Kurt and I sat down today and made some lists. More words than eye candy today. I'll work on getting the photos up soon (promise grammas!). There are a lot (PLUS Kurt put his NEW Flip HD into some serious work mode this season - so we even have some GREAT video)... again... SOON (see how HARD I am working on the not procrastinating thing?).
SO - here are the lists / categories of the season:
Memories / Surprises / New and Old Traditions ... and top 10 things we learned.
Christmas Memories:
- #1 the visit from mom and dad (Liam's Gramma and Grandpa from Oregon)! It was the BEST. it was so fun having a lot of people around at Christmas... Liam LOVED spending so much time with them - and I am pretty sure they had a great time (aside from both of them leaving sick... oh flu... you ARE the gift that keeps on giving!)
- The awesome gingerbread house project.
- Our prosecco birthday party
- The Polar Express train ride
- Santas visit to OUR HOUSE
- The great pj party at school
- SNOW DAY at church
- Our little jumpin elf
- Liam truly getting into Christmas this year in every sense of the season... down to passing out the Christmas gifts like a little elf :)
Christmas Surprises:
- HOW MUCH Liam LOVED watching Polar Express... and The Santa Claus movies.. in the days of VHS... both would have been worn out by now.
- How I received #44 (tasting spoons) of my newest favorite book (how easy is that - ina) from todd and kam... how is that for friendship?
- 6 pairs of black boots from kurt... he literally brought me a shoe store for christmas... how sweet is that?
- the hot air balloon ride that i was SO excited to give to kurt (thank you GROUPON!)
- oh... we ALL got sick...every last one of us (i didn't say ALL the surprises were GOOD ones)
- at exactly 1:02 p.m. on Christmas day.. Liam said to Kurt (completely unprompted) "Merry Christmas Daddy, I Love You!) ... he wrote it down... i saw it on a note in the bathrooom!
- About half way through the gift opening explosion Liam said "NO MORE PRESENTS MOMMY!" ... really?
New Traditions of the Season:
- Watching the Polar Express the day after Thanksgiving
- Riding the Polar Express Train on the day before Christmas Eve in Fillmore
- Making home made Hot Buttered Rum Batter (It's SO MUCH better than storebought... and so easy.. how are we just now learning this???)
- Henny's amazing Beef Stew on Christmas Eve!
- Ham and Cheese Paninins on the day after Christmas.
Old Traditions that keep on keepin on:
- Christmas light drives
- Elf on the Shelf
- BIG Pine Candle / BIG fake tree
- Hot Buttered Rum at night
- Enjoying Christmas dinner with the Kenmans
- Christmas Eve Service at Calvary (with appetizers at Grammy M's house)
- The big beautiful box of gifts that come from Cape Cod
- Watching LOTS of Christmas movies
Finally... the TOP TEN THINGS WE LEARNED THIS YEAR about the holidays:
10) Tree lighting ceremonies are over-rated.
9) Starting the "elf on the shelf" tradition can not come too early (we may start in February this year!)
8) Massive amounts of cream and butter make excellent mashed potatoes.
7) When making gingerbread-man houses (as Liam calls them) the rule must be a 5-1 ratio... meaing you must put at least FIVE candies on the house to ONE candy in your mouth. at least.
6) ONLINE shopping rules. However, the same rule about shopping early applies on Cyber Monday... shop EARLY... the best deals are out of stock before 9:00 a.m.
5) The older Liam gets... the MORE assembly toys require... PUT the toys together the night before... little boys don't have much patience on Christmas morning. And if we all want to enjoy the toys... its better that they are all assembled - only a bow required. easy access is key.
4) There is ALWAYS enough room for extra guests at Christmas dinner. No matter what.
3) Make time for at least one date night to reconnect and clear your head between Dec. 1 and Dec. 23.
2) Less is more. (with the exception of butter and cream in the mashed potatoes of course!)
1) Christmas is magic! And its children that really help us all remember how much fun it is to believe!
Christmas memory photos will be posted all week.
Grampa/Liam/Gramma having some fun after the Polar Express Train Ride
1 comment:
Christmas together was so much fun!! We loved every minute! Liam is such a lucky boy to have parents like you two, that make his life so enriched. It was a real treat to see his eyes light up with all of the fun things we did!!
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