Jolly Holiday

Christmas 2011, Two weeks ago today, yet feels like a lifetime ago!  The tree is snug in it's box, each ornament wrapped in protective paper.  The magic literally packed away for another 11 or so months.  Luckily, the memories will last forever, and we made some good ones!

Christmas Eve day found me out and about picking up last minute groceries, buying paint for a special project, and baking cookies, cookies, and more cookies.  The kids got jammies from one set of grandparents and spent the afternoon in them until it was time to shower and clean up in preparation for Christmas Eve dinner and church the following day. 

Grandma and Grandpa Hicken joined us for dinner.  When Katie Anne came to our family 4 Christmases ago I had prepared for Christmas Eve dinner by buying chicken courdon bleu, and we have had it every year since!  Add in some rice, rolls, pretty jello cups and it's quite fancy!

After dinner we were awaiting Betsey and girls so we opened the traditional pajamas.  The girls LOVED their nightgowns with matching dolly nightgowns.  The boys got more sporty pants but liked them as well.  No matching ones for their airsoft guns, though. Ha!  We also opened another gift: The movie A Christmas Story.  It was worth it just to hear my parents remarks (we used to have a car like that!) and laughter.  I also got the dishes cleaned up and fed the travelers when they arrived.

After that we played "THE GAME".  We've been playing this in my family as long as I can remember.  I learned this year that my mom heard the idea when we lived in Colorado (I was 2!).  There are two gifts for everyone and you get to open one, get it stolen, steal someone elses, etc.  That last pic is Katie Anne stealing the silly putty from my sister Betsey.  I'm sure Katie Anne had much more fun with it!  Jeffrey got the token masking tape and Dad took the whoppers, though he was a good boy and shared.

After that we read the real Christmas story in the Bible.  Each of us had a character from the kids nativity and added it in when our part was read.  We figured we need to add in a Herod and an Angel and an Inn Keeper!  After that our guests headed home and the girls headed to bed (forgot cookies for Santa but he came anyway). The boys and I finished up the dollhouse they had designed, built, and painted (with a little help).  When we brought it upstairs they made sure it was in a good spot and covered up until just the right moment the next morning.  Off to bed with them! John and I installed the Santa Blocker 2000 and set things up to make things a bit easier for Santa.

John had worked for hours (and by hours I mean days and days) to scan and categorize about 1166 of his childhood pictures.  He scanned the last one just before dinner then after the kids went to bed we made all the discs to give out to his siblings and put all the pictures into new sleeves so they wouldn't be destroyed by the sticky pages they were in.  It was a big effort but seemed to be well recieved the next day.  He brought home another big box of picture books so there's still more to be done (later!).  Finally, we dropped into bed and dreamt of sugar plums... or something...can't remember...