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Christmas in Iowa

We had a nice, quiet Christmas here in Eastern Iowa.  I admit I felt a little sad leading up to the holidays when people asked, "Are you going anywhere for Christmas?" When I answered no, their inevitable next question was, "Oh, do you have any family coming to visit you?"  I felt a little pang of sadness when I replied, "No, we're just going to have a quiet Christmas at home."  After our painful Thanksgiving week, I was due for a real vacation and the thought of another two weeks at home with the kids did not sound relaxing at all.  What I was forgetting, though, was that Rick would be well and hopefully the kids would be healthy too.  In the end, I liked Christmas very much even if we didn't go anywhere or have any visitors.

Here is some of what we did:

Christmas Cookies
Christmas Eve began with cookie baking and decorating.  Since I don't love baking or decorating sugar cookies, Rick took on this activity with the kids while I gave the van a much needed cleaning.  I don't think I had cleaned the van since the summer and it was quite a project.  That being the case, cleaning the van still sounded like more fun to me than cookie baking and cleaning up sprinkles from the kitchen.

Dinner and a Movie
After the car cleaning, cookie baking and decorating, and kitchen cleaning, I headed outside to clear about six inches of snow from the driveway. The snow was still falling and would continue to fall until the evening.  We ended up with about eight inches of snow.  It was beautiful, especially since the snowstorm was not accompanied by blasting arctic wind or subzero temperatures.  I like the snow when you can actually get out and play in it.
Just as I was putting the snow blower away, Rick began loading the kids in the car to go to the movies.  We went to Tangled.  It was a cute movie. The kids, especially Makayla laughed at all the right parts.  After the movie, we went to dinner at The Olive Garden. Even after years of working there, Rick still likes going there. The kids loved their milkshakes!



Sean loved everything we put on his plate.  He learned how to drink out of a straw that night.  He was so proud of himself.  Even though he has food on his face in the next picture, I still think he looks pretty cute.
Bedtime Traditions
After dinner, we went home to open Christmas pajamas from Grandma.

After the kids put on their new pajamas, we dressed up in our nativity costumes and acted out the Christmas story.  Andrew was a very cute Joseph.

The kids went to bed really well--almost an hour early!!  We made the rule that they couldn't get out of bed in the morning until 7 a.m.  Ricky has a clock in his room.  All night like I heard him announce the time . . . "It's 1:17!!  Is it 7:00 yet?"  "It's 3:27!  It is 7:00 yet?"  "I see a 7 on my clock.  Is it 7:00?"  Once Ricky settled down, around 4 a.m., the girls were up.  Oh well, that's Christmas Eve, right?  The magic just keeps you up at night!

Christmas Morning
Santa brought some very nice gifts.  Andrew got super hero dress up clothes.

Ricky got a remote control car, which, unfortunately, had to be sent back to Santa's workshop.  It was supposed to go very fast, but it hardly moved.
Sean got a puzzle that makes animal sounds when the pieces are put in their correct places.  At this stage, he likes the sounds, but even more than that, he likes to carry the animal pieces in his mouth as he scoots around the house.
The girls got Band Hero for Wii along with a guitar and drum set.  Most of Christmas day was spent rocking out to our favorite songs.


Before we actually played with our presents, though.  We continued our Christmas morning tradition of homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast.


Sledding
Later in the afternoon we decided to go sledding on the fresh, fluffy snow.  I wasn't sure how long Sean would tolerate being out the the cold, so I bundled him up really good.  He looked hilarious . . .
Ralphie, is that you?
We took a video of Sean trying to roll over and crawl away while he was bundled up.  Because we were in the dark garage, the video didn't turn out.  Too bad because it was so funny to watch!

Andrew fell asleep in the stroller as we walked over to the school to sled.
Sean was very patient sitting in the stroller like that with nobody to talk to.  We sledded for about an hour and headed home.

Andrew woke up from his little nap just before we headed home.  He was too grumpy to even want to sled down the hill.  Sean fell asleep in the stroller just as I parked it in the garage.

All day, we had a roast cooking in the oven.  When we arrived home from our sledding adventure, Rick made the final preparations to dinner and we ate.  Let me tell you, it was good to eat some protein and vegetables after all the Christmas candy and junk we ate all day long.  Maybe cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning is not such a good idea . . .

All in all, we had a great Christmas.  I quite enjoyed the break in routine, hanging out with the family, and not worrying about the demands of school, work, sports, etc.

This weekend we will visit Aunt Cheryle and Uncle Troy in Kansas City.  We are all looking forward to actually going somewhere, but mostly just being together as a family.  These little trips are perfect when the weather cooperates.  But the bags won't pack themselves, so I better get to work folding laundry and packing suitcases.  Happy New Year!

Comments

Chelsey said…
It looks like you had a great Christmas. We're going to have to get the band game. It looks like a lot of fun. We have Karaoke Revolution and the kids love to play that, in fact Jacob is going around the house singing "Girls just want to have fun" as I type. So funny to hear an almost three year old boy singing it. Merry Christmas.
December 30, 2010 at 4:38 PM
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