Adventures in the 'Burgh: Merry Christmas PART I

Wow, do I have so much to say that there really must be a part I and a part II? It's not the words, it's the pictures people. I have finally dusted off my camera and put it back into action.

We had a wonderful visit with the parents over the past 10 days. Although I spoke a little too soon on everyone being healthy. Nana got the flu and she was down and out for two days. She had to miss the Nutcracker, which was a real bummer since we'd been so looking forward to it. Dayven went in her place. The kids had a ball. It was at a fun old theatre downtown in the cultural district in a beautiful old building with big gilded molding and crystal chandeliers. It was a real treat to get dressed up and take part in such a grown up activity as going to the theatre. Wyatt loves the Nutcracker and knows the story and entire soundtrack by heart. He was riveted during the performance. Hadley tried her best but she was a little fidgety and full of questions - "Why is the Rat King dancing instead of fighting?" Still it was a great time, the kids loved it and they were so tired afterward, they were zonked out in back before we even left the parking lot.

It's become our annual tradition to make cookies for Santa. We donned our aprons and started the process, with Wyatt rolling the dough and Hadley intermittently flinging sprinkles around the room and into her mouth. Don't let the sweet photos fool you. There was a lot of finger licking and raw dough eating, despite my warnings. It was a disasterous mess but everyone had fun and the cookies were delish.

Christmas eve, there was so much excitement at our house and probably every house with young kids. This has to be the most fun time to celebrate Christmas. They still really believe in the magic of it all, which makes it so fun. We were checking the NORAD website for regular updates on Santa's progress to see where he was. That night, I wasn't sure I'd get them in bed, but the threat of Santa skipping our house did the trick. We left out the milk and cookies and Hadley insisted on putting out "reindeer food" that she had heard about at school. It's oats, with glitter in it that shines in the moonlight so they see it. Very fancy. She very ceremoniously dumped it in a big pile right in front of the stoop. I swept it up (ahem), I mean the reindeer ate it later. We locked the baby gate at the top of the stairs (since no one can figure out how to open it) to ensure no one caught Santa in the act of filling stockings and setting up presents. Once the loot was set up, we sat in front of the fire and sipped our drinks.

Come and get it, Reindeer!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Dayven enjoying a glass of whiskey after the loot is out...

Christmas morning the kidlets were up bright and early. Poor Wyatt actually woke at 3am and came in our room, telling us he wanted to go down and check if Santa came. He cried when we made him go back to bed. Both kids came running in our room when their clocks turned green at 6:30am though so we headed down to open stockings. We managed to hold them off on presents until Nana and Poppy got downstairs. They were really happy with all their gifts and I was glad we decided to go light again this year. Despite my last minute panic that maybe we didn't get enough, everyone seemed happy and each got a couple of items they had requested - new craft/coloring supplies and a scooter for Hadley and Nintendo 3DS and Skylander for Wyatt. By 8am, the family room was a mess of wrapping paper, bows and toys. Tate got a few things too (some used toys from the storage bins downstairs - poor third child!) but he wasn't very interested anyway. The wrapping paper however... I was pleased that the kids didn't tear through the gifts and seemed to enjoy each one. Hadley was so sweet, helping Tate open his gifts and his stocking too. We enjoyed our traditional breakfast of chocolates, eggs, bacon and mimosas. It was the perfect day, just relaxing and enjoying being together. Everyone had fun playing with their new gifts. Poor Wyatt had to fight to get his Nintendo back from Dayven, who was bogarting it. Hadley got a Candy Land game, which I hadn't played in probably 30 years, but it was so fun and she loved it too so we played over and over. We did puzzles, listened to Christmas carols and ate our way through the day. We had prime rib for Christmas dinner. We decided to drag grandma's china up from the basement and use it, which was fun. The kids got such a kick out of drinking out of the "fancy cups", they now request them every day. All in all, it was a wonderful first Christmas in our new home and we're looking forward to building many more traditions here.