Finally...Christmas!

I'm finally getting around to posting about Christmas. Wow. Time goes so quickly lately! At least the productive hours. Last night I was up 3 times with Christian and 4 times with Benjamin over the course of 6 hours. I had that woozy drugged feeling for much of the morning as a result. Those hours dragged. No idea what was wrong with Benjamin. Each time he'd call me, his blankets would be in a hideous tangled mess and he'd be sitting up in bed asking for help to sort them out. 4 times in one night! What was going on?!? A 5th time he was up, but rather than call to me, he came into my room and talked to Kelly while I pretended to be asleep. He told him his toe hurt and asked if he could come into bed. I figured that might solve our blanket issues, but it certainly wouldn't help me sleep, so I was glad when Kelly denied the request. Alas, Christian still doesn't sleep through the night consistently. It's about 2-3 times/week. Not bad, but there's definite room for improvement.

Anyway...Christmas. Our first Christmas at our house without family visiting. It was a very fun experience. We acted out the nativty on Christmas eve. I have been wanting to do this for years! Being an only child, I never did this growing up. It's really hard to fill the roles with only one kid. But this year we had two kids and a baby Jesus, so we were set! I thought we'd only do it once, but the kids wanted a chance to play every role, so we did it over and over again. My favorite version was with Bella as Angel. There's nothing like little 2 year old Bella on the back of the couch, arms raised, belting, "Hello! A baby is born! Follow the star! Go find him!" To this day, she calls this "playing knock-knock." You know, where Mary and Joseph go "knock-knock" on the door and people say there's no room here? She asked me just yesterday if we could play knock-knock again. She also loved her stocking. Although she couldn't understand how they could be "stockings" but they don't go on your feet, so all Christmas eve, she walked around with everyone's stocking on her feet.


Then Christmas morning we opened presents. As a kid I never understood how people could say that it was more fun to give gifts than receive. I always assumed they were just saying that because it made them sound righteous. But now I think I get it. I loved giving my kids stuff that made them so happy. Although, not all their favorite gifts came from me. Our parents know how to give great gifts too. Benjamin's favorite gift was his magnifying glass from Mimi.


Bella's came from me, although anyone could have guessed what would make her happy - a frilly dress up skirt and matching plastic high heels. She has been wearing them every day since. My favorite gift was a three hour nap. I had intended to 'only lay down for a minute.' I awoke three hours later. Sleep deprivation is a killer. So grateful to Kelly for keeping the kids quiet and away during that time. It was wonderful. That and the chocolate. Kelly bought me 8 lbs of chocolate! That should last me at least until next week or so. :) Kelly's favorite gift was his new tent.


He wanted a tent that fit all of us and that he could stand up in. It's a monster. There will be no backpacking with this tent. The kids had blast with it, though. Everything they did for two days, they did in this tent. We finally had to pack it up before it got destroyed prior to ever making it outside.

Now life has returned to it's normal routine. Mondays are our grocery shopping day. As many know, my kids and I can spend hours at the grocery store. There's the helium balloons, the fish, the bikes, the lobsters, the toys, the books, etc. etc...oh yeah, and the food. I always make them wait until I've gotten all the food and then if they've been good, we go do what they want. So on Monday they were in the toy aisle and I couldn't help take a picture. They had both found bikes. Benjamin had his light saber inside his front-mounted Dora backpack and Bella had decked herself out, complete with Disney Princess Backpack. They were ready to browse the aisles.



Off she went in search of the perfect toys. So adorable.