Christmas Explosion!!

(Pre-post: As evidenced by the date stamp of this post, we have been overwhelmed this month (mostly by repeated bouts of seasonal illness). Apologies for the time lapse between posts. I think this has been the longest lapse yet.)

The title of this blog refers mostly to the blog, itself, because I will now impart to you the Christmas-related happenings of 2011. And it will seem like an explosion.

Consider yourself warned.

Ka-Pow!

We put up our tree a few days after Thanksgiving. I'm not sure why we broke the "never before December" rule this year. I guess we were excited to do it for the kids and took advantage of the holiday weekend to spend the time together doing it. We knew from the start we shouldn't bother putting anything on the bottom half of the tree. I attempted to skirt the restriction by placing only non-breakable ones toward the bottom and shove any breakable ones deep toward the tree "trunk." It turns out, though, that Little Mr. Mischief Pants, the "ball" loving boy, could totally reach in there and yank them out. So, we had to rearrange. And replace ornaments that got pulled off. And rearrange, and replace. And rearrange, and replace. And that was pretty much the gist of our tree experience. Lyla had tons of fun unwrapping the ornaments and finding them a spot on a cluster of branches. She quite literally put them all in one place. I discretely moved them to spread them out over the course of several days, so as not to offend the darling dear.
Gia and Pap stole the children one afternoon and took them to the vintage railroad in Grapevine to ride on the "North Pole Express." Lyla had done this before, but she (probably) didn't remember, so it was super awesome for her again this time. The grandparents reported, however, that Flint was not such a fan of the experience. It was chilly outside and the whole sing-along part was too noisy for him. He was pretty cranky. Based on his attachment to his new train set from Santa, though, I am betting in a few years he will love it. Also reserved for loving in the future: Santa Claus, himself. What a horribly frightening man he is!
At the beginning of December, we discovered a small guest in our house, complete with a tiny note to greet us and explain she was an elf visiting until Christmas. Lyla was asked to name her. We were pleased she invented something all on her own, rather than reuse a friend's name. Thus, Mooshi came to stay with us for a month. She left notes every now and then to reward good behavior and attempt to correct naughtiness, and almost every night she got into mischief, herself. On Christmas Eve, she hopped into Santa's bag with him. We might see her again next year...
We opted out of a physical Xmas card this year in favor of trees and money. Instead, we posted this:
We hosted a playdate and decorated cookies! It turns out that children 5 and under care more about quantity of cookies decorated (and eaten) than quality of decorations. Aidan managed to make a few cute ones, but Lyla mostly scarfed.
Lyla "performed" a holiday "show" with her class at Pinnacle Montessori. They were adorable. (My favorite part in the video is when she starts lifting her shoulders during the song, although it seems a rather inefficient way to jingle the bells). There was more partying and more cookie decorating following the show, and the kids participated in a book exchange. Much to Lyla's disappointment, she did not receive the book that she brought.

We attended Roommate Christmas at Casa de Edwards and had a lovely time. It may have been my favorite RMC thus far. With a ban on gifts this year, we instead simply enjoyed each others' company, played in the neighborhood park, ate tons of delicious food (Mexican, for a change of pace!) and made some fun crafty-crafts. Oh! And the kids played together. Kristin and Mac got to experience their first RMC with their little man, who was crawling all over the place, participating in all the fun. I just love how RMC is turning into such a family-of-friends-together-time with all our little people.

Gia hosted her Ye Olde Annual Cookie-Baking Day. Lyla, Rain, and Faryn painted our traditional sugar cookies while Shannon, Dad and I all bickered with Mom (also a tradition) on the correct size of the chocolate chip cookie, and the perfect amount of time to bake them. I got to spoon most of them, so they were "too large and undercooked," which is totally why they had to make MORE just a few days later (*wink wink*). This was a long and fun day, but ended with a lot fewer cookies baked than normal, after le sister and I made a midday trip to Target to complete some Xmas shopping. Also... none of us seemed to really "need" cookies this year.
One afternoon, Gia kept an eye on Flint while Lyla and I went shopping together, this time so that she could choose gifts for everyone. To keep it simple and cheap, I took her to the Dollar Tree with a list that she and I made of all her family members. She was super excited about getting to shop all on her own, and I was super excited about how "into it" she was and totally in love with the idea of giving gifts. Just as the process was beginning to turn painful, we were done. I found most of her gift selections to be quite amusing. And some were plain hilarious. Like Batman bubble bath for Uncle "Burger," a large, etched crystal goblet for Pap, and a guide to getting 6-pack abs in 6 weeks for Uncle John.
Well, as if I weren't already impressed, the next day Lyla begged to wrap her gifts. So during Flint's nap time, she sat with me and selected wrapping paper, tore and placed tape (*her* tape - not mine!), chose tags, wrote her name on them and piled up all 16 presents. This took some serious focus! Even I was asking for a break after gift #10, but she wanted to do them all. I guess I owe a shout-out to Ms. Mene for helping Lyla learn how to focus so well and so long on a task. I'm sure her love of the whole process didn't hurt either.

We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family at Gia and Pap's house. We ate tons of yummy food, unwrapped gifts, drank wassail, played and played and played. Lyla was a wonderful and excited gift-giver and was gracious as ever receiving gifts. She was thrilled that Faryn passed down her dollhouse to her and super excited to get her very own table from Gia and Pap. Flint got lots of fun toys and clothes, an awesome new ride from his grandparents, and a basketball hoop from his aunt and uncle. All this among many other new treasures and toys, but fewer than last year. Gia deserves a pat on the back and another round of hugs, because Christmas was just as special as ever and she did manage to cut back a bit this year.
I was smart enough this year to bring pajamas for the kids so they could pass out on the way home. Of course Flint didn't even make it to the drive and petered out at his normal bedtime.

We made it home just in time for Santa to sneak in, eat some cookies and sneak out. I'm sure he was up really late.

Christmas morning was just fantastic. At first, I wasn't sure if Lyla even noticed that Santa had come because she crawled into bed with us at 7am, after having to pass through the living room on her way. She must have noticed, but had been too sleepy to process it. After some snuggle time in bed, Lyla asked to go see the stockings. She lit up when she saw that Santa had eaten the cookies and milk that Mommy left out (cause a certain someone passed out in the car the night before), and she got right to the dirty work: opening lots of gifts. All of the gifts! Her presents, Flint's... she helped Mommy and Daddy, too (just sometimes). She had her work cut out for her! For Lyla, a couple new dolls, a puzzle, a Captain America shield and mask, a helicopter, art supplies, play-doh, play jewelry, and other fun stuff. For Flint, some car toys, PJs, a toy cell phone, a doll of his very own (cause he loves Lyla's), a Bilibo, a toddler T-ball set, and new shoes. We saved the biggest for last - a train set to Lyla and Flint from Santa. We set it up on the coffee table and there it still sits. They have been playing with it every day.
Lyla and Flint gave Daddy a special gift, too.

A few hours later, we were heading to Nonna's for more family time! Again, Lyla loved giving out her gifts. After Anthony opened up his Thor hammer and helmet from us, she turned into Captain America and together they save-- smashed each other a lot. We had a fantastic dinner together, more wassail, and the kids had so much fun playing. And playing. And playing. Lyla insisted on opening toys from their packaging immediately so she could play with her cousins. In the end, another great family night was had by all and the children were 100% exhausted. I was too, but I was also just elated from all the fun. And very much looked forward to the next day - the long awaited day after Christmas, Q-proclaimed "Day of Much Rest and Play."

Oh! And if we haven't thanked you, yet, for your Christmas gifts, know that Thank You's are on the way soon (hopefully!)! We still have a mystery giver left to thank for a surprise delivery left on our porch a few days before Christmas. To you, Secret Santa, thanks SO much! The definite favorite among your goodies was Lyla's crown and jewels! She can be seen here, shouting, "Treat yourself!" as she tears through the house donning all her gems.

We had such a fun Christmas and we look forward to many more years of excitement, family, giving, chaos, and overspending (well, maybe not those last two)! Pheww!

Aaaaand, as always, there are plenty more photos HERE!