Christmas!

Christmas has come and gone once again, leaving lots of happy kiddies and some tired parents in its wake (not to mention the mess in the living room). It appears that everyone was very good this year, since Santa filled the stockings and left lots of presents under the tree.

It's always fun to uphold old traditions and start up new ones. Max and Molly were lucky enough to have their aunt spend Christmas Eve with them. Much baking was done earlier (and later) in the day -- after making one tart, one pie, and one cake, the supply of butter and sugar in the house was sorely depleted. As we do every year, we made my grandpa's Christmas Eve clam chowder for dinner (although Max snubbed the chowder in favor of the rolls). Max (and now Molly) gets a new "Christmas" book every year to read on Christmas Eve. This year they got The Snowman -- of course, last year's book had to be the classic 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. When bedtime rolled around, both babies were having a major fit of the crabbies. So, we set out the Santa cookie plate (and then forgot to put anything on it) and then attempted to wrestle Max and Molly into their matching red-and-white-striped pjs (there was howling all around). I settled them both down in the reading chair, although sections of both books were drowned out by one or the other of them crying. So, although Dad managed to snap a few shots, my vision of a sweet Christmas Even photo op pretty much crashed and burned. I decided I'd try to get pictures of them in their pjs first thing in the morning.

Unfortunately, the pj shot was doubly foiled -- when I went in to get Max out of his crib, I discovered that he had totally peed through his diaper, soaking his onesie, his pjs, and the sheets. I momentarily entertained thoughts of leaving him in his soggy clothes, until I went to get Molly out of her bassinet and discovered that she was a pee baby as well! So the cute striped pjs were stripped off and thrown in the hamper and everybody got dressed. Max had his breakfast and played a while before he discovered the stockings. He was interested in them, but didn't try to pull them down (which surprised me).

Molly, after having her breakfast and letting Mom dress her up in a silly outfit, did the sensible thing and went back to sleep (but not before attempt to escape said outfit with a half dozen rounds of spit up and an audible diaper load). So, Molly slept through the first half of the present opening, but she didn't seem to mind that we started without her.

Everyone got lots of fun stuff. Max was delighted to find a clementine in the toe of his stocking (we always got clementines in our stockings when I was little, so I'm carrying on the tradition). Unfortunately (but understandably), he thought it was a fun new ball and proceeded to throw it around the house. Needless to say, that is now one very juicy clementine! It took a little coaxing, but Max enjoyed opening his presents (and some of Molly's) this year. Max got the Little People Garage and an Aquadoodle, along with a nice pile of new books. The Aquadoodle is very neat and I'm so glad I was able to find one of the original mats (the newer ones all play music and make noise). Now Max can draw with no mess, no cleanup, and no "uh ohs." The latter benefit is particularly important, since after I set out the mat and gave Max the water pen, the first thing he did after scribbling on the mat for a couple of minutes was to try to color on his face. Then he stuck the pen in his mouth, colored on his sister's face, and colored on the couch. Hooray for Aquadoodles!

Since Molly and I had many discussions about the dolly she wanted for Christmas, Molly was so happy to find not one, but THREE dollies under the tree. She must have been a very good girl this year. She loves to hold on to the dollies, although Max likes to take them away from her and throw them on the floor. Max is pretty sure that all of Molly's new toys are really his toys and plays with them accordingly (Molly says that she doesn't mind ... much). Grandma and Grandpa got us a portable DVD player, so hopefully my next solo baby car trip will go much more smoothly than the first one (I had to rethink my previous anti-car DVD stance after being stuck in the car with an unhappy toddler for three hours).

After all the present opening was finished and Christmas brunch was eaten, big brother and sister went to help Grandma and Grandpa get ready for dinner and the babies gave Mom and Dad the best Christmas gift of all -- a nice long nap! After we all got up and the final dessert and present preparations was finished, it was off to dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Max and Molly were dressed in matching outfits, but my "I'll get a shot of them together later, since we're running late" plan never happened (but they are both getting their portraits taken in the same outfits later this week, so I suppose that will have to do). We had a wonderful dinner and the kids all got to open MORE presents. Everyone had a good time and ended up going to bed late. On the drive home, Max was asked if he had a fun Christmas -- he smiled and said, "More!" I'll take that as a yes.

Of course, even though they went to bed late, the babies woke up at their regular (early) time. Mom groggily made her way downstairs to get Max his breakfast, only to discover that the refrigerator was on the fritz and everything in the freezer was starting to thaw. No rest for the wicked! Thankfully we were able to get a repairman to come out right away and $250 later we have a working fridge again (grumble). To add to my morning woes, when I was copying the Christmas picture files over to the computer, I discovered that I had forgotten to change my ISO setting back after I cranked it up the previous night to take photos of the tree. So, all of my Christmas photos are grainy -- bah! Then, to finish off the morning, we had to laugh when the big kids got up, made their way through the piles of yet-untouched presents, and came in to ask us if they could play a video game that they've had for over a year. Next year we're just getting all the kids large cardboard boxes and bubble wrap (since we KNOW those always get used!). ;)