Christmas recap, 2008

I just moved a pile of Isaias' Playmobil's off the chair so that I would have a spot to sit and try to type out a post. Adelia is crawling around the living room, with my keys in hand, smiling her delightful smile even though she's only had a little over an hours nap all.day.long. [Which seems to be a recurring thing around here, and I'm still unsure what to do about that.] Ella sits across the room, curled up on the couch with her new baby doll and her new book, pillows and blankets all snuggled around her, reading happily. Isaac is in at the kitchen table, playing with one of his new Lego sets. That boy and his Legos. They are inseparable. Isaias is napping. Mark is at work. Dinner is in the crockpot- a new recipe- and if it tastes about half as good as it smells, we're in for a real treat tonight.

I feel like we're finally winding down a bit from all of the Christmas festivities. The kids and I took the tree down (and out) this morning, which I always have mixed feelings about. I'm not quite ready for the tree to be gone yet this year; I enjoy it so much in here- the fresh smell of pine, the twinkly white lights, our pretty ornaments... but I'm also feeling this need to get our house back to it's normal state.

We had a very full week last week-- five days of Christmases, and we were all pretty tuckered out by the end of it. A full week of no naps, no routine and late bedtimes took its toll on all of us and I am thankful to be heading back into our normal groove.

We also had a white Christmas this year-- which was lovely, although it did make things a bit more complicated. The week preceding Christmas we were pretty much snowed in, here- and I was pretty much going crazy not being able to GO. [Not normally the case, but I happened to have a lot to get done that particular week.]

A recap of our week, for memory's sake:
*Monday* Mark headed out early to do some shopping, I was in the kitchen making food for our evening Christmas event, which is a combined Christmas-party and birthday party for my grandpa Jake. He turned 88 this year. Several family members couldn't make it due to the snow, but we're close enough that we were able to.

*Tuesday* The "quietest" day of our week. Mark took the boys out to breakfast with a friend and his son. More cooking for me- for a holiday basket our small group was doing. Mark and the kids played in the snow for awhile, and in the evening we headed out to deliver the holiday basket with some friends from small group, and they took us out for dinner afterwards.
We had planned to do our family Christmas that night, but ran out of time, so when we got home we let the kids open one gift and then we all went to bed.

We got the girls Bitty Baby Twins for Christmas. How cute are they?

*Wednesday* Christmas Eve: Marks' side of the family gathering. Cancelled. Because his parents and a sibling were snowed in. HUGE bummer. We ended up doing our own family Christmas that morning, and then later in the afternoon headed over to Mark's sisters' place for some food and games with all those who could make it. Fun day.

*Thursday* Christmas Day: Stockings in the morning with our kids, on our bed... then we headed to my parents house at 9:30 for breakfast. My dad makes breakfast for everyone: french toast, ham, eggs, cinnamon rolls (well, those are mom's contribution. And my personal fave.) Someone (Dan) made a Starbucks run so that we could all have coffee. Tasty.

My mom, reading to the grandkids on Christmas Day.

Mom made a huge lunch, spoiling us all with her good cooking- roast, potatoes, rolls, salad, and apple pie and ice cream for dessert. Mmm!
We spent all day there- joining my two younger brothers and my sister and her family. We put the kids down so that we could stay late and play games.

*Friday* More time at my parents' house. My sister and her family come from out of town, so we try to spend as much time with them as we can while they're here. That
night mom and dad offered to watch all the kids (eight, total) and my sister, Dan (her husband), my two brothers, and Mark and I all went out to Mexican food for dinner. I tried to convince my dad to let us go out for dinner and a movie, but he gave me a look like I was pushing my luck. They survived, and we had a nice dinner out.

*Saturday* Mark's family's POSTPONED family Christmas. All day from 10 am to 10 pm. Games, homemade pizzas for lunch, lots of rousing time with the cousins for our kids, more games, more food, gifts to be opened. A fun, FULL day.

The cousins, Mark's side of the family.

Mark's siblings and their spouses. Mark is gracious enough to let me sit on his lap, and, you'll notice, being the sweet man that he is- isn't even wincing at all that extra weight! :)

A few thoughts:

*I love time with extended family over Christmas.

*Bananagrams is a fun game. If you like Scrabble, you'll be a fan.

*Another fun game: the Apples to Apples version for kids. Ella played it with her cousins and it was a huge hit.

*One of my least favorite things is finding a place for all the new stuff.

*I love it that Mark is usually able to get the week of Christmas off. Next year maybe he could take a few days extra? This was not a restful, vacation-y week by any stretch of the imagination.

*Usually we have so much going on during this week that our own immediate family Christmas (with Mark and our kids) gets squeezed in whenever there is time- a little here, a little there. Most of the time, rushed- because we're on the way to another family gathering. This year we decided to do our Christmas on the 23rd, but we planned other things and it didn't happen. I am resolved for next year: We will fiercely protect that day for US, for our traditions and unhurried time as a family.

~Whew!~ I've managed to get an entire post written. I'll try to slide some pictures in here before I hit that publish button, but I'm not making any guarantees. Adelia doesn't appreciate the computer on my lap without being able to touch it every 3 minutes!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!