Wrapping up 2013

I think I'll package up the rest of the month/year in one post. If it's anything like my gift-wrapping skills it won't be anything extraordinary, but at least it will get done.

December treated us to a couple weeks of really cold temps, but for the most part it was a bearable month all things considered. We had some decent snow storms, and I will say this...regardless of not being a fan of winter, I do think a blanket of snow helps to boost the seasonal spirits. I grew up with mostly white Christmases, and I love a reminder of those memories. Having a backyard now is great for the boys, and I'm enjoying the freedom of not having to accompany them on every trip outside. :)

I guess in some ways I consider ourselves to be a young family, so I'm still working on what our traditions will be around the holidays. I think we nailed down a couple we want to stick with, but I guess we'll wait until next year to see what others will be a good fit for us.

Christmas Eve we finished up delivering the last bit of our Christmas baked goods, and we had planned on a trip to see Santa afterwards, but after pulling up to the Sugar Shack, we found that we missed him by a day. We ended up heading home with what will continue to be our Christmas Eve dinner tradition of Chinese takeout. We stole that tradition from the Bacon Family! :)

Once bedtime rolled around for the boys, we went to lay down and all of us ended up falling asleep before 9:00! It was a good thing D woke up halfway through the night, or the boys may have been overlooked by Santa. Even on his days off D can rarely sleep in, so he was up early watching a movie when Zach woke up to use the bathroom. Hearing the TV on he went to investigate and saw his stocking and got the rest of us up in a hurry. Starting our morning off at 6:30 AM was definitely not my idea of fun, but the boys' enthusiasm and a cup of coffee were all I needed to get going. They had a great Christmas, and we're very fortunate that we could do for them what we wanted to.

We made pizza last year on Christmas and we decided to do it again. I think that will be our Christmas dinner tradition moving forward. Leave it to us to have the holiday food traditions nailed down before anything else. :) Anytime we make pizza we need help to eat it, so joining us for dinner was Mom, Dad, Joy, and JT. Their company was a lovely way to finish up the day!

The rest of 2013 was mostly uneventful. The boys and I all came down with a nasty case of the flu, and sick is how we spent the rest of the year.

We didn't have the best start to 2013, but D and I both agree that once things turned around, the year ended on a really good note for us, and we're hoping the trend continues throughout 2014.

Cheers to all our family and friends for great things in 2014!

"Jolly" Old Elf

I think it's great that Ben and Zach's first encounter with Santa was actually with my dad dressed up as the man in red, and he was by far a much better Santa than the one we visited a couple of days ago with the boys. This Santa very much looked the part but that was about it....zero personality. It was a good thing that we didn't wait more than a few minutes to see him, or I would have been very disappointed. The boys probably didn't notice, but I think Zach was a little confused when he came away from Santa without him asking Zach what he wanted for Christmas, which Zach definitely had a specific answer.

 

Ben wasn't worried about any kind of interaction with Santa and wouldn't go anywhere near him without Darius accompanying him. The sunglasses were not our idea for a cute picture....totally Ben's doing. He had been wearing them in the car and still had them with him when it was his turn to visit Santa. I guess he figured if his eyes were hidden then Santa couldn't see him and it would be safe to approach.

Tonight we got together with the Bacon's at their home for a little Christmas Eve dinner with them and the Tomer's. We had a great meal and enjoyed great company. Clay helped Darius put together our big gifts for the boys, and he and his wife Tammey were so sweet to give the boys robots. They are such kind people, and we have really enjoyed getting to know them better over the last few months.

 

It's great to have the opportunity to spend the holidays with awesome people. That alone is the best part of being back in Florida. We're so grateful to have the friends we do, and for how generous they are with us and our boys.

The Christmas Pickle

I wasn't familiar with the Christmas Pickle tradition until Joy told me about it. Any wacky tradition involving the hanging of a pickle on a tree is good in my book. I had some leftover salt dough that I used to make ornaments for the boys to color, so I used it to make a pickle.

I found a tricky spot to hide the pickle on the tree, and had fun watching Dad, Mom, Connie and Joy try to find it. Joy was the lucky winner and landed herself the lovely pickle ornament and another little gift.

We let Ben and Zach open a gift before bedtime. Last year for Christmas I made them both animal blankets. They loved them so much, that I made different animals for them this year. Ben was too busy with the Swiffer Sweeper to care much, but Zach seemed to have enough enthusiasm for both of them.

Darius and I kept busy the rest of the night by putting together a table and train for the boys. It was a big project, but I enjoyed doing it. I think the adults had a lot of fun playing with the trains after it was all put together.