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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

A different Christmas

This surely has been a very different Christmas for me. With me and the kids getting the flu right after Thanksgiving and it hanging on forever, I was not in the mood for being festive at all. The only decorations this year was the tree--we didn't even hang stockings because Brian couldn't find them in the attic! The kids got their stocking stuffers in a Christmas gift bag...lol. I told Brian pretty early that I was being "grinch" this year and he did ALL of the shopping. He did a great job and saved Christmas for the kids. It was fun for me to just sit back and see what everyone got without really knowing.

Saturday we went to Brian's parents and celebrated with his parents and brothers families who still live in the area....I gained two pounds. ;) We invited Brian's single brother and Brian's parents over here for Christmas morning. His brother and dad came, but his mom was not feeling well enough to come. She has a hard time getting herself together in the morning with all her "old age" ailments. We have trained our kids well that we eat breakfast first and then open presents. Well, they get to dig into the "stockings", which have stuff in it that is not wrapped, but then wait until about 10-10:30 before going under the tree. Then we all take turns opening and the younger two are still at the age that they have more to open so we don't get finished until around noon. My parents drove here from Delaware and arrived just as we were finishing with presents, then they gave the kids some more. By this time Brian had to go lay down....his body finally succumed to this darn flu. We went to my aunt/uncle's (my dad's brother) later for Christmas dinner (I gained another 4 pounds) and gift exchange with my extended family and Brian stayed home. I can't believe he went to work today. Hopefully he'll come home early.


My parents are taking Corinne and my cousin's daughter Sarah back home with them and I may follow later with the three boys. We'll be back Friday and hopefully, if Brian is feeling well, will go to Virginia to visit his brother and family over the weekend.

Some of the highlights--good and bad...

Christmas Eve Jack was helping dad wrap some present and brought mine down to put under the tree. He was so proud of himself in being so helpful, when he bent over to put the first one under the tree and the whole tree fell to the floor! Our REAL tree! What a loud bang. A mess on the floor, but no broken ornaments. Poor Jack was crying and deflated that he was trying to be so helpful. We all laughed and got the tree back up and Jack vaccumed up the mess. ;)

Spencer's favorite present was a "re-gift". He got his Nintendo DS taken away from his several months back and then it was forgotten. So one of the times Brian was asking the kids what they wanted for Christmas Spencer said he wanted his DS back. hahaha. So we wrapped it up and also got him a new game...that was his favorite and most played with gift! Brian thinks we now need to go into his room and find something else to take away from him so we can re-gift it next Christmas...lol.

Jack's one wish from Santa was a telescope, but Brian has been telling him you have to be 7 to get one of those. Jack has been debating him all month that even 6yr olds can get one. Jack was right and very very excited when he saw santa agreed with him.

We were wondering so bad this year where to find coal because if there was a year to hand it out it was this year for Corinne!!! Brian buys food stuff for several of his co-workers and he had those things all together in the refrigerator and in a bag in one of the cupboards. Well, he first noticed that the pickle jar gift had been opened....Corinne!!!! Then a few days later he saw someone had gotten in the bag and taken out two packages of gum from one of those boxes of 24 you get at BJ's. I thought Brian was going to blow a gasket! And the thing is Corinne acted like it was no big deal..it's just gum--I'll give you a couple dollars. It's the fact that she had already been yelled at for breaking into the other present, that she didn't ASK, and that Brian had to make another trip to BJ's for another box of gum (she thought he just needed to replace the 2 she took. :p What is is with girls turning 13?!!!! I told her she was getting the gum for Christmas and that Mr. Randy was getting her present (i-pod shuffle). I really really really wanted to give her coal....lol.

Brian was very good at having Chris convinced that we didn't have the money for the one thing he thought he was getting (i-pod touch). Well, we really didn't until he got his bonus, which we never know how much that will be. Chris was being very good about not expecting much this year. He opened his two CD's, two video's and cologne and was patiently watching the boys open all their gifts. After we thought all the presents were open Brian handed each of us a shirt box and told us they were all the same so we had to open them together. We each got John Deere boxers (Corinne and mine were pink!) with something hid inside. Chris & Corinne got their i-pods and I got printer ink--which I've needed for the last couple months. It was fun and funny to hear the relief in Chris's breath. ;)

The best present I got was from my cousin, Heather. Our grandmother, Dee, passed away 3 years ago and on last November, on the anniversary of her passing, she asked each of us if we could e-mail her pictures of Dee. She put all of the pictures together with music and words to create a video memorium (below was her first version, but since added a lot more pics). It was absolutely beautiful. We watched it all together and she gave us each the DVD.



3 comments:

Bethany W said...

I just watched that video of Dee. That was so nice!! It made me cry. Which cousin made it?

Unknown said...

Heather made it. I know we were all crying together as we watched it. This isn't the final video either. The one we have has a lot more pics in it.

Camilla said...

What a great hubby you have! I'm glad Christmas turned out ok for you all. What a year huh? I'm already dreading how fast 2008 is going to go. :)