A Traditional Christmas
This year was the first year we had both the kids with us. Neither one of them really has had a traditional Christmas before. Ehren did when he was too young to remember. I was bound and determined to make it perfect and the seriously angry back I have is a testament to that. When I say traditional, of course, I mean the in the Italian-Catholic tradition. I've been baking cookies for a week
We have our tree which is an artificial white tree with blue lights and garland. We have a tradition in our family of everyone getting an ornament each year and the kids get to take those with them when they move out so they will have a start to their own traditional tree. We hung silver bells around all the beams that surround the livingroom and on the entertainment center which all frames the room in nicely. It seems that each of the kids now have more grandparents than they know what to do with. This lead to under the tree being beyond stuffed with gifts for both of them.
Christmas Eve, we had a wonderful fish dinner of seafood lasagna, a crab meat bread bowl and shrimp cocktail. We got all of it from the Fisherman's Market in Eugene. Damn that place has some wonderful food. I had the kids each open a gift of comfy pj pants for bed that night. The kids called it an early night as they were both crazy excited about the next day. Ehren had gotten sick that night and had wound up getting up and down until about 3:30am but he was eventually able to get to sleep.
Christmas morning, I was really surprised to see both Ehren and Katie up and about. Ehren is always up early, but Kate normally sleeps until 2-3pm when she doesn't have school. She said it was because the cat jumped on her at 8am and she couldn't get back to sleep but I doubt it because they were both on me as soon as I came down to look into their stockings and start tearing into presents. I let them get into the stockings while I went and got dressed. Once we sat down for the gifts it became this flurry of paper and gifts as the two kids just tore into the presents. It went so fast that the only pictures we got was of the aftermath. They both made out like bandits this year and I'm so happy for them.
After that, it was on to cooking. Everything was made from scratch for dinner a nice roast, stuffing, mashed potatoes and glazed carrots. We have a ton of leftovers and I don't think I'll have to cook again for a week. We watched White Christmas, The Year Without a Santa Claus and started to watch Rudolph's Shiny New Year before I called it quits for the night. Ok so this wasn't the most entertaining story, but at least I've got it down here so I don't forget.
Ehren
3 pairs of jeans
2 hoodies
1 pair of sweat pants
2 pairs of comfy pants
3 shirts
dress wallet
everyday wallet
3 wrestling dvd sets
4 different sets of wrestlers
jewelery box
an iQwest
a jeopardy game to hook to the TV
Monopoly
throw blanket
robe
scientific calculator
an alarm clock
2 visa gift cards
Katie
pair of comfy pants
4 shirts
2 corner shelves to paint and hang
lava lamp
fiber optic tree
headphones for her ipod
keychain
8 pairs of earrings
some fiddly bits like lipbalm and tweezers and stuff
makeup kit
2 visa gift cards
Mike
Thermal sweatshirt
Grinch comfy pants
socks
shaving case for all his shaving stuff
a hand made poster from Katie
Me
comfy pants
furry throw blanket
makeup & nail polish
hand mixer
Mike and I
Nightstand
Foreman 8 in 1 toaster oven
Spatulas, measuring spoons, cups, etc.
Glasses
Down comforter
I think I need to sleep for a month now but it was all worth it. It was a Christmas these kids won't ever forget.
We have our tree which is an artificial white tree with blue lights and garland. We have a tradition in our family of everyone getting an ornament each year and the kids get to take those with them when they move out so they will have a start to their own traditional tree. We hung silver bells around all the beams that surround the livingroom and on the entertainment center which all frames the room in nicely. It seems that each of the kids now have more grandparents than they know what to do with. This lead to under the tree being beyond stuffed with gifts for both of them.
Christmas Eve, we had a wonderful fish dinner of seafood lasagna, a crab meat bread bowl and shrimp cocktail. We got all of it from the Fisherman's Market in Eugene. Damn that place has some wonderful food. I had the kids each open a gift of comfy pj pants for bed that night. The kids called it an early night as they were both crazy excited about the next day. Ehren had gotten sick that night and had wound up getting up and down until about 3:30am but he was eventually able to get to sleep.
Christmas morning, I was really surprised to see both Ehren and Katie up and about. Ehren is always up early, but Kate normally sleeps until 2-3pm when she doesn't have school. She said it was because the cat jumped on her at 8am and she couldn't get back to sleep but I doubt it because they were both on me as soon as I came down to look into their stockings and start tearing into presents. I let them get into the stockings while I went and got dressed. Once we sat down for the gifts it became this flurry of paper and gifts as the two kids just tore into the presents. It went so fast that the only pictures we got was of the aftermath. They both made out like bandits this year and I'm so happy for them.
After that, it was on to cooking. Everything was made from scratch for dinner a nice roast, stuffing, mashed potatoes and glazed carrots. We have a ton of leftovers and I don't think I'll have to cook again for a week. We watched White Christmas, The Year Without a Santa Claus and started to watch Rudolph's Shiny New Year before I called it quits for the night. Ok so this wasn't the most entertaining story, but at least I've got it down here so I don't forget.
Ehren
3 pairs of jeans
2 hoodies
1 pair of sweat pants
2 pairs of comfy pants
3 shirts
dress wallet
everyday wallet
3 wrestling dvd sets
4 different sets of wrestlers
jewelery box
an iQwest
a jeopardy game to hook to the TV
Monopoly
throw blanket
robe
scientific calculator
an alarm clock
2 visa gift cards
Katie
pair of comfy pants
4 shirts
2 corner shelves to paint and hang
lava lamp
fiber optic tree
headphones for her ipod
keychain
8 pairs of earrings
some fiddly bits like lipbalm and tweezers and stuff
makeup kit
2 visa gift cards
Mike
Thermal sweatshirt
Grinch comfy pants
socks
shaving case for all his shaving stuff
a hand made poster from Katie
Me
comfy pants
furry throw blanket
makeup & nail polish
hand mixer
Mike and I
Nightstand
Foreman 8 in 1 toaster oven
Spatulas, measuring spoons, cups, etc.
Glasses
Down comforter
I think I need to sleep for a month now but it was all worth it. It was a Christmas these kids won't ever forget.