Christmas Recap

Wow, I can't believe it's all over - how is it that Christmas is always over WAY before I think it should be? Even as prepared as I felt after Thanksgiving, there were still so many Christmas things I wanted to do that didn't get done. I'm starting to wonder if I will always feel post-Christmas frustration, or if I will - some year - just be at peace with what we DID get done. Hmm, I smell a New Year's resolution in there somewhere . . .

That said, we did have a fantastic Christmas, and continue to do so as we have retreated to my mom and dad's house in the hills this weekend. I love coming here to hide from our responsibilities . . . . thinking I might stay 'till Valentine's Day.

Backing up a bit, our trip to Minneapolis was mostly successful, with the exception of a missed jaunt out to Mark's brother's house due to the storm that dumped on central Minnesota while we were there. Had a quick visit to Mark's parents, then headed to Minneapolis where we took the kids to the Guthrie Theater to see "A Christmas Carol" - something I used to do with my family when I was young. Then to the St. Paul Hotel for my cousin's wedding - beautiful, of course - a Christmas wedding in St. Paul - very cool experience! THEN we closed out the weekend with a Vikings game.

So.

Much.

Fun.

Even though they lost.

Amazing - the boys got into it WAY more than we thought they would. There aren't words to explain how excited these kids were - bouncing off walls, quite literally. I was prepared to be running to the concession stand and bathrooms with them the entire game, but those kids did not move. Other than to jump up and down. They were in a zone, focused, totally fixated on the game. And totally cute.

Here they are, getting their first glimpse at the field. They were awestruck.

See Mark in the background? He was talking to some guy he happened to see from Rapid City. Can you stand it? From Rapid City. Out of 60,000 people at this game, he finds someone he knows from home. Unreal. My husband knows someone EVERYWHERE we go. It's almost irritating.

And here is Mr. Moneybags himself. That would be the owner of the Vikings. Zygi Wilf. We had seats right in front of his box. Wasn't particularly a happy guy by the end of the game. But it was fun to see him stomp around.

Here's my handsome babies on Christmas Eve. Mark did NOT like the hats, so we only had them on for pictures - didn't wear them to church. Scrooge.

Christmas Day, we headed up to my mom and dad's - our family has now grown big enough to have the "kids table." Which the kids thought was pretty cool.

Here's what we woke up to this morning - it forced us to cancel a shopping trip, but it was still beautiful.

Jack and Noah are getting in some fun cousin time and we're loving RELAXING. Doing NOTHING. It's a great thing.

On Our Way!

Whew! The shopping is done, the presents are wrapped, the Christmas cards are mailed, the house is clean, even the hamster cage is clean, the laundry is done, the checking account is balanced, and we are all packed and ready to hit the road on our mini Christmas vacation. We head out for MN tomorrow - with a Friday night stop to have Christmas with Mark's family, then on to Minneapolis for a wedding, some fun Christmas-y stuff, and a Vikings game on Sunday. To make things more interesting, Minneapolis is expected to get a big snowstorm over the weekend. Hmmm - hopefully we make it home for Christmas! :)

We're all snuggled in right now, watching "A Christmas Carol" which has one of my most favorite quotes: "And God bless us every one." Love it!

Improving My Attitude (about the tree, anyway)

I finished the tree last weekend, and I'm happier with it now that it has all our STUFF on it. Still looks skinny to me, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Our tree doesn't carry a theme of any kind - it's just full of stuff that all four of us love. Each of us has our favorites - it's like saying hello to old friends after a year.I LOVE my fuzzy snowflakes:
I LOVE my fuzzy snowballs - both white . . .

AND red: (and my whoville tree too) (I guess fuzz would actually be a theme here.)

I love the ornaments that make me smile, thinking of the moments they symbolize:
and I love the ones that make me cry every year . . . like this one. My grandma had the tradition of giving each of her grandkids an ornament EVERY year. At the time, of course, I didn't get how important they would be someday. Now that she's gone, oh, how I treasure each of them. Especially this one - it still has a little label on it with her writing "Annie - Gram '89". Every year I run my fingers over her writing and my heart physically aches for just a few more minutes with her. So many years later, I'm so thankful for her Christmas tradition, and I hope somehow she knows that.

We are currently stuck in the total insanity of the month of December, and I'm already plotting on how to handle next year differently. Even with all my decorating done before Thanksgiving, I'm still running like a crazy person. I've had a headache since Tuesday. That can't be a good sign. Since Tuesday.

So here's my new theory. I think all non-Christmas activities should cease for the month of December so that families can really focus on each other and what this season is really all about. Just revel in some peace and meditate on Jesus. No cub scouts, no sports, no Awana, no small groups. Just family. Society doesn't have to go along with me, but that's how I plan to honor Christmas next December. A month-long Sabbath.

I just had to post these two pictures of my adorable babies. I was messing around one evening, and happened to get a few good pictures of them (and it's HARD to get a good one of Noah. No, not hard. Impossible.)

Noah's new favorite things: Bon Jovi, spelling everything, and using the word "apparently." This kid is full of one-liners lately.

Jack's new favorite things: Singing "Do They Know it's Christmas" at the top of his lungs most of the time, and humming it the rest of the time. Had to be told to knock it off at school. And laughing his head off at Noah. Seriously. No one can get Jack laughing like Noah. I LOVE that bond they have.

Lately I've had the most incredible urge to just go into hibernation with them - it's been hard, for some reason, for Mama Bear to ship them off to school each day. I want them home with me. Every day. Sigh.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree . . .

. . . . this year you have eluded me. I'm bummin'. I am very PARTICULAR about our Christmas trees - we always get a live one, it has to be a Fraiser, and it's always quite BIG. Last year's was massive - 10 feet tall and nice and fat. (See December 2007 posts). So Monday, as a family, we gleefully went to our trusty supplier that has provided us with the perfect tree every year for the past 5 years . . . . and get this. They didn't have any. Any. Meaning they decided not to carry Christmas trees this year. Excuse me?? No one consulted ME on this decision. They can't do that!! Nice. Once we processed this huge disappointment, we sulked out of there, chins dragging on the ground.

We did end up finding one elsewhere . . . . but not exactly what we'd hoped for. Shorter and MUCH skinnier. We keep staring at it, sort of willing it to grow fatter, which of course it won't. I've decided to look on the bright side - at least this one won't take me forever to decorate, and Christmas is only 3 weeks from today so we won't even have it that long. Ah well, in the grand scheme of things, this is definitely not a big issue!