The Christmas Experience

WARNING... it's a lot of text in this post. There are supposed to be pictures but it doesn't seem to want to work for me right now. Maybe that's good, maybe not! Either way, I'm sure I'll catch up on pictures next time, but for now you'll have to just read.

Here we are, the last day of Christmas break. I'm amazed at both how quick it went and how long it was. In such a short time we celebrated Christmas... three or four times, in fact! The great thing was spending lots of time with both friends and family, but I would actually love another week with the kids, just home and hanging out. Our Christmas experience looked like this...

The kids' last day of school was Wednesday, the 22nd. They had Christmas parties, watched movies, exchanged gifts, and then came home to celebrate Christmas with our great neighbors. Dave cooked some good vittles, we had some great drinks, and of course wonderful company. It was a full house with Jenny, Rocky, Brenda, Mayur, Dave and me, plus Cody, Kyle, Kyan, Rayva, Abby, Nolan, Max and Ava. Everything went off almost without a hitch... Kyle fell off a chair late in the evening, which warranted an urgent care trip in the morning. Not quite a broken wrist, but still needs a splint for a few weeks.

Then Thursday, the kids and I picked up Grumpy and headed to Gurnee to Rainforest Cafe to meet my sister and the kids. We walked the kids all through Gurnee Mills and by the time we got done, the kids were pretty tired. Although, that didn't stop them from running around and playing for awhile when we got back to my sister's house. Here are the kids at Rainforest Cafe, and the kids plus my sister and me in Bass ProShop.

Friday, Christmas Eve, we picked up pizzas to make at home and headed to 3:00 church. We got there at 2:00, which was early enough to get a seat. And also early enough for Dave to be CRABBY that we had to wait for so long. He walked around with the littles until he had to come sit down. Gee, I'm sure that was rough. It took so much out of him he fell asleep during the sermon. (Oh yes he did!) I was not happy, but in the spirit of Christmas Eve, I let it go. We got home, baked cookies for Santa, ate pizza, opened two gifts (usually it's only one, but pjs have become the norm so I let them do two) watched Polar Express, read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and sent the kids to bed. Fortunately, nearly everything was already wrapped, so it was a matter of bringing it upstairs and putting it under the tree. Oh, as well as wrapping the door of the new VIP Lounge (Abby's old room) and putting up the TV we got them and gaming chairs. Definitely the most well-liked gift this year!

Abby was up first at 5:45. Nolan followed at 6:15, Max at 6:30 and Ava was helped at 6:45. They tore into the VIP Lounge first and then came down to make sure Santa came. He did! Stockings first, then presents. Nolan didn't think he got his Tony Hawk Shred Wii, but it was hiding a little behind the tree and was SO excited when he got it. Max loved his Spiderman mask, and Ava loved, well, anything she opened and anything anybody else opened. Abby liked her gifts, but I had to make sure I told her beforehand how one year, Santa didn't bring me the doll I really, really wanted, but then I got it from my aunt instead. Of course Santa didn't get it for me because he knew someone else did. (Totally made up, but she fell for it.) So, she didn't get the friendship bracelet maker she really wanted (my sister and my mom got her one!) or the DQ Blizzard maker (which she got from Dave's sister). Fortunately, she remembered my story and told everyone that she thought that's what would happen. And she had plenty of other presents to focus on!

Sunday was nice downtime, and Dave took the three Bigs to see Tron Legacy, which they really liked.

Monday was Christmas with my mom and dad and sister and fam. We did an afternoon thing, with potluck type stuff, and the kids played and the grownups talked and ate and drank. Lots of fun! Abby was thrilled to get her friendship bracelet kits, and a donut maker. And all the kids were super busy playing together and with all their new toys.

Tuesday was friend day at our house. Abby had her friend Taylor over all day, and then went to see Gulliver's Travels with her that night. Nolan had a friend Payton over from his class, and Kyan came over (Kyan is also in Nolan's class... it was funny because when I told Payton's mom that Kyan was coming over too, she asked if they were a package deal. I just laughed and said pretty much!). Rayva came over to play with Max, too. Along with all that, Abby's nurse came to take her PICC line out and the washer repair guy came. Crazy!

Wednesday I took the kids and Abigail (a year older than Abby, goes to a different school, lives across the street, is good friends with Abby and great with all the kids) swimming at the Y and to McDonalds. Abigail spent the night and was over for much of Thursday. Thursday we just hung out and kind of relaxed, made some cookies, got ready for the weekend.

Friday Dave's sister and fam and mom and dad came to celebrate Christmas and New Year's. We of course had lots of fun, eating and drinking a lot. More presents, of course! Noisemakers to ring in the new year! Football on Saturday (boo Badgers), Karaoke Wii, DSs, movies, crafts, laser tag, board games, hide and seek, and lots more! Dave's mom had surgery on her foot about a month ago and still has a pin in it and can't walk on it all, so unfortunately she couldn't run around as much as she wanted, but the kids all ran around her!

And then today. Everyone went home, and we relaxed with lots of TV, football (Yeah, Packers!), naps, DSs, more food, a little more to drink and now bedtime. It was so, so busy. It was so, so nice. While I'd like to get another few days with the Bigs, I'm also happy to be getting back to our regularly schedule programming. And the next big break? DOMINICAN!!! :)