Merry Christmas to all!

Scott had to work Monday (Christmas Eve) so we began our pre Christmas festivities on Sunday night.  After church the boys dressed up in their Nativity costumes and we took cookies to neighbors and friends in our little community and sang Christmas carols.  Afterward we drove around looking at Christmas lights.  While in the car Brett, with his angelic three year old voice, sang the complete first verse to Away in a Manger.  Scott was surprised as he did not know that Brett had learned it with the older boys.  We came home and tried to get the boys to sing for us on video but I am sure you can imagine how special and sacred that turned out.  It quickly deteriorated within minutes to a rousing version of Jingle Bells.   

Chad - Samuel the Lamanite, David - a Shepard & Brett - (very emphatically) "I'm Joseph!"

Singing Christmas carols for Mommy and Daddy

I have discovered the secret of producing children that fall asleep quickly on Christmas Eve.  First, in the late afternoon of said day entice your children to ride their bikes approximately one mile to the nearest Trader Joe's.  Second, after your shopping is done announce that the bike lock key is still at home while the bike lock is securely fastened around your bikes in front of the store.  Third, instead of calling a friend to come pick you, your children and your bag of groceries up (the sensible thing to do) tell your children they must walk home.  After Scott came home and a quick dinner and baths our boys each opened a present and went to bed.  Amazingly they were each asleep within fifteen minutes.   

Christmas Eve - Do you see Brett's head between the banisters on the staircase?

Christmas morning began at a fairly reasonable hour.  Chad was up a bit before seven but we sent him downstairs to open the gifts in his stocking.  When I got up at seven I discovered he had actually opened Brett's stocking!  So we had to re-wrap everything quickly before Brett came downstairs.  The boys opened their stockings and frankly that was enough for Brett.  But Chad and David definitely had a bigger agenda and really enjoyed opening all their presents.  This was a sporty Christmas as Santa brought them baseball mits, footballs and a tether ball pole for the backyard.  Various family members bought them razor scooters and a full sized air hockey table.  Best of all Santa brought the boys and daddy a Wii.  David was also super excited to see Grandma Maryellen's gift for the boys:  the Step 2 walk-in kitchen that he, "always wanted!"  

 

The boys must have been extra good this year!

We spent a relaxing day playing with toys and enjoying family time.  My favorite part was taking a run around Harveston Lake with Scott and the boys on their razor scooters.  The weather was gorgeous and I love watching the boys in constructive motion!

'Tis the season

I consciously decided to simplify this Christmas season by doing and buying less.  Which is why it was distressing to have spent two days this past week feeling completely frazzled.  Wednesday David and Brett had a holiday party at their preschool.  So at 5:15 am, after saying good bye to Scott, I found myself dipping 60 balls of dough into melted semi sweet chocolate to make Cookie Dough Truffles (a  delicious egg-free recipe if anyone is interested).  A bit decadent for kids this was actually not for the children but for their teachers.  I happened to be snack mom that day as well so in between dipping I was cooking quesadillas, peeling a dozen oranges and making my own lunch as I would be gone all morning.  We arrived home in the late afternoon to chaos in the kitchen and utter disarray elsewhere in the house.  Not exactly a pleasant homecoming!  

Chad in his classroom at school

I thought Thursday would be better but it actually turned out worse.  After we rode Chad to school and went to the gym I needed to get some paperwork signed at our bank.  For the second time in two days I had to drag David and Brett into a place that is normally to be avoided like the plague with children in tow.  But Wednesday I did not have my passport (having misplaced by CA drivers license in the move) and my Swiss drivers license was apparently not going to cut it.  Today there was another hold up but the branch manager kindly processed my request with the caveat that I must call him that afternoon with some particulars I did not have on me at the time.  Next stop Sam's Cub where I discovered that I left my purse inside the bank.  And this is always the sign that I am trying to do too much – my brain becomes overwrought and I start to lose things.  But I happened to have my check book and passport in the car so I was able to get a temporary membership so I could buy the veggie tray I needed for Chad's class party later that afternoon.  After driving back to the bank to pick up my purse and then to drop the veggie platter off at Chad's school it was 12:30 pm before we arrived back home.  Chad's class party and program started at 2:15 so we needed to leave by 2 pm in order to be on time.  Between showering and food prep I needed to e-mail the bank with information I was unable to find on either of our computers.  Scott reminded me that our old filing cabinet was out in the garage and luckily I was able to procure a phone number which ultimately led to a positive result.  Bank was e-mailed and whew!  Mr. Matt MCaffrey of Wells Fargo Bank would not lose his job when his books are audited in three months.  At 1:53 pm I opened my pantry door to grab movie tickets for Chad's teacher.  I have only seem them a million times sitting on a shelf in plain view since I bought them from Costco ages ago.  But yesterday they were seemingly swallowed up in the dismal abyss of our day.  I searched high and searched low but to no avail.  Finally at 2 pm I cut my losses.  The boys still needed shoes on their feet and that is always a five minute process.  We left the house by 2:11 and David, bless his heart, rose up and biked his little heart out.  Nonetheless we walked into Chad's classroom just seconds after the obviously very short program ended.  The children looked like red and green angels at the front of a classroom filled with beaming parents sitting at undersized desks in miniature chairs.  The minute Chad saw me his eyes filled with tears and he hurled himself at me and cried for the next ten minutes.  It was pretty intense.  And I felt so badly that we missed his program but at least I knew in my heart we had done our best to get there on time.  I am really so careful about how much we do each day but during this season of joy and gladness there are always a few crazy days that leave you wondering about the true meaning of Christmas!  

Chad and his wonderful first grade teacher Mrs. Maxwell

In the end the party was great.  The boys really enjoyed dipping marshmellows and graham crackers into the chocolate fountain brought by one of the parents.  I was really nervous Brett would be obnoxious but he liked the food and he and David found some toys to play with and were quite content, especially David who wanted nothing more than to sit at Chad's desk when we first arrived.  

Yesterday in the late afternoon we drove to Victorville to take Scott's grandfather out to dinner.  Since it was Christmas we decided to splurge on...Carl's Junior!  We even treated Grandpa to a strawberry milk shake with his Classic Star combo (although later he had to loan me $3 to buy Brett a milkshake for dessert as I was out of cash!).  The decidedly low brow cuisine actually tasted good to everyone and we had a fun visit with Grandpa singing Christmas carols and just enjoying his tender spirit. 

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum how lovely are thy branches...

The boys are working hard on our lovely tree!

Last week-end Scott and Chad went to the Christmas tree lot and brought home a lovely pine scented tree which we enjoyed decorating Sunday morning.  Of course tree trimming proves that small children have no sense of or desire for order and tradition despite what numerous child psychologists would tell us.  Growing up my mother would sit on the couch and lovingly unwrap each ornament.  She would then allow us to hang them on the tree one at a time.  I vaguely recall the process lasting hours and when we were finished my father would hang a large clay Santa on the top.  Basically my boys wanted to grab as many ornaments as they could hold while dashing madly toward the tree lest anyone hang more than the other.  The joy of sibling rivalry.  But peace did prevail and it was nice to look at each ornament and tell the boys how it was procured.  Of course some were completely random but we do have a nice selection of ornaments we bought at the Swiss Christmas markets last year and a fabulous Venetian glass gondola steered by Santa Claus himself.  Our tree has no interior design inspired theme but is basically a collection of memories. 

Hug-a-tree!

Two weeks ago I signed Chad up for a flag football team.  For his benefit, both physical and social, it is time to make our foray into organized sports.  I am fortunate to have a friend with a six year old son that Chad adores.  She is kind enough to tell us about such things so that we can sign up as well.  Otherwise I am guessing Chad would not play sports until he was old enough to drive himself.  Weekly Thursday practices are conveniently located at the sports park across the street from our house and the games are Saturday afternoons which is a great time for our family.  Last Thursday at practice they scrimmaged against another team of older boys.  At one point Chad was supposed to go out for a pass but instead ran in the wrong direction toward the opposing team's goal line.  Undeterred, as the coaches are telling Chad to run the other way, the QB lobbed him a pass which he thankfully did not catch.  The whole episode was hysterical and I was reassured by the coach that we will see a lot more of that during the season.  That was definitely worth the $110 registration fee!  

All I want for Christmas...

I have in my possession an old fashioned fly swatter composed of orange plastic attached to a very long aluminum handle.  Apparently Brett is rather taken with it.  Yesterday I picked up a photocopied letter from his pre-school wherein the teachers had asked the children what they wanted for Christmas.  Responses varied but most were in the realm of normal for children ages three to four.  I laughed out loud when I saw Brett's response:  fly smacker.

Should I be grateful that I can easily fulfill his Christmas dreams for under five dollars?  Or does this suggest a propensity toward violence?  I am leaning toward the latter.  

David indicated that he wants a popcorn machine of which I have never seen a children's version so that is probably not going to happen either.  Trust the Edgeworth boys to come up with some outlandish requests!