Christmas

It's over.

Well, kind of.

We still have to meet up with Lance's mom and exchange gifts with her.
And I still need to take down the glitter and move my house back into a normal living arrangement.

But the boxes have been broken down, and the toys have been squeezed into the playroom and we can finally *sit* and play.

Christmas....
It is such a funny thing to me...

Every year, I am cursing the madness around the 23rd-- vowing to "change things next year"--  wondering why we have NINETEEN people to buy for (not counting each other or our kids) when there are billions of kids who get nothing-- running around with all of the other procrastinators-- waiting in forever lines-- whining kids-- missed naps-- bitching relatives-- people assuming their time is the most important time--  last minute change of plans-- tears-- arguments--  realizing I haven't bought matching Christmas PJs yet--  wrapping-- working-- schedules conflicting-- my most special present to my mom, not working out-- exhaustion-- too much money spent-- not enough time-- not enough days-- stress. stress. stress.

and then its here.

Christmas.
My sweet husband drives to 6 different stores to buy the pajamas.  I can breathe.

We develop a schedule and realize that "we can only do what we can do"...

We end up making it to almost every place-- despite Lance and I both working Christmas Eve morning.

My mom has my kids bathed and dressed and met me after work to keep things rolling smoothly.

We enjoy great visiting with family, some we don't get to see that often.

Good food.

Good conversation.

Laughter.

Love.

Joy.

Christmas.

And by the evening of December 25th-- all the stress was completely worth it, and that list of crap from above seems totally-totally petty.

Here is a quick view of our Christmas adventures thus far:
(and a condensed version of pictures)

First stop:
Granny Earlene's in Boyd, Friday evening.
[Lance's dad's side of the family]

I stayed the night with my mom Friday evening since I had to work Saturday morning.  My Aunt Monica is down from South Carolina, and I got to visit with her also.
 
Work Saturday morning was fabulous and then we met for lunch at my Mamaw's.
[my mom's grandmother]

By 4:00 we were in Lake Worth at my Nana's.
[my Dad's mom]
As you can see, the boys had to change into their matching outfits... and I had to stuff my face with some delicious food.

A quick run into Target after Nana's (after realizing I never bought stuff to make breakfast) and we were home by 7:30.
The only bonus to missing naps during the holiday madness is that Maddox was OUT when we made it home.  Like, I changed him into his pajamas and made him tee tee, and he never woke up through any of it!

Lance and I set up for the arrival of Santa...
but not without help from a tiny elf named Beckham, who refused to go to sleep!

Maddox came and woke me up around 2:30 and he and I looked through his loot.
Lance swears that I didn't wake him up but the truth is that Lance had a complete conversation with him about his pirate ship but didn't remember a thing.

Around 8:00, we went in as a family to see what Santa had left.
Maddox was mostly excited about his pirate ship (a last minute score at Tuesday Morning for $10 after searching forever and coming up empty handed.  The down side: this particular ship had 4,000 pieces.  Pop helped Maddox assemble the ship and then somehow we lost about 3,000 pieces into the trash?!) and his Ricky Thiebolt figurine that Daddy scored at Big Lots.  (Basically Santa could have been done on $15!)

My parents arrived shortly after the excitement had died down and mom and I (okay, mostly mom) made bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy and Lightening McQueen shaped pancakes for breakfast.
And then they headed back home.

Something new this year, Lance and I had no where to go until dinner time at my mom's.
We were able to clean up-- play with the new toys and take a family nap before heading out.
It was so nice.

I will say, as Lance and I looked through Facebook and saw the ridiculous amount of stuff that some kids got for Christmas, Lance wondered if we did enough.  That made me crazy!  I don't get sad at all when I see the amount of money people spend... it puzzles me, honestly.
My kids have an entire room designated to toys and playing...  and do you know where they are 99% of the day??  -under my feet.  Helping me cook... coloring pictures together... watching tv together... dancing to our tunes... telling jokes... chatting each other up... on. top. of. me.

I spend about $100 each year per kiddo... (well, B was a little under and M a little over) but I honestly think I could give them just their stocking and they would be happy.
[Beckham would have been happy with trash-- and that's a fact.]

I am not saying that I am a better mom than any of these people who shower their kids in gifts-- and honestly, it is really none of my business-- but this is my blog to shed my opinion and I just don't understand it, that's all.

To me, this is what it should be about::
[Maddox's rendition of The Christmas Story]

And... I have to believe Maddox when he told me that he got way too many gifts!
Because he did!!!

Christmas night we went out to my mom's.
Mom has always made a huge deal out of Christmas and this year was no different.

The men made chicken and beef fajitas and Mom made all of the rest.
And it was wonderful.

Ellie tossed her new tutu onto a burning candle and caught mom's dining room table of fire!!  (Inches from the tree and all of that wrapping paper!)  Flames shooting up-- type of fire!!

Luckily Randi is much better under pressure than myself, and she quickly put the fire out and kept the damages minimal!!
[I, on the other hand, screamed Mom!!, as I stomped my feet in one place and did *nothing* to help!]

Like always, Christmas at Mom's was another success.

Yesterday, I spent my entire day rearranging the playroom and putting together toys.

Today we have played.

Put together a puzzle.

Painted a few gorgeous water color pieces.

Played Pop the Pig.

Enjoyed the aftermath...

We need naps-- hence the Buzz Lightyear stuck on top of one of my ceiling fan blades right now-- but once Lance gets home I am sneaking off to pay a bill before I go on call, so I am not fretting over it!  [He can!]

Merry Christmas, y'all!