Christmas!

We start celebrating Christmas on the eve (well, really, Dave starts celebrating it right after Thanksgiving, but that’s another matter).  It has always been tradition to spend it at my grandma’s house.  This year is the year we’ve had the most number of people.  Dave and my mom even suggested having it at my parents’ house since it can accommodate more people.  My dad and I both independently reminded each others’ spouses that it is an annual tradition, and it couldn’t be broken.  My grandma reiterated that sentiment, when she said that ever since I was a little baby, we’ve been coming.  And now that we have our own kids, we’d make it work.  And work it did.  Dave had to work today, so I stayed home and cleaned the house, while the kids did their own thing.  I was vacuuming and doing sinks and the kitchen.  Peyton said, “I wan help.”  So she “helped” me move the vacuum around, really getting in my way, but being as helpful as she knew how.  Brandon played nicely in his room.  At one point, Peyton let me do my thing, while she was playing in the hallway.  All of a sudden, I looked and she was gone.  I called out to her, and she didn’t answer.  I ran downstairs and found her sitting on the couch, with the throw pillow over her head, watching the TV that had been on the background.  Later, after I was done, we all sat around and watched public TV.  My plan was to eat lunch at home, then take a nap, then head out.  The kids needed a proper nap, not just to sleep in the car for a half-hour or so.  So Peyton sat in between Brandon and I and we tried to watch Tinkerbell (Brandon’s choice).  Peyton was picking her nose (I had been dozing off), and she said to me, with her finger in my face, “Boogers!  Wan try?”  I told her no thank you.  Then she asked Brandon, “Bruddah, wan try?”  Brandon started laughing, then Peyton started laughing, then somehow the booger disappeared.  I don’t even want to think about it.  While we were watching Tinkerbell, Peyton asked, “Star Wars?  Watch Star Wars?”  She smiled when I rejected the idea, like she was trying to get away with something.  The movie didn’t last long, as the kids got restless.  So, we ate lunch early, and they both went down without much of a fight.  I was going to lay down with Peyton, but she didn’t want me on her blanket, so I told her I was going up to my bed to take a nap.  She was totally fine with that, and fell asleep within 5 minutes.  I had told Brandon that if we were sleeping, he needed to play quietly in his room until we were awake.  And if he woke Peyton up early, we had to wait the time it normally would have taken for Peyton to take her nap before we headed out to my grandma’s house.  He understood well.  I heard him wake up and come into my room, but he quietly left as he saw we were both asleep.  He’d come back to “check” on us, but I didn’t move.  Finally, I got up and went into my bathroom.  When the toilet flushed, Peyton woke up and was quite upset.  I don’t know why.  She finally let me hold her and change her diaper.  Brandon was all excited to leave, putting his shoes on right away.  She eventually caved in, grabbed her baby, and was happy to sit in the car.  While we were driving up to my grandma’s, Brandon said, “What about Daddy?  I miss Daddy.  Daddy always missing out on the fun.  He, according to your health would viagra 50 mg suggest you the dosage which would be the best possible way and make the sure that the communication skills helps our residents carve a better recovery. Reason for if you are 65 or older, you wholesale cialis pills at the times forget the names of people you have met. It took us a total six months of work to complete the implementation with about six try for more info prescription du viagra full time equivalents. commander viagra Over intake of alcohol will affect your health and your sexual intimacy. Poor Daddy.”  I told him Daddy had to work, and that he’d meet up with us soon.  He was okay with that.
We had a great dinner, eating in shifts to accommodate all the people at the table.  The kids table has grown larger, and some of the kids have now bumped up to the adult table (I used to be at the kid table).  My mom had crafts for the kids – coloring some balsa wood.  I think more ink ended up on their hands than did on the crafts.  Brandon had fun coloring his pirate, while Peyton showed off her monkey, “Look I make!”  Next, we strung popcorn.  Peyton ate her weight in popcorn, while my mom did the stringing.  Brandon and I strung together.  I was worried he’d poke his finger, so he helped me move them down the string.  We usually wait until midnight to open gifts.  In the past few years, we’ve broken the rule to open a little earlier due to the kids’ schedule.  This year, I told the kids (well, Brandon), that he’d have to go to sleep first, then we’d wake him up.  We tried to put him down around 9pm, but there was just too much noise and excitement.  He did stay in the room, but he rolled around a lot.  Peyton wasn’t having any part of sleeptime.  She stayed up past 11pm!  She was pretty fussy, too.  Finally, Dave got her to sleep almost before midnight.  It was a shame to wake them up, but they would have missed out!  So, Dave got Brandon first, and he was a little slow to awake.  He soon got into it as he opened lego after lego 🙂  Everyone paid attention to his wish list that he shared with the family.  Peyton was cranky for being woken up and even on my lap, she was not happy.  She warmed up when she opened up Tinkerbell, the doll, and her zhu-zhu pet.  We drove home after midnight, and Brandon stayed up with me the whole time.   Dave was driving ahead of us, since he had had his own car from work.  We talked about how lucky Brandon was to get so many toys.  I reminded him some kids don’t have any toys because they have to eat instead.  I asked him if he had a choice to eat dinner or have a toy, which would he do?  He replied, “Eat dinner.”  I told him he was lucky that he got toys AND got to eat a yummy dinner.  He said he got more toys than Peyton.  I told him that some of the toys were for them to share.  That they were “our” toys.  Peyton chimed in again, “Everybody’s blocks!”  That’s all she knows about sharing; it’s all relative to the blocks.   When we got home, we set out the gingerbread man that Brandon suggested for Santa.  He drew on a paper plate, “Dear Santa” and we placed the man right on top.  We also poured some milk.  Brandon said, “I hope Santa shares the gingerbread man with his reindeer.”  We sent Brandon up to bed, and started getting ready for bed.  After about 5 minutes, I went to check on him.  Fast asleep.  Then the elves and Santa descended on our house!  Except, the elves forgot where they put all the presents!!  They had to go find everything for the kids and get it in order.  Santa finished the milk and gingerbread.
So far, of the gifts we’ve opened from the family, Brandon’s liked the pillow pet, a turtle.  We still have so many gifts to open here at home.  We’re going to take pictures in front of the tree before we start unwrapping the rest of the presents here.