A garden full of flowers: Christmas!

Ahhhh Christmas....the smells of yummy fireplaces and evergreen trees....the glorious fattening food and candies....the need to make Christmas as magical as possible for the kids....the stress of gifts....the shimmering lights and pretty trees (which I have a really hard time seeing all the wasted trees that did not get homes for Christmas)...the cute Christmas cards....Santa...and of course, celebrating Jesus' birth. It seems that there is a lot of stuff to do in December, and the true meaning of Christmas often gets lost. As a kid, Christmas is of course one of the best times of the year. As a kid, there are no worries (at least there shouldn't be), and only pure joy and excitement. As an adult, there is a lot of stuff to worry about (which there shouldn't be), and often the Christmas magic gets replaced with Holiday stress. I tried to make sure I didn't get too stressed, and for the most part, I wasn't too bad. I just want to make this time as wonderful as possible for my kids. However, when I really think about it...the magic is just there. We didn't do a lot of crazy, exciting stuff growing up. We didn't have elf on the shelf, or do all these crazy crafts we now see on pintrest. We saw Santa at church, and didn't get an expensive photo taken with him. We lived in apartment most of my childhood, and we didn't get huge fancy gifts like Ipads, or powerwheels. In fact, one of my favorite gifts was a pair of pink cowboy boots I asked Santa for. We had a simple Christmas each year, but Christmas was awesome, exciting, and amazing. As a parent, I don't think we have to go all crazy on Christmas...if we remember the true reason for the season, the magic is just there! That being said, we did do some fun activities in December, some of which I have been doing since I was a little girl. We walked around the nativity scenes on Euclid, we saw all the lights in Alta Loma (There is a street that goes crazy with Christmas lights), we heard my Dad and brother sing at the Creche festival, we took a picture with Santa at the Bass Pro Shop, we went to our church Christmas party, and we spent time with family. We had an advent calendar on the computer, and I think I loved it as much as the kids. Each day we all excitedly ran to the computer as Wesley eagerly shouted, "What day is it?! What day is it?!" The boys both sat on my lap as we clicked to see what the new day has in store. Each day had either a little video or activity to do. It was fun, and I am a little sad it is over!

On Christmas Eve, we didn't do too much. We relaxed at home, and Jason made a ham with mashed potatoes and green beans. Santa spent a long time setting everything up, and trying to make everything look perfect for the kids. I told Wesley that he had to come get me, and couldn't go peak in the living room. I didn't sleep much that night because I kept thinking about the boys, and the reaction I hoped they would have. As soon as I heard them stirring, I ran into their room. Normally, they play togehter for a while before Wesley comes out, but since I ran in there as soon as they awoke, I kind of messed up their routine. Chase is very, very set on a certain schedule, and when things are messed up, he doesn't do so well. I finished getting everything ready, and I told them to come out. Chase was still sleepy, and didn't understand what was going on. Wesley had been asking for a basketball hoop from santa for a LONG time. He really, really wanted a "basketball hoop and a rock collection." He is not a sporty little guy, so I knew he was not going to use it much. He wanted it so bad though, so we got it for him. Jason's mom was going to get him the rock collection, so Santa brought him just the hoop. He was really excited to see it in the morning, and exclaimed with wide eyes something like, "I got the basketball hoop!!" He shot a few baskets, and was done like I figured he would be, lol. We got Chase a cute ride on car that goes down a track. He LOVES cars, and I knew it would be perfect for him. As soon as he saw it, he ran over to it and wanted to sit on it. I just knew he would love it. I pushed him down the ramp, and he flipped back and hit the ramp, and started crying. I was thinking, "Hymm...that didn't go as I pictured it in my head!" He was scared of it, and didn't want to go near it. My Dad also put him on it when they came over later, and Chase fell again, and to this day he won't ride on the track. :-( Wesley loves the thing though, and has been riding it a lot. Jason and I also bought a cute kitchen/barbeque set on craigs list as our big gift to the boys. It originally sells for $180, but I got it for $65. It looks new, and is so cute. I am trying to get Wesley to do more imaginative play because he is so logical. They boys like it, but it is so big we are trying to figure out where to put it!

My family came over for brunch, and we opened more gifts. After Chase took a nap, we went over to Jason's mom's house for dinner and even more gifts. We were all spoiled, and we had a really fun day. Since Chase's schedule was all messed up in the morning, he was kind of grumpy until after his nap. Wesley had a lot of fun opening gifts, and just like last year, he would have so much fun with the gift he opened he would forget about the rest (or get distracted and forget about the rest).

Some of the gifts the boys received (for my memory..it is fun to look back, and remember where things came from. It is late, and I know I won't be able to remember everything at this moment, but I'll give it a try...

Chase:
Car and track (Santa), BBQ set for his kitchen (from Wesley), toy food, toy cleaning set with broom and mop (he loves helping me sweep), toy dish set (all that from grandma Burnell and Jennifer), vacuum (grandma), toy camping lantern for the tent (grandma), barn set (great granmda Pheysey), cute hooded towel made by grandma, lots of cars and toy trucks, toy ambulance, cars that attach with rolling things in them (G), care bear (G. Burnell), all terrain tricycle (Butch), squishy blocks (Grandpa Cabell), monster snack container, elephant ornament (G Burnell), elephant figurine,

Wesley:
Basket ball set (Santa), art supplies (markers, color wonder light up set, finger paints, play dough - some from us, some from Grandma Burnell), rock collection (G Burnell), kid metal detector (from Jennifer), cars t-shirt and cars set (great G Pheysey), Pirate treasure Chest (Chase), lantern (G), Hulk (G), math kit (G), spinning gears (G), Hercules movie, Bear Hunt book, tent (great granmda Cabell), pizza kitchen/table (trish), Tricycle (Butch), wood puzzle set (great grandpa cabell), crayola art kit (us), hooded towel (G), Noah's ark ornament (G Burnell), real tool set (Butch),

Overload of pictures...

Santa's gifts

Most of those gifts are for other family. Chase and Wesley just opened one each (they had a lot of other family gifts to open later)

The other side of the kitchen is the "outside" with a little bench, and a grill

Wesley got a pirate's treasure chest from Chase

Trying out Wesley's gift

peak a boo!

Dasiy wanted to help

Papa helping to unleash the hulk!

Chase finally got into it!

The boys loved their tent from Great Grandma Cabell. So much, I couldn't get a good picture!

I really wanted to get some pictures of my family since we don't have too many. Chase wasn't too happy about being torn from his lawn mower, as seen in the last picture.