Christmas was wonderful this year. All three kids were old enough to understand at least some of the craziness going on around them and the four parents, two grandparents, and partridge in a pear tree loved watching Christmas through the innocent and not-yet-in-any-way suspicious eyes of Will, Hallie, and Lily.
As always, Christmas Eve was spent attending the children's service at church (which Will loved, Hallie ignored, and Lily chattered excitedly through), enjoying delicious soups and chili for dinner, and opening one gift from under the tree in matching/coordinating pajamas. You have no idea how hard it is to find matching/coordinating pajamas (that are also age and gender appropriate) for a six-year-old boy, a three-year-old girl, and a two-year-old girl. It's going to be even tougher next year, when Sara and I are shopping for an eight-year-old boy, a four-year-old girl, a three-year-old girl, and a one-year-old boy.
Try not to look TOO excited, Will.
That's better. Or it would be, if either little girl was looking at the camera.
"Awwww, a new Knuffle Bunny!"
Hallie lost her first Knuffle Bunny, and mean mom that I am,
I wouldn't buy her a new one. When I told her this, she looked
me right in the eye and said, "FINE. GRANDMA will buy me
a new one." And sure enough, Grandma delivered.
Will, opening his new bank.
"Angelina Ballerina! Who's Angelina Ballerina?"
When Sara and I were younger, my aunt used to make all of the cousins line up - in order by age - on the stairs on Christmas morning. The youngest cousin present, who would be sitting in the front of the line, had to hold a sign with the year printed on it and then we all had to smile for pictures and cheerfully say, "Merry Christmas!" for the video camera. The "rules" (which I'd like to get my hands on someday) stated that once you were married, your spouse sat with you on your step, so when Tom and then Jeff joined the family they had to share our steps with us. We all wished that once - just once - my aunt would forget about this tradition.
The same rules also stated that once you produced a replacement for yourself - as in created a child - the replacement could take your spot on the step. My absolute favorite year of this tradition was the year Will took mine and Tom's place but Sara and Jeff still had to join in the fun.
The funniest thing about this tradition is that as much as Sara and I hated it, we now make our kids participate in it as well. This is honestly the best picture of the three kids on the stairs - it's blurry, not one of the three kids is looking at the camera, and one kid is screaming. I'm not sure how much longer we'll force this tradition on them...
After the lovely stairs photo, we let them loose to discover their gifts from Santa, what Santa had left them in their stockings, and what their parents and grandparents had given them.
Coming down the stairs.
Santa brought Will a skateboard.
Santa brought Hallie roller-skates. (Santa brought Lily a dollhouse, but she wasn't all that
interested in it so I don't have a picture of the moment she "discovered" her Santa gift.)
I don't really know what to say about this one...
These glasses are still popular three weeks after
Christmas - Hallie wears them while she brushes her teeth.
Hallie was a big fan of Lily's dollhouse.
And Lily was a big fan of Hallie's roller-skates.
Lily was also a big fan of Hallie's karaoke machine.
To be fair, so was I - my mom even bought me my own microphone so
that Hallie and I can sing duets. If Hallie will LET me sing duets with her, that is.
Tom was super excited about his new Detroit Tigers baseball cap and Lego Mindstorms.
And Grandpa Paul was super excited about dressing like a reindeer.
Lily - wearing her jammies and new pink tutu
and Cinderella shirt - and Aunt Sara.
The girls at breakfast - both were wearing their new pink tutus and Cinderella shirts over their jammies.
Getting ready to skateboard in the basement.
From that point on we just repeated the cycle of eat, relax, watch a Twilight movie, and play over and over again. It was truly a very merry Christmas.
Just before (or after - my Christmas break timeline is a little fuzzy) we celebrated Lily's birthday, Will, Hallie, and Lily worked together to create the most gaudy beautiful gingerbread in the world.
Will worked with great intensity, paying careful attention to how his candies were arranged.
Hallie worked quickly, plastering her sides with as many candies as were necessary to completely cover every single square inch of gingerbread.
Lily discovered that, rather than decorating the gingerbread house, she'd prefer to use her candies to transfer royal icing from the side and roof pieces to her mouth.
Lily was VERY upset when it was time to assemble the house and we had to take her side.
The finished product! (Hallie was the only one who stuck around until the house was fully assembled, and the only one who would pose with their creation.)
In these pictures I think Hallie looks kind of like a little elf, at least the kind of elf seen in the movie The Santa Clause. This makes me happy because The Santa Clause is one of my dad's favorite movies, and has been since it came out many years ago, and Judy the Elf is one of his favorite movie characters.
We'll keep our eyes peeled for the casting call for The Santa Clause, Part 4 - I think Hallie would fit right in with Tim Allen at his North Pole workshop.
Lily celebrated her second birthday on December 17th, just a few days before the Mueller, Ferris, and Ekena families all gathered together in Wisconsin for Christmas. In an attempt to keep the festivities going strong straight through Christmas and New Year's, we threw another small - but complete with cupcakes, candles, and gifts - for Lily the Saturday night after her special day.
Lily has to take off her shirt to eat cupcakes.
Blowing out her candle.
Opening presents.
Pouring tea (only for herself - she wouldn't let anyone else have a cup) with her new tea set from Will and Hallie.
My absolute favorite part about Lily's birthday was that when you asked her how old she was (two), she always answered, "CUPCAKES!"
The last week of school before Christmas, which was really just the four and a half days leading up to our two week trip to Wisconsin (meaning that my regular to-do list doubled in size), were incredibly busy. On Sunday night we attended "Keyboards at Christmas" at Christ United Methodist Church (the church affiliated with the kids' preschool). Four BEAUTIFUL grand pianos, eight pianists, one organist, and a handbell choir combined to create the most lovely Christmas program.
The program began perfectly with this video - it made me tear up, but also softened my heart and prepared me to truly enjoy the Christmas music.
The kids were interested to a point, but Hallie kept singing along (loudly, and it wasn't exactly a sing-a-long environment) and Will kept trying to say hello to the director of the preschool - who was one of the pianists - while she was performing. Tom and I enjoyed the music immensely, even more so after Hallie fell asleep.
Hallie's preschool class Christmas party was on Tuesday. They enjoyed pizza, fruit, veggies, and juice, and then they decorated sugar cookies with red and green frosting and MILLIONS of sprinkles.
On Wednesday, Hallie and I listened in on the all-school sing-along at Will's elementary school. A couple of older classes performed The Night Before Christmas and the school choir sang two songs, but the younger kids just sang Christmas carols while sitting on the floor in the cafeteria. That didn't bother Will though - he was VERY enthusiastic.
Hallie's preschool Christmas program - during which she sang Away in a Manger, O Little Town of Bethlehem, and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star - was on Thursday. I was actually subbing that day, so Tom was in charge of taking pictures...in his defense, she doesn't stop moving which makes capturing her actually looking at the camera a difficult task.
On Thursday night we bathed the kids early and then loaded them up - in their pajamas and with cookies and juice (neither drinks milk, much to my dismay) - in the car for a Christmas light drive around town. We came across quite a few really incredible displays, including one that was perfectly coordinated to music on a local radio station.
And on Friday, just a few hours before we hit the road for Wisconsin, I coordinated and Hallie tagged along for Will's kindergarten Christmas party. We had a breakfast buffet, played Christmas Bingo, and made Christmas trees out of pinecones and little pompoms. Will had a great time, and so did Hallie, for that matter, and I was thrilled that when compared to the other kindergarteners, Hallie wasn't the worst listener and could hold her own when it came to the Bingo game and the pinecone project.
