Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have had a wonderful time of celebration with family and friends this month.  I must say that having a December without working - especially at a job where December is an intensely busy month - was kind of nice!  I still managed to have a few patches of stress this year, but nothing like what I've endured in the past.  I'm thankful for that.  

Here are a few photo highlights from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We stayed home this year on both days, lounged around in our jammies on Christmas Day, and just enjoyed being together.   

Jonah's letter to Santa that he left under the mini-tree in his room, along with a veggie taco and some water.  Heehee.  How would you answer his questions?!

Three handsomes ready for Christmas Eve service.

My dad and my mom came over for dinner on Christmas Eve.  My dad came to church with us after dinner.

Love them!

Jonah singing Silent Night at church.  I cried.  That song always gets me.

Sweet Nicolas.

These two aren't as innocent as they look!  But they sure were cute with their candles.

After church we tracked Santa for a little while on Norad which was super fun for the boys.  Nicolas had a map out on the table so he could find all the countries.  Once the kids were asleep, the presents came out.  I love our tree this year!

The boys each got some new bey blades

and new LEGO sets.

Nicolas got football cards and Riley got baseball cards.  Nicolas sorted his cards by team before putting them in his binder.

Minecraft paper cut-outs made for hours of self-entertainment and focus

Minecraft swords and stuffed animals.

Bro-bros

Some of Nicolas' loot

and Jonah's

and Riley's.

A snuggly selfie moment with Riley.

After presents, Papa came over for Christmas brunch and some play time.  We snuck in a family photo in our matching jammies (opening new pajamas is one of our Christmas Eve traditions).  

What were some of your Christmas highlights and traditions?  We'd love to know! 

December Was...

YiaYia's birthday lunch & snuggles with our cousin

Steve's work party in SF - a date night with dressing up!

Celebrating a very special friend with pedis and great conversation

Selecting just the right tree..

...from the oh-so-scenic Home Depot

Serving alongside women I love at the Melvin's Hope Christmas Store

Acting out the story of Christ's birth, as a donkey....

...and wise kings

Singing shoulder-to-shoulder with diverse groups of people at The GreenHouse

Relaxing in the evenings by our pretty tree

 Taking care of the class pet over the break (Jake the White Tree Frog)

Christmas Eve service at First Pres Berkeley with Grandpa

Opening matching jammies on Christmas Eve






Poses with favorite gifts
 (a stuffed penguin?! this from the kid who last year wanted a talking parrot and a "shaking-booty santa")

A trip to the Zoo with friends

Building new LEGO sets

Feeling proud of completed projects

Giving away $30,000 worth of UGG boots to the cutest kids on the planet

What a lot of fun we had!    

Christmas Moments

This is a whole lot of action:  Popcorn popping, hot cocoa brewing, wriggling into jammies, socks, and shoes, finding keys, glasses, and jackets, whining here/complaining there, seatbelts clicking, hunting for the best Christmas lights, singing in the van, oohs and ahhs, creating precious memories.    

This is a whole lot of mess:  Eggs cracking, dough kneading, fighting over the rolling pin, cookie cutters and baking sheets, Jonah inventing his own game with cookie dough/turkey baster, waiting and cooling, layering with frosting and sprinkles, dropping crumbs all over the floor, cookies ready to give to Santa and neighbors. 

I'm savoring each and every special Christmas moment this year.  Painfully aware that there are mommies and daddies in CT who are not doing the same.  And when I'm wishing I had a break from the noise and the mess, I'm stopping to sit with my boys.  I'm giving an extra hug and kiss and getting out a game to play together on the floor.  The shopping list can wait.  The chores are boring anyway.  Today, I'm cherishing every minute I have to spend with these three gifts that I've been given.

For a Good Laugh

If you're anything like me, you are feeling the pressure that Christmas Eve is in (gasp!) four days. (Umm, how did that sneak up on me so quickly? How do I not even have my Christmas cards yet?  And why do Target and Toys R Us seem to be sold out of everything that I'm looking for?)

So, I'm a little behind this year.  Maybe you are too?  Neither one of us really has time to be hanging out on blogs.  But, this little excerpt below made me laugh out loud so I'm posting it here in case any of my sister friends out there need a good laugh right about now.  I think you'll relate.  It's a few paragraphs from a new book I'm reading, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, by Rachel Held Evans...

"Okay, I'm just going to come right out and say it: A lot of women secretly hate Christmas.

Now, don't get me wrong.  We love that picturesque moment in which the tree is lit, the fire is crackling, and the children outfitted in matching candy-cane pajamas dance around the living room to Tchaikovsky, showing off armfuls of new toys while a twenty-pound ham bakes in the oven; we just hate the anxiety disorder we developed while attempting to produce it.

There seems to be some kind of universal agreement that the advances achieved through women's liberation need not apply during the holidays.  It's as though the first trumpet peals of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" sent blasting over the PA at Bed Bath & Beyond are designed to trigger an internal short that shocks us all into Stepford mode, donning aprons and strained smiles and sweaters that have no business surviving another decade.

From the baking aisle to the post office line to the wrapping paper bin in the attic, women populate every forgotten corner of Christmas.  Who got up at 4 a.m. to put the ham in the oven?  A woman.  Who elbowed you out of the last reindeer Pillow Pet left on the shelf?  A woman.  Who sent the Christmas card describing her eighteen-year-old son's incarceration as "a short break before college?"  A woman.  Who remembered to include batteries at the bottom of each stocking?  A woman.  And who gets the credit for pulling it all off?

Santa.

That's right.  A man.  

Oh, we would be a lot angrier about all of this if we weren't so tired.  But by the time the 25th rolls around, we're all out of fight.  Drained of our humanity, we have more important things to attend to - dishes, returns, disappointed in-laws, and a mild addiction to whatever holiday-themed Starbucks product we were pumping through our systems that year."

Can I get an amen?
 
On a completely unrelated note (and because I wanted to include a photo with this post), aren't these two cute?   This was taken at Home Depot in Oaktown two weeks ago when we bought our Christmas tree.  They are completely, 100% a handful and into all kinds of shenanigans these days.  (I'm sure they were sword fighting or punching each other just seconds before I took this).  But, thankfully, at the end of the day, they are still cuddly, snuggly, and delicious.  And that keeps me going!   

Hang in there sister friends.  We got this.