Brian's parents came to celebrate with us on Christmas Eve. The girls opened their gifts and then we had a late lunch/early dinner together. I made ham (which I don't eat), asparagus (yuck), green bean casserole and potatoes. Basically I had veggies for dinner. Brian doesn't get ham or asparagus very often, so I figured,
"Eh - it's Christmas. I'll make some of his favorites for dinner".
The Henrys
The rule at our house is, if you want to see us on Christmas, you have to come to us. We don't travel. I am not dragging my kids anywhere after giving them a bunch of really cool new toys. Cuz, that's just cruel.
And from 6 pm on Christmas Eve to at least noon on Christmas Day, the rule is:
"No one in, no one out"
Those few hours of Christmas are ours alone. It's the best part of the holiday.
Our new personalized holiday cups!
Brian and I had coffee and the girls had hot chocolate in them.
Sydney started feeling yucky on Christmas Eve.
Sydney started feeling yucky on Christmas Eve.
Poor thing was sick the whole time (and still is). She was such a trooper though.
Christmas Jammies!
Christmas Jammies!
I always buy new jammies for them. They are allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve. When I handed them both their Christmas Eve gifts, Liv looked at the wrapped box and said
"Oh. Right. Our Christmas Jammies"
So much for tradition! Sheesh!
And then we had to lay out the cookies and milk for Santa on the special Santa dishes.
And who can forget the reindeer?
Liv wanted the carrots in the shape of a tree..
It's a little.... strange looking, but whatever.
And she thought the reindeer might like some ranch dressing to go with them. I told her I wasn't too sure Santa would let them eat the ranch dressing, since it might give the reindeer gas and he'd be sitting behind them all night long, but she insisted.
And she made it in the shape of a snowman.
We laid them on the hearth and the girls went to bed. The girls sleep together every Christmas Eve and after the standard warning not to go downstairs until they woke us up in the morning, they were off to dreamland.
Forget sugarplums - they were dreaming of expensive electronics and unattainable items.
Like horses.
And cellphones.
Yeah - RIGHT!!
And then it was time to get down to business.
Santa left a note, of course...
....and the presents were loaded in.
The stockings were stuffed and hung back up -
in the wrong order as Liv pointed out in the morning.
Jeez Santa, get your act together!
(In Santa's defense, it was late, Santa had a few drinks and hadn't really eaten anything of substance in a few hours - except vegetables)
Ahhhhhh.....my favorite part of the evening. Snuggling with my honey and looking at the tree.....
Tulips Brian brought to me on Christmas Eve.
And, quite possibly, the first flowers he's given me in years.
Chauncey trying to figure out what the hell is going on in his house!
I woke at about 6 a.m., heard nothing and rolled back over.
I woke again at 7 a.m. to a little face with dark hair and blue eyes next to me.
"Merry Christmas Mommy!!!"
The girls woke up at 6:15, but Liv told Sydney that it was too early to wake us up, so they snuggled back down in bed and read books until Liv made the executive decision that 7 a.m. was a more appropriate time to wake us up.
I have the best kids in the world.
Liv's first words as she walked downstairs and saw all the presents?
Liv's first words as she walked downstairs and saw all the presents?
"Whoa - We're gonna need a bigger tree!"
(can you hear the "DUN-DUN-DUN-DUN" in the background? Quite possibly my favorite line in any movie EVER)
And the chaos begins!!
The girls each got their own video cameras. (Toys R Us online on Thanksgiving Day - quite possibly the best day to purchase anything. You wouldn't believe how discounted these were - which is why I got two of them)
Santa left the family a Wii (Santa is THE MAN!), and the girls got about a bazillion crafts to keep them busy for the next ten days while they are home from school.
Liv announced to all of us that clearly Mommy wrote all the tags on the gifts, since the handwriting looked strangely similar to mine.
Case in point? Both Santa and I write the letter "S" the same way.
DAMN!
We quickly distracted her with a pretty package so Sydney didn't figure out what she was saying.....
After the girls played for awhile, we all put on our slippers and trekked down the hill to Mimi and Poppy's.
If at all possible - the girls walked away with twice as much from their house.
The favorite gifts of the year?
The pooping, peeing, talking baby doll for Sydney.
Say it with me now "LOVELY!"
And now I have another mouth to feed since I do believe they stuffed that baby so full of food just to watch it come back out the other side, that I will have to go get some more!
A sewing machine for Olivia with a sewing kit full of scissors, thread and material.
Um, I have no idea how sewing machines work ...
(I don't even sew buttons -seriously)
But, Mimi has promised to show her how to use it.
A robot from Bunkabee - quite possibly the coolest thing ever.
Mom got the mother of all karaoke machines...
Liv showing off her nail art.
And Sydney - who pooped out at about 1:00. And slept, ran a fever, coughed, slept, etc....
Olivia - kicking butt at bowling on the Wii. And she's a boxing champion. She beat her dad, Brandon, Poppy and me. Several times. She said her arms are tired today! She was amazing though. None of us could bring her down!
Oh yes, I hosted Christmas dinner.
Our Christmas tree - it has our name on it and the jewels are all of our birthstones.
Mom and dad got me a new digital camera!!! It's very little and takes fantastic pictures - I played with it all day. I love my Rebel, but is it portable? Not so much.....this one fits in the palm of my hand - Woo hoo!!!
Here I am at about 2:00, getting everything ready for dinner at 5:00. Don't I look perky?
Heh heh - Just wait....
Here we are goofing with the new camera. Love it!!
And now I'm getting tired.....
And Sydney's fading fast.....
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Liv making goofy faces.
Sydney & I trying to outdo her.
Dinner is served! The Menu?
Beef Tenderloin with herbed horseradish sauce
Fresh Asparagus
Spinach Casserole
Sweet Potato Souflee
Homemade Baked Macaroni
Mussels in a white wine and garlic sauce
Steamed Clams
Chocolate Mousse Pie
Homemade Peanut Butter Pie
Aunt Mil, Mom, Olivia, Brian, Sydney, Brandon and Dad
After dinner, we all went realxed in the family room, drinking wine, playing Wii and checking out all the toys.
Bradon playing with the robot he got for "the girls". Ahem.
It dances, talks, walks, picks things up - it's super cool!
Still playing with the robot.
And now it's headed my way, beeping, whistling and dancing all the way!
The ladies - playing cards....
Forgive all the strange lighting - I was trying out all the different functions of the camera. I must have played with it for hours. I'm such a geek.
And here I am at about 11:00 p.m., after cleaning up the kitchen for the ten thousandth time. I have completely given up on my hair at this point and my makeup has long since been rubbed off my eyes and face. I'm so tired I can barely see straight!
Nah - it wasn't that bad. I love this stuff!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
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