Christmas Morning

Emma woke us up bright and early at 6:00 a.m. on Christmas morning. She was ready to open presents but we told her that she'd have to wait until the sun and her brother both woke up.

Little did we imagine, her brother would not wake up for another three hours. Evan has his own unique personality. That kid slept until almost 9:00. Emma was going bananas. And when he did finally open his eyes for the first time, Emma pounced on him and asked if he wanted to open presents. To this he replied, "No!! and buried himself under his covers. Have you ever heard of such a child?

Eventually, he did get up and realize it was Christmas and act accordingly. Here are a few shots from our morning:


Michael insisted on buying Evan's Christmas presents. You can guess what Evan got:



Emma got a Loving Family dollhouse complete with all the furniture (I found it all for cheap on Craig's list-sweet!). She's not so happy here about Superman flying in for a visit.

Who's The Boss?

Tonight I feel particularly triumphant. I finally showed English Toffee who's boss. You see, English Toffee and I go back many Christmases. My mother-in-law makes it every year and it is always delicious. So each Christmas, I think, "Hey, I'm going to try to make English toffee for my friends and neighbors. How hard can it be?" Ha!

As you guessed, each year English Toffee kicks my butt. Anything and everything goes wrong. The butter separates out at the end and it's one big greasy mess. Or it's too soft. Or I burn it. And then I throw it away and feel mad that I spent so much time and all that butter just to dump it in my garbage.

But this year I really showed English Toffee who's the cook and who's the toffee. Michael will claim that he was the determining factor since he held the candy thermometer for me on my first batch. However, I think the secret might have been using an iron skillet (yes, Dad, the one you picked up at the thrift store for me) and adding two tablespoons of water to the recipe. So English Toffee, move over baby. You're not the boss anymore.

We must use the "boss" concept quite often around here. Even the kids have picked it up. I heard Emma telling Evan the other day, "You're not the boss of me."

Next we're always trying to employ new and creative ways to get Evan to eat his dinner. Most of the time Evan's food tells him there is a party in his tummy and please won't he open up so the food can join his friends at the party. Well, that one has been declining in its effectiveness. So lately, the new spin is this: Evan's food trash talks him and then we encourage him to show the food who's boss by chomping it to little bits. He really likes that one.

No Christmas Cards for You!

Sorry long-distance friends, but you may not receive a Christmas card from us this year. I'm just feeling like Mr. Grinch these days whenever I contemplate the whole ordeal of the Christmas card process....taking the family picture, retaking the family picture, racking my brain for something interesting to say that sums up a year of same-ol, same-ol life, printing labels, folding letters, licking envelopes......can I just hit myself over the head with a hammer now please?
No hard feelings or anything. I still love y'all, which is why I feel a slight twinge of guilt over my grinch-iness this year. How about you just think of me as a very lazy winter bear in hibernation. Here's the thought process most evenings: "Hmmm, it's 9:00 p.m. Should I work on our Christmas card/newsletter or go to bed?" Not a tough choice.

But it's not just about laziness. I mean, when you're seven months pregnant who wants to take a picture of themselves anyway?

Still, there is that slight twinge of guilt at the thought of slacking off this year. So I've been trying to come up with ideas. For some reason though, Michael keeps poo-pooing all of my best ones. Here are my top 3:

Idea #1: A photo card with Michael and the kids. That's it. No letter. Love it, love it, love it!

Idea #2 (No picture, text only): I'm older. I'm fatter. Do you really want to see a picture? Merry Christmas! P.S. Still doing the same stuff as last year.

Idea #3 (My personal favorite): A photo card saying "Happy Holidays" with the following picture:

Honestly, what is not to love about this picture? Evan may be looking down but at least he's not pulling a funny face. And look at the rest of us. Eyes wide open, great smiles on our faces. Snazzy church attire. Sheesh. Some people can be soooo picky.