Christmas Time Is Here

Christmas with the Immediate

This Christmas, Henry was in for the biggest surprise.  Weeks ago when I asked the kids for gift ideas, he gave me none.  Absolutely zero.  No hints.  Nothing.  Then, a few days before Christmas, he kept asking if he was going to get what he asked for.  Definitely.  He made out just fine and spent his day working on his Costco warehouse puzzle, throwing his new football, and putting together a very large Lego kit.  

Josiah is always the most excited about Christmas.  He has the same excitement that he's had since he understood what Christmas was all about.  He cannot fall asleep on Christmas Eve because of the excitement.  On Christmas morning, he woke up at 1:00 a.m. and, fortunately, was able to go back to sleep until 4:30 a.m.  Then he was forced to wait, which is pretty hard at 4:30 in the morning.  6:30 a.m. was the agreed upon wake-up time, but Josiah woke up Henry and Caroline at 6:20 as a warning -- 6:30 was coming soon.  He warned them again at 6:25 before officially waking them up at 6:30.  

Josiah is also the easiest kid in the world to shop for.  He likes and wants everything.  He likes stuff and he always has an endless list of items he'd love.  It's hard to surprise him sometimes because of it.  For Christmas, he got a phone tripod with a remote so he can take pictures and start video from a distance.  It was to help out his filmmaking endeavors with friends.  He, too, worked on a new Lego kit all morning long.

Caroline gave me her three gift ideas weeks ago, but then put the onus on me to remember them.  When I asked for a reminder - just to verify - she said what was said was said and it was on me to pull it out of the file folder of ideas in my head.  Okay.  Risky.  She is now into face products and clothing.  A big leap from the kid gifts.  This was her year of sweaters.  Here's a green one! A teal one! A brown one!

Josiah gifted Todd the painting he did of our house.  Now I have to figure out how to frame canvases so we can display his artwork properly.  

Benson was hilarious when we opened our gifts.  He would pick up some wrapping paper then trot off to the living room and tear it in pieces.  He didn't eat it, just tore it up.  So, he had his own fun that morning.  His big gift this year was a new dog bed.  In Texas, we always tried to look for the coolest material for the dog beds.  Now we can look for cozier, warmer fabrics.  It was vacuum sealed and once opened, it just kept growing.  It is big enough for Benson and a child and they often cozy up with him on his bed.  Benson also got a new collar.  Todd went with army green, which looks good with his harness.  

We spent a lot of Christmas outside.  We played four square, my first time in 30 odd years.  Caroline and I played volleyball until our arms and wrists hurt.  She played with Josiah as well.  Henry and I threw his new football while the other three threw his old one.  We got a lot of football time in at the beginning of the week before the rain started towards the end.

Josiah's wish over the Christmas break was to get KFC.  It has been his wish to get KFC for probably a year now.  I made him wait until Todd could take him.  They decided it should be an annual thing.  All enjoyed the chicken, but Henry surprised us with how big a fan he was.  Josiah said it was finger lickin' good.  

Caroline finished out Christmas week at a birthday party.  Despite the temperatures being in the 40s, they stayed outside nearly the whole party - playing sardines (a version of hide and seek) and pickleball.  Caroline loved pickleball.  

Josiah finished out his week with a low taper fade.  He loves his new hair and is planning on keeping it this way.  

We spent the weekend hanging up pictures.  Those have been the final boxes that are hardest to unpack - all the picture frames and things we had on our walls in the old house.  It is amazing how much cheerier the rooms look with pictures on the walls. 

We also made it to the movies over the break.  We saw The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which has been a favorite book of ours.  They stayed pretty true to the book, which was nice, but we all had different images of the Herdmans in our heads that conflicted with their portrayal onscreen.  Josiah thought they should all have dark hair.  I pictured them younger.  But it was a good movie.  Good message.

Christmas with the Extended

We drove up to Staunton last Sunday and spent the day staying ahead of the storms.  All through South Carolina and North Carolina, we received emergency alerts about severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.  We were told to take shelter immediately at least five times, but when I listened to the counties affected, we would nearly be out of them, so the wisest move was to keep driving.  The kids asked if we were okay each time we got an alert (I stopped counting after 10).  The rain was my gauge - if it wasn't raining too terribly hard, I figured we were still ahead of the worst of it.  We made it unscathed, although we did miss our scenic outlooks on the mountains.  Our beautiful view of the inside of a cloud:

At Grandma and Grandpa's, we were able to meet Max's cat, Carlos.  There was instant love and Henry hesitantly said he may be a cat person.  He loved Carlos.  

Josiah and Caroline did as well.  

We had fun exchanging gifts.  

Despite the long drive, Caroline made cookies with Aunt Claire that first evening.  They had stamina!

The following day, we went to Gypsy Hill Park to see their Christmas displays.  Josiah wanted a photo with each one.  He got most of them.  

Henry acquiesced to our request to take a picture of him under his Merry Christmas Henry sign.  In smaller letters it said, Funeral Home and Cremation Center.  

All the kids enjoyed climbing the hills and Caroline found herself a walking log.  When it was time to leave, she brought it right in the car and it is currently on our porch in South Carolina.  

We were so happy to see cousins again.  We missed them this summer.  Caroline read to Arthur and she played with Eleanor.  

Henry and Josiah helped Arthur make his Lego kit from Grandma and Grandpa.  

It was tough to leave fun times and family.

New Year's Eve, we drove down to Hampton to see Nana and Grandad.  This was a much easier drive, with neither rain nor traffic.  Despite the strong wind, we tried to play badminton several times.  The boys and I played a little baseball, too.  

One evening we played Bingo with prizes.  When Josiah won, he and Abe played the rest of the rounds together.  And when Caroline won, George stuck around, too.

These were each short trips - only about a day and a half at each house.  So, it was tough to leave family again and trek back to SC.  

One reason for the short visits was because we had to get home by Friday.  We had our new patio furniture set to arrive.  This was our fourth delivery appointment so we were a little apprehensive that it would actually show.  Fourth time's a charm, however, and it looks great.  Now we need temperatures over 30° to really enjoy it!

At home, I put together Caroline's favorite Christmas gift - a bread box.  She always made comments that our kitchen countertops would be so much cleaner if only we had a spot to put the bread.  And a Christmas gift was born.  Her face says it all.  

We have one last day of break tomorrow and then it's the start of the spring semester.