Christmas Morning

Christmas morning dawned bright and white. Santa had come in the night and left the filled stockings on the couch in the den. As soon as all four kids were awake (around 9:00, I think) we all got in bed to open the presents in the stockings.


















Then it was time to pose for the traditional Christmas in bed picture. Bryan used his photographic skills and the mirror to get himself in the picture, too.



















While waiting for all the kids to get up, Bryan had gone downstairs to turn on the Christmas lights, so that when we all go down as a family, everything is all ready. After pausing for one last picture, the kids finally get their first view of the tree and presents.











Merlyn and Berkleigh each asked for a camera, and Merlyn especially is already starting on the path to becoming a shutterbug (aka camerahog) like her mother. The family room was overflowing with wrapping paper and boxes by the time we were finished.

The kids went into the playroom to play with some new toys while Bryan and I cleaned up the family room. Carter and Myles got Gameboys, which were a big hit, although Bryan insists that I got them as much for myself as for the boys. There's no rest for the weary at 0ur house on Christmas morning, because Bryan's extended family arrives around noon.

Stay tuned for the next Christmas Day post, coming soon.

Christmas Eve

I know it's been too long since I've posted anything. We were quite busy over the holidays, and I still haven't completely recovered. This morning I finally got around to transferring the pictures (294!) onto the computer.
I made the huge mistake of deciding to completely organize the house in the month before Christmas. There were still boxes of stuff I hadn't gone through since we moved from Vermont five years ago! Of course, before things can get better, they have to get worse when you organize, so a week before Christmas we had to wind our way through boxes and piles of throwaways, Salvation Army, etc. I did all the kids' clothes and toys in their four bedrooms, as well as the den (my crafting stuff), both upstairs bathrooms, and my bedroom and closet.
I was amazed at what I was able to purge from the house, and I've vowed never to be a pack rat again. I had to pull a couple of almost all-nighters (up until 3am and 4am) on Christmas Eve and the night before in order to get wrapping and stuff done for Christmas.
I never got around to putting the second tree up, and we didn't decorate our family tree until Christmas Eve after dinner. Also on Christmas Eve afternoon, Merlyn asked if we could make cookies for Santa. I had frozen all that dough weeks ago, and ended up making them Christmas Eve after dinnertime! If Merlyn hadn't reminded me, I probably would have forgotten altogether.


Bryan was actually glad that the tree wasn't decorated until the last minute, because he is always in charge of the lights and he hates doing them. Usually I like thousands of lights on the tree, but at 6:30 on Christmas Eve I wasn't about to be picky. This year we went and cut down our tree at a tree farm nearby. They had acres of trees that they hadn't been able to keep up with the pruning on, so we could pick any tree for $10. We cut the top seven feet off of a 20 foot tree, and left the bottom there. It was a lot of fun searching in the snow with the kids for a tree we all liked.












This was the first year that Bryan's Aunt Claire came over after dinner to spend time with us on Christmas Eve for the first time. We were supposed to string popcorn, but Bryan was stringing the lights, so we just hung out and had fun. The kids enjoyed modelling the sunglasses Aunt Claire gave them.



































Merlyn absolutely loves her frog mittens from Aunt Claire (remember, Merlyn loves frogs!). That night, she tried to help Myles wrap his presents with the mittens on -- she didn't want to take them off.



After Aunt Claire left, I got out the tree decorations. I put the fragile ones on near the top of the tree in between trips to the kitchen to get cookies in and out of the oven. I gave the kids boxes of unbreakable decorations, and they basically decorated the rest of the tree by themselves. It was very cute to see three or four ornaments on one branch.






We leave cookies and milk in the den along with a note to Santa every year. Santa lands his sleigh on the porch roof and comes in the den window since we don't have a fireplace, so the kids sprinkled glittery oatmeal for the reindeer onto the roof of the front porch. Then Bryan reads "The Night Before Christmas", our traditional Christmas Eve bedtime story. They all went to sleep quickly despite the excitement, probably because it was way past their bedtime!

Our Four Squaredancers

I have to say that I stole this idea from my friend Annie's blog . After laughing out loud at hers, I just had to make one starring Carter, Myles, Merlyn, and Berkleigh. My parents have really gotten in to square dancing, so now we know that the talent runs in the family (it must have skipped a generation, though!).

Christmas Concert

The Kindergarten Christmas Concert was Friday, December 14th. I had Alison and Aleesa that day, so we took them with us. Here are Aleesa, Berkleigh, Merlyn, and Alison walking out to the truck. This was before the snowstorm -- the sides of the walkway are a lot higher now.

The audience filled the whole cafeteria, and the kids were a little nervous but really cute while waiting to start. Myles is the middle kid in the third row in the first picture.

Each row came to the front of the stage for one song, which was nice because we could see them better for a little while. Myles is the second from the left.

The girls were very good during the concert, and Carter got to get out of class to watch, too. Afterward I drove the girls and Bryan walked with the boys to Alison and Aleesa's house, which is close to the school. The kids got to play in somebody else's house for a change, until Tim got home from work. We all enjoyed ourselves, although Myles said he didn't like the concert because he had to stand up the whole time.