Beantown Bugle: christmas

Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013!

It's been a quiet Christmas here in the new house, as quiet as can be expected with two kids under 6 that is! Turns out, "not quite 6" is a fantastic age at Christmas time! Norah both fully believes in Santa and fully understands that he brings good stuff, and I really feel like we got to experience the magic of Christmas in her eyes. Roddie enjoyed the festivities as well, of course, but I don't think he was nearly as excited as Norah was. We went to "midnight" mass at 8:00 last night and it was all he could do to keep his eyes open until the end. Norah was very literally flitting about, she was so excited. It was her who stayed up "late" to hang the stockings and set up the snacks for Santa and the gang.

We had a nice mix of secular and religious Christmas excitement - they were pretty excited to see that the Baby Jesus had arrived in the manger at church when we got there, and - at Norah's suggestion - we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus before we began opening our gifts. Mind you, once that was done, it was hard to slow her down as she tore her way through her gifts! Roddie, as always, was a little more methodical, stopping to play with each gift before moving on to open the next - much to his sister's frustration.

They slept in until their usual wake-up time of about 7 this morning and were content with a family Christmas snuggle in our room for about a half hour before Norah exclaimed, "We almost forgot to open presents!"

Santa hit the nail on the head with Rainbow Looms and a faux "American Girl" doll for Norah. Roddie was pretty pleased with his Imaginext town and keyboard.

Ready to head to Mass

BFF's forever!

My handsome boy

My beautiful girl

My loves, my family

Family shot, Merry Christmas!

Laying out the goods for Santa

... hung by the chimney with care!

Our musician, playing a tune

Yeah, that's right, they are sharing!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Norah News: Finally, a Santa picture!!

All I want for Christmas is some new red tights...

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you may have wondered, over the years, why you've never seen a picture of my kids with Santa Claus. Well, the reason is, they don't exist. I have one of Norah just before her first Christmas, but attempts in subsequent years, despite the excitement in the lead in, resulted in tears.

As a result, I didn't even try the last couple of years. However, this year, Norah was so in the the Elf on the Shelf that I thought she might be into it. So on Friday, her last day of school for the year, and my last day of work for the year, the kids and I headed to the mall, to see Santa, among other things. Both kids were very excited, but when push came to shove, Norah marched right up to the big guy with her requests (American Girl doll and Rainbow Loom) and Roddie hung on to my leg for dear life.

So, I passed on the professional photos, but managed to get this nice one of Norah chatting up Santa.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

12 Days of 2012: Day 12

After Nanny and Papa left, life went on here at the homestead. The kids, Roddie in particular, looked around at some of their less flashy presents. Their imagination has also returned, in full force! They re purposed a number of toys into new and exciting adventures - note, no parents participated in the adventure, it was all them and their imagination!

Snuggly in new robes from Oma

They made their own spaceship, and flew to the moon for lunch

12 Days of 2012: Day 11

The big event on day 11 was... skating! I know, you're shocked. While it wasn't as AWESOME as the first time, it was still pretty darn fun!

Go Norah! Nanny and Papa, who make quite the skating pair, coming up behind her

oh yeah, I got this!

Norah (and Mom) busting a move.

This day, Roddie was having most fun at break time

12 Days of 2012: Day 10

We really didn't take a lot of pictures on Christmas day, choosing instead to enjoy the moments. Someone (Matt? Papa?) did take this one later in the day, after all the chaos had subsided... Yeah, that's Norah, on a walkie talkie, in a construction worker outfit and footie PJ's, while Roddie is srumming his guitar, as he did ALL DAY on the chair.

12 Days of 2012: Day 9 (again)

We actually had a busy day on Christmas eve, and after a good post-skate nap and some seafood chowder, we went to midnight mass... at 8pm. Don't ask, but suffice to say we were all spiffed up for the occasion and it was a good chance to get some pictures.

Nanny and her girl

Nanny and the Boston grands... Roddie is unimpressed!

Happiness is...

All the girls! and no, we did not plan the co-ordinating, blue sparkly outfits!

Friday, December 28, 2012

12 Days of 2012: Day 9

Papa taking Roddie for a spin!

Roddie is really doing it!

Who is happiest here??

Papa giving Roddie a few pointers

Norah and Matt both ready to skate!

They were just a little too excited to be in the penalty box...

My 12 Days of Christmas 2012

This year we were looking forward to a long and quiet Christmas break at home. Things didn't really work out that way, quite the opposite actually, and we're not done yet! Here's a quick view of *my* 12 days of Christmas.

On the first day of Christmas, we had Norah's dance recital She was an angel in this year's event, and she did great! The improvement in her, and all the other girls, since last year was quite impressive. We came home to a pot of homemade turkey soup and cupcakes to celebrate Matt's birthday. And so it begins.
On the second day of Christmas, we were enjoying a dance show put on by the kids in the kitchen, when who should arrive, but my Mom and Dad! Apparently Matt knew they were coming for the past month or more. They came to spend Christmas with us, and stayed thru the 27th.
On the third day of Christmas, we had meatloaf. Since I didn't know my parents were going to arrive, there was basically nothing to eat! But, as I told Matt when he called to check in and discuss what was for dinner.. we had "people" this week! Mom and Dad not only went to the grocery store, but they also cooked us dinner.. score! Speaking of scoring, they also got the kids a set of hockey sticks. Being Canadian, I guess they thought it was unacceptable that my kids were playing "hockey" with toy brooms!
On the fourth day of Christmas, we had ribs. Not only does this mean that Mom and Dad cooked dinner again, but the ribs represent one of many many clues over the past month that Mom and Dad were on the way! Matt came home from the grocery store with about 3x as much ribs as we'd usually cook, frozen into one big chunk... saying "we'll cook them over the holidays"... My Dad pretty much always makes a batch of his ribs for us when he comes down... hint? In hindsight, there were many hints...
On the fifth day of Christmas, I was itching to be done with work for the year, but had a strangely productive day at work. However, that paled in comparison to the Christmas productivity my Mom and I executed that night! I had planned to do a little wrapping here and a little wrapping there over the week, but with the unexpected company, I wasn't really getting to it! Lucky for me, my mom is a champion gift wrapper! I sorted and boxed, while she wrapped (she's not only good, she's fast!) By the time we were done, there was a mountain of gifts and I was truly ready to go!
On the sixth day of Christmas I organized a work team lunch at a local brewpub before we all headed out for the holidays. It had the unintended consequence of making it a half day for all of us. The kids were at home with Nanny and Papa, so I did a little shopping for myself and the big Christmas grocery order before I headed home.
On the seventh day of Christmas, we were very busy. Nanny and Papa joined Roddie and I for his last soccer practice while Matt and Norah got started on the annual cookie project. The cookie project involves a family secret recipe passed down thru Matt's family and a lot of elbow grease. Needless to say the cookie project continued until about 2pm that afternoon, but we got it all done. The cookies have since been shared throughout the neighborhood. The day was topped off when we went to mass that evening and were asked to carry the candles up to the advent wreath. I was a little worried about Roddie, in particular but he treated his job with the seriousness it deserved, and did great.
On the eighth day of Christmas, Nanny and Papa got to see Norah's last skating lesson. She did great and passed her level with flying colors. Matt spent most of the day - 2 meals worth, as he said - finishing up his Christmas shopping. I must admit, he spent a good portion of the day picking up gifts for our last minute guests - and he did an exceptional job. I worked on a couple more sets of cookies - including my spiral swirl cookies, my own tradition!
On the ninth day of Christmas, I started out my day with a cut and a color - and some alone time reading a book while I waited. That afternoon we all went to public skating. My Mom and Dad are avid skaters and I think really enjoyed the opportunity to share this activity with the kids. They defiantly stood out as they glided around the ice in perfect synch with each other. Norah was positively glowing, the entire time. She gained a certain amount of confidence thru her lessons and she really flew when she hit the ice this day! She was able to make her way around the entire rink on her own, enjoyed skating with Nanny and Papa as well as me, and even managed to dance to Gangman Style (very cute!) I put Roddie on single blade skates for the first time. He hopped off the bench and walked over to the opening in the boards, no problem. Skating took a little more work for him, but he kept coming back for more for the entire 90 minute session! By the end, he was able to shuffle from the center of the ice, back over to the bench, holding on to only one hand - a big smile on his face the whole time! Needless to say, we were all pretty happy about this outing, and the day was topped off nicely with 'midnight' mass at 8 pm. The kids were downright angelic - and a good thing as we ended up sitting in the front row!
The tenth day of Christmas, was, well Christmas! As you can imagine, with a 2.5 year old and an almost 5 year old, it was a lot of fun. The day started off a little expectantly though. I woke up around 6:30, and the kids were still asleep. I wanted to get up and start the coffee, but I didn't want to get up before them! Around 7:15 I heard Roddie get up. He walked to the door of their room and said "I pooped!" and we were off! I went in to change him, and of course Norah then woke up. The first words out of her mouth were, "It's Christmas! Today is Jesus's Birthday!" She quickly recalled that this also implied Santa had arrived and they ran out to check out their loot! The biggest hit for Norah was her Barbie house, though she was big into opening all her presents, and pretty much any new toy. Rod got a toy guitar that he literally did not put down until it was time for bed. He would occasionally open another gift and check it out, but always went back to the guitar!
On the eleventh day of Christmas, we were all knackered. The day consisted of more of the same, including a second round of Christmas eve chowder, which had mellowed nicely, and a second round of skating. Norah continued to do great at skating, while Roddie seemed to master the "rag doll" move, and wasn't so into it this time.
On the twelfth day of Christmas Nanny and Papa left to go home. As usual the house seems empty and the kids were a little out of sorts. We'll soon get back into our usual routine and the void will fill with the regular hubbub of life around here.

We still have a few more days of vacation left before we return to work on Wednesday. Matt and I are taking the opportunity on the days daycare is open to get some things done around the house and also to spend a bit of extra time together.