Christmas Traditions!

We ("we" being Mary's Family) have always celebrated Christmas starting on Christmas Eve. We have lasagna for dinner (we tried a Turkey Dinner one year, instead of the Lasagna and it just was NOT the same!) After torturing the kids by doing the dinner dishes and chatting a bit, while they bounce off the ceiling Waiting and Waiting to get to those presents!! We FINALLY open Family Presents!!

It starts out nice and organized-one present to everyone, open it, see what everyone got, then pass out another one to each person. After about 3 or 4 'rounds' it just becomes useless and it's make your pile of presents and rip them open!!

Whew!

Christmas Morning! The kids, amazingly enough, didn't get up until 7 (mom and dad were SO happy with that hour!) They got a pretty decent haul to add to their pretty decent haul the night before!

Nintendo DSs, DS games, Wii Games, PlayStation Games, Clothes, Lego Sets, Zhu Zhu Pets, Clothes, an iPod, Bakugan, and lots more! Mom & Dad were ready for a nap by 7:30 (Slept until 10:30)!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 2009

December gets Super Busy!
Starting with the Festival of Trees-local clubs, churches, individuals decorate trees, display them at this function-the trees (and wreaths, gingerbread houses, donated gift baskets, etc...) are silent auctioned over 4-5 days. The schools, dancing studios, etc... perform on one of the nights!

Sophie and Katy clogging!

Another night is Katy's Band Concert. We were given the pleasure of sitting through the 5-6th Grade Band playing 4/5 songs, the 7th Grade Band playing 4/5 songs (Katy's Band), and the 8th Grade Band playing 4/5 songs! What Beautiful Music!?!

A younger Brother's take sitting through all of these bands! Aren't brothers wonderful!!

The Charter School the kids attend produced a Christmas Program, performed an Another night this month! The kids/classes sang, performed readings, skits, played instruments-the recorder and the harmonica, and danced (Ben had some MOVES!!-the Robot, Travolta's Stayin' Alive, the twist and more)!

Here is a video of Our Ben's Dance Moves!

Who Knew!!

And, in the middle of all of this excitement, Denny got his braces off!!! (We were quoted 12-18 months-Denny had them on for 23 months!) Katy was jealous that her Dad got his braces off before she did! (He did get them 9 months before she got hers!!)

No School!

"Yeah!!" say the kids, "2 weeks-no school!"
"Ugh!!" say the parents, "2 weeks of entertaining and referring."
So-we have planned-spread out over the 2 weeks: sledding, sledding, movies, swimming (Oh yes! Grandpa got a membership at a local hotel with an indoor pool & put the kids on the account!!), get togethers with friends, sledding, and did I mention, sledding!"

Denny & Mary makin' a run--

without any kids!!

Robert,

Mallory,

Kylie,

& Sophie!!

Can we get

a few more

on the sled?!

Katy, and friends!

The Moms--enough said!

Ok, we usually get together, at least once a week, go to dinner and play cards, occassionally we go to a movie-WITHOUT kids, just us grown-ups, the moms and the dads-DATE NIGHT! But, since the kids are out of the school for 2 WEEKS-we need to entertain them. Here we are having game night WITH the kids!

Our friend, Vicki, brought a fun game for the kids-you put a dab of vaseline on your nose, then without using your hands or you mouth, you move a set number of cotton balls into your bowl. The first one with all of their cotton balls in their bowl wins! The hardest part was getting the cotton ball OFF of your nose without using your hands!

The kids playing another game from Vicki, "Help your neighbor"!

We hadn't started playing cards with the adults, yet, so guess where Denny ended up! Yep-he's snagged the Guitar Hero from the kids, AGAIN!!

Finally, grown-up game table: ImaginIFF... A new game that Vicki & Jason brought, a change from our usual Hand & Foot card game (Do you know how hard it is to find a game that 4 couples can play?!) It was really fun and funny!!



I forgot to mention-we still had dinner before the games: Delicious Soup-2 different kinds, Yummy Rolls, and Desserts-Chocolate!!!

What fun we ALWAYS have, it is So Great to have such Good friends, and bonus-all of our kids are near enough in ages that they play well together--most of the time!

Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The boys were up at 6:30AM, but they were VERY good and VERY quiet!

They checked out their stockings and goodies, and discussed whose games (for the DS's and the Wii) they would play first.

The Sophie didn't get up until nearly 7:30AM, and Katy 8AM! How lucky were we?!

Everyone was happy and content-Christmas Days always turn out nice and QUIET (everyone playing with their new stuff, and video games take ALOT of concentration!) It helped that it Snowed ALL day long!!

Here's Dad helping Ben with one of their new "Dollar Folding" Books!

And Sophie learning her new DS and Disney Princess Game!

Because I LOVE my husband!...

After all of the presents were opened and everyone was happy with their loot, toys opened, games examined, clothes tried on and off again, here is where we ended up!

Dad snagged one of the Nintendo DS's and a new game. Sophie decided, since it was her DS, then she could 'decorate' Dad while he played!

Well, I kept snapping pictures, and Denny just kept playing the DS game. Even with this 'look', he just kept right on playing, so I kept right on taking his picture!

Isn't he cute!? I LOVE my husband!! SWAK!

Yes, I did warn him that I would be putting these pictures on our/my blog! He just rolled his eyes at me, again! :)

Christmas Eve!

Family Traditions:

Family dinner of Lasagna and Chocolate Delight Dessert (we tried to change the menu one year, and it was Just NOT the same!) Then we open Family Christmas Presents!!

I can remember just DYING after dinner as a kid and the 'grown ups' taking FOREVER to clean up the dishes and come to the Christmas tree to open presents! I can also remember being with TONS of family--cousins all over the place, aunts & uncles (that came with the cousins), and NaNa & Grandpa, and of course my own parents and brothers and sister. Ahhhhh, all that NoIsE and ChAoS!!

Our Christmases are quiet, just us and Granma Nancy and Granpa Dick. We have Lasagna and Chocolate Delight Dessert, and then clean up.

And the kids keep coming in to the kitchen, "Come on! Let's OPEN presents now!!!" We LOVE torturing our kids, I told them that we (Dad, Granma & Granpa & I) decided to wait until Christmas morning to open the presents. Oh, the gasps and crying, then the whining!! Just kidding, kids! The 10-15 minutes while we cleaned up the kitchen a little was just Aweful, for the kids!! So, on goes the TV while they wait, it hasn't been on ALL day-so peaceful!

So, putting the kids out of their misery, or rather, putting ourselves out of misery-we made it to the Living Room to open presents!

I think they were all Very Happy with what they got! Now, to get them to bed so that Santa can visit!