like to write gifts out is to see how the kids tastes change. Also, because I know next year they probably won't be able to remember what they received. Then, it is nice to remind people of what they loved and also how irrelevant the stuff really is.

On December 26, Thomas and the girls drove many hours to pick up our puppy. Stay tuned for that exciting story! Also, Luke wanted to entice Santa back by leaving out more cookies last night, but we explained Santa needs to relax before he starts his prep for next Christmas. It is sad to see the holiday season come to an end. Of course, we still have our New Year's Eve cheese fondue to enjoy. But, I hate the lean months of winter once Christmas passes.

One last thing to add--Luke has been a huge fan of the song Silent Night this year. He just loves it! He wants to sing it, sit in my lap while I sing it, listen to it on the radio, watch YouTube videos of various people singing it, talk about it. He is kind of obsessed and it has been pretty cute.

And, to end--my favorite Christmas picture.