Christmas in 7 Acts

Act 1: Christmas Eve, Gramma's house

The snacks were made, presents were wrapped, off we went to Gramma's house. We ate yummy treats, paused to make the kids take a picture together under their stockings, opened gifts like crazy people, at a delicious dinner, capture a rogue baby lizard that snuck into the house, and had a nice afternoon together.

Act 2: Late Christmas Eve, our house

We got dressed up in our Christmas jammies, put out our cookies for Santa, reminded our elf Snoodle one more time what we wished for from Santa, and then watched elf. Jason and I were the only two to make it through the movie - everyone else fell asleep.

Act 3: Christmas morning, our house

Our alarm clock, Kyler tries to wake up super early (again this year), we make him go back to sleep, he sleeps way longer than we expected, and we are now officially running late. The kids get just what they asked for from Santa - a scooter and roller skates for Kyler, a set of fairies for Kassidy and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for Konner. Happiness ensues, open our stockings and presents, frantically get ready.

Act 4: Later Christmas morning, Grandpa and Grandma's house

We hurry over, and are glad to see we are actually not late at all. Sing some songs with Grandpa's microphone while breakfast gets finished. Feed our hungry tummy's and open more presents!! Lots of love for our kids.

Act 5: Noon, Granddaddy and Grammy's house

Arrive with new toys in hand, play for a while, then it is lunch of our traditional tamales. We gather around to open stockings and presents. Lots of new clothes for the kids (yay). Some people take naps, some people take a walk, Kyler tries out his new razor scooter, try out new car track.

Act 6: Early evening, back at Grandpa and Grandma's house

Make a quick trip back over not to eat dinner but to visit with Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Fox. Give them the coveted calendar as a gift and get a snap shot of us together - two of three children awake - good enough.

Act 7: Evening, back to Grammy and Granddaddy's

Eat more tamales. Try to gather up many lovely gifts and play a rousing game of pass the pigs. Kids crash on the way home and sleep the whole night through.

It was a Marry Christmas indeed!

What a Week

Since I usually have a VERY busy December at work, as soon as it was winter break the kids and I had some catching up to do on our fun for the month. Here is what we did in the week before Christmas (other than those several last minute shopping trips).

We had G-mama's Christmas. Twenty-five of us were there to eat pigs-in-the-blanket, open gifts with the kids, do some Christmas crafts, and play games. Always yummy, always fun, and always heart-warming to be all together at once.

We visited Santa. Painless for the first time ever, all three kids smiled, all three told him what they wanted. We changed afterward into some shirts they made (with Crystal, not me, um hello you thought I had the time!).

We made cookies for Santa. We sliced up some sugar cookie dough and jazzed them up with some "fun-dough" and sprinkles.

We went to San Diego and Christmas Eve Eve to attend the Poinsettia Bowl Game between Navy and San Diego State. Our first bowl game ever and it was tons of fun. We did spend the entire third quarter taking multiple trips to the bathroom and annoying our seat neighbors and had a small snag (read really long time) getting on the train to get back to where we parked, but it was worth it.

We jammed a lot into that first week of winter break and we were tired, but it was a good tired, and have some nice memories to enjoy.

If You Just Ask

There is a club at the school where I work called Interact that focuses on community service. One of their major events is done during December called "Dear Santa." The get names and (some) details for children or families from a local social services office that are in extreme need during the holiday season. As far as I can remember I have always participated with my classes in this endeavor and for the past few years I and usually about 9 other math teachers band together to collect for families. This year we had five families we were "adopting." I tell my students a little about their situation and then ask if they will be able to donate. I don't promise them anything in return - no extra credit, no perks, no party, nothing - just a warm feeling when they give. Every year they AMAZE me with how much they can and do give. I always set a lofty goal of $1000 for all five classes combined and somehow I make that goal each year. This year was the best my kids have ever done and I was so proud of what they could do together. I collected over $1500 from just my students! Just from donations! With the other classes we had almost $6000 to spend on the five families. We got each of the 26 people a gift as well as gift cards for gas, groceries, and clothing / general stores. We got a little Christmas tree for each family and wrapped it all up in a big storage bin. It is an amazing thing to be a part of and just wanted to share with you how great my students were!

Ornaments of Fun

As is our tradition every year we do an ornament exchange / steal with the folks from church. We had a great time this year. After some great food and company, the strategy and competition begins! There was a lot cute picks this year and therefore lots of stealing - always fun. In the end, the Fox family was the new keeper of our "Stanley Cup" of ornaments. The Caldwells signed off on the ornament and it now hangs from a hook in our living room ceiling.

A Tale of Two Teas

The first Saturday in December was a busy one for me. I decided I would throw my annual Christmas tea and brunch for my church family and real family in the morning. The ladies that were able to come were true examples of my theme this year - being thankful. We thanked each other for things we had not thanked them for before, we shed our tears (usually a goal of mine), and grew closer to one another. It was a lovely way to start the day. (I was so busy playing hostess, I forgot to take pictures!)Later in the evening, Kassidy, out guest Oma (Susie) and I attended at dear friend of ours tea. (She is the lady who influenced me to start my own Christmas tea tradition.) We enjoyed a program on friendship and enjoyed an evening with our closest friends.

It was a nice (albeit hectic) way to begin the Holiday season. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the ladies who made my day so meaningful.

Big Kids Now!

Here's a snapshot of what it looks like very often around here these days.

That's right, we are now the proud owners of a set of potty-trained twins! Remarkably it only took a week, some new fancy undies (Lightning McQueen for Konner, Tinker Bell and princesses for Kassidy), and some fruit snacks Jason picked up (jelly beans, not really doing the trick). I am not saying we haven't had our share of accidents here and there, but we have gone on numerous shopping trips and even saw a movie without incident! A victory of epic proportions, if I say so myself. I even smiled to myself as I just walked right past the diapers at Costco the other day. We have some very proud parents over here and just wanted to share our new found fortune!!

Kyler is Five

Dear Kyler,
When you turned five last month, I just has to think, wow, what a big kid you have turned into. You even no longer look like a baby - even your sweet face has a new look to it. You have adjusted to full time school very well, learning to write neater, reading (wow!!), discovering the world out there. Your teacher says that you are one smart kid, have a great imagination, and are one heck of an artist. She also said you could be so much more if you weren't so distracted (and distracting!) sometimes. I guess we will be working on that. You love to be the leader (I think that comes from me) and that will come in handy later in life - bossing your brother and sister around right now though, not so much fun for them. You are a character (that I am sure is daddy's influence) and very sure of yourself - good for you. When you say your prayers at night, you only thank God for one thing. It changes from night to night (dragons, firepower, lately holidays), but it is always just one thing. You always have to sit on our front porch to say goodbye to whomever is leaving our house and can't move until their car is out of sight. One of your ultimate things to do is to do projects - or at least gather supplies for your projects - it is quite amazing what is in that head of yours! With all of the things you are learning each day, I can't wait to see how much you continue to grow and mature in the next year. I love you big guy!

A Sleeping Princess

When a princess turns in for the night, I am pretty sure it looks something like this...
Did you see the fluffy pink tutu and the pink slippers? Just what every princess needs!