December...was a long time ago

Is waiting until April to post about Christmas like the blog equivalent of leaving your Christmas tree up until April? I hope so, because I love to be tacky like that.

December can be classified in two parts: The First Half, spend in Henderson, and The Second Half, spent visiting family in Utah and Idaho.

The First Half:

This was our first Christmastime where crafts were heavily involved, thanks mainly to Charlie's preschool. Thankfully, by being very sneaky, I managed to not keep every secular "holiday" craft he brought home, in spite of the boy's wishes. It was very easy to distract him with more Santa talk while I hastily hid crafts under crumpled napkins in the trash can. In truth I was a little disappointed in how much good behavior I was able to milk from threats about Santa not bringing toys to kids who disobey/whine about sandwiches/throw tantrums over socks not fitting right. (Does anyone else's children have MAJOR issues with how socks are fitting? Wars have been fought with less strife than we have had at our house because of shoes and socks.)

One of our most memorable Christmas activities was joining friends for a reenactment of the Nativity, complete with Jedi Knight Shepherds and a baby dressed as... a non-participant, I guess.

I think Christmas comes every year to remind us what parenting is all about: huge amounts of preparation for a few moments of fulfillment. It took about 40 minutes to chase down all of these kids and wrangle them into costumes, for a performance that took one minute and 30 seconds. It was absolutely worth it, if only to hear the narrator ad lib the arrival of the wise men: "Lo and Behold, unto the manger came three wise men, the wisest men in all the land, saying unto the babe 'Hallelujah, pretty baby!'" Props, Neil.

I just had to include this picture because it reminds me of the funny feeling every mother must have when her daughter first realizes what it feels like to accessorize.


If you live in the greater Las Vegas area, there are a few ways to make the most of living in a place with a less-than-virtuous economic base (I speak of the gaming industry, not the area of bankruptcy law, in this case) and one of those is to take advantage of the festive Christmas decorations displayed at many of the larger casinos. Having heard about something relating to "magical" and "Christmas" and "experience" at one casino, Lori and I decided to take the kids and check it out.

So if you consider animatronic mountain lions to be "magical"-- and I do think Charlie did--then you certainly would not be disappointed by the Sam's Town Christmas experience.

Climbing rocks isn't strictly a Christmas activity, but it's certainly fun for a 4-year-old. Antonia found her encounter with Grizzly Adams to be quite an "experience," so that's something. (Watch it here. Watch carefully or you'll miss Grizzly!)

What is cuter than a baby in a puffy vest? Nothing. Well, maybe monkeys in diapers. Yes, monkeys in diapers are cuter. But not much!

Moving right along...this is Charlie and TJ at the Burger King playground. If you think that TJ is looking disproportionately larger because the camera angle or weird lighting, you're wrong. He's actually that much larger than Charlie, and nought but a month older. Charlie thought he would make himself look bigger by wearing horizontal stripes, but that backfired, because then TJ wore horizontal stripes, too.

More fun Christmas activities in Vegas: meeting Mrs. Clase and decorating sugar cookies on what has to be the coldest night in Vegas history.

Hmmm, why is Antonia coatless on this unaccountably cold night when everyone else is sufficiently bundled? I'm not going to answer that question; I will only say that you should ask Will the next time you see him.

Dorothea was so cold she wouldn't let anyone see how red her little nose had gotten.

The Second Half

As per the Familial Rotational Holiday Strategy for Celebrational Visitation, this year we spent Christmas with my family in Idaho, but also had the opportunity to stop in Utah on our way north and visit Will's side of the family. His family from out of town was visiting his sister in Orem, eagerly anticipating the arrival of her bundle joy, Charlie and Antonia's first cousin on Will's side of the family. Our timing was perfect and we got there just in time to try and make Jaclyn feel guilty for not hanging out with us because she was in labor. And the little guy was considerate enough to get himself born in time for us to meet him before we had to leave. Thanks, Hunter, you're the best!

In Idaho we pretty much turned the kids loose with their cousins and occasionally threw food at them. Then we loafed about on the couch and talked a lot about Michael Pollan. Isn't that was

Daddy-Daughter Date on the couch

This little table at my parents house saw a lot of action, and Antonia was more than thrilled to join the boys; a harbinger of things to come, maybe?

Charlie did not disappoint with his excitement on Christmas morning, he was so excited about everything, he had just as much enthusiasm for what Santa brought Antonia as he did for his own presents. Maybe he was trying to make sure she didn't notice that Santa only brought her one thing, a little pink stroller. I know I would have been more excited than anybody if I had known how that stroller would turn out to be the best $7 I ever spent.

"No, I love Christmas jammies."

Pretty much the highlight of the Christmas season, and possibly of my life, was the night we had "Movie Night with Grandpa" and I was introduced to pretty much the most exquisite example of filmmaking I've ever had the joy to come across: "Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws." First of all, it has a colon AND a pun on Santa Clause in the title, so you know it's clever and well-written. And I love Christmas, so of course I would love a movie wherein children pray to Santa Clause for help. Ok, I'll stop the sarcasm now. Rest assured, that movie took ridiculous to a new level. Even 2-year-old Eli was having difficulty suspending his disbelief. (For the record, Grandpa was an unwitting purveyor of the ridiculousness.) Why do I feel the need to rant about terrible movies? I don't know, I just do.

All month Charlie was asking me when we could make a snowman, but even knowing we would be in Idaho was no guarantee that we would see enough snow for a snowman. So I was very glad that we did get a little snow while we were there and Charlie was able to make this fabulous snowman, which Charlie dubbed "Will." It was very confusing later when anyone mentioned Will, because I just never knew whether they were talking about my husband or the frozen guy in the yard.

That is all I can remember about December, but it was enjoyable at that. I hope you enjoyed your holidays, what you can remember of them!