December 2010

Wow, December has been a busy month for us and I can't believe that its almost over already! The beginning of December I went on a trip to Las Vegas with some of the people at my office for a continuing education course. It was my first time to go to Vegas, and my first time to be away from Kevin and the kids for that long. I had a great time seeing all the sights, hotels, and casinos. We got to see a few good shows, and I even gambled a little bit just to say I did it. I discovered that gambling is something I just don't enjoy, but I was perfectly happy just people watching and taking in all the craziness of the city. By the last day though, I was really looking forward to being home and seeing the kids...it was harder than I thought it would be to be away from them. We had an amazing Christmas weekend, and are looking forward to a relaxing New Year's weekend with nothing much to do. We were able to see lots of family and friends and the kids, as usual, ended up with lots of new toys and new things to entertain themselves with! This year the kids actually grasped the true meaning of Christmas a little more than they had before.....they knew for sure that Christmas day was Jesus' birthday, and asked me for probably 2 weeks straight if it was his birthday yet.

Santa Claus unfortunately is a totally different story. For the last two years the kids have been scared of Santa Claus, last year their picture looked like he was torturing them, they were both wailing and screaming....poor things. This year I really talked Santa up, and as soon as they put the giant Christmas tree up at the outlet mall where we usually visit Santa, the kids had been talking non-stop about going to see Santa and what they were going to tell him they wanted for Christmas. Hannah's list for Santa was short and sweet: a mermaid, a rubber ducky, and a princess. Hunter's list for Santa was just about as random: a bird, an astronaut (BUZZ from Toy Story), a Woody (from toy story), and a spiderman. I'm not really sure where they came up with half the stuff they wanted but they were consistent and never wavered. Everyday we passed the giant Christmas tree on our way home, they asked when they got to see Santa Claus to tell him what they wanted. Well, last week we finally got them dressed up in their Christmas gear and headed down to pay Santa a visit. We actually just made it past the door when they saw him and both of them literally started clinging to us for life. It didn't help that there were 2 girls Hannah and Hunter's age that wee already sitting in his lap screaming and crying. So, for a full 5 minutes we tried to reason with two 3 year olds, as the big man in the red suit stared at us seemingly unenthusiastically . Finally we made the call that it just wasn't going to happen. There is no point traumatizing them, and possibly even poor Santa (our kids are pretty strong when it comes to kicking and screaming), and didn't really want to waste the $25 on a memory like that. Needless to say I was pretty bummed b/c I wanted a Santa picture every year for the kids to have, but what can you do? I can only hope next year will be better......

The Thursday before Christmas we celebrated early with my Dad and Kim. Both my brothers, who I don't get to see often, and their kiddos were there. We had a good time socializing and the kids got to open up a few of their gifts. Friday, Christmas Eve, Kevin had to work so Pam and I took Hannah and Hunter to the movie theater for the first time. We saw Yogi Bear, and the kids loved it. I had wanted to take them for a long time, but was too scared to by myself b/c I wasn't sure if they would sit still through the whole thing. I sneaked their juice boxes in and got them each their own little bags of popcorn, and they were all set. I was amazed at how well they did, and can't wait to go again it was so much fun! Later Christmas Eve night, my mother came over to eat dinner and open up gifts. The kids and I had made cookies earlier that day to leave out for Santa Claus. They picked out which cookies they wanted to leave him, and asked how he was going to get in our house if we don't have a chimney. We told them he would probably come through the back door. Hunter, of course, wanted to know what time Santa would be at our house. After all their questions were fulfilled we tucked them into bed and told them when they wake up in the morning that Santa Claus will have probably already come and left presents. As I'm walking out of Hannah's room about to shut the door she whispers "mommy, I don't want Santa sneaking in our house tonight". Seriously? I told her that she wouldn't even know that he had been here, and she finally went to sleep probably a little uncertain of things. Honestly, the more I thought of it from a kid's perspective, I think I would be a little scared if someone told me that a big old man dressed up in a red suit was going to, for better words, "sneak in" to our house in the middle of the night. Guess I never really thought about it that way.......

All was well Christmas morning when the kids woke up to see Santa had dropped by and brought lots of presents. He also left them a note along side the half-eaten cookie plate, which they thought was so cool. Pam and Dickey came over to see the kids open their presents and eat breakfast, then we went back over to their house that afternoon for Christmas lunch with the rest of Kevin's family. The kids gifts from us (santa) this year was a lego/train table for Hunter, and a little vanity set for Hannah. They also each got a v-tech mobigo, which has proved to be AWESOME so far. I let them take it into Krogers yesterday, and it was the most peaceful, quiet grocery trip I have ever had. Thank you to whoever invented these things! I'm going to do a few separate post of pictures, because there are so many of them, so keep reading!

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas and has a wonderful and blessed New Year's!