A houseful of merriment

We couldn't have Christmas without a snag. Our shower decided it wanted to give us a hard time and sprung a leak. That meant no one could take a shower until almost 4:30 on Christmas Eve. We were suppose to be at BIL's at 5. Needless to say were a little late by about 1.5 hrs.

I managed to get almost all my wrapping done before leaving. Unfortunately I didn't manage to finish the projects I had to do...so some people have IOU's for finished projects. I was also missing 2 boxes...one came on the 26th, I'm still waiting on the 2nd. Luckily they wasn't anything too important in it...mostly fillers.

It was nice at BIL's house with tons of yummy food and fun for the cousins. One of Tom's brothers had me buy 2 piñatas full of candy. I saw a lot of full bags going out the door. :o) We got home shortly after 10. The kids settled in and exchanged their secret santa gifts to each other. Everyone was very thoughtful in what they gave. I was thinking....we could be done right now and it'd be good.

I had to almost physically throw the kids out of the livingroom after secret santa time. They were having too much fun to go off into bed. It was one of those times when mom's not serious until she's yelling. I finally convinced them with an....I have things to do! I don't care if you go to sleep but you HAVE to go to the bedrooms (boys in one room, girls in another). It was about 1am by then. Tom and I finally finished up and got into bed shortly after 3.

We always set a time that's the earliest they can get up on Christmas, usually it's 6am. Well 6am came pretty quick! I heard them running down the hall all excited and knew I didn't want them in the livingroom...but couldn't remember why. Luckily I remembered before my feet fully hit the floor....IT WAS CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!

The kids had already gotten into their stockings and started opening gifts before Sean meandered out. He was a pro at opening packages by the time we were half way done. His all time favorite present goes to the one Val's boyfriend bought him....a kids drum set! He was banging on the box before we could open it. He looks so cute sitting on his stool banging his little heart out. Luckily it's not as loud and obnoxious as I thought it would be.

At one point Danielle became totally overwhelmed. She had opened her Wall-E dvd and her bubblegum machine...then came the Mama Mia dvd. It was too much, with a grin from ear to ear she dove behind Liz and burrowed herself in between Liz and the couch. She'd peak out and try to join us, but couldn't. It took her a good 5 or 10 minutes before she could be coaxed out. Luckily she was almost done opening presents.

Drew, Allison, Michelle and Cory bought the kids an Xbox 360 bundle. I knew they were buying it so bought a few guitars for guitar hero. Pat gave them the drums and microphone from his rock band set (he sold the rest a while ago). Needless to say there's been hours and hours of banging and singing going on here (using Drew's rockband game). Me, I'm more of a Beautiful Katamari type of person. *hums the theme song*

Tom and I took a nap while the kids played. There wasn't much time though because we had to head out to my parents' house. We made it out the door at 2:30. We spent the rest of the day snacking and talking while the kids played and drove Grandma crazy (she doesn't tolerate the busyness very well). Christmas ended with us dragging our exhausted selves home about 10pm or so.

Fri and Sat were pretty low key. The kids played with the Xbox. Olivia and I tinkered with her circle knitting looms. I took advantage of the warm (for us) weather and got into the very neglected chicken coop to do some work.

Sunday morning we cleaned up a good bit since my parents were coming over at 1. I was hoping to get things done the night before so I could head to church in the morning but it didn't happen. Sean helped seal the staying home card since he's all green and goopy...his eyes are the worst. He looks pathetic.

It was a good thing we cleaned because Drew and Allison stopped by with an announcement that they found a sectional on the side of the road. He pulled the seats out of the van, grabbed Luke and Jake as helpers and went and picked it up. Seems it was just in time because a pickup truck pulled up to the area as they were pulling away...he didn't look too happy. (we've been that truck before...it's frustrating) So we rearranged things, brought in the sectional and recleaned. It's pretty crowded in the livingroom but we all have a place to sit now. :o) The sectional is in decent shape. It has two reclining sections and a twin size sofa bed on the other end. Thank you to whoever got rid of it!!!

Today the girls are heading to my sister's for two nights. Then Wed we're heading to church for our New Year's feast. I'll have to think of something yummy to make for that. For now though, I have to get ready to take the girls to the mall to meet my sister.