Christmas 2011

After just spending nine days in the Virgin Islands (more on that later), thinking back to Christmas feels like thinking back to last year...like a whole year ago, not two weeks ago.  I wish I'd been able to find time to write this post before we left, because now Christmas is just a blur in my totally relaxed head.

As we do every year, we celebrated Christmas Eve with a house full of about 6o guests at Gigi and Poppy's.  Since the kids were born the party has been getting more and more fun each year.   There is just nothing like watching them get so excited about Santa's visit, and then running wildly through the house playing with their cousins and eating cookies until they're ready to explode.  It's chaos, but it's wonderful and this year certainly didn't disappoint.

This year we had over a dozen cousins running around.  Many of them see each other only maybe once or twice a year, but they all play so well.  It's really fun to see.  When Santa finally arrived with his sack full of gifts, Lexi was very happy to receive her gift, but even at six she does not trust the man in the big red suit at all, so she made Mom escort her up for the present.  Zachary was fearless, as usual, and thrilled to run right up there and thank Santa for his present.  He was very excited, and even got to sit on Santa's knee with his cousin Angelina, with whom he played so nicely all evening.

Santa's Angels

 After the evening ended with a bang, or, a snap rather, when poor Bobby broke his leg, it was time to wind down, and continue the long standing tradition (close to 40 years now!) of Poppy reading "The Night Before Christmas" to the kids.  Sweet Cassie was the only one who couldn't stay awake long enough for the reading.

The night ended late as always, so it was tough to rouse the kids early the next morning when we woke up to the call that Santa had come again, and this time filled up stockings!  When I woke up Zach he opened his eyes wide, stood right up out of bed and said, "I'm going to be tired!"  He was right.  But we rushed right back to Gigi and Poppy's where present opening began immediately, and continued on for what seemed like several hours after that.

Zachy's last minute whale request dutifully fulfilled by Old St. Nick.

Happy cousins!

Happy Mama!

Meet Stephanie.

Zach saw Auntie's shirt, and worried she might try jumping over fire.  He was prepared.

 

After playing for awhile, and then getting dressed we had another wonderful meal made by Gigi.  After one final quick round of gifts after dinner, the entire crew was really ready for a long winter's nap...

The dolls were ready to eat.

My best gifts.

Zach almost made it to dinner...but just couldn't stay awake.

The following morning, after all sleeping in and spending some time playing with our new toys, the four of us jumped in the car to head down to Boxing Day in Rhode Island.  We all agreed to a very relaxing day, and apparently to me that meant not taking pictures, because I have pitifully few!  But we had another wonderful day filled with family, great food, wonderful gifts, and a ton of fun.  We even had some time in the evening to celebrate Hanukkah.  We really managed to do it all this year.  And the great news is that Grammy has offered to pay for medical school for all of the grandchildren!! They're going to need it!

The kids prepare to care for Auntie Kae.

Eva is concerned that her colleagues may not know what they're doing.

At least he cleans up after himself!

What kind of an establishment is this, anyway??

The Raw Cats!!

The weekend before Christmas we had the wonderful treat of going to Boston to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular (or, as Zach calls it, The Raw Cats) with Gigi and Poppy, Great Gram, Auntie Amy, Uncle Scott, Ben, Cassie and Sophie.  The show, like last year, was spectacular (as the title implies), but better for so many reasons.  The first is that Nancy Chippendale's did a great opening act for the show.  It was exciting to see our own dancing school up on that stage, but also to see so many of our friends from town and Nancy's, there to see the girls.  And the second is that it was really nice to have the whole family together for the show.  The five kids all *loved* it, and never even squirmed during the entire two hour show.  And I loved getting to share the enjoyment of the show with Ahren and my sister, who didn't come last year.
My absolute favorite part of the day was when I looked over at Lexi during the Living Creche scene and she was singing along to "Oh Come All Ye Faithful".  (My second favorite moment of the day occurred on the drive in when she looked over at a huge smoke stack and said, "Mom, is that a cloud maker?")  Zachary, of course, really enjoyed Santa dancing around on stage...especially when he multiplied to hundreds.  That was one of my favorite scenes as well.
After the show we enjoyed lunch at Legal Seafood, and then it was time for all of us to rush back home to continue our Christmas preparations.  I'm really glad that we all took the time out of that busy time of year to enjoy such a fun day.  It is, after all, what Christmas is all about - spending time with the ones that we love.
 

Christmas Songs and Other Funny Things

This time of year all the kids and I listen to in the car is Christmas music.  We have a couple of cds that we love, but both kids really like the Glee Christmas Album.  When it's Zach's turn to choose a song he asks for the "Christmas one with only girls and no boys" aka "We Need A Little Christmas".  Often, when he tries to sing along he'll pause to remark, "Wow, Mama!  Those girls really know the words!"  

Lexi enjoys "Oh Holy Night" and "Silver Bells" and loves to sing along as well.  However, after listening to "Angels We Have Heard on High" she remarked, "Wow!  That was quite a song!"  She always wants to hear one Christmas song on the way to school.  She usually gets about half, because our drive is pretty short.  So she told me last week that after I drop her off at school, she sings herself into the building.  What a perfect way to start the day.  :)

Last night Lexi asked me, "Mama, how old are you?"  I told her I am 35.  She said, "Wow, so you can get anything you want, huh?"  "What do you mean?" I asked.  She said, "You know, on tv.  They always say, 'You must be 18 or older to order.' so you can order anything you want!"  I'm so lucky...

As we were getting ready for bed last night I told him we were going to see Miss Annie in the morning (our chiropractor).  His face lit up as though I had told him Santa would be there handing out gifts!  Then he said, "Is she going to pop me?"  I said, "Yes, she is" (the activator makes a popping sound) He thought about it for a minute and then said, "After Miss Annie makes me feel all better, what are we going to do next?"  I just love that he knows that Miss Annie makes us better.  :)

From Gigi:

"Last night, I found Zachy standing in my darkened bedroom.  Knowing right away why he was there, from the guilty look on his face, I asked:  "Did you poop in your pants, Zachy?"  He shrugged several times.  I said, "Why didn't you tell me you had to go, and I would have taken you to the potty?"  He shrugged a few more times.

I went to get a pull-up from his bag.  When I came back he said:  "You know why I made my shoulder go up and down and up and down, Gigi?  Because I was wondering if you have a changing table here, because if you don't, you can go right out to the store and buy one, OK?  I don't mind.  You can go right out to the store right now and buy one, OK?"

That little sweetie just cracks me up!  : ) "

And with that, I am pleased to report that Zach is officially potty trained.  We may still have an accident here and there (a wet bed this morning, for example), but he is 100% in underwear and using the potty consistantly without being reminded.  Go team!!  And GOODBYE DIAPERS!!!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year's Thanksgiving was certainly one of the best that I can recall.  Of course, as we do every year, we started our day at the Feaster Five Road Race.  The kids each did the kids race and did GREAT!  They both ran the whole way and finished smiling, so it was a smashing success in my book.  They stuck around long enough to cheer their mom on at the start, and then headed home for breakfast and tubs while I ran my 5 miler with my friends Marcie and Gwen.  The race was great, and I had a lot of fun getting to run with the girls.

After the race I zipped home for a quick shower and cooking, and we were in the car well before "Alice's Restaurant" came on the radio at noon, heading toward Uncle Devan and Aunt Jen's house for a fantastic feast.  And a fantastic feast it was!  Jen and her parents, Devan, Eva, Grammy, Grampy, Auntie Kae, and the four of us enjoyed a great and relaxing afternoon.  Jen was a wonderful hostess, and put out a spread fit for an entire army.  No one went home hungry...except for Zachary who passed on most of the dinner items, stuffed his belly with cookies for dessert, and then asked Auntie Jen if she could please get him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a slice of cheese on top.  Lexi and Zach were happy to have plenty of time to play with all of Eva's toys, and it seemed as though Eva was pretty happy to have her cousins there to play with her too.  It was a wonderful day indeed.

Jen got her morning workout mashing 10 pounds of potatoes

Ahren and Devan

Devan, Craig, Ahren and Kaelan

Zach had a little quiet time with the kitty

Eleanor, Jen and Stan prepare the turkey

Zach and Grampy, crazy as always

"The Girls" playing before dinner.

Auntie Kae is always excited to eat.

Zach steals a bite of Daddy's leg

Devan pretended that he was going to do the dishes

Our Thanksgiving Turkey - We all wrote what we were thankful for

The boys, post pie.  It was hard to stay upright.

Auntie Kae helps Zach set up his  new train set that she got him for his birthday.

Sleepy mom and dad - it was a good day.