Christmas

It was a mellow holiday with just the 5 of us. We went to a movie in the morning, hung out during the day and then started Christmas Eve festivities around 430 with a trip over to the neighbors house for a cocktail and appetizers. They kids played for an hour and we socialized, then returned to our house to do our make it yourself pizzas again. The kids opened their Christmas Eve jammies and their family game (this year it was Spicy Farkle and Quelf).  We also played Clue (The Office version) that I had found at a thrift store while Christmas shopping the week before. Although the kids had no idea who Toby was or why someone named Angela might want to kill him with a Dunder Mifflin trophy in the break room, I laughed the entire time.  We watched The Grinch and then the kids went to sleep together in the bonus room. It was a really fun day. 

Brian's new found love of vinyl brought last minute presents for the kids from Santa: record players and one record for each of their bedrooms. Faith got a rainbow stripe turntable and the Matt Nathanson album, Jake got a black one with Mumford and Sons, Tanner got black with the FUN album. They all got new headphones. They were really excited and have been playing them every day since then. A few days after Christmas Faith asked my why her record only played half the songs over and over again. She had no idea you had to actually physically turn the record over in order to hear the other half of the songs. I find it so funny that in this day of digital music the kids have record players- just like I had when I was their age. I didn't have cool music like them, though. As I recall I had the Grease soundtrack and the Muppet Movie. Actually, to be fair, I kind of want the Grease album for our collection!

Like usual, we spaced out Christmas morning by starting with stockings, taking a break and having a snack, opening a few presents, then getting breakfast started, opening a few more and then eating breakfast, etc.... It was fun and peaceful and the kids had a great time playing with things as they opened them. Faith got a new doll from Auntie Sue and roller skates for her Build-a-Bear from Grandma Mary. Papa got her matching outfits for her and Julie (her American Girl doll).  They all got rainbow looms from Uncle Eric. Jake got UnderArmour gear from Auntie Sue and Tanner got Star Wars legos, the Star Wars movies, and a lego carrying case from Auntie Sue. They both got Air Jordan sweatshirts from Grandma Mary.  Their book from me this year was Harry Potter,  as I know they have just as fond a memory of reading it together this fall as I do.  I was surprised by a present from Jake: he had bought me a necklace I had seen in a store in Truckee when we were there in August. He used some of his own money and then paid Nana back for the rest of it by working around her house a few times.  He was so excited to give it to me and I was so touched.  

The kids present from us this year was a trip to Disneyland. They had no idea. We have never been- well, that's not true... we took Jake when he was about to turn 3. Tanner was 3 months old. It rained the entire time. The only picture we have is of the four of us on the train with Mickey Mouse ponchos (mine is covering the baby bjorn that Tanner is riding in).  In any case, we have been talking about the best time to take the kids, wanting them to be old enough to want to ride the cool rides but still young enough to want to hang out with us- LOL. We decided this is the year. 

We wrapped up three mini Mickey Mouse dolls and the tickets and it was the second to last present that they opened.  I think they were shocked. The excitement took a few moments to kick in but once they all realized that we were leaving on Jan 1, they were pretty psyched.  One of the things in the box with the tickets was a Disneyland vacation planning DVD so we stuck that in the player and the kids got to see what it looks like and got to see a few of the rides. They really didn't know much about what Disneyland is (the product of having grown up in Idaho and not CA???).  Much of the last week has been about planning the trip and also keeping the kids hyper/exhausted behavior in check so that they are still alive to enjoy the trip on Wed. We will be there part of Wed, all day Thurs and Fri, and half a day on Saturday. We bought a planning app called "RideMax" to help us figure out how to get on the most rides with the shortest amount of wait time. Disney in the digital age! We kind of wanted to just go and wing it but everyone we talked to said we have to "have a plan" and use the Fast Pass system and all that, so we'll see how that goes. The last present the kids opened was from Nana who got them all Disneyland gift cards so their souveniers are taken care of! I have a strong feeling that if we compare the time spent riding on actual rides to the time spent shopping with that fifty dollars, I know which one will come out on top! 

Given how much a trip to D-land costs for a family of five, (so ridiculous)  this is the one and only time they will go to Disney on our dollar so we want to make the most of it. We are all excited and the kids are counting the hours until our flight leaves (37).  

We got all of our Christmas stuff taken down yesterday and will spend New Years Eve with Sheila and Wayne- just hanging out at our house with a bottle of champagne and some good music and/or movies. The kids will be in bed extra early since we leave for the airport at 6AM the next day.