Christmas 2012

Perhaps I should sadly start out where this day ended up, right now the house is spotless clean, I have a clean and no more do we have a Christmas Tree.  85% of the Christmas Decorations inside the house are put away, and a toddler went to bed with a rather serious gash on his head, while a preschooler went to bed an hour and a half early for putting said gash there.  It would sound like it was a rough day, and we want it all to be over - but that is not the case.  I miss Christmas already.

Tomorrow the Joel's get to have fun while I have to go to work, I am bummed about this but it will be nice to get some stuff done in the office.  With this, and with lots of company coming over for New Years next week, I thought it might be time to get as organized as possible so after our company left today we motored through and did.

We had a wonderful Christmas.  I made an epic vegetable lasagna, and meat lasagna (for those who like meat for their veggies) for Christmas Eve.  We played cards, A Christmas Story was on in the background, it was lovely.  In my family you get a tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve and this year I wanted it to be there fantastic PJs - months ago I got them a set of Mickey PJs with their names on it, that match one of my own that says Mommy (mine was a size 2X which was happily way, way too big) - and a family friend also made a set with Mickey on it as well, so it was a Mickey PJ Christmas for sure.  When I told Joel Andrew he would be opening a bag for Christmas Eve, he looked in and said immediately: "those are PJs, where is my present?"

The day before Christmas Eve was also exciting for us - we went to Pease Greet the troops coming home from Afganistan.  You cheer them on as they come of the plane.  Sadly, customs was not there on time and so we all waited (least of the worry was me with my two boys, imagine the poor troops) an hour and 15 minutes until they finally let them off.  Because of this the ceremony where they hoist the flag and everyone sings the National Anthem was cut - but it was still nice.  That night we had the neighbors over for some drinks as well, all very holiday-festive.  A nice chance to show off all of our decorations!

Fast forward us back to Christmas, and it was a lovely day.  As with most children, Joel Andrew slept a little later this day ironically.  We all waited to see the reaction as they came down the stairs, and it was nice.  James Morris got a huge soccer ball for Christmas, which fits him nicely.  He loved all of his gifts - but we really all nailed him this year because he received many, many balls in different forms and carried and threw them all around the house all morning and day long.  The soccer ball was a real hit, but now where do we put it?  The biggest hit with him were the work boots Uncle Jeremy got him, he wore them all morning long.

Joel Andrew got about three pirate ships, which were awesome - and all day he had them set up in the TV room and was playing battleship almost.  He refused to open any more presents and just played with his pirate ships, which was fine with us as we had some adult present opening time.  In fact, Joel Andrew still has a present or two to open.

It was a long day filled with a fantastic dinner and lots of fun conversation and new things to play with. Joel Andrew pretty much losgt it after four days in a row of being social, being with tons of friends and family, going to bed late, no naps, etc - and that is why I think he hit his brother.  He seems to be hyper sensitive to anyone paying more attention to James lately.  Luckily, (or unluckily?) - James does not fight back yet.

So, there it is, Christmas 2012.  The year I was going to get my boys the best present ever - Disney Vacation Club, but did not.  The year we had three trees, two train sets, and Mommy spent over $500 on outdoor decorations.  The year I decorated like a combination of Martha Stewart and Clark Griswold is gone.  Good times were had, now some weight needs to seriously be lost so I can fit into my clothes again!  Merry Christmas all!

Cookie Decorating

Tonight we decorated cookies, and it was awesome.  James Morris sat and ate about 12,000 mini peanut butter cups, while Joel Andrew and I made mini-reindeer cookies.  Good times were had by all.

Decorating, Grumpy Style

Joelly and I finished Christmas decorating tonight, and it was awesome.  We have three trees, two train sets, and 16 bears.  Countless ornaments, and many annoyingly singing stuffed animals.  I would say 96% of our holiday items are out.  We did not put out the manger or a few select stuffed animals, or a few ornaments, because well - enough is enough.  But it is the best year yet for the Williams for holiday decorations.

Anyway, tonight we put out the final touches, which included the Christmas bears.  Grumpy each year has bought me a Christmas bear from Harrods - starting 16 years ago, the days he would travel to London for work annually.  When he stopped traveling to London for work, I made it clear that he still needed to get me the bears, and he does.  When they came over Thanksgiving, he handed me a box and told me that there is a guy in there who may need to come out sooner for some air.  Awesome Grumpy!

So, tonight we got all of the bears out of the attic and one by one Joel Andrew walked them down to the stairs and lined them up.  "There are many bears, Mommy."  Yes, there are.  "Each one has a buddy Mommy."  And he lined them up, on ten stairs, one next to the other, until there were three bears left on stairs without buddies.  "Mommy, we need to tell Santa to bring us three more bears."

So, I told him that Grumpy gives the bears to Mommy every Christmas, and there was a package from Grumpy we should open.  So, Joel Andrew opened our first Christmas gift tonight (don't tell Moosey the Elf) and was thrilled to see another bear which he immediately hugged and kissed and gave over to a buddy on a step with only one bear.

Now we need two more Mommy.  (math genius!).  You can tell he is just like his Mommy though, because when I explained to him that we just have to wait two more years he exclaimed: "now, they need their buddies now."  I guess tomorrow I will put the two lone bears on the same step, leaving one step bare (no pun intended) and see how that flies with the little guy instead.

We set up the big train to go around underneath the Christmas tree, and watched the little train in the corner of the living room while all the trees were lit.  I am very much looking forward to this holiday with my family.  Thank you Grumpy for helping to make it so special!

Yoga

James likes yoga.  On a lazy weekend morning he and I were the only ones awake and were snuggling in my bed, and watching some Mickey.  He grabbed the remote, and changed the channel, and what would come on, but yoga?  It is kinda creepy just to watch three ladies in spandex doing all these weird moves, but there we were.  He wouldn't let me get the remote away from him he loved it so much until finally I realized how much he loved it.  He had lied down, and put one leg up - just like the women on the TV.  Funny little guy this man baby is!

Getting Festive

We have been out and about lately in the name of the holidays.  Last weekend we went with the McKrensky-Hardings and the Muench Clan to pick out a Christmas tree.  We were going to go to the tree farm where you find one, cut it and lug it to your car, but at the last minute we thought this was too much and went to the town square instead and bought our trees from the fire fighters.  WE lugged them home, and put ours up and then proceeded to eat and eat and drink and drink while the baby napped, the toddlers played and the pre-teens also watched the game.  It was a good time.

This weekend the Solsos and the Kings and the Williams all went on our annual trip to Charmingfare Farm to see Santa.  This place is slightly creepy and totally awesome.  It was raining, so we did not get the cool hayride to Santa's home, and instead just walked over the barn where we saw Santa and all of his pals.  Mrs. Claus hands out cookies, but then there are all sorts of characters who also greet you including the grinch, a giant cookie, frosty, rudolph, and a few others who I am not sure what they are. Watching all of them wave at you is creepy - no wonder why half the kiddos cried their eyes out!  But, only just for a second, and then they were happy again.  James especially loved his Christmas cookie.  I believe we even got one photo of everyone together.

Our house is decorated in full Christmas force this year.  We have three trees up, the real one is over 10 feet tall and almost every single last Christmas decoration is out.  This is all a miracle, and just goes to show you how little time I have been spending with my children.  Last week, for work, I literally worked at least 70 hours.  This is not an exaggeration, I worked 14 hours on Saturday, a full work week, plus two late evening meetings and three other evenings just on the computer until really late.  I am tired and missing my kids.  I tried to get a bunch of stuff done today, but ended up checking work email again and that lead to a long string of unhappiness which ended in me burning lasagna that I made for the kids to eat this week, while I will be working two late nights again for meetings/events.  That should be enough of my complaining for now.  I am missing my children growing up.  I guess I wasn't happy when I was with them 24/7, now I am not happy either.  Funny to complain about it though, as I write this Joel Andrew and his father are fighting in the bath.  I guess it is a realy happy holiday season for us around here!