This is a moment I've waited for my whole life... as a child we
always waited at the top of the stairs while Mom turned on Christmas
music and lit candles and Dad started a fire in the fireplace. They
would walk by and taunt us with hints of what they had been able to
glance at that Santa had left. Then Dad would get out that giant reel
camera with the blinding light on top and yell "
1, 2,
3, GO!" and we would race downstairs to see the family room magically
transformed. Our old house didn't have stairs, and somehow barricading
the kids in the nursery didn't resonate in the same magical way for me
as those treasured memories of waiting on the stairs. This year for the
first time ever, I got to yell "1, 2, 3, GO!" and watch my own kids race
down the stairs. Magic.
I had to wake up Tate and he's not really a morning person. His face was nuzzled into my neck as I walked into the room with him, but the second he saw that train table, he wriggled down and made a dash for it. I've never seen him wake up so fast! He immediately started pushing the train and making his car noise: "
Ooooh-oooooh!"
Anna Kate has been asking for "crunches" (
I have no desire to correct her) for nearly a year. The children's museum here has a wooden set of children's crutches, and they are Anna Kate's favorite thing in the whole museum. They are part of a little doctor's office area, but AK walks all around the entire museum on them. I have to make her give them up when other kids wants a turn. She asked for crunches for her birthday, but I told her I couldn't find anything like that and that she would have to ask Santa and maybe he could make them in his workshop. The fun thing is I think she had kind of forgotten, so it was a magical Santa surprise. And just in the nick of time it seems, as Anna Kate conveniently "
hurt her knee" and "
needed" those crunches that very day.
Anna Kate's other big Santa surprise was an iPod. She didn't even ask for one so she was completely surprised and has been celebrating her windfall ever since. It's pretty much been a permanent fixture by her side the past few days, which I'm letting slide only because I feel guilty about leaving for Hawaii. :-/ It's been the year of all things Frozen! I can't even tell you (
and I'm speaking to those reading this in the future... all of you living here in 2014 KNOW) how obsessed the entire country has been with a single movie. It's been unreal. But luckily, I happen to love the movie.
I'm not sure this is what Santa had in mind, Tate! This has been his first Christmas to really get this whole present-opening business.
Digging for ones with her name on them.^ Uncle Nathan & Aunt Angel's gift to Tate was a big hit... he
pushed his little plane around the front room for awhile before working up the bravery
to climb aboard. As soon as he got on, the propeller started whirling
and Tate jumped off like the seat was on fire! So funny. He finally
came to the conclusion the toy was
not trying to get him, and he's been joy riding about the house on it ever since.
Best to put your coffee down
before Wesley opens a present from you... he's
very appreciative. Ha. Especially when it's an iTunes gift card!
Taking a quick break for breakfast burritos and hash brown casserole. Tate is such a snuggle bug (
note Anna Kate's perpetual Christmas presence with her iPod in hand). ^ -
BELOW- Playing ponies on the piano... with musical accompaniment by Tate:
Packing peanuts!
Next came my favorite new Christmas tradition... my Christmas nap! One year I just couldn't function at all and I took a nap between opening presents and cooking Christmas lunch, and it made all the difference in the world. I told Michael I want to make that a tradition! So after opening presents, Mimi & Grandpa went home for a few hours to pack for their trip, Angel fell asleep on the couch, Nathan went for a run (
freak), Tate went down for a nap and Michael and I made a dash for our bed! The kids had so many new toys to keep them happy that they didn't bother us once! We slept from about 11:00 to 1:00 and then I got the kids ready and Michael took Carigan out for a spin on her new bike while I cooked.
I'm having a hard time picking out the perfect furniture for our new house, so we're currently without a dining room table. But good ol' Rubbermaid tables did just fine and we enjoyed our first meal in this room since
our picnic on the floor the day we closed on the house. Such good memories of our first Christmas in our new home! It's hard to believe that this time last year we had never even seen the inside of this house and had
no idea what God had in store for us! That all happened very quickly this past January. I was a little sad that we had just wrapped up Christmas in our old house and that we didn't know it would be our last Christmas there. But I'm so grateful that God had wonderful surprises in store for us, and most of all, I'm glad we are officially on the other side of this move and that we survived it! Much to celebrate, wrapping up 2014!
Guess how long you can expect eight large Lego sets (
literally hundreds
of dollars worth, thank you aunts, uncles, grandparents and Santa) to
keep this boy busy? Less than a day. BOOM. Good thing his sisters
don't mind him putting their sets together. This boy is unreal!
How we wrapped up our first Christmas in our "forever" home... I
love Christmas.
