Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve

We started out Christmas Eve with a little Christmas concert by the kids.

(Actually, I should say we started out Christmas Eve by putting Cynthia in her crib with a pile of books to read so we could enjoy the Christmas concert in peace. Best idea ever.)

I had bought an easy beginning Christmas piano book, and the older kids had so much fun learning fun Christmas songs.

Here is a little medley of Rachel, Oliver, and Tristan playing parts of their songs, along with a few attempts by Lizza and Henry to join in at the end.  Henry insisted that he was going to play Jingle Bells, but after he sat down and looked at the book, he sat and stared at the keys for awhile in growing disgust that he couldn’t figure out the song (I edited out this part – he sat there for a long time- but left in the part where he complains about not being able to find Jingle Bells, like it is somehow all our fault).

The video is pretty dark, because the kids all thought it would feel more “Christmas-Eve-y” to have all the lights off.

After the concert we turned the lights back on and everyone opened their new pajamas and presents from Grandpa Darcy.

When everyone else had opened their stuff up, I went back and got Cynthia (who was still reading happily in her bed) and let her join in the fun.

Here she is ready to open up her jammies:                       

She was freaking out about the wrapping paper.  She kept making the “yucky” sound that I make to her whenever she touches something gross.

She was a little more brave on her second present, but still wasn’t a big fan of the wrapping paper.  Funny girl.

My 3 girls in their new jammies:                                     

All the kids:

Christmas Morning

The older five waiting on the stairs to come down:

This year instead of having the kids buy a bunch of little things for each other at the dollar store, I had them draw names and then they each spent $5-10 of their own money on just one person.  It was so fun watching each of them take the choosing and buying of the gifts so seriously – they really wanted to get things that their person would love.

Oliver drew Lizza’s name, and he bought her a giant “create a face with stickers” book.  It was perfect for her.

Tristan bought Rachel a jewelry-making kit.  You can see from her face that she was pretty happy about it.

Henry bought Oliver a giant Lego square to build stuff on, and then posed for this nice picture.

Here is a cute story about Tristan:  A few weeks before Christmas, he had his 5th grade performance at school.  They had learned how to play several little songs on recorders.  Tristan really loved learning to play, and decided that all he wanted for Christmas was his very own recorder.  At first I thought he must think they were pretty expensive (like a violin or something), because he knows how much we budget, and he was still saying that was all he wanted.  But then we were having a conversation with Tristan and Oliver about what they might want for Christmas from their Grandpa Darcy.  Tristan said, “Mom, I have a great idea!  Maybe I could ask Grandpa for a recorder, and then since they’re only about six dollars, then maybe he could spend the rest of my Christmas money on Oliver and get Oliver something really nice, like an ipod or something!”  Haha.  He is such a sweet kid (usually).  Imagine his surprise when he opened his present from Lizza on Christmas morning and found his very own recorder and a book full of songs to learn.  Pure joy!   

More opening presents:                                                    

Then Cynthia woke up, and Rachel (who had picked Cindy’s name) was finally able to give her this cute skirt she had picked out at Target.  Cindy loves clothes, pretty things, and skirts, plus circles are her 2nd favorite shape (after stars), so it was a big hit.                                       

Then Cindy gave Henry this great Solar System puzzle, and I probably don’t even need to say how happy he was about that.                                                                      

Here’s Cindy opening up her presents from me and Daniel – some fancy bead necklaces, and some animal magnets.  She was super pleased, and acted like it was the best day of her life, and how could it get any better?

And then she opened her stocking and found her own orange and her own chocolate pudding, and that’s when she knew for sure that Christmas is awesome.                             

The kids spent the next hour enjoying their presents:

And then it was time to get ready for church.                     

But before we left, Henry gave us this quick concert on his new guitar:

After church we had a three-course Christmas fondue feast, with cheese, meat and vegetables, and of course, chocolate.

Merry Christmas, cowboy!                                               

The end.