Christmas 2011 (Part 1)

The holidays are over......

We ingested large amounts of sugar, saturated fats and caffeine.  My jeans are on the snug side.  

So, like the majority of Americans, I am on a strict diet!!!!!

I will share more about my New Years Resolution in tomorrow's post.  Before that happens, I need to catch you up on our Christmas festivities.  At least the ones that I captured, I kindof failed at photo taking during the holidays.  

Buddy and Bridgette (our elves) brought each of the kids a gingerbread house.  We have assembled these for four or five years straight.  I made up my mind that this year.......we would forego the tradition.  Mainly because it's a humongous mess, but also because after they are done, they sit around till I throw them away.  Just not a fan of things sitting around on the counter.  It stresses me out.   But since the elves brought them, I felt like we had to do it, ya know?

This year, Ryan wasn't too thrilled about playing with frosting and peppermint candies.  He knows that it was important to his mother however.  So he put on a pretend smile and began opening his gingerbread box.  Call it luck of the draw or........ he threw the box against the wall when I wasn't looking, when he pulled the gingerbread out, it was crumpled to pieces.  Guess that took care of that problem.  

Ian and Gracie's were perfectly intact though, so I made them continue.  

Rick sorta feels the same as Ryan about the whole edible house thing, so he watched his favorite holiday movie instead.  

Then another of our traditions of reading "What God Wants for Christmas".  This year we let the kids read instead of Rick.  We also made them read the corresponding Bible verses.  

 

Gracie drew a manger scene on the chalkboard.  I'm going to be awfully sad to erase it because it might be my favorite drawing she has ever done.  

We headed over to Grandma Charlotte's and Grandpa Bob's to have our Christmas with Macy, Titus, Colten, Trey, Nate, Pam, and Heather.  

We had our first dusting of snow that day.  It might have stayed on the ground for 30 minutes.  No snow this holiday!  It's a very strange 50 degrees AND I DO NOT LIKE IT!  In a perfect world, it would snow the week before Christmas and melt on the 2nd of January.  Then not return until the next third week of December.  But Missouri doesn't work like that.  

It wasn't, however, warm enough for shorts.  But my children are freakish and they wear them year round.  

We opened gifts and I practiced my depth of field.

Then we loaded everyone up to eat barbecue.

Titus was having a bad hair day.

 

The holidays sure fly by.  It seems like I just decked the halls.  I'm not a Grinch guys, but I'm usually glad that they are over.  It's just so much mingling, and eating, and short nights, and kids fighting, and cleaning, and cooking.  I love it................yet I dread it.  Does that make sense?

Part two of Christmas 2011 coming soon.......

On the go, go, go!

Bad blogger......bad, bad, bad!!!!!

I've let myself get so far behind, that I'm hitting a creative wall.  I've stopped taking pictures, I've stopped looking at other blogs.  Hence, I've been a little inactive here lately.   So, this post is my meager attempt to catch up.

I consider this little blog a record of our family events.  It is nice that friends and family can view it, but honestly, I would probably still do this even if they couldn't.  My goal isn't to have thousands of followers.  It's to be able to remember!  Friends, something happened at 30 years of age to my brain.  It no longer recalls things as easily.  I do remember having three children and a husband.  Maybe a dog or two.  

Possibly a cat..........or three cats.  Who knows?

In the past couple weeks I have sat through countless basketball games.  

I've ordered a few Christmas gifts (though not nearly enough).  

I've decorated the house for the holidays.

  

I've cleaned my scrapbook room (which was a huge, huge feat!). 

Remember Buddy?  Our little elf who visits the house the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas eve.  As we hoped, he was waiting for us when we returned home from black Friday shopping.  With a nice note, no less.  

This year, Buddy brought a helper.  Her name is Bridgette.  We are noticing that having Bridgette help him has gotten him into more messes.  

A toilet paper mess with a toilet paper roll crown.

And a paper trail from the bathroom to his location on the dining room buffet.

Ian's sock drawer

A bowl of milk chocolate chips in the kitchen.

And milk chocolate faces!

A horseback ride through the mess in Gracie's room!

A science experiment in the hall bathroom with food coloring.

Yes, toilet water CAN be turned a nice shade of Christmas green.

Then a game of cards with a few friends.

I will try to keep you up to speed on his where-abouts from time to time.  He has a Facebook page if you care to send a request.  It's Buddy the Elf, in case you're wondering.

Well, we are off to another basketball game in St. Joe, MO.  Ryan had an injury in his very first Varsity game.  So this is his big RETURN!  Hopefully (praying hard), he doesn't get hurt again.  This momma cannot take it when her babies are hurting!  

Christmas 2005

I was working on digitally storing my photos today, when I came across this gem!  

We lived in our first Chillicothe house at that time.  It was Christmas morning and the boys just discovered that Santa came.  He brought a air hockey table that year.  We will never be able to fathom how he got that down the chimney!  

Buddy Our Elf

This is Buddy.  He is our family elf.  

This is our third Christmas with him.  He shows up the day after Thanksgiving every year, then leaves Christmas morning.  He came with a book explaining what he does.  It begins like this.........

The first year that Buddy joined us, the kids made a competition out of it.  They kept track of who was first to find Buddy every morning.  I put an end to that when they started setting alarm clocks for 3 a.m. so they would know where to look in the morning.  (ahem.....Ryan)

Now, they hardly notice him.  

But he still comes to stay.......

He still goes to see Santa every night with a report.....

And he still comes back in a different spot every morning.  (well.... most mornings, that is)

Sometimes he doesn't move in the night.  We aren't sure why.  Maybe "he" forgets.  

Go to THIS link, if you would like to have a family elf.