Christmas Day and Beyond

Santa came!

Even though Sarah really wanted to stay up all night and catch Santa, she fell asleep. The kids woke up at 7 and threatened to dig into the presents before we could make it down with Erica. Henry wanted breakfast first but changed his mind. Sarah tore through several presents in a few minutes and we warned her to slow down or she'd be sad if we were still opening presents and she was all done. She kept going and a little sadness happened later on.

 Henry is showing Dumbo his new Legos.

 Sarah being a little too helpful with Erica's presents.

 Justin trying on his new shirt.

 Henry got a Henry train from Sarah.

This is the doll carrier I made for Erica and this is her new doll. She hasn't cared much for the doll carrier since which is a little disappointing. She's still a little young for baby dolls though so hopefully the love will grow. (The dolls hair reminds me of noodles.)

Erica got her own princess doll. Sarah got a Belle one and has been trying to trade with Erica ever since. I won't let her since Erica doesn't know what Sarah is saying.

 Erica trying on Justin's new smoking/grilling gloves.

The kids were excited to get a new play kitchen since I took theirs and put a "free" sign on it and stuck it on the curb. (We didn't have a place for it when we finished the basement.) This one is smaller but super cute.

Erica got a puppy. She's a little obsessed with dogs.

 This is pretty much how I hoped she'd react to it.

 Henry and Sarah got Nerf guns. There was a lot of shooting Christmas Day. And this is 6pm and Sarah is still in her pjs.

 Christmas dinner with Justin's family was a prime rib dinner. Mmm.

 I'm pretty sure this is where these two would always rather be.

 Sunday we went to my mom's to see my brother and his family. Henry tried on a Santa hat.

 What a cutie.

I made my family play "The Best Game". It was a hit and this was the trophy for the MVP. My brother-in-law won it but I think he "forgot" it at my parents' house.

Sarah did not like that I was taking pictures of her playing Sorry. Sorry, but these are fun to look at years later.

 And that's the end of Christmas pictures. Monday we went out to dinner before Nadine and Corey flew back to Arkansas. Tuesday I took down all the decorations and cleaned my house. Wednesday Erica helped me empty the dishwasher. I put her up to the drawer so she could put the silverware in but I must not have been very clear because she's actually putting silverware from the drawer into the basket.

 The kids got a lot of really fun Lego sets so we've been building a lot and they fight about how to play with them. Henry is really good at making his own creations. He has a Lego in his mouth.

 Sarah is very good at following the directions. She likes following directions.

Up next: Justin's birthday.

Everything but Christmas Day

Today I took all the Christmas decorations down while my children protested, even Erica. I love putting the tree up but once Christmas is over, I love taking it down and getting my house back to normal.

I'd say we had a pretty good Christmas. No one was sick and we saw lots of family and played lots of games.

But let's back up a bit. A week before Christmas, to kick-off Christmas break, we made homemade pizza. Here's what Sarah and Henry's snowman pizza looked like. These bubbles were impressive.

Cheesy the Snowman has a gigantic arm and a deformed arm.

And mine and Justin's. Here's a bit of handy information: Do not use dollar store parchment paper for pizza. It stuck to the bottom of the pizza like wallpaper. I think the crust would have been so good. Boo.

After dinner we watched "Home Alone". I was worried about letting Henry see this movie because the last thing he needs i inspiration of how to be a stinker. I thought for sure he'd see everything Kevin did as an idea to file away for later use. But we decided to watch it anyway because it had been years since I'd seen it.

Watching them watch the movie was just as entertaining as the movie itself. (And it's been 11 days and no traps around the house. Phew!)

Saturday Justin had to work so the kids and I made sugar cookies. I did not lose my cool even though Sarah asked 967 times when we were going to frost them.

And then that night Sarah and Henry slept under the little tree in the basement. I think Henry lasted until about 3 am and then quietly took his pillow and blanket up to his own bed.

Sunday we made more cookies and delivered treats to our neighbors. I think I've cooked with every form of sugar the past couple of weeks: brown sugar, white sugar, powdered sugar, corn syrup, honey, chocolate chips, white chips, peanut butter chips, toffee chips, marshamallows, marshmallow cream, canned milk, sweetened condensed milk, whipping cream, cream cheese and 4 boxes of butter. I've made 4 kinds of cookies, brownies, 4 kinds of fudge, Jello salad, caramel corn, divinity, eclair bars and caramel and caramel popcorn. Some people have activity checklists for Christmas. I have a treat checklist.

Monday and Tuesday we were lazy and watched Christmas movies. Wednesday we dipped chocolates at my mom's and then Corey and Nadine came over (they flew in the night before and shopped all day Wednesday) and then we went to Riverwoods to see the lights.

Christmas Eve! I love Christmas Eve more than Christmas. I think it's the anticipation.  I spent most of the day making food for our family party. Justin smoked the ham. First he cut off all the fat and crammed pineapple between the slices.

Then he punched holes in the bottom of the fat tray put it in the smoker above the ham so that it dripped all over it for hours. Trust me, it was good.

We went to my mom's for the ham, funeral potatoes, and baked beans dinner (the trinity, I call it). Then I made everyone do this:

 I think these pictures prove I have no idea how to smoke a pipe.

Then we revived the lost tradition of making the kids act out the nativity.

 Justin is the wiseman in my dad's Air Force officer jacket.

Then the kids got to open a little candy gift and the grownups played a white elephant game of gift cards and dollar store gifts.

 Then we went home and opened Christmas pjs and watched Charlie Brown Christmas.