Christmas 2010

Christmas Day rules around here say the kids aren't allowed to get up until at least 6:00. At 4:30 in the morning I heard a very happy Sam who had just awoken and seen that the stockings were stocked. I told him he was way early, he'd have to go back to bed. I dozed off, only to hear him a minute or two later whispering, "Joe... Joe, there's stuff in the stockings!!!" while he was tapping Joe's forehead trying to wake him up. Ha! I had just dozed off again when I heard little footsteps. Sam was going to the kitchen to get a drink. He was so wired and excited, he never did fall back asleep--and I didn't exactly get much rest either!

At 6:00 on the dot the boys were both buzzing around making sure everybody in the house was awake. I went to the bathroom to brush my hair and wash my face, but didn't have time to finish before Sam was knocking at the door saying, "Mom, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease hurry!" in a desperate, pleading voice. I guess he'd been out in the living room telling James, "Dad I've been looking at my stocking for AN HOUR AND A HALF!!!" Ha!

We finally got everybody in the room, had our Christmas morning prayer, then told Sam he could go get his stocking--at long last. He was a little happy about it. Ha! The kids got real stuff in their stockings this year instead of just junk. They got junk, too, but it wasn't ALL junk. Katie was so thrilled with all of hers she laid them all out for a picture.
She got some clay and clay tools, Joe got a rubber band gun and a wood burning kit, Sam got a slingshot with foam balls and a remote controlled tank he'd fallen in love with at the dollar store last week. My stocking had great socks and a new hairbrush, white chocolate covered pretzels--great stuff like that. James' stocking had nothing but junk. Ha! I never think about stocking stuffers until it's too late to really figure out what to do aside from a quick trip to the dollar store!

One of his gifts from his parents (that he ordered himself with the $ they'd sent) was a series of Bob Ross videos that came with a free Bob Ross t-shirt. The bottom of the shirt even says, "Happy Little Clouds." HA! I'm dyin' over it! It makes him so happy. :-)

He found this in his stocking and immediately dove into his best Roger Ammons impersonation. :-)
Sam got some drums (the kind that hopefully won't break easily!) and was soooooo excited...
Almost as excited as he was over the remote controlled helicopter that really flies. He had a BLAST with it for 15 or 20 minutes before the power jack broke. He was heartbroken and even shed a few tears over. James is going to see of they'll take it back at the store. Who knows.
Joe was beyond ecstatic to finally get his very own bb gun!
Katie, loving her new art set.
This is James' gift from me. It was a bocce ball (taken from our set) wrapped in a cylinder (to give me something of substance to wrap--it did make for an interesting package to arouse curiosity!)... and underneath the ball was a picture of the suit I bought for him. :-) Actually, it's the suit my folks bought at that fantastic sale they have once a year in Cleveland. Still owe 'em for it, come to think of it. Anyway, the suit is still in Cleveland. We'll have to move to Alabama to get close enough to go retrieve it. :-)
Joe with his solar powered built-it-yourself robot.
Ha! The look on Katie's face was sooooooo great when she opened up this package from her Grandma Wanda and pulled out a nightgown almost identical to the one she was wearing!!!
This box has six different projects to build and paint--right up Sam's alley. James helped him make the tank this afternoon.
Katie got a keyboard of her very own and was soooooooooooo happy. So Sam got drums, Katie got a keyboard, and Joe got a new guitar--a full size guitar this time--all from James' folks. They were all very excited about them and there has been lots and lots and LOTS of music and music-like noise around here today. :-)
This is James' gift from my parents... It's a picture of another suit that he can pick up whenever we move to Alabama! Ha! This one was wrapped up with the kids' shape block cube. :-)
Joe had been hoping for a bb gun for Christmas and we were afraid the shape of the box might give it away, so we didn't want to put it under the tree. Same thing with the guitar (it's hard to wrap a guitar in such a way that you can't tell what it is!), so I wrapped up two gifts that had notes explaining that it wasn't really his gift--he'd have to ask for it. He thought that was the coolest thing! Especially since the first one was just an empty pencil box with the note and the second was a bag of Ramen. Though he was excited about the Ramen, too. Ha!
Here's Joe all bundled up to go outside and try out his new bb gun, Bertha. I think that's what he told me he named it. His old guitar was "Old Johnny" and he named this new one "Jacob." I even heard him introduce the two of them a few hours ago. HA! Anyway, you can see Katie and Sam making music in the background...
Joe spent most of the day outside with that gun. In fact, I never saw for myself, but James said his trigger finger was completely raw and even bleeding at one point! Ha! He's a happy, happy boy. Blasted a 7-Up can, a few targets, and several plastic cups.

I had to laugh when I opened this gift from James--the very same movie I had got for Mom for Christmas! He had ordered it for me before I had decided to order it for Mom. I also got Mom a puzzle--and I received two puzzles today. And I just found it ironing and unfair that we're both sitting there with a great movie to watch and fun puzzles to put together while we watch... but we can't do it together! What a gyp! Ha! Some day. :-)
It was a nice Christmas. I think each of the kids had 5 gifts to open: one of clothes, one of shoes, one really nice instrument, and two toys/crafts that they truly loved. That's nice. :-) I hate it when they have piles and piles of things to open--it just seems to frivolous, you know?! But they had just enough and seem to be truly grateful for it all. That's more like it. :-) I, on the other hand, feel like I got way too much! Ha! I think I had five or six things to open, but James has a way of cramming several gifts into one bag so it ended up being a lot of stuff! He always over shops for me... but he's a great shopper and always gets great stuff. :-) I got some Coca-Cola pj pants and a Coke puzzle from his folks (that he picked out), a beautiful Christopher & Banks sweater and great denim skirt (which he tells me he paid $8 for--wa-hoo!), a turtle-neck, great socks, the Emma movie, shoes, a shirt/jacket, a puzzle--and probably a couple of things I'm forgetting.

We had a really, really nice time opening all of our gifts (even Charlie got a squeaky steak, a rope toy, and a pack of treats--all purchased by JAMES, I'll have you know!), then we cleaned up some of the trash and packaging and headed to the kitchen to make bacon, eggs, and pancakes for breakfast. I finished up the dishes and was soooooooo tired (I hadn't slept well at all--and had been up most of the time since 4:30, remember!) and decided I was going to lay down for a few minutes. I took Charlie, who was also ready for a nap, and laid down thinking how wonderful it was that I had no meal to prepare--just a pot of tasty clam chowder already made and ready for whenever we got hungry, as well as the left-overs from our big meal last night. I woke up after about an hour and a half (!!!) and felt a little sick to my stomach. Within the next 30 minutes I kept feeling worse and worse until I was finally in awful pain with these horrible stomach cramps that would last for 15-30 seconds, then ease up a bit, then hit again. I felt nauseous and just SICK. I crashed on the couch at 11:30 and didn't budge for the next 6 hours! Crazy! That is NOT the way you're supposed to spend Christmas! Ha! Still, I was soooooooo thankful that I had felt well all day yesterday and was able to make a nice dinner for my family and that I felt fine when we were doing presents today. The sickness didn't hit until after all of that and I'm so glad! James and the kids watched some Christmas shows and just sort of vegged out and I pretty much slept most of the day away. At about 5:30 I was feeling a lot better and was able to get up and try to get a few things cleaned up. There's still a whole lot to be done, but I only had enough energy for about 5 minutes at a time before I'd find myself panting and shaking and weak. Weird. Oh well--it'll all get done soon enough! I'm just so thankful that I'm feeling better and I've only had a few of those horrible stomach cramps in the past few hours--they were awful!

So there you have it--our Christmas. :-) Looking forward to church in the morning. We'll miss the Clarkson family (they're in Colorado for Christmas and will be visiting one of the churches up there tomorrow), but James is on to preach--I rarely get to hear him! Do say a prayer for Sam. Getting up at 4:30 wasn't very smart (!) and he's been running on Christmas adrenaline all day, then crashed at about 7:00. I found him asleep on a chair in the living room. I took him to bed and he's been there ever since, but he's woke up crying a few times saying he feels sick again. I'm trusting that he'll sleep well tonight and wake up totally healthy in the morning--and me, too! :-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!