Merry Christmas

Love,
The Cats

Warning, this picture will un-blur on mouse-over. I’m giving you an option not to see the carnage!  It isn’t horrible per say.  Mainly becaue I didn’t include the head in the picture.  It was….up on the porch…on the doormat of course.


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I ran around this morning like a complete nut again. I crammed two days worth of errands and “to-do’s” in this morning. The whole time I was chanting in my head “Make it to naptime, then it is smooth sailing from there.” I finished up the DVDs and the grateful client came and picked them up during lunch. His wife called me about two hours later to say that they were wonderful and they had cried for 40 minutes watching them!

Walmart was surprisingly not as bad as I had expected. I put Caleb in the stroller so I could zip around quicker than with the cart. We actually walked right up to a momentarily vacant self checkout!

Caleb was way too wired to even take a nap so I’m waiting on him to fall out as I type. He is a combination of excited and overtired right now so here’s to hoping he doesn’t put up a huge fight.

Tonight…was magical. Each year the Santa gig gains a little more momentum. He has a better understanding this year and has been counting down the days. We treated ourselves to take out from Pizza Hut for the first time in a while (we cut waaay back on eating out).

I set up the elf snowy footprints on the steps and put the gifts (the tracking pajamas and the Polar Express book) outside.

Prints stamped with SC on the bottom for Santa Claus

Scott ran around and rang the doorbell while I doubled back to nestle the wrapped bell under the tree. Caleb threw the door open and glanced at the presents for a second, then his eyes darted out to the street. He moved so he could see further down, looking for Santa, an elf, or a sleigh.

He tore into his gifts right away and was thrilled with the book. He was so anxious to read it, we could barely get his jammies on. I made stovetop hot chocolate and cooled it down a bit with some half and half. ‘As thick and rich as melted chocolate bars’ – from the book. We all sat on the couch together and read the book sipping our hot chocolate. When I had finished, I asked if Caleb had checked under our tree. His eyes widened when he saw the box and upon picking it up and hearing the sound, his breath caught and he said “I hope it is a reindeer bell!” We read the book a second time at bedtime. He is still pretty restless. I can remember laying just as quietly as the boy in the book listening for sounds on our rooftop. It is so amazing to give the magic of Christmas to your kids.

This year’s tracking pajamas (so Santa will know when boys and girls are asleep in their beds)

Santa’s cookie plate…Caleb wanted to draw a smiley face (he had a hard time with the contours of the plate) and write his name ( I make dotted outlines and he traces it).

Stay tuned, there will be many more pictures to follow, I’m sure!

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We raced through the mall and got our place in line.  Santa was on a break, and Scott headed to the bathroom while Caleb and I waited.  He returned a few minutes later and stood there with his arms crossed.  He leaned over close to me and said “I peed beside Santa.”  It just cracked me up!

The generic mall Christmas tree. At least it is really tall.

We’ve been waiting in line over an hour.  But mom says we’re almost there.

Okay, we’re drawing social security at this point.  But Charley and I are being good.

Finally at last…Santa, Meet Charley!  Up close and personal.  Charley actually jumped right into Santa’s beard.

Now Santa, if you’ll think back with me…to the first time you met Charley.  And Caleb screamed at you.

Last year was our first success (third try).

But this year, he was eager to hop right up there with Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas.

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How is it possible that we have been counting down the days until Christmas, yet suddenly I wake up this morning and think, “AH!  I only have two days!”  I knew this last night when Caleb asked seventeen times after getting in bed last night how much longer we had to wait on Santa.  But, abiding by the procrastinator’s creed, I somehow end up freaking out in the final hour with a laundry list of things to do.  I finally saw a light at the end of my DVD project tunnel yesterday.  I should show you the adorable cover and a few details from it.  I’m very pleased with how everything turned out.  I’ve been working for hours with pictures and a few videos of my brother inlaw’s grandson.  I put them all together with music into a 35 minute slideshow DVD, complete with a custom Lightscribe label (where the label is burned directly onto the disc) and a photo birth announcement-like DVD case insert.  I actually still have three more DVDs to do for them, but those will not be nearly as time consuming as this has been. Hopefully a few hours of work, and the other three will be done, for a total of six DVDs!

So now that you know where I’ve been the last couple days…

I somehow managed to forget the ham for the ham and cheese hashbrown casserole when shopping the other night.  So I need to go by the grocery store.  I need to pick up Caleb’s prescription (Did I tell you we finally switched to Zrytec so we could get chewables!), we have to go see Santa tonight!!  I figured we could get away with skipping it this year, but Caleb seems to sense that he really  needs to talk to the man to get his list in!  So after Scott gets off work, we’re heading to the mall to see Santa.  Camera and camcorder in hand, because we’re those parents.  I plan on blowing off the $25 picture and just taking my own.  Anyone else shocked at how expensive those pictures are?!  Oh, we have to return a pile of library books.  My washer just crapped out, full of clothes and water (I think hubby will be able to fix it though). I have to arrange all the Christmas Eve delivery stuff.  The elf dropping of the tracking jammies…I haven’t even wrapped them yet!

So I’m feeling a bit frazzled.  Raise your hand if you’re feeling the same way.  If you’re smiling calmly thinking you’ve got all your ducks in a row, go away, I don’t like you very much right now!  Haha, nah just kidding.  Kind of.

Hopefully you’ll be seeing Santa pictures on here tomorrow.  The way he chats up perfect strangers in stores, I don’t think he’ll have a problem sitting with Santa, but you never know, last year was the first successful year, but it wasn’t in a mall, so there wasn’t as much pressure.

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“…I’ve seen better days…”

Remember this guy and this one?

Let’s just say they have been WELL loved.  And that this Christmas gift is actually “needed.”  He is gonna flip about that!  We are so excited.  But I thought it was really sweet…we were talking about these poor Herbies yesterday, and Caleb said it would actually be just fine if Santa brought a new wheel for the very well loved Herbie his mommy painted.

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Since I live burrowed deep inside a hole, we watched the Polar Express for the first time last year.  I was captivated by that movie, I found my eyes welling up with tears, oh, say, nine different times or so!  As you’re growing up, Christmas really does lose that ‘magical’ feel to it.  But don’t worry, when you have kids, you get it all back.  I don’t know which side is more fun to be on…laying anxiously in your bed listening intently for bells and hooves on your roof, or in the living room playing Santa and putting bicycles together until the wee hours of the morning, making sure everything is just right.  I can’t remember my parents doing anything spectacular to play into the magic of Santa, but I know I believed, probably longer than most kids.  I get very wrapped up in holiday traditions with Caleb.  Trying to give him every experience to the fullest.  Christmas obviously tops that list.  I feel like I need blueprints and an event manager for this coming Christmas Eve, but here’s what I worked up in my head during lunch today.

I’ve always gotten Caleb a special pair of pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve.  Last year, the special pajamas became “Santa’s magical tracking pajamas.”  This is Santa’s way of knowing when all little boys and girls are in their beds fast asleep.  Last year, I wrote a note and signed it from the big guy himself on very fancy paper, and the elf ran out the backdoor and around the side of the house ducking past windows flew from the North Pole and delivered the box of pajamas and the letter to our front porch.

This year, Santa’s elf will deliver the Christmas Tracking Jammies, along with Chris VanAllsburg’s The Polar Express to the doorstep.  Being from the North Pole, his little shoes are covered with snow that will be tracked on the porch (baking soda and salt mixed in a spice shaker with a shoe print cut from a paper plate as a stencil).  One of Caleb’s gifts is a Polar Express train set from Toys R’Us.  A set that just so happened to include a large silver bell on a red ribbon.  This first gift of Christmas (just the bell) will be hiding under our tree when we finish reading the book.  If I can, I even want to find red and white striped wrapping paper (or fabric) just like the movie.  Of course we’ll drink hot chocolate while we’re reading.  Caleb likes to carry his lunch over to the table (an independence thing), so he puts the plate on the palm of his hand and holds it up like a waiter and sings “Ooo, we got it!  Hot hot! Yeah we got it!  Hot Chocolate!  Here we’ve only got one rule.  Never ever let it cool!…”

Next year, we’ll be checking out the Elf on a Shelf Christmas tradition (Val I thought of you and was going to send you a link to this, but I see it has already been mentioned, lol!)  The website includes a non flash version, but I must say, the flash version is very impressive and fun.  The jist of the tradition is that an elf sits quietly in your house, from the beginning of the holiday season (around Thanksgiving) watching your child(ren)’s behavior.  They can talk to him, but he is sworn to secretcy, thus cannot talk back.  Each morning he returns from reporting in at the North Pole, to sit in a different spot around the house.

So for those of you who have children, what special traditions do you do every year with the kids?  If you don’t have kids, what do you remember from your childhood that your parents did and/or what do you plan to do with your children one day?

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Yes, instead of working on my DVD projects that are looming over me, I instead chose to decorate my blog this morning.  I must say, I am quite pleased with how it turned out, and I wish I had done it sooner, so you might just see these until mid January.  It will help ease me into the new year.  If you haven’t heard me mention it, I hate the beginning of the year.  It always feels so cold and distant.  The warmth of Christmas is gone and it is back the the hum drum.  So no griping when my decorations are still up after New Year’s Day!  :)

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I know this is a busy time of the year.  And I know I ordered a lot of crap online.  But if anyone should be complaining, it is the UPS woman (they have those?  They do here).  Not you.  I think you have brought about three packages.  The UPS lady has you beat.  By a lot.  She smiled and was quite polite when she was still scrambling to make her deliveries at EIGHT THIRTY at night!  But dear mister postman, why, why, WHY do you refuse to knock on the door?  I mean I may have appreciated that you didn’t knock yesterday, as I was standing in the hallway in a towel playing ball with the kid.  But you could still knock without peering through the glass.   But really, I need to know why you felt the need to leave my Borders.com order sitting in the rain rather than just knock on the blasted door.  You’ve been rude since the first day we moved here.  You barely acknowlege people when you are spoke to, but damn, the box would have fit inside the storm door, or you could have just….gasp…KNOCKED.  You don’t even have to stay and wait on me if I’m that scary.  Just let me know so I can get my package out of the pouring down rain.  Thanks.

Sincerely,
Your irritated customer on your route who doesn’t want to file a formal complaint because then they’ll make you call me on the phone and address the issue.  God knows I don’t want you to have to speak to me.  Plus it’s the holidays.  I don’t want to get you in trouble.  Scrooge.  Bah Humbug!  (I know about the complaint thing because I called when we were living in our previous house.  The super nice lady bent an envelope from Shutterfly to wedge it in the mailbox.  She was nice about it and apologized, and she always brought all my packages to the door with a smile.)

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It seems we missed that chapter in Christmas decorating 101.  Because Caleb and I just keep adding more and more ornaments!  I think we added about 30 more balls today and my mom is bring a few more for us tomorrow!  I gave a lot of thought to going in the storage building and digging out the wreath and outdoor decorations.  But thinking was as far as I got!  Maybe tomorrow.

Every tree needs a Herbie

We like a ‘busy’ tree!  Ha!

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Naked tree

Plus lights

Equals this

Inspecting for dead bulbs

For some reason, I love throwing the tree out of focus.

I don’t know which is cuter, the kid or the Christmas bear I finally took possession of.  It was a “gift” that my parents kept at their house for several years.

Caleb was really into the decorating this year.  He was so anxious, we could barely get the lights on the tree.  Let’s just say the bottom of the tree is heavily decorated.

Perhaps distant cousins?  I see family resemblance there.

Ta-da

Some might say we’re easily entertained

A family portrait.  Scott is off right of me in the background (at the computer).  Caleb is no doubt on a mission to break a third ball in this picture.  That is this year’s running total by the way.  He wanted to use the branches as a “marble run” for the paper thin glass ornaments.  Last year I learned that you can still break these balls on carpet.

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