Christmas Eve/Christmas Day

I am bound and determined to finish up my December posts (in January!) so that:

A)  I have some type of documentation to the 2009 holiday season and

B) If I ever get around to actually scrapbooking these lovely events I might actually have some memory of what happened!

So here a couple of shots of December 24th and 25th.

(Note to Self:  If the kiddos can handle it and you are not wanting to put in some cheesy Santa pic with Christmas Cards, go see Santa at the mall during the day on December 24th.  NO WAITING IN LINE!)  Once again…Ben was not a huge fan of Santa.  Has screamed and cried every year…no tears this year, but he was still trepidatious.

As you know, our family has embraced the “less is more” philosophy and we began putting it into practice with the holiday season.  Unlike previous years (read: when mama was employed) where the kids got tons of gifts from both mommy & daddy and Santa, Chris and I agreed to limit the spending to just a few big ticket items that we knew the little ones would really love even if they didn’t ask for them.

Case in point, this STEP 2 kitchen.  Mary and Ben love to play kitchen and have a wonderful hand-me-down kitchen from my good friend Erin over at The Little Things in Life. But like all hand-me-downs, parts are lost or worn over time.  My little ones didn’t know any different, but since this is a beloved toy in our house, Chris and I decided that the “big-ticket” item from Santa this year would be a new kitchen.  Of course, little did we know the ELVES would forget to include a whole package of parts that included the clock, telephone, burners, spice rack, etc.  THOSE ELVES!!!  (I must note here that the Customer Service Dept. at the 1-800 number for STEP 2 was most helpful and sent out the missing parts package immediately, no questions asked, no proof of purchase necessary…thank you STEP 2!!!)

 

Finally, one last pic…we celebrated Christmas with Chris’ family here in Kansas City on Christmas Day.  This is a cute cousin pic that I snapped during a relative moment of calmness.  When these 6 get together chaos ensues!!!  The oldest grandchild, my sweet niece Ashley, is 15 and the youngest is Megan, age 2 1/2.  Collin is 12, Noah 7, Mary 5 and Ben 3.  Quite a cute bunch! 

Ashley, by the way, is 6’1” and a bean pole!  She is a star volleyball player for her Junior High and made her first competition club team this winter!  Ashley is my husband’s niece, his sister’s daughter.  While my sister-in-law isn’t overly tall (5’8”) her brothers (my husband and brother-in-law) are 6’4” and 6’5” respectively.  I’ve asked our pediatrician about Mary growing to 6 foot and he said probably not.  While she will definitely be taller than her mama (5’4” ROUNDING UP!) she probably wont’ be taller than 5’6” – 5’8”.  That’s tall enough for me!!!  All bets are off with Ben!