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. 

A Post for the End of the World

Today is our 12th anniversary. On account of the world ending today, it could very well be our last. But barring the end of the world, I hope we will have many more to come.

I am so glad Chris and I found each other because otherwise, we would just be two people who never had anyone to laugh at their respective jokes.

Happy Anniversary, Chris! I love you!

What's Crackin'?

Last night, Emily and I got to enjoy a production of the Nutcracker.

Before the show, we went to Olive Garden. Unfortunately so did every other mommy/daughter duo who went to the Nutcracker last night (at least it seemed that way) and so we were almost late to the performance.

Luckily we made it on time. 

The performance was amazing (unlike my camera phone. My apologies) and Emily loved every minute of it. At one point, she said, "Mom, this is the best night of my life". 

I am looking forward to the day when Jane is responsible enough to sit through a performance of the like, but it was lovely to be able to spend some time with my big girl last night.

Four of One, a Third of a Dozen of Another

Jane had her 4th birthday this past week. In lieu of a party we did a special day for Jane. This could be the last year I can get away with this, so I really savored the freedom of not doing a kid party. 

We drove an hour south and went to Jumpin'. Which is wall-to-wall bouncy houses. Jane was a bit intrepid at first, but eventually was able to join in the jumpin' fun.

After that, we went to Build-A-Bear (note: if you happen to go to Build-A-Bear in December on a Saturday, plan at least an extra hour into your schedule for standing in line. Also, pack snacks and water for your kids so they don't have meltdowns in said line.)

In the end, it was all worth it. Meet Lucy and Chuck the Girl. Lucy is the one sporting skinny jeans and Ugg boots. Chuck the Girl is modeling a lovely pair of heels. 

After the Build-A-Bear expedition, we needed sustenance. Jane chose Carrino's. 

When I asked Jane what she wanted for her birthday cake, she said "pink cupcakes". I said I would make some pink frosting and asked her what kind of cake she wanted under the frosting. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "pink cake". So... pink cupcakes with pink frosting it was. 

Then she got some loot. 

Happy 4th birthday, Jane! (And a big shout-out to Chris who really helped with all the birthday stuff this year on account of the sick joke involving huge amounts of stress and time going on at my workplace right now)

Big Cookies, Bright Lights

Let me get this out of the way: I love Christmas with small children. That having been said, Christmas with small children is exhausting. This situation has not been helped by my transfer into a squad that is working mandatory overtime on eight projects. Still, because I have a great husband, Christmas traditions have not been neglected... much.

This year, we actually decorated our house.

Here is Chris doing some of the lighting work while Emily keeps him entertained with tales of that crazy llama.

And we have a tree. I think we'll do a live tree as long as Christmas is magic for the kids. When it stops being magic, I have my eye on one of those shiny foil trees from Charlie Brown Christmas. Preferably with a rotating stand. 

But for now, I wouldn't skip the piney smell for anything. It makes all of this better:

In our family, we have a tradition of having a special ornament every year that represents something we did or experienced. It makes decorating the tree even more fun when you remember where each special ornament came from. This year's ornament was from our Disneyland vacation. When I look at that magical glow, I almost forget the incident in the line for Peter Pan. Almost.

The finished product, decorated mostly by children:

And, because the kids asked, and asked, and asked, we decorated sugar cookies this year. My back is aching and it only took approximately three hours to produce cutouts and frosting (which, to be fair, included making and decorating Jane's birthday cookies for preschool) but it was totally worth it to allow my kids the magic of Christmas sugar cookie decorating.

The sprinkles stayed in the cupboard for two reasons:

1) We already had a frosting mess to clean up and I wasn't about to add sprinkles to the party, and

2) M&M's are one of the most delicious foods on earth AND they serve as lovely tree ornaments as well as Rudolf noses. 

Argue with that.

Thanks to ample help from Chris, the magic of Christmas is alive and well. Now if only I could figure out that last gift on my list. If you happen to be a young father/professional/gamer/techie/bigfoot enthusiast (or are tuned into the needs of such) please leave suggestions in the comment section.

"Thanksgiving" - Because I'm too tired to think up a better title.

So it turns out I haven't blogged since Halloween. I really thought I was doing better than that, but that's pretty typical of motherhood in general.

Thanksgiving in all its glory occurred this past week. It was the first time in several years that my brother and sister and I were all together for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was at my parents' house here. Those of you who know my parents will say, "But your parents don't live here". You would be correct. They do however have a house here. Moving right along...

I abstained from baking for two weeks before Thanksgiving. This was incredibly difficult for me, but necessary so I didn't have to buy big girl pants on Black Friday. It was lovely to finally be able to bake. I won't bore you with pictures of my food because, let's face it, I'm not a professional chef. It was, however delicious and it was delightful to cook up a storm with my mom and sister.

In order to work of some of the serious regret after the big meal, we played Kinect sports.

The kids really enjoyed seeing their cousins.

and their grandparents. Here my dad is playing "Sweet Baby Jane".

I apologize to my brother for the dent the size and shape of Jane's butt he must have in his lap at this point, but she really enjoyed her time with Uncle Ryan.

Last night, we completed our annual Thanksgiving tradition with our local Christmas Parade. I must say it's pretty strange, but we go and freeze every year for the local flavor. And the girls love that they get to drink unlimited amounts of hot chocolate in the battle to fend off hypothermia. 

All in all, it was a fantastic Thanksgiving. Thanks to everyone for putting up with us all weekend.

And now the Christmas season begins. Will I be buying big girl pants at the post Christmas clearance sales? Stay tuned.