Christmas 2012

This post totally got away from me but before we are too far away from Christmas, I wanted to post a little reminder for the future about Christmas 2012.

Christmas Eve Eve - Jared had one final trip to take for work before the holidays set in.  He was suppose to meet his client in Dallas on Christmas Eve but was able to convince them to meet on a Sunday so he could be home for all of the festivities.  Honey and I took H&H to the children's Christmas service.  It was great and soooo kid friendly.  

Christmas Memories - Harper loved the camels; Harris was great for about 20 minutes and then he had enough of sitting still so we had a little date at the back of the room.

Christmas Eve - Our church had a 3:30pm service for the first time ever and with the kids being as young as they were, we decided to give it a try.  While it made life much easier, there's just something about singing Silent Night in candle light when it's dark outside so I don't know that that's one we'll repeat.  We headed back to Honey and Grandy's for a small Christmas Eve Dinner with Bos, Aud, Bonnie and Tom - quite this year with all of the younger cousins spending time with other family members.  We headed back to the house at about 7:30pm and Cito was exhausted so he went straight to bed.  After putting him to sleep and getting Harper all ready, we said goodbye to Bobeck to try to soften the blow of his departure (our Elf - on a side note, if you REALLY want to confuse a two year old, get Elf on the Shelf and then after looking for him every day for 24 days, have him disappear!), we sprinkled our reindeer food on the front lawn, picked out the perfect treat for Santa to eat and sat by the tree for a little while.  

Christmas Memories - As always, my mom and I cried during Silent Night - gets us both every year!; Singing Silent Night to Harper as we put her to bed that night; Harper singing Jingle Bells as loud as she could for about 30 minutes before she fell asleep.

Christmas Day - We had an early riser, and by early, I mean Harper woke up at 5:45am singing Jingle Bells. I headed to her room to lay down and see if I could get her to fall back asleep but she was so hyped up that it was no use.  Cito woke up about 6:15am so we got the day started.  They didn't even notice all of the activity at the fireplace and by the stockings during breakfast.  We finished up breakfast, opened stockings, Honey & Grandy came over because they just couldn't stand being away and Brent got in town just in time for Honey's egg casserole.   We headed off to Honey and Grandy's to open presents from the immediate family and then Evelyn, Bonnie, Tom, Bos and Aud came over for lunch.  We had a fun afternoon and were back  home to relax by 6pm.  I think we were all exhausted by the end of the day!

Christmas Memories - Harris loved tissue paper this year; Harper and her BFF Uncle Brent playing in the backyard, just the two of them; Harper waking up singing Jingle Bells on Christmas morning; Kids getting a playscape which they both love; This was definitely the year of dinosaurs and Thomas the Train for both kids.  Until Harris gets a little older and can express himself, it looks like he's going to be stuck with playing with what his sister likes.  He's lucky she likes dinosaurs, trains and construction equipment - he could be dressed up like a fairy princess!; Harper also got big girl panties from Santa and when anyone asked her what she wanted for Christmas, the answer was "Big Girl Panties!!!"

Christmas Memories from the whole season - Harper didn't shed a single tear when it came to Santa.  She was a little leery but gave him a hug each time; Harris loved Santa until his stranger-danger mechanism kicked in the week of Christmas so he had a few tears at the Santa Party; Harper LOVED Christmas decorations.  We got in the habit of taking the kids for a walk in the neighborhood every night that Jared was in town. She would point from house to house and then say "More decorations Mommy?"; Harper also loved the tree and Harris was great about not getting too close or trying to attack it;  Harper also loved nativities this year, especially the "kings" - good thing since her mom collects them.

I can't wait for Christmas over the next few years.  This was the first year that Harper was into it and I can only imagine how much fun it will be each year as they get a little older and as Cito starts to grasp the concept!