Ahh, the holidays are finally over. On one hand I am sadden to see my house back to it's normal and no longer festive with Christmas lights, tree, stockings. I am already missing the Christmas cards in the mail and anticipation of presents and time with family. December is my favorite month and Christmas will always be my very favorite holiday!
On the other hand - exhale - whew! I DO have my house back! Normalcy. A clean, organized living room. No parties to run to. No more pushing the kids all day without naps to wear a smile. No. More. Damn. Present. Wrapping! And finally, I get to keep my paychecks and not wipe them out for more gifts!
Christmas in our house all began the week before, it was literally two weeks where we just held our breath until the holidays were over. Studied our calendar and spent a zillion dollars in gas trying to make everyone happy.
20th
Madelynne and Aidyn had been practicing with their classes to perform in the school play for weeks. They would come home often singing silly songs. When I asked what they plan to sing, the response was always "Ugh, its going to be a surprise!" - Right, the only surprise is that they're not going to sing, but get stage fright instead; I thought.
Leaving school that day, as I carried Belle, Mady had her hands in her hoodie and began hopping like a frog. Until she slipped.... seriously kid? The first face boo-boo she's ever had that I can recollect, and she earns it only hours before the school plan. Welcome to mommyhood.
The big night came. I had to work, so when I got off I flew home and rounded everyone in the car and we headed to the school. It was a cold night, so we carried as many kiddos as our arms could hold and ran into the school! It was packed, like shoulder to shoulder, standing room only. We found a comfy spot by the wall in the sanctuary and waited for the little ones to enter with their class to perform. They sang a few songs and I literally squeeled out loud more times than I like to admit at their cuteness!
Kids Christmas Play at School <- Check out the video :)
After the play was over, I walked into Madelynne's classroom and she ran to me beaming. She held my face with the biggest, most proud smile I've ever seen. She said: "Did you see me mommy? Did you see me singing with all my friends? I did it!" "Of course I saw you sweetheart, you did the BEST!". Now, please note from the video, the poor little girl sat with her hands in her lap and watched Aidyn the entire time and never once made a peep. But darn if she wasn't proud of herself! I'm not about to burst her bubble! Aidyn too did excellent, I was so proud that he really did know the words and hand signals, it was adorable. Of course, until he decided to hit a kid on stage, but! That's our Aidyn! Overall, it was a long, wonderful evening and I couldn't have been more proud of the kids and their performance. Even Annabelle was good! (HUGE shocker!) She slept on AKs shoulder the entire time, and I could have kissed her a million times for not making the night difficult. Success!
23rd
I woke up early and finished packing Aidyn's bags, picked Roman up from his house and took them both to the airport. They went to Oklahoma for Christmas, and as much as it REALLY upset us to see him leave for the holidays, I knew he was going to have a great time with his other family, his daddy and it would give Mady a chance for some mommy/daddy one-on-one time. We got to the airport super early, anticipating it to be busy. It was dead. Of course Aidyn is ready for his 3rd breakfast so we got him a yogart and Roman and I had a coffee as we chatted about upcoming Christmas etc. When it was time to leave, I gave Aidyn the biggest hug. I teared up as he walked away, and he sprinted without looking goodbye. Kid. lol
Later that afternoon, I got the family together and headed to moms. She was hosting Christmas for the family at her new house. We got there early to help pick-up last minute things and get everything in place. Overall I think it was a beautiful success!
Of course all I wanted to do was eat ......
god my family can cook!
Annabelle was fussy (as usual) so AK had the caring idea of putting her down to sleep, in the other room. Yes. Someone put my baby in the corner! Suited her though, she slept like a champ until the party was over! ...im thinking she may not like us.
24th
The morning came toooo early. We got home late the night before from mom's with a car to unload and a sleepy Mady and Belle. We tucked them in bed, showered and crawled in bed ourselves at 1a. 7am we were all up, packed, dressed and out the door on the way to Grammy's. Mom, Luke, his dad, Jay, AK and I were all headed to the Minnesota Vikings vs. Washington Redskins game at FedEx Field that day and the kids would be spending the day with grammy. Which meant they needed to be packed for a fun day, and then their Xmas fancy attire for when I would pick them up that evening on our way to Pop's Christmas Party.
7:30am.
We opened a couple gifts from Grammy when I dropped the kids off.. amoung many other things, Mady got her very own drumsticks from her favorite "Bunky!", how awesome!
Kids dropped off -- GAME TIME BABY!!!
<-Our best strategy at keeping warm for the game ;)
We truly had a little too much fun at the game. Big question.. I know you're asking. Who won? WE DID OF COURSE! Minnesota Vikings take the win on Christmas Eve :) Wahoo!!! Woot, Woot! The experience was amazing. I have to admit, I expected the stadium to look like 1,000yrds, but really, 100 is 100. Of course it was awesome being in the stands, but just like TV always portrays, it looks way bigger on TV than in person. Regardless, we had a helluva time!
At the beginning of the 4th Quarter, we decided it was best to head home to avoid traffic, etc. Not once, did we touch traffic, I couldn't believe it. I picked up our kiddo's from Grammy's and we all headed to Pop's for their party. Briefly ate, opened gifts and hurried out the door to head to Prince George. Cranky kids in tow, we visited more family, opened more gifts and finally called it a night. By the time AK and I were home, settled in the door, got both kids bathed, dressed and in bed it was 11p. Yes, ELEVEN PM!!!!!! Rediculous. I still had Christmas wrapping to do. A house that had not been tended to for 4days because of all our running around. And we had to play Santa. We seriously spent 2-3hrs cleaning, vacuuming, wrapping presents.. then strategically setting them up just perfect. Because like my mother always says, "Presentation is everything." Irritiates the hell out of AK, but those presents looked just beautiful :)
After the gifts were setup. We had to assemble a "Princess Castle". Fortunately for us, it was very easy to put together and took maybe 20m tops. Once last glance over our house. A bite out of the cookie and finished Santa's glass of milk. 3:45am. We laid down facing the ceiling, closed our eyes for a split moment and before we knew it.. Kids were up.
Christmas Morning!
Mady woke at 6:15a, we told her it was still nighttime to go back to sleep, lol. I just wasn't ready! I called mom right after and she was already up and said she would head over. Finally again at 7am, Mady yelled that she was awake, mom was walking in the door, I was dressed and wearing make-up and we were allowed to begin the day!
When she came down the stairs, I don't believe she remembered that Santa was indeed coming that night. That or, this is the first year she is really into Santa, and she may not have fully understood what it meant for him to visit.
The first thing to catch her eye of course was her huge princess castle. She absolutely loved it and wanted to play immediately. Seeing those smiles and hearing her laughter made my morning, I sat back with my feet up, sipped my coffee and just watched my family, my world in front of me. I listened to her squeal with excitment and remembered everything I have and everything in my life I am thankful for. How fufilling, how spoiled am I to have such a beautiful life? Damn, im lucky.
The beloved Princess Cinderella doll.
After most gifts were opened, AKs family came by to see everything that Santa and brug Madelynne. By that time Annabelle was finally awake (she slept completely thru Christmas!) We showed Grandma her new toys and then Mady helped AK and papa put the stickers on her new toy Princess Castle (yes, another, different castle. I think Santa over did himself!)
The rest of our Christmas day was spent running around like crazy people. I am, I swear, I promise, I will NOT be doing this running around every year. I say it every holiday, but honestly, I have to put an end to it somehow.. starting next year.
After we left our house we went to visit Papa, he didn't look well :( He hasn't been out doing much since Nama passed away and could just tell that he was down, as can be expected. He had called me a couple days before:
Papa: Hey Ashley-roo, How's sputnik doing? and Annabelle and that little boy, Leroy-Come-Runnin'? (I love his analogies, he cracks me up.)
Me: We're great papa, very busy, but how are you?
Papa: Alright, hanging in there. Ashley, I need to ask ya something, and I want you to be honest. I went out to the store the other day and bought me a new shirt. Now, can I wear brown slacks, and yellow shirt and a brown neck tie? I don't want to be out of fashion, and your nama always made sure I looked alright. Do you think that goes together?
Me: Yes papa, absolutely it does. But why aren't you wearing your same old, too short, Christmas tie?
We both chuckled, talked for a moment and hung up. He sounded busy which was nice to hear and of course cracked me up worried about being fashionably correct. He also said he would be giving only "Monetary gifts with cards this year, as he wasn't a big shopper and just wasn't going to fight the crowds." :) Love him
After Papa's, we came home to let the girls nap. Looked around the house:
..and decided we too, were going to take a nap. That is SO very not like us, especially knowing we have other places to be, but we were exhausted. The entire house was silent for a couple hours, then we got up, headed to Prince George for another Christmas Party before coming home with a slammed full of too much crap to unload and call it a day.
We spent the next day with the Midkiff's, running around a bit. Cleaning some then getting ready for the week. AK was off, but I had to work. I went back to work on Tuesday and after coming home, cleaning the house perfectly, I got to head to the airport to FINALLY pick up Aidyn and Roman :)
I got there right on time for their 10:10p flight. At 10:08, I stopped at the board to check the status of their flight: Flight 1316 from Dallas Ft. Worth. Delayed until 10:50.
After what felt like an eternity, around the corner I spotted a red-cheeked, running and yelling Aidyn and an utterly exhausted Roman peer around the corner. Aidyn was wild. Im sorry, wild! We got their bags, loaded the car and headed home. I dropped Roman off and when we got home, I let Aidyn open a ver special gift. Santa had forgotten that he was going on vacation, and left Aidyn's present at our house. He opened the present and inside, was ... A Yellow - Transformer - Car - Robot - Bumblee!!! WahoO!! He was a VERY excited and happy little boy. With entirely too much energy, I guided him upstairs where he woke Mady to say Merry Christmas and announce that he was home. He finally fell asleep with his new toy tucked under the blanket with him and slept.... and slept.... seriously until like noon the next day :)
Overall we had a beautiful Christmas. I can't finish our holiday without mentionion only again how amazingly blessed and lucky we are. We have a beautiful happy, healthy family. A gorgeous home and roof over our heads. Warm food and a tree FULL of presents :) Next year? It will be 3/4 less chaotic, that I vow to myself. But it's always worth every memory for the kids and us. Until next year!
