Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas this year. When Pat and I got in bed Christmas night I said "this was the best Christmas yet." He said that we thought that last year, too. I don't remember which is why I try to blog these things.

We were off work Saturday through Wednesday and Christmas was on Tuesday. So, we had a few days to get ready and gear up and then a day to recover. We spent most of our time around the house and the girls loved it.  The first day of their break (Friday) we had a babysitter come so I could do last minute errands and projects. This was a life saver because it allowed us to have a pretty relaxed weekend. Ryan got a blanket that you knot together and she had been wanting to do it since Nana Mulick gave it to her for her birthday so she opened that up Friday morning and Molly showed her how to do it. However, guess who is actually doing it? Me. But, I LOVE IT. I love sitting and doing a mindless activity. I may actually want one for myself.

Sunday we went to church and that afternoon my friend Blake came over with his wife to visit. Their children were still napping and dealing with travel from Colorado. It was great to see him. 

Monday was Christmas Eve. I started by going to Body Sculpt that morning and spent most of the day cooking and getting the house halfway picked up. We went to Christmas Eve service that night with GG, Bubby, Aunt Ashley, and Uncle Aaron. Afterward we went to GG and Bubby's to eat chili. While we were there we heard Santa's bells (aka Aaron's phone) and Ryan and Charley were running around from window to window looking for him (except at first they were scared and jumped in Pat's lap). We looked out the back window and actually saw Rudolph's blinking red nose up in the air (aka a tower in the distance). We had very excited girls so we immediately went home.  We had done our Jesse Tree all month but the girls wanted to skip that and skip brushing their teeth and get in bed immediately. We heard Santa's bells again (aka Daddy upstairs) and that caused Charley to cry. She just kept crying/whining "Santa....Santa....Santa." We don't know if she was scared of the bells or scared he would miss our house. It was just so pathetic and funny at the same time. 

So, the girls went down very easily and "Santa" got to work. Most of the work was already done. It's great living in Spragins House because I had a whole room set up in the Morrow Building where I had opened all the gifts and had them all arranged. Pat had already put together what needed to be put together and wrapped the presents (he wraps much better than me). I was in bed by 9:30. 

The girls woke up a little before 6:15 a.m. and GG and Bubby arrived just in time for our traditional filming of the walking down the stairs.  Charley asked Santa for a "blue and white dog" that she had seen in the Denver airport. She really wanted it there and we had taken a picture of it and attempted to order it online but it wasn't exactly the same. She was OK with that, though. Ryan asked for a "baby buggy" or a pram. So, she got a navy blue pram-so cute-I had one when I was a baby. Santa also brought a piano that was a little dinged up and wobbly. He left a note that it got scratched up coming down the chimney. The girls also got a changing table/bathtub table for their babies and a Hello Kitty karaoke machine.

The sweetest part of the morning were when Ryan and Charley wanted me to open their gifts from them. Ryan got me a fleece throw at the Heritage House because she knows I like being cozy. Apparently when she saw it she knew I'd like it. She was right!  Charley had been talking for a couple of weeks that she wanted to get me a place mat because I didn't have one. When Pat told her they were going to the HH to shop she said she was glad because she knew they had place mats. She got me a children's plastic place mat with an airplane on it. Precious.  They both wrapped some little pictures they made for us, too. So sweet. 

The weather was predicted to get bad (Blizzard Warning) so we had to head to GG and Bubby's to open presents fast before A & A had to leave early. That is where Charley go soooo excited about opening her Bitty Baby. She has been wanting it for over a year but we made her wait since Ryan was 4 when she got hers. It was worth the wait to see her excitement (screaming and jumping up and down). Pat was a little late in getting the video camera on her but we got some good video. Ryan got her first American Doll and she named it "Judy." So funny-where did she come up with that? They each got matching p.j.'s with their dolls and matching birthday outfits with their Bitty Babies. I think the dolls were the hit of 2012. 

A & A got them really cute and big princess pillows and a HUGE craft set. We actually left the craft set over there and they played with it when we went back over that night for dinner. That will provide hours of fun when they are visiting! They also got them "decorate your own picture frame" which they have already done. We will look for pictures to order to put in the frames.

After opening presents we went back home and Pat and I laid down and their girls played around the house. They played with their dolls and then we'd hear the piano play for a second and then echo singing on the karaoke machine. I loved hearing them talk and play by themselves. They had so much fun.

We went back to my parents for dinner with Mr. Brodie and Charles Hathcock. By that time we were exhausted and we left and came home and went to bed right after we ate.

THEN, we woke up to about a foot of snow.  Nana E. gave the girls a sled last Christmas and so it was fitting that we got our first real snow and could use it on her birthday. They immediately wanted to go outside before I had finished my coffee.  Ryan didn't have snow boots yet and so we improvised. They immediately went outside and started rolling around in the snow and getting snow in their clothes. The snow was up so high on Charley she couldn't walk without falling down. By the time we walked across the lawn to a little hill they were crying and ready to go inside. It was hilarious. So, I walked them back while Pat tried to make a little run for sledding later. I tried to set up the video camera where they couldn't see because they were so pathetic and cold. They sat on the couch by the fire under a blanket just sobbing with Ryan saying over and over "my feet are cold." I told them that some things seem better as an idea than when they really happen. Pat tried to tell Ryan that she should have listened to him about how to wear her shoes but I tried to tell him that she had to figure it out herself.

The next time we went out a few hours later it was much better. GG and Bubby had gone to Walmart and bought Ryan snow boots and both girls new mittens. They made snow angels and a snowman. I had a friend pick me up on the corner of College and 22nd and take me to the gym-ha. I trudged across campus in my snow boots carrying my tennis shoes. I felt so devoted. They found a big hill by the Derby Building to sled on and Pat said they loved it. After rest time we went back to the hill and I got to ride with them on the sled. It was so fun. Charley and Ryan just screamed as we went down the hill. Ryan was doing cartwheels and handstand-forward rolls in the snow.  We went back inside and had a second cup of hot chocolate and watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

I can't end my Christmas post without talking about Morgan the Elf. They had so much fun with him this year. They would walk right up to him and talk to him.  Some of the things he did were: put makeup on and sit on Ryan's vanity; hang from the ceiling fan from a toilet paper roll with each blade having toilet paper hanging from it; Pat saw him fly; one day he moved from spot to spot sometimes copying what the girls were doing (that was the day Pat saw him fly); he ate cereal one morning with milk; he drew faces on girls' faces on a frame; made a "flour angel"; and on the last day he was praying by Baby Jesus and the nativity scene.

All in all it was the best Christmas yet!

I'm finishing this post on 1/1/13 and I said earlier how glad I am to not have a list of things to buy (starting in October with Halloween outfits, 2 birthdays, and Christmas)!

KK