Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Our day was traditionally celebrated with the eating of collard greens and black eyed peas. And ketchup. That helps. I told the children that growing up I dreaded this meal - the pork, the peas, the greens, ugh, none of it was appealing until the cornbread was brought out. And I didn't get paid to eat it either. We pay our children. One gets a dollar for eating a big bite or, shock, ALL of the collards. And one gets a pick from the "lucky jar" should they partake in a generous portion of the peas. Yes, a bribe of sorts but they LOVE it. Even so, there is still gagging. So tonight we had our traditional meal complete with Ryan cutting the greens - he won't buy the bagged, easier kind. And it was good. Real good. With pork loin. Pryce finished up, gained a quarter of a dollar rather than the entire thing due to the fact that he ate only a tiny bite of his greens. And he acquired two "lucky jar" tickets, he was a happy little guy. As he was walking over to put his plate away, the plate that was still pretty full of peas, he declared, "Those really are some YUMMY peas! I liked them." I said, "Oh, good, I am glad you enjoyed them. Would you like to finish them up before you put your plate away?" He smiled and said, "Oh no, that is ok. Just save them for next year!" And with that, we laughed and moved onto discussions about dessert.

Christmas Eve began with the decorating of our gingerbread house....not sure if they decorated as much as they ate. Following our decorating fiesta, the children and I parted ways from Ryan. This is our tradition, just me and the children. We normally find ourselves amongst the frenzied shoppers of Target or the likes. And then it was off to a special lunch, just the four of us. Meanwhile, Ryan did his "work" at home.

During the early afternoon hours of Christmas Eve, we all dressed and prepared for church.

Gran and Pop met us at church. Following church we had friends over for our annual chilli dinner and reindeer food making party....always lots of fun and laughs.

When everyone had departed, the opening of one special gift began - the pjs. Gran and Pop always supply the holiday jammies for Christmas. Then the children made their way out to sprinkle reindeer food. MK wasn't so sure she wanted to share hers, she was more interested in whether or not she could eat some too!

It was getting late and all were anxious for an attempt to slumber so that Santa could make his way in. With Pryce nestled in beside Pop, the reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas and the Christmas Story began.

This is not even a posed pic. Both of them were out and neither even noticed that the books had been put away. Excitement did not get the best of P. However, our eldest struggled and struggled with going to sleep. He tossed and turned, we laid with him, we gave him Tylenol for fear Benadryl would do opposite effects, nothing worked....finally at 2:00ish AM he was at least drowsy so we all called it a night.

And then exactly 3 hours and 45 minutes later, with C being the first voice we heard, the sounds of laughter and joy and LOUD squealing rang in! This is our pic on the stairs, pre Santa.

And Pryce, even in the wee hours of the morning, was able to pull off a fantastic Happy Birthday Jesus performance with some squeaky choir members....

.....and then this happened - gifts, many desired gifts, were found....

and put to use.....

.....and we watched and marveled in their joy!

Holiday Quotes

10. "Since we are so ready for Christmas to be here, can we just celebrate a few days early?" Two reasons why we can't and did not. One, I explained that it was Jesus' birthday and the celebration was about HIM and not US and the gifts we were anticipating. Two, I was thoroughly enjoying the season, the parties, the movies, the downtime. Christmas takes so long to get here and then it is over way too fast.

9. "Ok, but I am not going to sit on his lap!" MK stated this one, imagine. MK has never been a fan of Santa. She says he has a funny beard and she doesn't know him so she isn't going to talk or sit with him. The children and I visited the mall one afternoon. The boys and I coerced her into sitting in Santa's chair, with them no doubt, and Santa came in behind them and took the cutest picture ever. Then she proceeded to tell him all about the scooter she was wishing for and how good she had been all year.

8. "I just added one clothing item to my list - SOCKS." Poor Colin. Really, poor boys. Socks do not seem to last long in our home.

7. "He is looking at me! Why he in my room?" This was not a statement, this was a squeal of horror that we had to work MK through. We have our elf, Matthew. Matthew is harmless but his little eyes do look a bit questionable and this tends to make MK a bit nervous at times, especially when Matthew perches himself on the bookshelf in her room.

6. "I have an idea. On Christmas morning, before we see what Santa brought to us, I want to play Happy Birthday to Jesus on the piano and we can all sing to Him." Loved this idea. Pryce has been taking piano lessons since September and he loves to play. Sure enough, Christmas morning came and at 6:00am, before walking into our living room, we all gathered around the piano to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

5. "I am so sad about baby Maddox cause she is not with us for Christmas." (MK) "I guess Maddox is celebrating right now." (P - prior to our Christmas Eve service, he knew Maddox was waking up in China on Christmas Day.) "I wonder if Maddox even knows it is Christmas." (C) Yes, our little one was on our minds no matter how many presents were received and how many family members surrounded us.

4. "Hey Pryce, what does that do?" Pryce says, "Don't worry dad, it is on my list and I will show you how it works on Christmas morning!" The confidence in Santa is heavy around our home....good thing he listens well and came through even on those last minute gifts. We have two children who had lists that stuck from the moment they were written. Our third child had three different lists and none of them contained the same items. Tricky.

3. "All I want for Christmas are my two tonsils." This was said by Colin to his doctor. Finally, Colin was deemed strep free after four rounds of antibiotics. YAY. The shocker came when the doctor announced that MK tested positive. No telling how long she has been walking around with strep. No fever. No complaining of a sore throat. No sleepless nights. Nothing. She was as happy as a lark. No clue. We go back this week for another swab to see if we are all clear.

2. "I love being out and about during the Christmas season. Everyone seems so happy and it makes me feel good." Tis true this year, we all enjoyed being out in the bustle of things. One of our favorite days was going to the mall. We do not frequent the mall so this particular day was a treat. The children enjoyed their first Auntie Anne's pretzel, we took a photo with Santa, we looked, we dreamed, we ran into our minister and his wife - a fun treat, and we just enjoyed our time together knowing that we were on no one's schedule but our own. It was nice.

1. "Just think, next year you will be a family of six!" Wow, there are days that I can't believe it is happening again, we are going to be parents one more time to a beautiful little girl in China. Most days it doesn't seem real. And then, I am reminded.