Christmas 2015

Shortly after Thanksgiving, comes Christmas. It really feels like it gets shorter every single year. This year we got a late start on the holiday season, due to the crazy nonsense that is life. Of course every year has to start with the tree (and the obligatory pictures of the kids in front of said tree). For me, decorating the Christmas tree is more chore than cheer, but it gets better every year with my big helpers. Olivia of course was overjoyed at the prospect of a barrel full of round shiny objects she could hoard hand out sparingly. Unfortunately for her the container was almost as tall as she was, and reaching to the bottom proved troublesome at the end of the process. She proved to be more interested in digging out the ornaments than putting them on the tree, but she did participate in decorating part of the tree (nevermind that the part she decorated was about 6 inches square). The finished product was perfect and both kids got to put the star up on the top. I’m not sure how much longer Daddy is going to be able to lift them up to the top!

So, having decorated the tree, the next order of business was taking pictures. I wanted to get some pictures with Nathan’s arms lovingly wrapped around his sister, but those really just ended up looking like he was trying to put her in a choke hold. Their enthusiasm for the process lasted about 28 seconds. Maybe next year.

Somewhere in the month of December I turned the corner on another year of experience. The kids and I made my favorite, angel food (cup) cake, and I got to blow out the candle with my sweet angels around me.

Toward the middle of the month we heard that Santa was making a stop at the kid’s school, and we got them dressed up to go meet him. Nathan was super excited of course, and so was Olivia…until it was her turn to sit on his lap. Then she was stuck to her daddy like Velcro. Just pretend Daddy is professionally cropped out of the picture. After pictures, they got to decorate cookies with icing and various toppings. Nathan made liberal use of the icing and toppings, while Olivia skipped straight to eating the cookie.

A week or so later it was time to go down and spend some time with family. A lot of time. Eight days to be exact. We typically will head down to South Texas the weekend before Christmas to spend time with my dad’s side of the family at my Grandma Bryan’s house then head back up to Houston a day or so later to spend the rest of the holiday at home. This year, because of Momo’s declining health, we made the decision to stay in South Texas through the end of the week so Lolo, Popo and Momo could all see the kids on Christmas day. That created some logistical challenges, because we had to take EVERYTHING (except the Christmas tree) with us. Jimmy didn’t think we could do it. Pshaw. Little faith in my superior packing skills. I don’t think we took a picture of the fully packed Highlander, but it was a thing of organizational beauty. My excessively type-A heart warms at the memory. Well, we eventually made it down to Mathis and spent several nice days in the company of my family. The kids all opened presents and Nathan’s big (literally) gift came from Uncle Chris in the form of a giant storm trooper. I won’t even pretend Aunt Kelley had a hand in this decision, although over the years 60% of the kids’ most annoying presents have come from her (the other 40% of course coming from Lolo). All I’ll say is it’s a good thing I love my sister and don’t want to see her widowed. Olivia was a big fan of the trooper and enjoyed giving him hugs and hauling him around by the head. I don’t think he cared. As usual, when I’m with my family I don’t end up taking too many pictures because I’m too busy catching up with my sisters and cousins and hoping someone else is keeping my kids out of trouble (thanks, Honey).

Our next stop on the tour of South Texas was Sinton (Day 3 of the adventure). This day included making cookies with Lolo and of course ensuring we still fit in the dog’s bed (poor Lucky). A spirited game of Go Fishing was also played under the close supervision of Popo. A good time was had by all.

Day 4 featured a trip into Corpus Christi to visit the Texas State Aquarium and see the dolphin show. Nathan was literally jumping up and down with excitement and enjoyed getting to feed the ray and look at all the other critters. He also really liked the “treasure map” and carried it around the better part of the visit. I’m pretty sure Olivia enjoyed the dolphin show and laughed out loud a few times (“Dey jumpin!”), even though she covered her ears during applause. Prior to the show, we made the strategic error of letting Lolo go unsupervised into the gift shop with the kids. She may or may not have bought them everything in sight. I’ll never tell… The kids were exhausted afterward and lasted approximately 3 minutes in the car before falling asleep.

Days 5 and 6 (Christmas Eve) were very relaxed and Jimmy and I took the opportunity to go to Corpus again to see my dad. It had been several years since I made it to the cemetery because we never stay very long when we make the trip down. I’m glad we went, but it was hard. I miss him so much and still feel a lot of sorrow over the things he isn’t here for.

Christmas day started bright and early. The kids woke up at the crack of dawn and then we made them wait to leave the room (meanest parents ever) until Lolo could get Popo and Momo out of bed and into the living room. I think this is my favorite picture of the entire trip:

As per usual opening presents was a flurry of wrapping paper and playing with each new thing immediately before moving on to the next package. Nathan was very excited to get the new Rescue Bots (Transformers) from Santa, and that excitement was matched when he opened Lolo’s present and got all of the Black Lagoon books he wanted. I had to persuade him it would be okay if we did not read all six immediately so he could finish opening his presents. My sweet boy loves books and I hope his love for reading continues his whole life. Olivia was interested in Bubba’s stuff at first (of course), until she opened up her baby dolls and figured out the cradle was to put them night-night. I think that girl came away from Christmas with four new dolls and two new stuffed animals to add to her hoard. However, that didn’t limit her scope of items to put “night-night.” After a brief spell of silence where someone all of a sudden said, “Where’s Olivia?!” we found her in the living room making sure the wise men, angels, shepherds, animals and baby Jesus’ family were all getting some quality shut-eye. “I put Jesus nite-nite!” The rest of the day was spent reading books (over and over and over again) and having adventures with Rescue Bots and baby dolls. And of course making sure Lucky’s bed was still comfortable.

But of course our time with family was the best present of all.