May Your Days Be Merry and Bright

Welcome to my Christmas post. I'm always struggling between staying positive in my posts and having a realistic record of our lives. After all, I don't journal or scrapbook. My kids don't even have baby books (gasp!). So, this blog is it. That having been said, I will always remember this year as the one where I was mostly absent from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It's one thing to work a little extra, it's completely another to have your boss' boss tell your boss one week before Christmas (about projects that were already fast-tracked and already causing you to stay late every day) that three projects "WILL be done by Friday".

I think I saw my kids a grand total of about two hours last week, and most of that was trying to get them out the door in the morning. I sang "Sweet Baby Jane" and said goodnight over the phone most nights. Other nights, I prolonged Chris' hectic day by asking him to keep the kids up just a little while longer so I could say good night in person. Last week was miserable and I fear it will repeat itself soon if things don't change at work. 

The one silver lining to this cloud is that the Governor, in a last minute act of unexpected charity, gave us Christmas Eve off. This hasn't happened for years, and may not happen again for awhile, so we decided to make the most of it.

The day before Christmas Eve started with church

And ended with a trip to my folks' house for dinner and opening of "a couple small gifts"

On Christmas Eve, Emily helped me with baking both Jesus' Birthday Cake (It's our tradition to replace cookies and milk for Santa, since our kids don't believe in the bearded guy) and dessert for Christmas dinner. 

The finished product:

After enjoying some Christmas eve sandwiches

we indulged in Jesus' Birthday Cake (no - we don't sing "Happy Birthday". That would be weird)

Then we let the kids' open their one gift on Christmas eve which is ALWAYS pajamas and yet, somehow, ALWAYS a surprise. This continues to baffle me. But who am I to squash their excitement?

They got bathed and pajama'd up. 

and we went out to see lights. 

in our very own.... drumroll.... Christmas eve snowstorm! 

How cool is that? Chris was especially excited to hear his favorite electronica rendition of "Carol of the Bells".  

Then the children got all nestled snug in their beds (what was I saying about this blog not being sugar coated? I guess it just went out the window) and Chris and I hauled out the loot. 

That's a lot of stuff, folks. 

The next morning we woke up to 

                                 

a white Christmas!

                                  

Jane's big present was a table and chairs. 

Emily's big present was an ipod. We have since learned that this device may herald the end of her ever hearing another word we say. We have started to institute rules about when and where headphones are appropriate. I sense many more rules to come.

Chris got me a beautiful diamond necklace and for those of you who were wondering what the last gift on my list ended up being - it was luggage for Chris. 

The loot was as plentiful as the girls' enjoyment of the morning. 

Then, since we had both snow and a new sled, we had an opportunity for a Christmas morning moment that made Norman Rockwell wish he could come back to life just so he could properly capture it. My camera will have to do. 

(it was both excessively cold as well as excessively difficult to take pictures with gloves on)

Then we headed home for some hot chocolate and some time with our Christmas presents. Also for a workout which did not turn out well on account of the Christmas overindulgences. There I go again with the honesty. Workout nausea aside, it was a fantastic Christmas. One that set the bar high for next year.