Sometimes you just gotta let go.

I must have forgotten to rubber band the toy cupboard door closed, and the babies took full advantage. But they were happy, and I was able to bake bread and do laundry, etc., in a whine-free environment, so I guess getting everything out at once is okay now and then. I’m putting my toy police badge away for today. Good thing we aren’t expecting any company at this precise moment.

The irony is, at one point, Alex was cheerfully singing the clean up song as he was stacking blocks.

I’m glad I have a good book to listen to for when I decide to tackle this. Or I might just wait for KC to get home.

I never could stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve.

But I did remember to say Rabbit Rabbit first thing in the morning, so that ought to count for something. (I NEVER remember to do this, so saying it on the first of the first was extra exciting, not that I’m in any way superstitious.)

We had a fun week leading up to the big day. KC was able to take an extra day off, besides the observed holiday weekdays, which made me just all around content. Besides having fun just lounging around, or going on little outings together (or by myself!), We also had some fun plans lined up.

We were invited to the Millers on Thursday.  The Murphys also made their way over for the fun. We really missed some other friends that couldn’t make it. We all became really close when were were newly married, but are not in the same ward anymore, so this reunion was such a blast.  I even let the kids stay up extra late, I was having such a great time catching up with my girls like old times, and that doesn’t happen often. While the kids were overstimulated and clingy at times, and dinner was kind of crazy, even with their boosters and a movie playing, we were still able to truly enjoy ourselves and. Molly made delicious stuffed shells for dinner, which my kids also really liked when we finally got them to calm down and eat. There are more toys than my kids have ever seen at their house, and an awesome back yard as well. Since Molly’s kids were allowed to walk around with chocolate covered faces, I cautiously let mine as well. But I mostly followed them around to prevent chocolaty hand prints everywhere. The ride up was a bit on the whiny side at times, but the ride home was heavenly. The only thing that came out of their mouths was exclamations about all the Christmas lights they saw, and then saying goodbye to those lights when they were out of sight. Though a couple hours late to bed, they went down as quietly as I’ve ever heard them. We were so glad we made the trip.  

We were also invited to another little gathering at a friends house on Friday night (the youth were having a dance on Saturday, so to make it easier to get babysitter, they made the party for Friday, which we appreciated), where we were expecting to see a lot of the same people. Since many of them were planning on bringing their kids, and the hosts kids had bronchitis, the crowd was considerably smaller. But the group there was great fun, and the food was so delicious. We stayed much later than we had expected, and had a great time, catching up, and playing dominos and garage band.

So on the actual New Year’s Eve, KC and I got to enjoy our quiet night together, eating shredded pork nachos (I’m still thinking about those…), and toasted to the new year with a little bubbly, of course, and some cheesecake. After our movie, and finished folding the mountain of laundry that had been neglected for the last week, I was off to bed. At about 9:30. Call me a party pooper if you want, but I call me practical. There was really no point in staying up past midnight, just to be grumpy when the kids woke me up at 6 am. Someday, when the kids are old enough to enjoy it with us, we’ll all stay up late, watch the ball drop,  and band pots and pans at midnight like I used to.

I continued my family tradition to have the New Year Baby fill the kids’ shoes after they went to bed. I always loved this growing up. It’s softens the blow of the holidays being over a little bit. We don’t give them much, just some little toys. My parents always did something like a fun drink, candy, and a trinket of some kind. The babies love Penny’s mini massager so I got them each their own (which Ruby calls “new toy” since I told them there were new toys in their shoes). They like to turn them all on and watch them rattle and make noise on the hardwood floor. I hid them when they weren’t looking to get a break from the noise. We’ll have to only get those out when the downstairs neighbors aren’t asleep! They also got their little yearly calendar notebooks that KC’s mom picked up for me. Every year I get new ones and take notes in them as they hit milestones or say funny things, so I thought I’d throw those in, even though they’re mostly for me. But the kids “read” them as if they were enjoyable books. So easy to please (sometimes). Also, those tub crayons have been a big hit!

We had a delicious hootenanny (aka German pancakes) breakfast, with pumpkin spice hot chocolate (which the kids mostly enjoyed because of the whipped cream on top), which made us all have a happy start to the day. I can never settle on just one topping choice. Then is was off to church as usual. The kids were little angels in the meeting. It might have helped that I had some new quiet toys to keep them busy, and the strawberry Frosted Mini Wheats, that we had to vacuum afterward. Oops. We finished off the night we a delicious grilled pork tenderloin dinner, and went to bed happy to start a new year.

The fun continued on Monday with KC home from work. We thought it would be fun to take the kids out to eat. I don’t believe we have ever done this with just our little family, now that I think about it. The experience couldn’t have been better. There was no wait, there was room to bring the stroller all the way to our table (always a bonus with less adults than toddlers) the kids colored happily on their place mats, ate everything on their plates, and hardly needed any parental intervening. It opened my eyes to the  possibilities that this year will bring as they get older.  Of course, when I had ample time to get some good shots of the well-behaving children, I didn’t have my camera on me. But my mind has stored the images of this big milestone for us, so that’s enough for me.

So, that about wraps up all the holiday fun. It was low key, but just right for us at this point on our lives. I will miss being excited for the mail to come to see who’s Christmas cards came, and hearing Ruby singing jingle Bells as my ring tone, but over all, I’m relieved that the holidays are over. I like the feeling of starting fresh with a clean house, and a clear mind full of goals. Though, I never really set actual, formal, resolutions, I do always feel like I have a clean slate and I feel all kinds of motivation to get started with the new year on the right foot. 2012 is gonna be good, I can feel it! Happy New Year!

A Simple Christmas Weekend

We had a more intimate holiday this year, involving mostly just our little family.  It was business as usual for the kids, making messes, fighting, laughing, crying, cuddling, waking up too early, etc. But it was a blast celebrating Christmas together. It was definitely different and more exciting this year, with them being a year older and all, and I can see how that pattern is sure to continue as the years go on. Let’s start on Friday, Christmas Eve Eve.

It was so wonderfully great to have KC home so many days in a row. After a lazy morning together, we decided to take the kids to the National Harbor in the afternoon. We knew they would love all the decorations, even if it wasn’t dark enough to show off all the lights. It was a beautiful, but cold day. The kids loved everything from the huge Christmas tree and street décor, to the glass elevator in the Gaylord Hotel.

On Christmas Eve, we had plans to spend the afternoon with some friends at their house. The kids enjoyed cookies, and making a messes with all the unfamiliar toys, not to mention, their favorite Frosty the Snowman playing in the background. We were also treated with some seriously good mud pie, all thanks to the hosts.  Of course I was too busy keeping the kids from destroying the place to take any fun pictures.

We got home, opened our traditional pjs, courtesy of my parents (the men got a silly leopard print, memory foam bath mat in lieu of pjs, sort of as a joke, but the kids couldn’t get enough of it). I tried to do a short version of the nativity story with the Little People. Maybe the kids understood a little bit even if they weren’t paying much attention. At least I tried. They know who Baby Jesus is, so I’m happy about that. I witnessed a true Christmas miracle when all the kids willingly piled on KC’s lap as he read the entirety of The Night Before Christmas. There was no fighting over who could hold it, no squirming off his lap to do other things midway through, just sweet faces intently listening to the story, only breaking their attention to yawn. We have read this before, and this wasn’t the scenario, hence my amazement. After I snapped some pictures, I joined them on the couch. A true gift seeing my family all snuggled together. We listened to our Christmas lullabies, and put them to bed, whispering to them that Santa was going to come if they went to bed promptly and nicely, and that they did.

We got to work on the fondue, and had a nice little dinner, just the two of us, Festive Nog and all. The Swiss-Gruyere fondue was new for us, and definitely tasty. Probably a little to rich for me actually. Maybe it’s better that way, so you don’t eat too much. The toasted bread/ham/cheese combo is definitely my favorite.

Then the Santa-prep began. We are starting to see what being a parent at Christmas really means. KC was working on their kitchen for quite a while. I excitedly set up the scene that the babies would wake up to, and then laid next to hard working KC on the floor while we watched our movie choice for the night, Lovely Still (one of the more mellow Christmas movies, but definitely one to put on your queue.) We chose to not put out a few things we got for the babies, thinking there was enough out already. I’ll save those for a day when I really need some reinforcements (which has already happened), or for their birthday in September if we can wait that long. I also put out the cart they got last year, since it’s been put away for a while, and I needed a third push toys to go with the stroller and wagon we got. They didn’t seem to care or notice.

The morning was priceless. Their little eyes lit up at the sight of all the new toys. Ruby couldn’t stop talking about her little bear, that she got the night before with her pjs (I stole it back when she was asleep to use a s a stocking stuffer). There was a variety of exclamations  as they discovered everything. “Wow!”, “Oh Cuuuuute!”, “Choo-choo Twain!” and things like that. It was scene every parent pictures when they think about Christmas morning. It wasn’t without it’s fights and tantrums, but that was to be expected. The kids did do pretty well as far as sharing everything. We just turned on It’s a Wonderful Life, and enjoyed the morning.

As the mom, I feel somewhat like Mr. Bean on the Christmas episode when he mails himself Christmas cards and then acts all excited when it looks like he has new mail when he walks in. I set our gifts out anyway, and pretended to be excited and surprised when I saw them again in the morning, cause really I was excited. I have been patiently waiting to open my new Sonicare toothbrush among my the other gifts. We could’ve been party-poopers and opened them early, but them what would we have to look forward too? Among what we put out, KC gave me an early Christmas present, when I found an Roku installed on the tv before he left on his trip to Hawaii. We have used that thing silly. Now, when they kids are old enough to be trusted with a new tv to use it with, we’ll work on that.

We had our traditional pull-a-parts, and strata breakfast, and it was delicious, though I couldn’t eat much due to being still full from fondue. The the smells and tastes were just so Christmas to me. The kids were thrilled to drink orange juice  from their new Frosty cups.

Then is was off to church at 10, which was sweet and lovely. A little program was narrated by a kind man in our ward who used to be a preacher, and you’d definitely know it if heard him speak with such feeling and enthusiasm. Everyone just looked so bright and cheerful. We got home, put the kids down for naps, and proceeded to open our own gifts. It’s nice to do this together, without being interrupted by the littles. When they woke up, they unwrapped more presents (they were too busy playing with their toys to do this before church), then the Christmas/Sunday laze-fest began. The kids played their little hearts out while we laid around, intervening when necessary. Oh, and I prepared our ham, potato, frozen fruit salad, and rolls dinner. Oh, and there was no way to get a group pic of the kids all dressed up for church. Believe me, I tried, but it was impossible. Maybe next year.  

I loved our tiny family Christmas, with no expectations, and no schedule. Just all of us having fun together, taking in the wonderful feelings of the day. We missed our families terribly, but we did have a few webcam sessions with both sides, which helped us from feeling too homesick. It was definitely a memorable Christmas. 

P.S. As much as I love Christmas time and all the decorations, I’m always so anxious to put everything Christmasy away within a day or two after it’s over. Including music and movies. It’s so refreshing to me to just clean up and move on. But I am grateful that there are some Christmas lights and decorations still up in the neighborhood. The kids still can’t wait to see them every time we leave the house.