Eventually we got to here (and a bit beyond with open presents, lots of food and wonderful family) for our Christmas, but I'd be remiss if I didn't share a bit of our journey to Christmas (and in case I don't get around to pictures/blogging for a while I figure I better stretch this current glut of photos as far as possible). Truthfully, 2 happy kids in cute PJs with a place for guests to sleep, a decorated tree and wrapped (okay even purchased) presents didn't seem all that achievable a week ago amidst our boxes and general chaos. Trust me, there's still lots of chaos in the house, and a 4 foot crab in the living room . . . but that's a story for another day. For now, these two adorable munchkins hamming it up, eating wrapping paper and all in all being super cute:
After Amma left last Monday, I had 2 sick/snotty kids on my hands which through all the generous offers of friends willing to watch them out the window as well as any pipe dream I had of checking in at work. We switched into survival mode and it was a great relief when the Watsons arrived with extra sets of hands on Wednesday. Besides walking from our house to a yummy dinner out (yay!), one of our first orders of business was to go get a Christmas tree. Matthew was all ready to go:
However, this adorable face faded fast. As we were snowshoeing around it was a gorgeous day in the mountains. Both kids started out happy in their backpacks as we enjoyed the scenery and browsed for a tree.
By the time we stopped moseying and got serious about a tree, Matthew decided he'd had enough of everything and proceeded to fuss (okay scream) the entire rest of the trip. All the likely culprits could have been possible, cold hands, need to pee (this may be the downfall of winter sports for a while), hunger, tiredness . . . who knows. Thanks to John Jr. for finding this winner and John III for cutting down the winning tree while we tried everything to calm a screaming 2 year old:
Catherine did extremely well and ended up passing out on the way back to the car. While we tied up the tree and took off the shoes she continued to doze (notice the adorable hat courtesy of Teta Sharon and Amma):
And Matthew took a screaming break just long enough for a few sips of cocoa. He proceeded to meltdown halfway into town at which point he passed out for the rest of the afternoon. We're still not certain the exact culprit of the calamity (he still wants to go on hikes in the backpack and will tell you he had fun). Also note the super awesome owl hat from Teta Sharon! We finally had to say goodbye to the infamous 'rog hat and I couldn't think of a more perfect replacement.
Though I would say Matthew was anti-helpful in gathering a tree, he certainly is helpful in cleaning up after baking! Not surprisingly, he's a big fan of Grandma Jennie's fudge:
He was also very helpful in our gingerbread cookie making. Not surprisingly, he was very good at sprinkling the flour on the counter:
Here was our tree at home, which was not the charlie browniest of Christmas trees this year:
In fact, it looked quite good, until the cats knocked it over the first night:( The lights are now a bit chaotic, the ornaments a lot jumbled and a not so pretty piece of twine is securing it to the window and "entertainment center" so it's a bit further down on the Charlie Brown scale than before. However, it's perfect for our little "stage" of misfit televisions, trees, books and garland and though I have somewhat grander plans for this corner a long ways down the road, I wouldn't have it any other way right now.
As it turns out I'm sitting outside Matthew's room on bedtime patrol. Terrible for sleep but not such a bad thing for blogging :-) Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight! I hope your holidays were filled with love, laughter, good food, family and friends.
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