Our Days Following Christmas

Just a quick update on what's going on around our house. It's so nice to have total family down time-- nowhere to be, no certain time to get up, eat whenever, no real meals cooked, fun all day long in pj's if we want. It only happens one time a year and we live for this week between Christmas and New Years.



So, yesterday.... Gary had just gotten home from a run and Scooter really wanted the rope.


He'll try this angle. Nope.

He'll try climbing up on the playground. Nope.

Stretch over a little closer. Nope.

Back to the ground approach. Get a little jump and

DOG SUCCESS.

We had gotten more snow. Not enough for sledding really, but still fun and beautiful. Especially on days you can stay home and have nowhere to be out in it.

Same views as the shots taken on Christmas Day but with a couple of inches accumulated yesterday. But it's melting fast today with the sun shining.

We've been able to work on the kitchen lately and got the grout in for the slate tiles FINALLY. We weren't thrilled with the color choice once it was in, but not too much we can do about that now. It didn't really darken up much, but maybe it will a bit once the sealant is on?

All that's left is to the kitchen update is to shine up the cabinets some, change the outlets, and add crown molding. Not bad after almost 2 years in the works? Well, yeah, that's kinda bad.
It'll be due for an update by the time we finally get it finished.

Just gotta share. Here are the sweats I mentioned Grant wearing on Christmas Day.

To me, they kinda make him look Christmas tree-shaped, no?

I was laughing out loud at him while snapping the picture and here he's saying, "What? What's wrong with them?"


Ah, these fun lazy days.

Big Time on Christmas Day

This is what we woke up to this morning. Atnas stayed away!! Caroline was up around 5 a.m. but was convinced to rest awhile longer. We didn't all get up until this time.

The kids confirmed Santa had been here. Cookies and milk GONE.

Next stop is always the stockings. Caroline was so up and at 'em. The boys notsomuch. Everyone but Sam was still awake at 11:00-11:30 last night despite having gone to bed at 9-9:30.

But then everyone got into it and had fun finding lots of miscellaneous in their sock.

Grant exclaimed, "It's Shaw-sta!" Imagine Shasta said with an English accent. That cracked us up. Plus, Grant has kept falling down all day due to his way-big sweats. He didn't want to change because, he says, since they are so long, they keep his feet warm. So he's been providing us nonstop crack ups. Except when he fell into the coffee table and banged his knee so hard we were thinking for a minute this might be a Very ER Christmas. But he's ok.

Sam got a shirt and wasn't even angry about it. Probably because it is his favorite color. And because he's looking to branch out from those tired muscle shirts?

The anger came later when he unwrapped pencils and more clothes.

Caroline and the toe socks didn't really work out.

By 6:40, the stockings were done. Time to move to the tree.
Caroline made up little name slips for us to draw names to see what order we would unwrap. Then we decided to just go with youngest to oldest.

This is Caroline giving Grant a big hug. She loved the gift he gave her: a sock monkey.

She said it was her favorite gift. That means it beat out Patches the ZhuZhu pet, her Liv doll, her Lego stable, her new clothes.

Jack got a new garage door opener. SWEET!

Really it was an Airsoft shotgun/pistol combo pack, just like he hoped for.

Grant's always happy when Legos are around. In fact his written wish list was, and I copy:

either a big Lego Star Wars set or 5 small Lego sets, or a few medium ones for at least 20$.

Sam got a jet to wear.
Our friend Danny from Nashville shipped the kids all kinds of silly stuff like he always does.

Sam got a cowboy set from Grant. It was hilarious to watch him use his knife to open packages. Let me restate that:
It was hilarious to watch him use his plastic play knife to open packages.

This is my new big clock. Now, if anyone has any idea just where this is going to work out, let me know. I loved it when I saw it, but really, I am not sure where to put it.

We unwrapped for awhile and then took a break to make some breakfast around 8:20. Hollow biscuits and a sausage egg casserole were delish.

Almost missed getting a shot of any hollow biscuits left in the pan.

And how about this hot oven shot?

Gary humored me by wearing some hip clothes I had for him. Well, hipper than usual, we'll say. Jeans that hit below the waist and had a current look were so rockin' on him! Sadly, he wasn't that comfortable in his new look.

But he still has them on and it's 5:15 in the evening so I know that guy loves me!

He actually bought himself the new (the Goodwill kind of new) Sketchers.

Sam's superexcited about his new headlamp!!!

Later in the morning we resumed unwrapping, and by 1:00 the last present was done.

Lunch: your choice of chili or potato soup.

The rest of the afternoon, we played.

It is really a Lego Land around here. Everyone got some but me, so just helped myself to Caroline's. I got a new set of lamps (shopping yourself to help Santa out just really is thoughtful), and this one was the big shocker. I have wanted a Roomba since they first came out and Gary was never in favor of getting one. He was very skeptical that they really worked and never wanted to shell out the bucks, of course. And this year I got one and, wow, am I gonna be on easy street now?!

As you know, Scooter's a part of the family. He has his own stocking, and here he shows off his new coat to wear over his old coat.

And good thing since it's been like this all day.

To all of you sunning it up in warm Florida, maybe you miss seeing snow flakes falling on Christmas Day just a tad bit? Nah, I wouldn't either.

Continuing to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

It's the Eve of Christmas

It's the night before Christmas,

and all through the house,

the kids are so pumped
they're like a wound-tight Mighty Mouse.

The stockings are hung by the fireplace covered with Scooter hair,

and the kids hope it won't be Atnas who comes this year.

[Gary just warned the kids that sometimes it's Atnas who shows up. He steals from houses instead of bringing in gifts. He doesn't come down the chimney; he comes up through the toilet.]

Caroline's definitely concerned.

Here's our attempt at a village. If you notice, the personalized snowmen are truly personalized. Well, if you live in this house and your name is Gordon (close as we could get to Grant--wasn't that from you, Ross? ) and then there's the blue permanent-markered SAM. Thanks, Caroline. The M's so big, it wraps clear around to the S.

And as promised, here's the before, during, and after of the tree:

As we carted it home from Lowe's...

With the lights on... this was Dec 10th, the night of Jack's concert.

Yes, we have some light swaggin' going on. I like it! It's like a Milky Way effect.

And then the final product several days after that. This year we have actually been able to leave gifts under the tree and no little hands tore into them. This is a first since 1998. No kidding.

Tomorrow I am gonna post a picture of the tree as it is in the morning, counting on that it will be visited by Santa and not Atnas. For those of you who haven't been at our house on Christmas morning, you will see how much we love Christmas where Christmas means opening gifts. It literally takes us all morning. It's so much fun!

And now let's go on a little ornament tour. This is one that we have that was on our tree as I was growing up. And it was probably an old hand-me-down even then. This is one I made in 1991 when I lived in my apartment in Centralia. This is the original potpourri. It seems kinda gross that the potpourri is 18 years old but really it looks ok. If you like potpourri on your tree. And who doesn't? Oh, now, just put your hands down. Hey, it's not all just old stuff on our tree. Here are the kids' new cool ornaments.

I just noticed it looks like Sam is again testing out his John Deere's true mowing capability. See it heading over the glass grapes?And of course, gotta represent the kid-made ones. Courtesy Sam, 2009. And the ornament that is broken (you see Cat lost his head) but still every year it must go on the tree because I paid, like, DO NOT READ THIS GARY, $25 for it. Just a pretty one.

Each year I try to buy one new ornament that signifies something special about the year. This one represents 2008 when we went to Tallahassee for summer vacation and stayed with Julia and then headed to St. George Island where we made family sandcastles at dusk after the storms each day.

Can you even believe there were no kidney-shaped ornaments to be found?!

So, here's to the big guy coming tonight! Hope he stops by and leaves some merry for each and every one of you!

Merry Christmas!!

Love from us!