Christmas 2011

Usually the Christmas season is my favorite time of the year.  Why?  I get to celebrate my birthday!  The kids (and I) get two weeks off of school to sleep in, read lots of books, and play.  Dode gets time off from work.  We have a big breakfast with family.  And, there's the giving and receiving of gifts.  What's not to like?

This year, the approach of Christmas felt more like the approach of a run away train with me tied to the tracks than a time of rejoicing.  I think the biggest part of the problem is that I've had a head cold for almost two months.  I'll have headaches, stuffy nose, sore throat, clogged ears for days, get one to two days feeling good, and then right back to sick again.  It's left me run down and weary.  I knew Christmas was coming irregardless if I was ready and excited so I did my best to make it happen.  And it did!

I always buy gifts ahead of time, especially when the kids seem interested in something.   It's so much easier to stuff a stocking with little joys when I pick up things during the year.  Although I've got gifts stocked away a long time in advance, I've learned not to wrap things until after Thanksgiving for two reasons.  One:  once they're wrapped, I can't remember what I bought and end up buying too much.  Two:  Wrapping paper tears so easily and I don't like wrapping the same gift more than once!   As I was wrapping the stocking gifts, I realized that I really need to think more about the boys as I'm visiting places during the year.

I spent a big part of Saturday in the kitchen getting ready for Christmas breakfast and dinner.  By the time Dode and I headed for bed at 9:00, the stockings were stuffed, the presents were all wrapped and under the tree, and everything that could be made ahead of time was chilling in the fridge.

a lady of leisure on Christmas Eve

I was trying everything to get rid of my headache!

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday, we began our day with church.  I always let the kids open their stockings when they wake up and they wait to open the rest of their gifts when I'm ready.  I make sure every stocking has some fun things to play with, including a brain teaser puzzle and every one's favorite candy.  I'd also continued Dear Abby's tradition of giving each child a new book.  Since they all suspected that one was coming, I couldn't surprise them this year.  The girls made it more fun for each other by hiding each other's books in their room and then looking for them.  I think we'll do that in the future for all of them.

this year's books

We managed to get our stockings opened, get ready for church, and arrive by 8:50AM.  I think there were only five other cars in the parking lot when we arrived for the 9:00 am meeting!  Almost everyone came in just a few minutes before or after  9:00.  Church usually runs for three hours but the First Presidency (the leaders of our church) sent out a letter that on Christmas day, church would be Sacrament meeting only, which runs for 70 minutes.  There were lots of musical numbers and a talk on the true meaning of Christmas.  55 minutes after the meeting began, everything planned for the day was complete and they announced the closing hymn.  There was much rejoicing in the Dickson row!

tasty goodness

We hurried home and I got the cinnamon rolls in the oven.  We'd invited Dode's extended family to join us for brunch at 11:00, our Christmas tradition and our gift to the family.  We had to have it so soon after we got home from church because their church meeting began at 1:00.  After breakfast was cooking, I let the kids open three of their gifts.  Then, it was time for a breakfast feast.  I heard the same thing this year that I think I hear every year, "I think the cinnamon rolls are the best ever."  I used the cinnamon my dad had shipped to me from half way around the world and they were pretty good!  I think the cinnamon rolls are just so good that there's no way for a memory to give them justice! 

Once everyone left, the kids finally got to finish opening their presents.  Here's some of the highlights...

Anastaya is crazy about zebras this year and loved her zebra scarf and pillow pet. 

Elizabeth is all about owls.  She got the following owl items: pajamas, watch, clock, calendar, lip gloss, lunch box. 

Her favorite gift of all was the owl watch.  Unfortunately, when it was assembled, they didn't align the hour hand correctly.  Luckily I bought it from amazon so getting a replacement will only take a few days! 

Jacob needed a new skateboard to replace the one that was stolen last month. 

Isaac is in that awkward in between teenage time when he's too old for toys but too young to feel satisfied with more grown up gifts.  He was excited because the biggest box under the tree had his name on it, a rocking gaming chair. 

William added to his car collection.  He especially likes one that can tow other cars around. 

Miriam wanted to add more foods to her kitchen.  We'll have quite a selection by the time she outgrows it!  The white dog next to her is a Fur-Real friend.  It was in "demo" mode in the box.  I bought it in September.  I put it in the bedroom closet, with the front towards the back of the closet and wrapped it with thick black satin.  50% of the time we'd walk by the closet, it would start it's routine: barking, whimpering, panting.  I'm surprised it had any battery left by the time Christmas arrived.  We wrapped it up and set it under the tree and it did the same thing.  Whenever someone would walk by the tree, it would make itself known.  It sure made me smile to hear it.

We had some quiet down time with everyone playing with their new things until my mom and Greg joined us for dinner.  Santa's elf had been busy!  Greg built doll armouries for each of the girls' American Girl dolls.  They are built with solid wood.  There are little drawers for keeping their clothes and shoes in.  Miriam sat and quietly played with hers for over an hour.

a peek inside the drawers, the bottom one is a trundle bed

plenty of room for hanging up clothes

My mom and Greg had been encouraging us to have a family piano recital for quite some time.  I finally relented that we'd do a Christmas recital.  I'd been working on a piano piece to play for our performance.  With a pounding head for much of the last two months, focusing on piano music didn't happen as much as I'd wanted.  Even as I sat there to perform, I could feel a bit of dizziness as I tried to get my fingers to do what the notes said.  I made a lot more errors than I'd like but it just gave me resolve that next year's piece will be so much better!

By the time Christmas night wound to a close, my head was feeling pretty good.  I survived Christmas.  I think the kids were happy with their gifts from us.  I know Greg was! He loves his treat of the month and lists it on his Christmas list several times. The kids love that gift too since they get part of his monthly treat.  No one had a meltdown about not getting what they expected (believe me, it's happened in the past).  As Dode and I lay in bed reviewing the day, he told me we'd done it, we'd accomplished another great Christmas.  I remarked that it was pretty sad, by the time the day was over, four of us were complaining of sickness: Jacob, Anastaya, Elizabeth, and me (all colds).

I spent most of the day after Christmas day restoring our formal living room (otherwise known as mom's living room) back to its neat and clutter free existence.  Unfortunately, I had to chase the clutter around the house before I could finally get it put away where it belonged.  I have great helpers for getting Christmas decorations up but the clean up falls to me.  The next day was restoring Santa's wrapping station (our bedroom) to cleanliness.  By the time we had Christmas, we'd gotten to navigating along small pathways through the clutter. 

One of the drawbacks of buying presents early is, if their interests change, you're left with a gift they'd no longer enjoy.  I'd bought Isaac a Kinnect roller coaster kit in the summer but he's moved on to rebuilding motorcycles and playing around with robots.  Dode suggested that Elizabeth might enjoy it and he was right!  She loved the hours she spent building it with her dad and can't wait to build another one.