Christmas Recap

Christmas Eve Party - corn sacks from Gabi Mason Diego & Kylie

Diego Tub Trike from Abuela

Leah & Dylan - such cute cousins!

Uboldi Cousins

Matching jammies from Abuela

Marcos' new exercise equipment

Amy, Maria & Laura with our new scarves & vests

Complete chaos attempting a cousin picture with new pajamas

Christmas morning - spoiled parents

Spoiled kids

Preston's squishy ball from Dylan - he played with it all morning

Dylan's jungle set from Santa

Christmas afternoon at my mom's house

Our new little giant ladder from my mom and Barney

Still in love - Nate caught us kissing on camera : )

Dylan was so excited - Grandma spoiled him this year! 

Dinosaurs from Grandma

Gustavo, Marcos & Nate

Preston won the award for most Christmas hugs - he was so cute!

Tony loving Preston

Preston, Tony, Dylan, Kenya, Kamyn

Connor & Tanner were in Idaho

Cute hat, scarf & mittens from my best friend, Lisa (and Greg)

Playing trains at Grandpa Mike & Grandma Suzanne's house

Presents

Preston loving GG Betty

Those were just a few of my favorite pictures.  For those who need to see the full effect of Christmas 2008 click here.

I'll try to keep my recap as brief as possible, although I'm a pro at the long version of everything. Details are my specialty.  : )  Here we go...

Christmas Eve day I finished up the cover for the video I made for Anthony for Christmas.  I put it off too long and was up really late several nights in a row, which probably was a big part of my bah humbug attitude this year.  We took him the gift that afternoon, visited with his family and watched the video.  It turned out great!  We rushed home so I could put together the last minute parts of my homemade gifts (FHE kits and an i spy jar for the nieces and nephews) that I had mostly done, but still had to put together.  We finished just in time to rush out the door to my mother-in-law's house for Christmas Eve.  The kids were already a little tired so we tried to keep things moving this year.  We had yummy pizza and some good treats, got a white stocking to hang for Jesus that we are supposed to put our presents for Jesus (goals/ways we can improve), sang a couple songs and opened presents.  Everything was really nice other than my nephew, Diego, who had croup.  Poor little guy!  The kids loved their gifts and were really cute about the homemade gifts they made for each other.  We finished up by 10-ish so it was still a respectable bedtime.  We often stop by Marcos' aunt and uncle's house for a late Christmas Eve party, but we decided it was too late and the kids needed their sleep this year.  So much for that idea!  Marcos and I wrapped everything and got all situated and were in bed around 1:00.  At 3:00, Preston woke up and we swept him out of the room to not wake Dylan.  Marcos laid on the floor in the toy room while he fell back asleep and 5 minutes later, Dylan was in my bed wide awake asking all sorts of questions about Santa and his reindeer.  Did I leave out the celery and carrots?  What about cheese for Santa Mouse?  And cookies and chocolate milk? Did he bring the presents already?  Can we go look?  HONESTLY!  I told him Santa wouldn't come until he was back asleep, which did not happen until 5:00.  Chatty little man!  We slept until 7, when he started the excited talk once again.  We made him wait for Preston to wake up, which happened around 8:00. 

Our little family Christmas was really fun.  The kids exchanged gifts that they picked out from the .88 cent novelty toy section at Walmart this year.  They were both really cute about the whole thing.  We gave them the traditional three presents from mom and dad - a need, a want and a spiritual gift.  Just little things, but it's a fun tradition.  Sometimes I wish we would just do one gift, but it's fun to have meaning to why we do it this way.  It's because the wise men brought three gifts for Jesus.  Santa brought each boy a toy - a jungle set for Dylan and a cruise and crawl ball thing for Preston.  The stockings were filled with fun little things and not much candy - hurrah!  Everything was great.  Marcos got some new clothes and I got clima-warm gloves and a heart rate monitor.  

We got dressed and headed up to my mom's for lunch and some presents.  We had delicious taco salads, which my poor mom had prepared herself after shoveling the snow four times so we would be able to get up the driveway.  Grandma spoiled the kids - as always - but they all had fun playing with their stuff.  Dylan got the geotrax airport, some match box cars and dinosaurs and Preston got a dry erase table and chairs, which he loves to sit at, and a ride-on train.  Marcos and I were like kids at Christmas when my mom gave us our little giant ladder.  We have been borrowing our neighbor's ladder for almost five years so it was a much needed and wanted gift!  We stayed and played games, thinking the storm would pass and ended up braving it during the worst of it.  It took us an hour and a half to drive home when it usually takes between 20 and 30 minutes.  It was a total blizzard!  Luckily I am crazy and won't leave home in the winter without coats, gloves, hats and boots so we were prepared.  We stopped to get some gas just in case so we knew we could keep ourselves warm if anything were to happen.  Half of the stupid pumps were frozen because the snow was blowing into them so hard.  Crazy stuff!  We got home safe and got the kids tucked in bed after a long, fun day with no sight of the previously grumpy parents.  

Friday I was lazy and we played with new toys.  We exchanged a little fridge magnet we bought for Preston that he didn't seem to love for the one he did and then spent a few hours hanging out with Marcos' brother's family.  The kids showed each other their new stuff and we just talked for a while.  

Saturday we had a Christmas party at my dad and Suzanne's house.  Alicia ended up not coming because her kids came down with croup too and Angie and Justin are basically snowed in up in Idaho.  It was a quiet house with just my two kids, Tony and my little niece Taylor, but it was still a lot of fun.  The kids each opened a gift and received savings bonds and I got some earrings and money and Marcos got a cute picture that says "A father carries pictures where his money used to be" and some cash that he's already spent on new shoes.  It was yummy food and great company. We had a great time visiting and came home late that evening.  

Overall it was a really fun few days.  Now if only I can be a little more on the ball next year so I won't be so behind and stressed out and can enjoy more than just the holiday itself.  I told my friend how funny it was that I was neglecting my kids to get everything done, which made them naughty and me grumpy just so we could have this perfect moment for the kids.  Kind of ironic, huh?

My favorite holiday moments:

• Watching Anthony's parents watch the video I made for him
• Uboldi cousins exchanging their homemade gifts
• Preston's loves and hugs to everyone
• Preston sitting in a big boy chair and loving it
• Matching vests and scarves with the sisters-in-law
• Marcos on the floor while Preston slept
• Me up for two hours chatting with gabby little Dylan in the middle of the night
• Preston throwing, chasing and rolling balls around Christmas morning
• Dylan excitement about Christmas
• Delicious taco salads mom made after shoveling her sidewalk four times - what a woman!
• The kids' faces as my mom pulled out more than one gift each
• Playing games at my mom's house Christmas afternoon
• My dad's train set
• Gifts on the doorstep from Greg & Lisa
• Kisses from my hubby
• Perfect presents - cute vest and scarf, heart monitor, hat, gloves & scarf set, ladder
• Family, family, family
• Snowstorms and scary moments on the road - okay not my favorite, but memorable for sure!