That's a Wrap

The HUGE production that has become Christmas starts in October and goes through the end of the year. It's the summer blockbuster of the winter. And like most movies now a days, it's over the top.


Even the Christmas lights have the ability to go 3D!



As I wrote in my previous post, I, too, get caught up in the madness. Each year I struggle with how big we should go. On the one hand I want my kids to have it all ~ Christmas is for kids and kids love presents. Lots of them ~ On the other hand, I don't want them to lose sight of what the season is all about. I've unofficially set a three gift limit. Jesus got three gifts, and if that's good enough for Jesus.... It doesn't always work out that way and I'm not even sure that I love this idea but I do love that I've not gotten any complaints about it from the little people. Even when they learn of the masses of goodness their friends received, not a peep, which only makes me want to buy them more......and the cycle of confusion continues.


This year started out innocently enough with the decorating of the tree. Both of the kids joined in as we listened to Christmas music.



I had originally thought I'd set up the smaller artificial one in the bonus room so they could decorate it to their liking. Then I got all sentimental and decided this was our family tree and so they should have a part in the task. They loved looking at the ornaments of past years and finding a spot for them on our beautiful grand fir. That it was seven feet and full of prime real estate was lost on them and most of our guys ended up at their eye level and bunched together.


That right there is what changed my mind. I cracked open the box that held their special tree and set it up out of sight upstairs. They loved having it close by when they sat down to watch TV, play games, or do crafts.


Speaking of crafts, on one of our many Winter Break days, they sat down and decorated ornaments. I thought it'd be cute to have them do one each year going forward to see how much their artistic ability has improved. The 2011 version is below:

M's is on the left and J's on the right. I wish I'd started doing this with J years ago, but as you can see, the learning curve is there for the taking. J has a lot of talents; art isn't one of them. Things can only get better from here!


This year was also Ms first time at the Nutcracker. She was mesmerized by the ballerinas. For a while. She is only three and a 2 o'clock matinee was bound to cut into her nap schedule. But only if she let it:

And she didn't.

Our annual Christmas card was nonexistent. But the reminder of why, wasn't:



They just don't cooperate when it comes to posing together. Crying at these yearly photo sessions is becoming a tradition around here.

I felt a little irresponsible not sending out well wishes ~ if unpersonalized cards without so much as a message count as well wishes ~ yet just eliminating that one thing made me feel so in control. I was really ahead of the game this year.

So ahead, as a matter of fact, that I just thought everything would fall into place. I didn't put much thought into Christmas Eve. And it showed. It was a weird day. Just a normal Saturday. No hoopla. No fanfare. Nothing. Definitely not meeting my Christmas Eve standards. It was sunny for one, I didn't cook posole or tamales, and the house wasn't permeated with the smell that lingers when those two yummies are on the stove. We pulled out a tri-tip that didn't defrost and ended up with this:

From TOP nonetheless. Not very appetizing. Luckily mass was about to start and Christmas Eve is my favorite of the year. J and I went to the standing-room only service and it was just what I needed to get the night back on track.

Once home we finished watching Ironman 2. It doesn't scream Christmas, but that's what we had left over from the previous night. Soon after the finale when OUR children were all snuggled up in their beds, I remembered that we didn't read the "Night Before Christmas." So up they went.

And then it was Santa time. Even he had a rough time at our house this year. J's stocking gift was too big!


No one cared. Donuts, a 3DS, and a huge dollhouse (that apparently M knew about) later, along with various other goodies from Santa, made the morning complete.

Then it was off to Vancouver to hang out with the Ks. It was business as usual there: Hubby and BIL and/or FIL bickering about the prime rib's internal temperature; kids fighting and tattling on each other; MIL opining without solicitation; FIL pining for more togetherness; SIL and I bearing the self-inflicted battle wounds caused from too much tongue biting and eye rolling. Ahhh, the joys of family holidays. They're good folks. And making the trip to Sacramento would provide material in its own right to talk about; however, we didn't go to Sacramento, so I gotta work with what I got :)

We headed to Portland for the night.

And it didn't take long for it to turn into a freak show.

(D modeling my Christmas gift from AK ~ Sexy!)

The cousins went swimming while my SIL and I grabbed a much-needed cocktail at the hotel bar. Then off to bed. I snuggled with my kiddos and it was a perfect way to end the day.

D was up bright and early the next morning to feed the meter. My FIL, too, was up and calling at 8:30 and in the lobby by 9 to return the wallet D left on AK's counter the night before. It was during that same visit that he told D about his hearing on the news that the City of Portland was not charging for street parking this day.

After a myriad of agendas were discussed, everyone left with their respective families and promises to be in contact. I went shopping downtown while D and the kids took a train ride to Voodoo Doughnuts where they met up with PK's family and waited in line an hour and a half to get their sugary concoctions. All the while the truck was sitting at an empty meter with a not-so-sweet $32 ticket on the windshield. Needless to say, D was not happy. He never called his parents to meet up with them because he was so angry.

By the time we met back up at the hotel he was tired, hungry, and fed up. We left around 1, got some food in him, and made the hour and half drive back home.

A pilot for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2? Close, but not quite.

There's always next year!

It wasn't perfect. It never is. But we were together and that's all that matters. To quote Jillian Michaels, "Perfect is Boring."

CHRISTMAS 2011 ♥ THAT'S A WRAP