Merry Christmas

Christmas. I was so pumped for it all year. I dont know why I was looking forward to it so much this year I just was. But as the holiday got closer and closer, I stopped liking it so much. I wanted it to end. I wanted no part of it. The thought of opening presents, the mess, gathering with family and doing the present thing again was absolutely exhausting to me. A few days ago I was ready to throw in the towel-actually Im quite certain I did. The amount of bad news that had been circling finally got to me. Then it was stress over not having presents done in time, it was the piles and piles of things on the never ending "to do" list. It was the kids misbehaving and pushing my every last button. Then It was the tree crashing its way to the ground for the second time and im sure it wasnt by choice. Then my dryer stopped working......it keeps going. So I packed up all our Christmas stuff and left no evidence in my house. Besides, of course, the state of the basement as it was completely cluttered in all parts of Christmas.

I pushed through the days, though rather unwillingly, and finally it was Christmas Eve. It started to get better. Suddenly the stress was lifting as all the presents had been completed. The house was in a rather liveable state and the children were relatively well behaved. We had our friends Dee and Dawsyn over for dinner that night and it became an interesting night. We spent about 45 minutes hunting for Monsters. Kael came running out of the dark dining room with his flashlight saying "look a monsters in there!", "I need to go look for more monsters". I followed and asked where the monsters are hiding and if he could show me. He grabbed my hand and led me to the Monsters hideaway. It was the heat registers. "see a monsters down there! yah!". I laughed and played along and we spend some time 'hunting' for monsters and shining lights on them. Later on the kids started to get pretty goofy and were trying to think of ways to 'poop' them out. There is a game that Kael enjoys that involves me spinning him on the floor then standing him up as he wobbles and stumbles around trying to catch his balance. Naveah always wants to join in but the whole process freaks her out when its happening to her so instead we just launch her across the floor and she slides across the room perfectly sprawled out on her back. Once Dawsyn saw how much fun Kael was having she soon joined in and I have to say, Kael had nothing on her with her stumbly walk after the spinning! Poor thing kept running into walls and crashing into chairs(dont worry! there were no injuries).

It came time for Dawsyn to go home and the kids to go to bed. It didnt take long for Naveah to crash but we were having a harder time with Kael. Once we thought we were in the clear to start setting up Christmas presents we got started. We got Kael a Space train set and table and it needed to be set up. We were working away in the living room and were almost done when suddenly I hear Evan shouting at Kael to "go back to your room NOW!". The little STINKER had snuck out of his room and was watching us from the stairs and I dont know for how long!!! So we returned him to bed and he kept saying "play with the train!?". I explained to him that Santa doesnt like it when little boys spy so Santa might have to take whatever toys back he was spying on.

Well, Kael finally went to sleep that night but Evan and I were quite distrot that Kael had seen his big surprise! So we moved the table into the dining room and hid it from view so that Kael wouldnt see it in the morning.

Around 8:15am Kael came waltzing into our room and immediatly said "go play with the train!?". I so new this was gunna happen. So I said to him "uh, what train are you talking about Kael?", to which he says "the train downstairs!". Oh Great. So once again I explain to him that Santa might have had to take it back cause he didnt like that you were spying last night. We went downstairs and Kael went running around the corner and looked kinda stunned when he didnt see the train in the spot he saw it the night before. He looked at me puzzled and I quickly reacted. "KAEL! look at all your PRESENTS!!!". He seemed to immediatly forget as he yelled "PRESENTS!!!????" back to me, but then I new it wasnt far from mind as he picked up numerous presents and said "train? train tracks?".

It was so fun to watch the kids open presents. The experience was still pretty new to Naveah so she was having a hard time with opening but Kael was always up for helping her. One of her favorites was a little Leap Frog worm with Alphabet legs that she got from Aunty Jasmine and Uncle Jeremy. She would scream and shake everytime someone touched it. Even when Evan was trying to take it out of the package for her she was having a complete meltdown. One of Kaels favorites was a Bosch Drill with interchangeable bits, which also came from Uncle Jeremy and Aunty Jasmine. There were still more presents to open after he got it. So little creative Kael attached the drill bit and just started going to town opening his presents by drilling through the paper. Very cute.

Nanny and Papa Jevne came over afterwards with more presents. Once those were opened it was time to bring the big presents out. Evan took the kids upstairs and Papa helped me bring the train table back into the living room and carry in all of Naveahs "Littlest Pet Shop" (I was able to get her quite a large set off kijiji). Evan brought the kids back down and they were a hit. Kael was so exicted he showed no emotion. He nearly walked right past the table but once he spotted it he casually changed his direction and went straight into play mode. Not a single word out of him except the sound of a rocket taking off and his entire little body shaking as if he were REALLY taking off (the train set came with a toy rocket). Naveah had fun digging through all the little animals and setting them up in their houses. Glad we got some toys that will entertain for a long time!

I made Banana Pancakes for Breakfast. After that it was time to relax. Suzanne and Tom took turns napping on the couch, Evan wandered around doing whatever it is Evan does, the kids played and I went back to the sewing room and whipped up a couple more presents for Evans family and made Christmas phone calls.

Around 3pm we headed for Christmas dinner. It was a fun night. We opened presents before dinner. We new it was time when Kael came RACING into the room yelling as loud as he could "TIMA OPEN PESANTS!!!!!". It all happened so quickly I became very overwhelmed with everything and had to take myself out of the room to watch it all. There were close tp 20 people in a tiny little space. Paper was flying everywhere and large toys began taking over the room. Naveah started shrieking when she opened her one present that contained Upsy Daisy and her Bed and no one could get it out of the box fast enough for her. Its one of those toys that should have been opened last cause she wanted nothing to do with any other present after that. Kael however continued on and plowed through whatever was handed his way and even some that weren't. He was very excited to have recieved another train set ( a different one than the one we got him).

After presents were done and the paper cleaned up, it was time for the feast to begin. What an awesome dinner. I need more. I think Im on a turkey withdrawl this year! I always seem to get at least 2 dinners. But this year only one! After dinner it was relaxing time. All the adults sat back, relaxed and mingled while all the littles played with their new toys. Once the toys got old Kael and Cosette, his cousin, came up with a new game involving them jumping one of the couches. the cushions were on the ground for padding. Kael decided to get a little brave. Suddenly he was standing on the ottoman, at least 5 feet away from the couch and went for it. I new what was about to happen but unfortunetly was in a position that I couldnt grab him. He dove and missed the couch. Well thats not entirely true. His forehead didn't. It was instantly puffy and bruised. He screamed. Didnt take long though for that cute little smile of his to start shining again. He seemed pretty excited to have a bag full of snow to put it on his owie.