Christmas 2007

Our Christmas this year couldn't have been more relaxing and enjoyable. Our family has been going so hard the last few months that we decided to slow down this holiday break, unwind, and take a break from everything that keeps us on the go -- No school, no homework, no going to work, no chores, no going here or there .... We spent a lot of time resting, relaxing and enjoying being together. We've watched movies, ate lots of junk food, played lots of games, and ate some more. We've taken a few family outings, but mostly, we've been hermits at home, and enjoying every minute of it. We know soon enough, we'll be on the go again!

We have a fun tradition every year on Christmas Eve -- We wear Santa hats or reindeer ears the entire day. Alex and Logan choose to wear the reindeer ears this year while the rest of us donned a Santa hat. In the morning, we wore them to IKEA for breakfast, went to Target to get a few last minute Christmas tid-bits, and then to the movies to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks". Afterwards, we went home to prepare for our family Christmas Eve party. For the rest of the afternoon, Joshua and the kids helped me prepare for our enormous party snack spread, which we ended up snacking on for most of the week afterwards. I kinda went a little overboard, but it's been nice not to cook the rest of the week! Then, we opened our Christmas Eve presents. This year, the presents consisted of not only the traditional Christmas PJ's, but also robes and slippers for everyone, and a Disney blanket for each child. We've lowered the temperature a few degrees in our home this winter to save on energy, so we thought these would be a good idea to keep us snug and toasty all season. We watched a couple movies that night too -- "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and "A Nativity Story". We also sang quite a few Christmas carols, with both Spencer and Jessica accompanying us on the piano, before we put the kids down for the night.

Christmas was also a fun day for us. Spencer and Jessica didn't wake up until 7:45, and I woke Alex and Logan up at 8:00 (we were up late the night before) and we went downstairs together to see what Santa had brought. We spent most of the morning opening presents, eating our yummy egg and bacon souffle breakfast, and making a mess of the place! The kids look forward to Christmas not only because of presents and no school, but also because they get to wear pajamas all day long! We also decided that instead of eating a big turkey Christmas dinner this year, that we would snack on our leftover Christmas Eve snacks all day since we had so much leftover. It was nice that I actually got the chance to play with the kids and relax with the family instead of cooking in the kitchen all day long. Really nice! We had our big turkey dinner the next day.

Our new favorite family game is called "Chase-Around", thanks to Alex's new mega-dart gun he got from Santa this year. When Mom gets a hold of the dart gun, I scream "chase-around" and I take off after the kids to "dart" them down. If I get them, they have to fall to the ground for 5 seconds, then they're off again! When Dad gets a hold of the gun, better watch out - he takes no prisioners! We've found it's a great way to get some exercise during the holiday.

We hope you also had a wonderful Christmas week! Have a joyous New Year as well.