Holiday Highlights, Part II

Well, I'm determined to finish the holiday highlights! So, here I go!

Christmas morning was pretty typical. Sydney woke us up around 7 am (we told her she couldn't get up until it was like outside). We got Katelyn up, let Daddy go downstairs to start the video camera, and headed down the steps. Katelyn had no idea what was going on but Sydney was ready for action. She quickly realized that the packages had tags and, since she can recognize names, she could sort the packages for each person. She was most excited to receive her American Girl doll. She's wanted one for quite some time but we insisted that she needed to be 5 years old. Since she was a month short, we told her Santa would probably make an exception for such a responsible girl. Santa delivered Kit, along with a set of matching pj's for Kit and Sydney, and a few other doll items. Since she'd already received the Kit books, she was thoroughly excited about finally have an American Girl doll of her own. Katelyn was clueless! But, she loved playing with the toys once they were out of the boxes. She loved her Bounce and Spin Zebra and her Elmo Vacuum. But she really just loved all the excitement of the day.

We spent Christmas day visiting family. The girls were spoiled by everyone, as always. The wagon from Old Pop was a big hit - it is currently in our dining room, where Katelyn gets in a says "Weeeee" so we'll pull her around the house. Since Sydney had been running a fever for several days, we wrapped up our Christmas visiting early and headed home so everyone could head to bed. And, in spite of Sydney being sick, it was still our best Christmas yet!

After Christmas, there additional visits and fun all through New Year's, which we celebrated at our house with friends. Since we celebrated at around 8 pm, the kids enjoyed the fun without any disruption to their schedules. This was the first time we'd tried this and I absolutely loved it. Before our friends arrived, we got everyone ready for the "late" night by getting our pj's on. We had a fondue dinner - our new year's tradition that we began last year! Then, as the evening wound down, we counted down, set off fireworks, went out on the front steps to blow our horns, and made our grape juice toasts. Then, we cleaned up and had everyone in bed by 9 pm. Ahhh!!! While it was a bit strange not to have the hoopla at midnight, it was nice to not be completely exhausted the next day. And the girls had no idea they didn't ring in the new year at the official time. It was such fun that I think we'll always celebrate it this way!

We took down all our Christmas decorations and packed them away during the weekend after the new year. This is a task I'm usually anxious to do each year, as I'm usually desparate to get the house back to normal. However, I wasn't quite so happy take everything down this year. I guess it just didn't seem like the holidays should have been over so quickly. But, I forced myself to take them all down and put them away. And I am grateful to have the house back in order, even if I'm sad that the holidays are over.

That about wraps it up! My next post will be about Sydney's birthday and I'm learning to add pictures, videos, etc. If you want to see a more creative blog, as well as read some details about Sydney's trip to the Hannah Montana concert, check out my friend Kacey's blog! She was about to get 4 tickets so she took Sydney along with her twins! They had great fun.

Wrapping Up the Holidays, Part I

My plan was to get my blog going during the holidays. But, as with most holidays, the time went by far too quickly. I find it hard to believe that all the festivities are over and 2008 is in full swing! At our house, the decorations are still up - the thought of taking them down completely overwhelms me. I'm not sure if I'm refusing to admit that the holidays are really over or just too lazy to take on the clean-up! So, instead of packing up things tonight, I'm blogging our holiday wrap-up. This is Part I, which will go through Christmas Eve!

We had a wonderful holiday season. I have to admit that I felt less stress this year than in years past - maybe because I'm stopped stressing quite so much about the gift giving aspect. But, it doesn't mean we did fewer things. I always have a long list of holiday events that I want to each year and, while I never get to everything, I felt like we did the things I really wanted to do and that I knew the kids would enjoy. While Katelyn doesn't understand much this year, she did recognize Santa and learned to say "Ho, ho, ho!" We started teaching her that months early just so she'd be ready! She also enjoyed looking at holiday lights and pulling all the decorations off the bottom two feet of the Christmas tree! Sydney loved everything, which is really no surprise. Her joyous spirit shines through during the holiday season! She loves the lights, decorations, projects, wrapping - everything!

This year, we made our first holiday visit to Hershey Park. We spent the weekend taking in the sights, having breakfast with Santa, and touring the chocolate factory. We're were lucky enough to spend some time with Kevin's sister, her husband, and their two girls. We loved seeing them but wish the weather would have cooperated so we could have spent more time touring the park with them - maybe next year! Sydney's favorite part was going on the chocolate tour ride. She loved it and still talks about it. It was so much fun that we're already planning next year's trip!

We continued our tradition of creating gingerbread houses. After 3 years of doing this, I think we've gotten the hang of it! The girls are always anxious to get started and, as the girls get older, the houses are more "kid created" than adult created! The girls really do love decorating the houses - and eating decorations along the way.

The weekend just prior to Christmas was especially exciting. Sydney's Girl Scout Troop sang Christmas carols at a local nursing home. Afterwards, she and I went for our holiday haircuts. Since Sydney had about 4 inches of hair cut off, it was quite a big deal! And, made her look like quite the big girl!!! We also continued our cookie baking tradition at a good friend's house. It is always a special day for Sydney, as she loves decorating special cookies for Santa. This year, she learned to make a special "ch,ch,ch" sound when she cuts her cookies. It was quite funny!

As usual, we spent Christmas Eve with my friends from high school and their children. It was especially fun, as all three of us now have kids - a total of 6 girls, ranging from 8 years to 3 months, and 0 boys!!! What are the odds of that??? We did a craft, made our reindeer food, and exchanged presents. I especially love this night and I'm so grateful that I have I still see my high school best friends and their families! When the evening festivities were done, we went home to get ready for Santa. We put on our pj's and hit the front lawn to put out the reindeer food. (It has been warm enough the last two years that we don't even have to wear a coat outside for this!) Then, we hang our stockings, read our Christmas stories, and put out the cookies and milk for Santa. The girls were both exhausted so they fell asleeep within minutes!

The Christmas Day and New Year's details will follow soon!