Christmas Two and Three

Christmas two and three happened on Christmas Day! 

I can't believe how patient my boys were with their Christmas morning. Luke actually climbed in bed with me and fell back asleep for half an hour and Evan played in the den until 7am before coming and asking if we were getting up! Then they even let us make coffee before the opening began! Trust me, I understand how rare this is for kids.

And guess who the winner mom was who had not just one, but TWO dead camera batteries on Christmas morning. Yup, that would be me. Good thing I had the ole trusty iPhone to help me out.

Evan and Luke have very different philosophies on opening presents. Evan wants to unwrap every present as fast as he can. Luke wants to unwrap one, open it, go play with it, take a couple bites of breakfast, explore around the house for a while and then come open a second one. He's much more like me in that manner.

Evan exclaimed after each presents, "WOW!! It's just what I wanted!!"

 
 

And because no one's Christmas can be complete without throwing some rocks in the mud. Ahhhh, boys.

After Luke got a good nap, we went over to Grandmom's. Again, I don't know what was wrong with me. I had a fully charged camera, but was so busy opening presents for Evan and Luke, I didn't get to take as many pictures as I wanted. :(

Mamaws, Uncle Buck, Paul, Grandmom and Papa Charlie were all there. We had too much food, too many presents and we lots of laughs. Christmas with family is the best!!

 

Wisemen and Santa

Christmas is a very special time. We get to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. We get to see family we haven't seen in a long time. We get time off of work and school. It's a grand celebration! But in the center of that, for our family, is Jesus. I have really tried to keep Christ in Christmas this year. Santa is huge and I don't want to take away that magical part of Christmas. Our elf is great (even if I want to stab that thing in the eye at 3:30 in the morning when I remember I haven't move the d@mn thing...) and Evan loves finding him each morning and talking to him throughout the day. We don't put a lot of focus on 'being good' for Santa or the Elf. Don't get me wrong, in times of desperation I will call on that jolly fat man in a red suit. But mainly we keep pushing forward with the philosophy that we want to be good people so we show Christ's love to others. So this year, Santa brought Evan and Luke 3 presents each. Jesus got three presents from the wisemen and without Jesus, we wouldn't celebrate Christmas.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about telling Evan this. I thought he would balk. I thought he might cry, but more than that, I was afraid that I was going to kill Christmas for him. I saw an article going around Facebook, but didn't click on it, about giving children a lot on Christmas. I didn't click on it because I felt guilty. I felt guilty for limiting my kids presents. What is going to happen when Evan goes back to school and all his friends are talking about the 10-20-30 presents they got?

But then I remembered, I am not doing this for everyone else. I am doing this for my family, and EVERY FAMILY IS DIFFERENT. I don't judge what other people do, why am I worried about judgement on my family?? Do you remember specific presents you got throughout the year? I don't. I take that back. I remember getting a Cabbage Patch doll. But all the other gifts over my lifetime....not really. Not that they weren't special or fun! I know I loved opening them Christmas morning. But do you know what I do remember? I remember getting all the Christmas records (yes, large circular vinyl things) out to decorate the tree. I remember my mom making tons of goodies; fudge, chex mix, cookies. I remember traveling to see family in Missouri. I remember the memories we made during Christmas.

So that is what I was to give my kids. I want them to remember baking sugar cut out cookies and decorating them. I want them to remember family coming in town. I want them to remember driving around trying to find the best lights display. I want them to remember Starry Nights. I want them to remember our Christmas Eve party. I want them to remember having fun.

So my goal each Christmas from now on? Make memories. Remember to have fun. Focus on Jesus. 

Christmas Number One

We had FOUR Christmases this year. The boys were in heaven. :)

Christmas number one happened on Christmas Eve. Our Christmas Eve party was a little smaller and a little calmer this year, but just as much fun! We had delicious food, sweet family and lots of laughs.

The first present we opened was from Uncle Fred! He read a post I put on Facebook a couple days prior about Luke asking for cookies for Christmas. He whipped up a batch of Toll House cookies for the boys, which is an Asbell favorite. Since they arrived Christmas Eve we thought all the Asbell boys could enjoy Uncle Fred's gift.

We had all our traditional "in front of the Christmas tree" shots. I wasn't feeling 100% so I sadly didn't get as many pictures as I normally do. We had passed around a fever virus and sinus thing and I was just getting over it all. This really does make me sad, but I know there are lot of pictures of our family out there.

 

 

And, of course there was lots and lots of presents.

The boys got Nonna a lava lamp this year. Nonna has always wanted, but never had a lava lamp. She mentioned this on Thanksgiving, so I jumped on it. As soon as it was opened Evan (as Evan always does) had 100 questions. Nonna plugged the lava lamp in for Evan to see. Over the next 3 hours we watched it bubble and turn and melt and become a lava lamp. Evan, for some reason, kept calling it the lava-nator. 

Santa Claus is coming to town!

We began this Christmas Eve with a tradition we started 3 years ago. On Christmas Eve morning we arrive to see Santa as soon as the doors open, which isn't hard for a family that has children that get up between 6 and 6:30. Every year, we have been the only ones in the room to see Santa at this time. One year, Evan ran from the door straight to Santa's lap screaming, "SAAAAANNNNTTTTA" the entire way. This year, we were a tiny bit lazier that usual and didn't get there until 9:10. Here is what the room looked like. I wrote about this last year. I must have tons of people who read my blog and decided to come at this time too!! *rolling my eyes*

This was only 1/2 of the line!! There were this many people on the other side as well.

So needless to say we had to wait. I was soooo proud of Evan and Luke. Both boys stood for 45 minutes without any fussing, fighting, whining or pouting. I guess they knew Santa was watching.

But I can see why so many people want to see this Santa. He is amazing. He looks the part and spends special time with each kid. I was trying to pick out this year's picture, so I didn't get a lot of time to hear what they said they wanted. I did overhear a couple request and they went rogue!! Evan has been telling us he wants Skylanders for months. MONTHS. That was all he wanted Santa to put under the tree. When we pressed for more, he would mention a Lego Batman video game for the DS (John's not his). When Santa asked him for the ONE thing he wanted he spit out "Lego Batman for the Wii". Whaaa? When Santa asked Luke, Luke told him a Spider-Man. Now this is the kid who would only say he wanted cookies and a puppy for Christmas. Made next year we will visit Santa a little earlier.

Three years of seeing Santa!

2011

2012

2013

Mele Kalikimaka

Photo courtesy of Robin Beaudoin

At St. George's there is a tradition that dates back about 50 years. Each Christmas, students in Kindergarten don their first ever cotta. Since I am public school bred, I had no idea this tradition even existed. My 7 years at St. George's I always saw the great prepartion that went into the cottas; sizing for the cottas, labeling the cottas, storing the cottas, dressing the kids in cottas, etc. It takes teams of volunteers. These cottas are worn every year by various grades for the Christmas program.

Now I am going to admit something. Something I have never said out loud. Something that could even get in trouble with the masses. For 7 years, I disliked the cottas. I didn't get it. At. All. I would mutter under my breath as I saw the racks being rolled down the hallway, "for the love of everything holy...let's move into the 21st century!"

That was until my son put on his first cotta.  ohmygracious. He looked so cute. He acts so big and grown, but in his sweet cotta he looked like a little angel. The precious little gift from heaven that he is. So now, I say cottas for everyone!! Cottas galore! Cottas every year for the rest of time!!

Evan's Christmas program was a blast. One of the many many perks of working where you child attends school is you get 'sneak peeks'. Some people choose not to watch the rehearsals, but I am way to nosy not to. I also want to watch and make sure Evan is doing everything he should. Evan would NOT count this as a perk of me working there.

Weeks before the event I was trying to entice my usually talkative son into telling me about the program. Now mind you, the boy rarely is not talking. Rarely. But it is next to impossible to get any information about school out of him. I don't know if this is a boy thing, or not, but he'll go on and on and on about the function of every Skylander or zombies or other topics I carry no interest in. But school....zippo.

For example -
Me: Evan, how was your day?
E: good
Me: Whaddya do?
E: nothing
Me: Nothing, huh. Did you eat lunch?
E: Yes.
Me: Well that's something.
E: Moooooom, you know I eat lunch.
Me: Well then tell me something I don't know about.
E: ....pause...Did you know that zombies will only eat your brains if you are not looking at them? If you look at them in the eyeballs they can't eat your brain. So if a zombie comes after you, stop and look at them in the eyeballs and they won't eat your brain.
Me: ...*sigh* Okay E. Will do.

So, as usual, I was pulling teeth to get him to tell me anything. This is what I got - he was standing behind a 1st grade girl and he didn't have a special part. He wouldn't tell me any songs, do any dances, nada. So I dropped it knowing I would see it soon enough.

When I get to the dress rehearsal I find out that he is not behind a first grade girl, but actually on the front row AND has a part!! I swear...this boy!

During one of the transitions, I see Evan move from his spot and I immediately get nervous. Why is he moving? Where is he going?? So I lean over to his teacher and hiss, "What in the world is he doing??" Miss Monroe looks at me so confused and said, "He's going to his spot for the dance." After the look of shock and awe on my face she immediately put a hand on my arm and said, "He didn't tell you?"  NO HE DOESN'T TELL ME ANYTHING!!!  So I sneak down to the floor to record him.They sang Mele Kalikimaka and these 6 or 7 students hula danced and did other moves during the song. Watch it once and try not to smile.



The rest of the program was a great success. He had a blast and they all looked so dern cute!

 

As usual, Evan had a huge cheering section. All his favorites were present. 

 

 

 And of course 2 of the best teachers in town!