Oh, wow! Yook! Yights, Cha-yette!

Just Christmas photos for fun, because when you have kids you can do that.

Charlotte really loved tangling herself up in the lights.

This face just made me laugh.

Frederick had no interest in playing in the lights, but The Polar Express slowed him down.

Reading together

Love this unhappy face.  No worries, she gave it on command.

Christmas Train

On the 23rd we drove down to Pearland to stay with Fred's parents.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch and spent the afternoon napping (all but Charlotte, who was watching TV?  I actually  have no idea.  I laid down first and woke up to find her the only one awake.).

All Advent, the kids have been looking forward to riding the Christmas Train in Alvin.  Frederick's eyes went wide with excitement as he ran to find his shoes when it was time to leave Lola and Lolo's house.  I told him there would be lights and he began pointing at the front door and crying, "Come on, Cha-yette! Come on, Cha-yette! Train! Yights!" This kid has the best expressions.  And love for his sister.  He wanted to run out the door and yet didn't want to leave without her.

I'm fairly certain (given my horrible blogging habits of late) that I haven't mentioned Frederick's terrible habit of removing his shoes, and often his socks, when he's riding in his car seat. It really drives me bonkers when we are running late!  About halfway to Alvin, he started crying out in frustration. "Frederick," I said, "are you taking off your shoes?"  "Mommy! Frederick took of his shoes!" Charlotte piped in.

"Frederick," Fred said.  "You can't take off your shoes or you can't get out to see the Christmas Train!"

A a minute more of internment frustrated cries and there was silence before Charlotte spoke up,  "I'm so proud of my baby brother! He put his shoes on all by himself!"  Ha!  Little man can do more than he likes to let us think.

We couldn't get out of the car and into our coats and hats fast enough for Frederick.  He wanted to be there now!  We bought our tickets and wondered over to the electric trains whizzing through a miniature Christmas village while we waited for our tickets to be called.  Both kids loved it and didn't even notice Santa sitting for photos in the same room.

Unable to contain them inside any longer, Fred took the kids outside to wave to the trains leaving before ours while I purchased some hot chocolate.  When our turn finally came, Frederick tried to scamper under the rope and right onto the train.  He was so excited.  The lights were fun and the kids loved it.  Frederick then didn't want to get off the train.

It was the exact right amount of entertainment for a couple of hours and no more, with exactly the right price ($2/kids over 2 and $4/adults) .  We'll definitely do it again next year!

Christmas Done Well

We did Christmas the right way this year.

I spent less time shopping and stressing about presents. I baked more with the kids to make memories and less to fill Christmas tins (though we filled quite a few of those anyway!).We spent evenings sharing meals and time with friends that we don't spend enough time with throughout the year. We decorated cookies with friends.

I didn't manage to take any photos of most of these visits.  Go figure. I love taking photos, but sometimes I feel like I'm hiding behind my camera and not fully living the moment. You might say that I enjoyed living in the moment this December.

We drove around the neighborhood before bedtime (several times) to look at the lights in our neighborhood, especially the blinding, over-the-top houses. Frederick especially loved all the Christmas lights crying, "Oh, wow, yights!  Look Cha-yette, yights!" every time he spotted a new set out his window.

We spent some time at Grandmom's Grandkids' (and Great-grandkids') party. There was pizza, tree decorating, cookie icing, ornament making and game playing to go with the usual catching up.  One of the 42 grandkids has been coordinating this party every year since our first little shin-dig in 2000 when my cousin Melissa and I did the organizing.  It used to be total chaos, as some of the littlest cousins left in our care were only a few years old.  Now it is much more mild mannered with the littlest ones not making too much trouble while the older ones just enjoy themselves.

On the 23rd we traveled down to Pearland where we spent the night with Fred's parents' and Auntie Fiona and Uncle Todd.  We opened gifts there on Christmas Eve morning and were home in time for nap time that day.  It was a relaxing way to lead up to Christmas Day.  We hit up the Children's Choir Mass at 5 and tried to ignore the lady behind us making faces because our little kids weren't sitting still.  There is a reason we don't usually hit up Mass at 5PM people.  My kids are hungry!

Photo-coasters I made thanks to Pinterest inspiration.

We spent dinner with my parents before tucking the kids in and preparing for Santa.  (Yes, we do Santa.  But we don't do anything crazy.)  We drank wine in front of the fireplace and watched Return of the King while we did the final wrapping and putting together.  (Is it weird that Lord of the Rings is kind of a tradition for me and Fred?  No worries, we watched White Christmas, too!)

The kids excitedly opened presents after they busted through a wrapping paper wall.

Charlotte pulled Frederick's stocking down first so she could show him what was in his.  This girl has more sweetness than I know what to do with.

Frederick pretty much wore this expression all day as the presents kept coming.

Before heading over to my parents' we took a little down time to play with our toys.

At my parents' we saw family and opened gifts.  It was a great day.

Aunt Helen likes to squeeze MC.

Aunt KK with Aunt Paula

MC with Grandmom

 Fred went with the guys to the Deer Camp, and we stayed with the Ladies.  Good times.

Making Fires

We've spent two winters in this house gazing at an empty fireplace.  The home inspector found a problem that my sweet husband tried to fix by filling some small gaps with material he later realized was smoke retardant and not fire retardant.  I finally had someone come out yesterday to assess the problem, and the solution was easy - apparently there wasn't even really a problem to begin with.*  So he helped me start the first fire we've ever had here and I was taken back in time.

I thought about my grandparents' home in rural Mississippi.  Their brick fireplace had no fancy gas starter so every fire was fun in the making.  We would bundle up and run outdoors to find kindling that always included twigs, finger sized sticks, pine needles and pine cones.  A stack of newspaper sat near the fireplace.  Once everything was neatly in place with crumpled paper and small twigs on the bottom and a couple of small logs on top, my Papa would pull a match from atop the mantle and with a strike and touch here and there to the crumpled paper a small orange glow would reflect from the brick.  The fire would quickly travel along the paper and ignite the twigs and pine cones.  

Before long a single match strike became a roaring fire that would heat the entire house.  We'd warm our numb-cold hands there when we came in from playing out in the cold.  We'd sit on the hearth before the fire's heat until our backs burned so hot we couldn't bear it any longer and had to move.  We'd feed pine cones to the flames just to watch them turn into bright glowing embers as they curled into themselves and quickly burned.

After the kids went to bed last night, Fred and I relaxed together in front of the fire.  Our fire needed a gas start  as we don't yet have any kindling to start it any other way.  But it felt warm and reminded me of those country fireplace fires so long ago, and all of those childhood memories** that float along with it. I can't wait to show my kids how a pine cone burns.

*Just in case you are worried about our safety, the gap is on the other side of the spark guard.  He advised we could fill it ourselves with regular attic insulation if  it made us feel better.

**The other memories deserve their own space, but the most obscure memory was that of a sound; the sound of a croquet balls rolling back and forth between two of us on the brick floor in the hallway.

Oh Christmas Tree

I love Christmas trees.  The real kind.  I always insist on buying them the weekend after Thanksgiving, even if that means our tree is a little crunchy by Christmas Day.  As a kid, looking for the perfect tree was one of my favorite things to do, and I loved watching Charlotte dart around the "forest" of trees when we went to pick out our beauty.

 

After a couple of days of soaking up water, we pulled down all the ornaments and, with Christmas music in the background, decorated it. The kids loved it!

One of Santa's? 

Okay, someone explain what I am supposed to do with this again?

Despite all the breakable things in little hands, we had only two casualties, both of which happened after a breakable ornament came back off the tree.  Unfortunately, Fred and I collect Christmas Ornaments as souvenirs when we travel, so I guess we'll have to go back to San Francisco again sometime for a replacement.

 I love love love this time of year.