Christmas 2009

After opening the traditional Christmas Eve Jammies, making a video for Papa, leaving milk/cookies/carrots out for Santa and his reindeer and cuddling together in our little family room to watch The Grinch we had a giant sleepover on Christmas Eve. Even Faith joined in the fun. The kids all bunked together in the boys' room- on our blow-up camping mattresses. Adults were exempt- until 6AM when our kids (what a shocker...) were the first ones to wake up. We kept the boys occupied with Sports Center in our bedroom for about 30 minutes and then they could wait no longer. We woke up Nana, and Auntie Lisa, Uncle John, Aunt Kim, Uncle Bill, and the rest of the cousins and headed downstairs for a "stocking free for all".

Jake got a new skateboard, Tanner got a remote control car, Faith got a Dora backpack and castle thingy with unicorns. Stockings were full of such things as receiver gloves (Jake), horse socks (guess who?), and a penguin t-shirt (Santa was lucky to find that one for Tanner). After the adults finally opened their socks, we paused for Brian to put together the aforementioned "castle thingy" (WAY more complicated than it looked on the box, BTW), the kids played with their Santa loot, and the rest of the adults made breakfast. There were pancakes and sausage, bacon by the pound, and scrambled eggs for all. The kids were getting impatient to get to Nana's house to unwrap the rest of the presents, so we headed there (still in our jammies). Tanner and Jake loved the Notre Dame hats, the Manning brothers football jerseys, and sunglasses (see picture). Faith loved her many, many, many (ad nauseum) stuffed animals, ponies, and books.

After a great day the kids were all exhausted and overwhelmed. Poor decision on our part, we let

the kids attempt another sleepover. Bad Idea. Faith fell apart BIG TIME and had a screaming fit when we removed her from the room due to her being unable to cope with the excitement (somersaults, bouncing on the bed, singing loudly.... none of these was conducive to sleep for any of her roommates). She proceeded to scream and scream and scream, then Tanner joined in. They ended up crying themselves out, then sleeping on our floor while Quincy, Jessa, and Jake ended up going to Nana's to sleep just so they could get some peace and quiet. It was past 10 by the time they all got to sleep so we were very happy when they all slept past 8 the next day. But, like Donkey says, "Christmas ain't Christmas 'til somebody cries!", so it was not unexpected that there was drama at the end of the day.

All in all a wonderful, family and love and friend filled holiday. As always, we feel truly blessed.

The Day After.......

Marisa is doing the Christmas post and I'm doing this one so the order will be messed up as she hasn't gotten to her's yet. I have a break in work, so I'm getting mine done now.

We had planned to go up to Bogus tubing with everyone on the day after Christmas, but after continuously checking the snowfall indicator up there on the internet (God love the internet!), it was obvious that they weren't going to get enough snow to open the hill. (As I type this I am watching the ATV's clear the walks in our neighborhood of the three inches we got last night, and just checked, Bogus got four + inches since closing yesterday and the tubing hill is open today). So we went online and found a new tubing hill that just opened up in Garden Valley this year.

We had seen some local cable commercials for this new hill and decided to take everyone up to check it out for the first time. It was a great time for everyone, albeit with a little drama. As it turns out, the tubing area is a marketing draw for the cabin/condo community they're trying to build up there. They make the snow and there are six runs of differing degrees of craziness with a snack shack and a yurt with a fireplace in the middle of this sub-division. There were only two of the cabins finished, but it looked like it would be a cool place if they ever get it built.

The kids all had a really good time going down runs 1&2 which were slower and didn't have any big jumps. I rode with Tanner in a double tube and he had a GREAT time in run 1, but got a little scared in run 2 so we headed to the yurt for some fire time. Jake had a loose tooth when we went up and smacked his face on his tube, knocking the tooth out, so he got a little yurt time in as well. Someone went down the run the wrong way, ate it pretty bad and ended up having to be airlifted out, so most of the runs were closed while they tended to him.

Once the runs opened back up, I announced that I was going up to try run 6. This really concerned Tanner and Jake. They both said that I was going to hurt myself and reminded me that I broke my arm last year. I explained that there was no way I was going to leave without trying #6 and if I broke my arm again, I broke my arm. It was really no big deal last year and wouldn't be again this year. You would have thought I was literally headed off to war they way they were carrying on as I headed up the tow lift. #6 was awesome (no broken bones or injuries of any sort) with a couple of big jumps where you got some serious air towards the bottom. John and I rode that one down a couple of times and then we were done.

We went into Garden Valley for lunch and then drove back to Boise, where all of the kids in our car promptly fell asleep and slept for most of the hour or so drive back to the house. All in all a great outing and one that we will do again. It's about as long a drive as it is up to Bogus.

Anyway, photo and video attached. Way better than being out shopping on the day after!

More Holiday Fun

• Tanner had his holiday program last week. They sang, played instruments, dressed in their finest (this was difficult to find in Tanner's wardrobe of football jerseys and sweatpants....) and wore Santa hats. Too cute. I was afraid that he wouldn't go up to perform, but he did great and was so proud of himself. My favorite was when they sang "Shalom" and the kids all put their arms around each other and swayed to the music. I have to admit, I got a little teary.

• Brian was putting Faith to bed the other night and she called him in because she wanted a kiss. He leaned down to kiss her and she smacked him on the lips and said, "Now we married, Daddy!" (OK.... so this story isn't holiday themed, but it was so cute I wanted to remember it so had to post it here before I forget)

• Jake had a sleepover with his friend Sean. They watched "The Rookie" with Dennis Quaid. I love that my son already appreciates the joy of a good sports movie....

• Tanner had his first sleepover at Nana's house. He was so excited! He had been asking about it for weeks, so we decided to plan it for the night that Sean was sleeping over. He packed up his backpack with all his "guys" (3 monkeys, 3 penguinos), jammies, his blankie, etc... and was ready hours before Nana arrived. He kept putting on his backpack (which is nearly as big as he is) and walking around the front room with it asking when Nana would arrive. I guess they had a great time together- it is so special to me that Mom gets this one-on-one time with my kids. They all adore her and I think it will be tough on them when she goes back to Tahoe in April/May.

• Faith was no so happy about Tanner's sleepover. She kept crying for her "bruddah" and even woke up in the night asking for him (even though she has never called out for him before). When I put her to bed she was crying and said, "Tanna is NEVER coming home!" Poor thing. She can't wait to be next, though, for her chance at a sleepover in January.

• Brian and I had a great "date night". Several weeks ago we decided to get a babysitter and we used the 3 hours to get everything ready for Christmas. We packed up all of the presents, wrapping supplies, ipod, etc.... and took it to my mom's house. We made a bunch of snacks, turned on holiday music, and got everything wrapped and organized. This has definitely been the "no stress" holiday.

• I baked up a storm last Sunday. Mom and I planned to bake together but what really happened was I got several hours to bake while Mom entertained Tanner and Faith and Brian and Jake watched football! I made two kinds of Chex Mix, thumbprint cookies, toffee bars, and mexican wedding cakes. Nothing like holiday baking to get you in the Christmas spirit.

• Kim, Bill, Abby, and Aidan arrived on Tuesday night. Lisa, John, Quincy, and Jessa arrived last night. The cousins are in heaven playing together and are all sleeping together in the boys' big bedroom. Even Faith joined the sleepover last night on an air mattress on the floor.

Holiday Fever

Our annual Holiday Party at the Barn was yesterday. Tanner and Faith told me several days ago, in no uncertain terms, that they would STAND by Santa this year but would NOT SIT ON HIS LAP. It was like a deal had to be negotiated, but given their hysteria last year, I figured this was as good as it was likely to get. And, true to their word, when our turn came they walked up to him- no tears this year- and stood by him. However, once I walked Faith up there, she refused to let me leave her alone- even with her brothers. So, I was unable to extricate myself from the picture. When Santa asked them to tell him what they each wanted for Christmas, Jake told him "a guitar", Tanner said, " a coloring book" and Faith shook her head, looked down, and refused to answer. Even after he gave her a candy cane, she didn't warm to him. Still, she loved the present he gave her (a Dora puzzle) and we quickly left the party to come home and work on it together.

The excitement of the season is heightened by the weather- snow the last 3 days! We bundled up today and took the kids out for a sledding trip behind the Merc. The boys of course both loved it, and Faith was really into it this year, too. I started out having Tanner or Jake stand at the bottom of the hill to "catch" her in case she was going too fast, but she quickly decided she wanted to go further and go off the "jump" (really just a curb) at the end. Both the boys tried their hand at standing on the sled and trying to snowboard down the hill- both crashed, got up laughing, and had to have snow picked out of their eyelashes!

In addition to the morning ritual of the advent calendar, we are doing The Elf on the Shelf this year. It's a stuffed elf that comes with a cute story about an elf that stays at your house throughout the holiday season and watches if you're behaving, then flies back to the North Pole each night to report to Santa. The next morning he returns (prior to the kids waking) and hides somewhere in the house. Tanner and Faith are really into it- and even though Jake knows he doesn't really fly there each night and that we actually hide him he has liked waking up to see where he will turn up next. So far he has been on a ceiling fan, in a stocking, on the coffee maker, and even in the refrigerator. For several days he didn't fly anywhere (whoops!) and luckily the little ones were very satisfied with our explanation that it had been too snowy/cold for him to get to the North Pole those nights. I will be so sad the day my kids stop "believing".
Now that work has slowed down I am enjoying the season so much and can't wait for family to arrive to help us celebrate!

The Alan Family Christmas

Christmas Vacation is one of my all time favorite Christmas movies. I empathize with Clark, always wanting to do the right thing, always trying hard, having the best of intentions, and then having everything generally go to sh*# right in front of your eyes. So I am always laughing when we have a "Griswoldian moment" around the holidays (to be fair, my lovely wife causes about 50% of these, so it's not all me).

So it was with great expectations for humor that we bundled up in the snow on Sunday and went out and found the "Alan Family Christmas Tree". Normally we end up driving around town (against my Bah-Humbug wishes) while we visit every carol-singer infested, mulled cider having, little mom and pop Christmas tree lot in town trying to find a tree. To my greater and greater level of frustration, we are usually unable to find the "perfect tree". This continues for a couple of hours or until we pass the first Home Depot, where (for the last 10 years) I pull in and find a perfect tree in about 10 minutes and bring it home. This year we made a deal, wifey could go out in advance and find one little tree lot that had a lot of "perfect trees" and we would hit that one lot. If they didn't have a tree that we liked, it was immediately off to Home Depot.

So the lot she found was literally down at the bottom of our hill, it was out of some guys garage and they had a nice fire going and plenty of great trees. So we got our tree there (no trip to Home Depot....awwww). Now, Marisa wanted a nice big tree, and I just wanted to get home, so we picked out a good one that in true Griswold fashion was about a foot too tall for our house. So after I cut off a big chunk of tree and a bunch of branches, we were good to go.

So our tree is up and decorated. It was Jake's year to put the angel up and it won't be long until he's big enough to do it without my help (again....awwwww). We had our traditional tree-setting-up dinner of pigs in a blanket, potato skins and salami and cheese. We listened to Christmas songs, the elves danced a little (as you can see). And the Christmas Spirit is alive and well at the Alan household. Now, somebody please show up in Cousin Eddies' RV for Christmas and I can die a happy man.......

Who was that masked man?

Words of warning for all of those coming to visit for Christmas.....IT'S COLD HERE!

Temps have dropped to below zero at night and are a warm and tropical 2 degrees when Tanner and I have been walking Jake to school in the mornings. So bring warm clothes if you plan on going outside.

We have had a little bit of snow that Tanner and I shoveled (he loves to shovel snow), but not a whole lot to speak of. There is snow in the forecast for both days this weekend, so we'll have to see how much shows up. But for now it's clear, beautiful and cold.

Tanners pre-school is right next to the house, so I can watch him out the window at recess. Tuesday he was going around the playground, picking up handfuls of snow, throwing it up in the air and walking under it so it came down on his head. Later when I asked him why he was doing it, he said he didn't know, and when I asked him if any of his friends were doing it he said, "no, just me". My middle boy truly dances to music that only he can hear.

So we're looking forward to seeing everyone, but be on the look-out for a masked bandit out dancing in the snow.

Y-Basketball 2009

With all of the illness this year, today was the 1st game that Marisa has been too, so these are the 1st photos we've gotten to post. Every Saturday someone has been too sick to come, so it has been just me and Jake.

Y-Ball has been great again. I had to take a bunch of extra kids from the neighborhood who were placed on another schools team, so we have a very large (12 boys) squad. The boys named us the "Green Slime" for the lovely shade of green jerseys that we got. But with that many kids, coaching has been a little bit of a challenge to make sure that the playing time is sort of equal, so I have an assistant coach who keeps them lined up in order on the bench and the ref's pause the game to let us sub in mid-quarter as well as at the end of the quarter so everyone gets to play. It's still a "no score" no stat" league, so it's just about learning and getting the skills down. Speaking of which.....

Jake is even better this year. He has a nose for the ball, has the moves and scores a couple of shots each game. This year he has focused on his defense to be more like Lebron James (I swear to God he watches more sports on TV than I do). If you don't watch a lot of NBA, Lebrons' big focus other than scoring is on shot blocks, he generally gets two or three a game, and he chases his guy down and blocks the shot from behind on the run. Now Jake thinks this is the coolest thing ever and has been working on it all season. He has actually done it twice in games now which is amazing because he usually one of the shortest guys on the floor. He has more fun blocking shots than scoring I think.

We have had a couple of "Coach/Dad" conferences as, because he watches so much NBA, he has started to preen a little bit after shots or blocks. As Coach I could let those go, but as Dad I just can't, so he's been pulled once or twice to make a point. I love coaching his teams, but it's probably good that I'm retiring after this season.

We had our pictures today, and have our last game and trophy party next week. It's a quick season, but LIttle League sign-ups are in January, it never stops around here....