Merry Christmas?

It has a question mark because I am not sure I can get away with that title a week after the holiday. 

Life has been....life.

Getting ready for Christmas is hectic.

Christmas is hectic.

Having family from out of town after Christmas makes life hectic.

I'm sure if you and I were having a face to face conversation, we could go round and round about who's life is more hectic.  Everyone's life is hectic during this time of year.
 It's just....life.

So, no apologies from me or excuses why I haven't posted. We'll just pick up where we left off, mkay?

About 2 weeks before Christmas, I was in a great Christmas mood. We were broke, didn't have all our shopping done, the house was trashed and I was behind in just about everything. But, my heart was merry. And bright. I knew it would all work out, it always does.

But, when the 24th came, I suddenly got depressed. I don't know if it was hormones. Or the fact we were still broke, didn't have our shopping done, the house was still trashed and I was still behind in everything. It just all of the sudden bothered me.

But, Christmas morning, I had recovered. Despite the fact Santa was unable to find the Ninja/Yoda/Power Ranger suit Jeven asked Santa for at the last minute.  And if you don't think I looked, think again.

We managed to surprise the kids with a couple of cool gifts.  A hamster for Josie (this is an entire blog post in itself), a video game for Jayce, a light saber (asked for at the last minute) for Jarrett and a remote control helicopter for Jeven, who upon opening it declared "Well, this sucks. I didn't ask for this" which made me laugh and broke my heart at the same time.  He's 4, an age where, really? Getting presents is the best thing ever and hiding his disappointment at not getting the Ninja/Yoda/Power Ranger suit was difficult. But, greed is the last thing we want our children to develop. So, a quick lecture of saying "Thank you" for the thought was needed then we proceeded with our festivities.

These last few weeks have held many actual blog-able things. Here's a long and probably boring quick run down with visual aids.

Jarrett and Josie Santa. 

Yes, that's only half of my children.

Here's the other half:

That would be Jeven, hiding behind "too old to sit on Santa's lap", Jayce

 

 

His 2nd monstrous goose egg of the week. We've considered a helmet. Seriously.

 

 

 

 

 

We managed to surprise the kids with a Wii this year!  Instead of wrapping it up and handing it to them, we made a little scavenger hunt and they ran through the house following the clues.  The last one said something like "...look where dinner is made." Jayce, always looking for a beating laugh said "Great! Now we have to go to McDonalds". 

The Wii. In the oven. 

If I would have been on the ball, this would have been our Christmas card. 

I hope you all had a Merry, Merry Christmas, with no question mark!