All throughout the month of December we've been trying to do fun things to get the kids prepared for Christmas. Seeing Santa at the mall... daily moving our Christmas mouse closer to the 25th.... baking and giving away Christmas goodies to our friends... reading countless Christmas stories, and showing "I want a Hippotamus for Christmas" a zillion times on You Tube name a few ways we prepared this year. One of the memories I will never forget from this Christmas is the fact that we decorated our Christmas tree three times. Yes, three. We decorated our first tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was full, and perfect, with the piney-aroma wafting through our house. The day after we decorated it, Miles bent down to check the water, I heard a crash, a cry for 'help' and came down to see my two boys staring open-mouthed at a tree-covered daddy. After a trip to the store for a heavy duty tree stand, we decorated it for the second time. Then, after a few weeks, we noticed our beautiful tree was looking brown and crunchy, more like a fire hazard than a Christmas tree, and so off to the dump it went. We learned our lesson with our first real tree in this house: heating vents surrounding the tree closed, fresh cut at home, and water the first day with warm sugar water. The replacement was put up 3 1/2 weeks ago and it is still going strong. Thank you, Galloping Grace Youth Ranch for the beautiful tree(s).
So, the week of Christmas was finally here. Presents were bought and wrapped, cookies were baked, house was clean. Daddy came home on Tuesday with a scratchy throat but no other symptoms, so I thought we were home-free. We were so excited for the first Christmas that Miles V could really understand and enjoy. Fast forward to Friday. We were enjoying another snowy day, when little Max woke up with 102 fever. He was not himself all day, and while daddy and I were preparing for our annual Christmas Eve dinner, we all of a sudden had two feverish boys on our hands. Lucky for us, they both were content sitting on the couch, snuggling and eating Popsicles. And reading or watching 'The Grinch.' Friday night, Miles V asked to go to bed. Yes, he asked. This from my daily nap fighter, so I knew he wasn't feeling good. He had developed the 'seal-like' croupy cough that any mom knows well, and so the kids were in bed by 7 that night. Although I HATE sick kids, we were blessed with an extra hour to prepare food and the house for our dinner the following night. Then again... maybe not. Lets just say that the cough made other things happen (ie stomach contents emptied down the bunk, onto the lower bunk, and into the trundle bed). Well, Saturday I woke up with a fever and overall crappy feeling, and we weren't able to enjoy our time at church as a family since the kids were sick.
However, we pulled through, and although the kids weren't feeling well (as is evidenced by their eyes in all of the following pictures), it turned out to be a great Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. Now, I'm sitting here typing and everyone is healed.. all except me. I'm still battling this virus, and desperately trying to get over it. But please enjoy some pictures from Shiver Christmas 2011!!!
Our annual Christmas Eve meal included 12 guests and 4 kids, a 12lb DELICIOUS prime rib, pan cooked green beans, twice baked potatoes, strawberry spinach salad and homemade bread pudding with praline sauce. It was PERFECTION!!!
Here is a picture of our meat before we cooked it... My husband did AMAZING on this and it tasted so good!!!
Sick baby with Papa :(
Yummmmm!!!
Our attempt at a family picture. The boys are decked out in their annual Christmas Eve new PJs!!
Santa had come, bedtime for us all!!
Here are a few pics from the morning.
Happy New Year!
