Well, I'm caught up here! It's been an interesting couple of weeks. That's for sure! I'm awfully glad to be home for a good long time! It was really good for us to be with my dad, though.
We left on the 24th to drive to Cedar. Didn't get off as early as I wanted to, but what are you going to do? It couldn't be helped. We got to dad's house around 5:30, which was pretty good considering that we were driving with a newborn. I envisioned having to stop several times to nurse, but Timothy obviously knew how much I wanted to see my dad, so he slept the whole way. Of course, that meant that by the time we got there, I was in a desperate situation to nurse. Only that couldn't happen, since there were aunts and uncles at the house who had never seen him. Oh well.
We got ourselves all moved into our room, and the crib set up for the baby. We all then settled in for dinner. We had 3 different types of soup to choose from, and bread bowls to put them in. So yummy! We ate, talked, laughed and just had a great time. After dinner, the kids put on a "show." They each (all except the baby, 11 in all) had to either sing a song, or play a tune on the piano. After that, they did the Nativity Scene for us. Timothy was a pretty obliging baby Jesus, even if "Joseph" almost dropped him.
After the show, we brought out the candy and desserts and settled in for more visiting. We had a great time remembering Christmases past. At about 9:30, we set all the grandkids in front of the tree and Grandpa gave them each their first present. He had bought hats for each child. Mickey hats for the boys, and Tinkerbell hats for the girls. On the outside of each package was a homemade gc for a 5 day hopper to
Disneyland in June. The kids were so excited! I think that made dad's day! Once that excitement was over, we handed the next presents: new jammies for Christmas eve. The kids all ran to get in to them. We were then treated to a fashion show.
The kids were all tucked into their sleeping bags by 10:00 with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads (or at least on the tv, as they were watching Christmas movies). Meanwhile, I got to work on breakfast for the next day. I put together 3 overnight french toast dishes, and prepped the bacon for the morning. I coated it in a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon, and put them on cookie sheets for baking in the morning.
We posted dad's at the entrances to the living room to watch for any curious children getting out of bed, and my SIL, sister and myself settled in to stuff the stockings. My dad was cleaning in the kitchen, so he never saw my sister and me doing his stocking (he hadn't even gotten it out of the boxes. Just figured that since mom wasn't there to stuff it he wouldn't bother). When all the stockings were sufficiently bulging, we started on the Santa gifts. Alan and I brought out the Wii and put the box front and center. The dad's did their duty with the cookies, milk and carrots (also crackers and cheese that my niece insisted that Santa really wanted, and then we all headed off to bed. I couldn't believe that we were in bed before midnight! It must have been some kind of record.
I got up at 5:30 Christmas morning to feed the baby, and then couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up, got some hot chocolate going, made fresh squeezed orange juice, and got the french toast bakes out to warm before putting them in the oven. I popped the bacon in and got to work making toast. It's our tradition to feed the kids orange juice and toast before they get to see anything, so I wanted it to be all ready. It was nice and quiet for a while, and then dad joined me in the kitchen. He was really having a hard time, since my mom was the Christmas expert. We had a good talk, and a bit of a cry, before others started joining us.
At 7:00 the kids had been fed and were chomping at the bit! We got cameras rolling, and in they came. It was like a feeding frenzy at the zoo! They were all treated really well by Santa. My kids were over the moon about the Wii! Whew! We weren't sure how they would react, since none of them had actually asked for it. After stockings, we stopped for breakfast. Then we dove into the pile of presents. Grandpa played Santa, and all the grandkids gathered at his feet. He loved it. Once all the presents were opened, we suggested he look in his stocking. He was so surprised and touched that we hadn't forgotten him.
The rest of the day was spent in playing with new toys, watching new DVD's, and eating ourselves senseless. We enjoyed a dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes and jello. Later that evening, my sister brought out a box of chocolate covered cherries, and announced that we would be having a "mom moment." They were her favorite candy. All in all it was a wonderful day, followed by several others.
I sang with a friend of theirs. It seems that she knew Howie many years ago when she was an activities director and he was a life guard and i was in sales at a camping time share. Talk about a small world. Now her kids use our Before and After School program and she and I exchange emails a lot. Her parents have DVC and she loves Disney. So now I have someone else to talk Disney to!!!! Who knew???
