I took the girls and my mom to my brother and sister-in-law's house on Sunday the 23rd to have our "little cousins Christmas." My sister-in-law was going through her first holiday season without her mother (who died of heart failure last August), so they were going to be leaving town for most of the Christmas break, to get away from the memories and old traditions.
K and A baked cookies while 3 year old Sarah and 5 year old Andrew gathered around Grammy's laptop to look at an animated advent calendar.
All 4 kids enthusastically participated when the cookies came out of the oven and were ready for decorating -- and of course, EATING.
My nephew Andrew is into Legos now, and was fully engaged in putting together (and taking apart) little Lego vehicles. My brother is re-living his childhood through his children as I do with mine, though for us the toys are now more fun, and the fact that we're both able to provide our own kids with an intact family is a blessing not lost on us. For my brother and me, our childhood Christmases were tinged with despair over our absent father, even though our mother, grandmother, aunt and uncle did everything they could to make the holidays joyous for us.
Here's my brother, 40 years old, and obviously related to me as you can tell by the blissed-out cat in his lap.
Later that day we had a present exchange at our house with friends and neighbors.
This is K's best friend and honorary "Little Sister." They are together as often as possible. Our former foster kitten, Mumu, is happily lounging beside the girls, despite all the flying wrapping paper and excited squealing going on. Mumu has turned out to be a great kitty, and I'm so glad that we decided to keep her. (Last year "keeping Mumu" was at the top of Little K's Christmas wish list, and Santa came through!).
On Christmas Eve day big sister joined us briefly for a present exchange. Above you can see the odd set-up while my husband recovers from his knee replacement surgery (2 weeks earlier). We took the twin bed from A's room and moved it downstairs, and there it is wedged between the couch and the kitchen table. Our number one wish for our next house is to have a main floor bedroom, so as we age and endure future surgical recoveries, there is an accessible bedroom to retreat to. At least in his current position he can't complain of being left out, although there are definitely times he'd like us to go away and be more quiet.
Daddy and his 3 daughters (plus one of 3 cats).
The girls play Ticket to Ride India. We always look forward to big sister coming to visit so we can get in some serious board gaming. This year we taught both girls to play the card game Hand & Foot, a version of Canasta. The older the girls get, the more competitive strategy games we play. I am SO HAPPY to be done with Candy Land and other games of chance.
On Christmas Eve Daddy stayed home to ice his knee and nap, while I took the girls and my mom to Aunt Ruth's farmhouse. That's Ruth on Santa's Lap. "Santa" is Ruth's 19 year old grandson, in the plaid shirt is one of Ruth's 3 sons, and can you believe that Ruth is nearing 80 years old? She still throws a wild party, and despite each years' threat that "This will be the last," the parties seem to get bigger each year. This year the little house was packed with about 30 people.
A big deal is made about giving Santa a kiss, and the drama is especially pronounced now that there are all these teenage girl cousins having to kiss the 19 year old boy cousin dressed as Santa. It's such a different dynamic from when they were wary toddlers and Santa was an eerily familiar uncle. They all know who he is under there, and put on quite the show pretending they don't know it's really him. (Just imagine that annoying song, "Santa Baby," and you'll get the idea of how some of the girls approach "Santa"). The parents in the room egg on the kids with "The better the kiss, the better the presents you'll find under the tree tomorrow!"
This year the most amorous kiss actually came from Santa's younger teenage brother, who really got into the acting, and nearly knocked Santa backwards out of his chair.
K and A weren't quite so forward with their affections, but Santa did receive the mandatory peck on the cheek from them both.
While the grown ups caught up in conversation, the kids returned to play in the attic. My they have grown... they can barely stand up in there anymore.
For the first time ever, we were the first to leave the party, well before 9pm. I had to drop my mother at her house, and then hurry home to my husband, who was left behind, alone in bed with his swollen knee.
K was the first one awake on Christmas morning -- at 9am! She opened her stocking at breakfast.
Christmas Day we did something different this year. Grammy went first to see my neice and nephew (pictured at the begining of this post) before they left town. She had breakfast there and gave them their presents, then she came to our house around noon. A and K had opened their stockings at breakfast, but waited until Grammy to arrive before opening any other presents. Grammy enjoys watching the girls open their gifts, not just from her, but from everyone else as well. It was no problem having the girls wait for Grammy this year. I've always had them "wait for Grammy to arrive" before opening presents, and a few more hours didn't make that much difference, especially since they both enjoy sleeping in now.
The girls got creative with their wrapping as well as their gift making this year. K spent hours making a little needle-felted owl and nest with eggs for A. A purchased gifts for K, but spent a lot of time illustrating the wrappings.
Last summer during our travels abroad my husband had wanted to get a flag from each of the countries we visited. We were traveling so light, and my husband hates to shop, so we never bought any. Back home, I went to the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle and was able to get him a flag for each of the Nordic countries we visited, so that is one of the gifts I gave him for Christmas!
Here are the girls with some of their presents. On their feet are slippers that my cousin knit for them. K got a toy doll sled, some books, including a Shutterfly memory book I made about her school camp, a puzzle, paper dolls, a little sleeping bag for her monkey, a video game she's holding, and a few other little things. A got a card shuffler, 3 sweaters, a swim cover-up, a paper craft book, a puzzle, and a razor kit for shaving! Both girls got Girl Scout tin banks, a few pairs of socks, and ornaments I bought for them at the post office in Iceland. It was the "leanest" Christmas yet, and quite a few of their gifts came from thrift stores (shh, don't tell them!). It was my goal to keep it simple and to spend less than $50.00 for each of them, and I'm sure I succeeded.
One of the things the girls look forward to each Christmas is the quarters and dimes they receive in these little paperboard cards from my childhood. My mom has several of these in different styles, that the banks used to give out during the holidays in the 1960's and 70's to encourage children to save money. After the girls transfer the coins to their coin banks, they give the cards back to my mom, and she takes them home to save and use the next year.
It was a truly laid-back Christmas this year. With my husband not feeling well after his surgery there was no pressure to go anywhere or entertain a house full of people. Lunch was ham sandwiches, and I'm ashamed to admit, dinner was pizza from the freezer! Of course I steamed up fresh vegetables, and sliced up apples, but it certainly wasn't the abundant gourmet spread most people have on Christmas day. Above, the girls play "Mexican Train Dominoes" with Grammy while Daddy relaxes in his bed beside the kitchen table.
As Grammy left around 10:00pm, we stepped outside and opened our Christmas crackers. It was only then that I realized the girls never even got dressed that day! All they had to do was brush their teeth and head to bed. It was a good Christmas.
