Christmas 2014

This year we had a busy Christmas week with lots of family...

Right before Christmas, Uncle B (my B's brother) and Aunt P came in for a quick visit.  The kids really love seeing them!  It was a laidback visit....minimal homecooking (since I had just finished off my busy last week before Break), lots of lounging and playing.  Uncle B and Aunt P are great guests.  They let me run out to get a few things done while they stayed with the kids.  It was really nice of them.

We also took a trip to Morgan's Wonderland to check out their holiday display.  We haven't been to this place in awhile and it was really fun.  There was hot cocoa and cookies, a Christmas train ride, lots of lights, a petting zoo, and some "falling snow."

The gift they gave to the kids was a zipline!  B and Uncle B setup the zipline from our playground set set to our neighbor's tree and the kids had a blast!  Evie was a little skeptical and wouldn't go from the high section.  But Eulee was all about it.  She cried real tears when we told her she couldn't get on from the high section.  So we plopped her on at the end of the line and swung her around.  Luckily, she considered that pretty fun!  The kids will definitely enjoy this gift for a long time!

Christmas morning was lots of fun for everyone!  There were tons and tons of great gifts!

Santa brought Elina a spotlight and disco ball for all the parties she likes to throw,  Eli a Lego Ninjago dragon set that he has been eyeing for over a year (right away Elina said, "He's been wanting that for years now!"), Evie a Magiclip Princess Set since she only has Elsa right now, and Eulee a set of nesting dolls because she loves playing with the ones on Eli's principal's desk.  I have to say that after Eli opened his big Lego set, we didn't hear a peep out of him for a few hours...he was just building and building nonstop.

For sibling gifts this year, I had the kids purchase consumables at our grocery store.  We can't give them a big budget for each sibling, so we thought the money would do better on their favorite treats and drinks rather than on a cheapy toy.  B and I took the kids to the grocery store one day and I took each of them in one at a time while B waited with the other kids in the car.  It was so cute how each kid knew what the other ones liked and didn't like.  I love that!  The kids bought Swedish Fish, "Frozen" fruit snacks, Fanta soda, Fruit Roll-Ups, Sour Patch Kids, Super Mario gummies.  Eli actually went off track and bought Evie an Elsa nightlight and Eulee a little stuffed Mickey Mouse doll.  That doll was the most expensive of everything but he was adamant that she needed one to hold while she watched her Mickey Mouse shows.  SO sweet!  Elina paid for all her gifts and Eli paid for half the amount for his gifts...that's why I was impressed that he would want to buy the doll for Eulee.  He's a great brother!  All of them bought each other the perfect gifts...I mean, look at all these reactions--

A few other gifts that were winners for the kids were...
a new drum set for Eli (I know, we must be crazy right?  But B actually plays drums, so there's hope that actual music will come from these drums),

an earring/necklace holder for Elina (she has been dying to get new earrings to display somewhere),

a huge new house for Evie's Calico Critters,
lots of new play food for Eulee and Evie (they are always in the play kitchen).

We got the kids a new tabletop foosball table and the kids play with it every single day....I must admit that we do as well.

After a yummy meal that included fried turkey and tiramisu cake,

Elina threw an impromptu Christmas party with all the new equipment.  It was so much fun!  We love the new lights!

 

Then we had our annual gingerbread house contest.

Here are the winners from this year--
HAPPIEST ROOF by Evie (She even made a see-saw and a tunnel out of gum for the gummy bears to play in!  Honestly, she sat next to Eli, so she was definitely inspired by his outdoor scene.)

MOST LUXURIOUS CARS by Aunt A and Uncle D (This thing was VERY VERY heavy because they used every single piece of candy available!  Plus, it had marshmallow luxury cars inside the garage!  It even had a big snowman in the backyard with a sweet potato chip hat!)

BEST STRUCTURE FOR THE HANDICAPPED by Ah-Gong (He made this house that looked kind of like a wheelchair...very bizarre, but very original!)

BEST PLAYGROUND by Eli (He made lots of things for the gummy bears to play on...slides, see-saws...it looked so fun!  For some reason he wrote "DENTIST" on the inside...maybe he's trying to be ironic because of all the candy being used?)

MOST RETRO MODERN by B (He made his with clean lines and everything looked so neat...even his plate was super clean!  He also had a nice pool in the backyard...although he complained that it was above-ground, so it wasn't THAT fancy!)

BEST INTERIOR DECORATING by Elina (Instead of making a roof and decorating the outside, she created a whole scene inside...dinner table with meals and comfy beds!)

BEST GARAGE by Ah-Ma (I think Ah-Ma had the most rebuilds because her house kept falling apart...so I think this is pretty good work!)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR and WEIRDEST AND BEST CHIMNEY by V (This was his first year with us for Christmas and he really impressed us all!  He managed to get a whole mass of marshmallows to stay up on top of his chimney...I didn't think he could do it but he did!  Plus he crushed up green Froot Loops to make his lawn.  Definitely Rookie of the Year!)

BEST PATTERNS AND MONSTER by me.  (I was trying to make a little food stand-type structure.  Then I wanted to add "icicles" to the house...but in the front they ended up looking like teeth, so I just went with it!)

MOST CREATIVE SLEDS AND SNOW by J.  (She made a little scene with bears riding sleds on a hill of marshmallows in the backyard.  She also crushed up different colored Froot Loops to make her snow.)

Here was our awards ceremony, which is always the best part of it all...I always love the facial expressions and excitement on everyone, young and old!  (Gotta love that Rookie of the Year guy though, right???)

The best part was the babies at the end.  Eulee could NOT wait to run down for high fives (even though she didn't build anything), so we had the babies run down together.  Eulee just left Aunt A's baby in the dust and ran down for her own high fives.  Look at the happiness on this girl's face!  You can't beat that!!

I must say though, the best thing for us about this holiday season was doing something called Light 'Em Up.  Through random acts of kindness, we tried to light up the lives of others throughout the season.  We chose to focus on people who aren't as appreciated.  Eli handed out cupcakes and Elina handed out candy canes to all the Specials teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and office staff.  The kids totally loved it!

Then on the evening of Christmas Eve, we headed to Target to thank all the employees because they all had to work until 10pm or so that night!  The kids went up to each employee and said, "Merry Christmas!" and they took turns handing out thank you cards with some little Dove chocolates on them.  It was funny to see the different reactions from males and females.  Most of the females just melted and said, "Awwwwww, that is so sweet!" They called Eli a sweetie and they would give hugs.  The males were more reserved, but some gave really thoughtful thank yous, which we totally appreciated.

Then...of course...there was the ONE socially inept dude (let's call him SID)...you know there always has to be ONE in a work environment.  Well, this one was working on Christmas Eve.  So this is what went down--

Kids: Merry Christmas!
SID: (turns the paper over and looks at it with a puzzled face): What's this for??
[kids nervously glance at me and J]
J: It's just to say thanks...
SID: (sounding annoyed) Why??
J: ...since you all have to work until 10 tonight.
SID: (in shock): Are we the only ones working until 10??
J: I don't know...Target closes at 10.
SID: (still looking at the paper in disbelief): Oh!  Well, thanks...appreciate it.

Honestly, I wanted to yell, "GIVE ME BACK MY DOVE CHOCOLATE!!"  Geez...seriously.  Merry Christmas!  The kids were taken aback, but they soon forgot about it.  It was just too bad we had to run into a Debbie Downer.  I guess I'd be a Debbie Downer if I had to work on Christmas Eve, too? Still!  They're children!

Anyway, despite meeting a real-life Grinch, our Christmas was laidback and fun...filled with lots of cozy, wonderful memories with family.  We hope you all had a Merry Christmas, too!