Christmas Day

Christmas was over quicker than I thought it would be, considering all the time and preparation it always takes.

 

Christmas Eve was spent with Ryan's side of the family, per tradition. They always have dinner and a gift exchange at his brother's house. It was a nice time as usual -- good food and good company. But I'm secretly always a little antsy to go home and get the kids to bed so Santa can swing by.

 

I have to say, this was the first time I've ever completed all my gift-wrapping by 3pm on Dec. 24. Usually it's not done until about 3am on Dec. 25.  o_o   I felt so accomplished! Unfortunately, I wasn't as punctual about my cookie decorating. I was still scrambling to slap frosting and sprinkles on the last few dozen baked holiday shapes as Christmas afternoon crept up.  

 

Christmas morning didn't turn out exactly as we'd hoped. Poor Cora began feeling ill at the Lytle family festivities and progressively got sicker after she went to bed. She asked if I'd sleep downstairs with her, so I did. I was up with her a few times. Nights when kids are sick always seem to go on forever. I'm just glad she's old enough now to spew in the right places. She only yakked a few times overnight, but the fever stuck with her for a few days. =( I was impressed that she didn't even complain about missing out on the thrill of Christmas.

 

Our kids have never been morning people, even on Christmas. This year they woke up after 8. =)  Oliver even took the time to get dressed before coming downstairs.

 

While the kids waited for us to be ready they looked through their "sockings", as Oliver calls them. Jane brought Cora's to her and helped her investigate. Soon we convened by the tree and opened all the presents in the blink of an eye.

 

Excuse the poor quality of the photos. I'm still using Cora's blur-tastic camera since mine broke. It certainly has taken some joy out of trying to digitally capture treasured moments. I usually give up on the idea of getting any good action shots before too long. I wish I would have at least taken some organized, motionless pictures of each kid with all their loot. Maybe next year.

 



This picture of Cora is so sad. It was all she could do to just sit there and open her presents. She tried to be pleasant about it, but wasn't fooling anyone.

No, wait-- this is the picture that makes me so sad. Not even the light saber snapped her out of her stupor. =/

This is my "I hope I like it..." face. I did!

Looks like I liked this one, too.

Ryan brought the last present down after Cora had returned to the couch. It was a brand spanking new Wii. Yeah, we're a little late, but who cares? The girls both had it on their list. It's been a really good purchase so far. It's fun for the whole family. I'm excited to have access to Netflix on it, too. Now I can watch shows while I blog. Who am I trying to kid? I don't get any writing done when there's a show on. I can't think of two things at once; that's impossible!
Ryan was randomly chosen to work at one of the 24-hour pharmacies from 2-7pm that day. Bummer! At least it wasn't Christmas morning. And it was originally supposed to be 12-7, but he called in to check and they said to wait because it wasn't too busy.
As he was getting ready to leave, I was getting stuff and cookies arranged to take to my parents' house. I didn't want Oliver and Jane (or me) to miss out on going to see my family, and we figured Cora could use some peace and quiet for a few hours (Jane and Ollie were causing a ruckus as usual) so I made sure she had everything she needed for a good nap, got our car loaded up and we left her all alone on Christmas Day. I can almost feel the Mother of the Year Award coming on... But really, she was fine with it. I made sure of it. I called her a few times to see if she needed anything, and we were only gone about 3 hours. Plus it's only a ten minute drive there.

In spite of the sick girl and the working dad, we still managed to have a pretty decent Christmas.

All thanks to me.

;)