I have been meaning to post for awhile. We have had some funny
moments over the last few weeks that I simply do not want to forget.
On December 21st, Nick, Jack, Vivi and I were in the live
nativity at my mom’s church. Nick and
Jack were shepherds, Mom and Vivi were angels, and I was Mary. The kids really enjoyed participating. While we were waiting for our turn, Vivi
found her favorite book in the library, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” by Eric
Carle. For those of you that haven’t
read it 1,000 times or at all, the caterpillar turns into a butterfly at the
end of the book (shocking, I know). When
we put her costume on her, Vivi was convinced she was a butterfly rather than
an angel. There was no telling her otherwise.
She kept saying: “my a butterfly!” It was cold, so we all had winter
gear underneath our costumes. Vivi’s costume was too big which made it very difficult
for her to walk, especially in her snow suit and boots. She really didn’t let that stop her and she
was excited to pet the live sheep that were part of the scene.
Vivi with her wings on correctly:
Mom:
When we were half way through our shift in the live nativity, Santa showed up. He was not a part of the church, he was not invited, he just drove by and decided to stop in. He knelt down in front of the manger and said a prayer. He told Jack that Jesus was the reason he existed. Jack just watched him wide-eyed, in disbelief that Santa appeared out of nowhere. Vivi was happy to see him, but kept her distance. His presence definitely added to the magic of Christmas.
Jack brought me into the empty
sanctuary and insisted I walk down the aisle with him. He said “you may now kiss the bride” and
wanted me to kiss him. It was very
cute. He then pointed out a heart ornament
on the Christmas Tree and told me he loved me.
As difficult as he can be at times, he has a kind heart and a very sweet
side to him.
On Christmas Eve, we tracked
Santa on Norad. I used to do this with
my dad, but we had to do it on the computer back then. Now there is an app for that. Jack loved hearing about all of the different
countries Santa was visiting. We made cookies for Santa. Jack made a Baymax cookie from Big Hero
6. Vivi made a lot of cookies with a
little bit of green frosting and a little bit of green sprinkles. It was very easy to pick her cookies out of
the group. She was very efficient and probably decorated three times as many
cookies as Jack.
We attended the 4pm service at
the church where I grew up. During one
of the quieter portions of the service, Vivi was being pretty loud. I put my finger to my lips showing her it was
time to be quiet. At the top of her
lungs she screamed, “don’t shush me!” It was very difficult not to laugh at her.
My favorite part of the service
is the end where we sing “Silent Night” with “Now the Silence” and the first
verse is in German. The lights are turned off and we sing by candle light. Jack held his candle steady. Vivi, overtired and excited for Christmas,
pretty much screamed through the whole song.
It’s never a silent night with this family!
When we got home from church, we
were trying to pick up the house a little bit because our family was coming
over on Christmas. Vivi and Jack were
both in Bernie’s personal space as he was trying to pull toys out from under
the couch. In frustration, he said: “why
are you guys on top of me?” Vivi very calmly and sweetly replied, “because we
love you, daddy!”
We read the Christmas story and “The
Night Before Christmas,” opened our Christmas Eve gifts of pajamas, left
cookies and milk out for Santa, said goodbye to the elves until next year, and
tucked Jack and Vivi into bed. We then
proceeded to put all the presents under the tree. We can’t put any presents out earlier because
our dog will open them.
The kids slept until almost 8am
on Christmas morning. Vivi was very
excited to see that Santa ate almost all the cookies they had left out for him. When Jack saw what was under the tree he danced around the living room singing, "I'm on the nice list! I'm on the nice list!" It was a close call this year for him. Santa left him some chocolate coal in his stocking to remind him to be good.
Both of our moms came over for an
early Christmas dinner. Brian, Gina and
Alex came over for dessert. Brian made
Death by Chocolate, which was very yummy.
Who knew Brian could cook?
One of Nick’s gifts was “Cards
Against Humanity.” We had fun playing and had to spell a lot of words because
of all the little ears in the room. Vivi loves her cousin Alex, but had trouble
sharing again and wasn’t very nice to her.
As soon as they left, Vivi asked “where my friends go?” Sharing is
something we will need to work on in 2015.
Bernie did almost all of the
shopping and wrapping. Bernie’s mom did
most of the cooking. I really appreciate
all that they both did. So much was done
in advance that we were really able to relax and enjoy Christmas.
On Saturday after Christmas we
went to Debbi’s for our annual cookie decorating get together. Vivi and Christopher were actively
participating and Jack was well, being Jack.
He did have fun playing games with Christopher, and it is always good to
see everyone!
On Sunday we went to Roger
Williams Zoo. For the last six weeks or
so, Vivi has been asking to see the monkeys.
I’m not really sure where this idea originated. It was a warm day and it drizzled on and off,
so we pretty much had the zoo all to ourselves.
The room that housed the monkeys had a lot of free-roaming birds. One of them pooped and it landed on Jack’s
nose. You can imagine how happy that
made him. Vivi loved all the animals,
especially the monkeys and the turtles, and she was convinced she found Nemo,
even though the fish she found were not clown fish. She is already asking to go back to the zoo.
On the way home from the Zoo, we
picked up Colin, Tyler and Kerrigan.
Bernie took them all to the Science Center along with Nick, Jack, and
Vivi on Monday. I met them after work to go ice skating in Bushnell Park. Vivi really wanted to skate, mostly because
she has seen Calliou skate. In fact, she
is convinced that Bernie is going to build her a rink in her backyard because
Calliou’s dad did. We keep trying to tell her that it won’t work since we do not
live in Canada, but she doesn’t really believe us. Neither Bernie or I are
skilled enough to be able to skate and keep her steady without assistance. She was determined, but we just couldn’t make
it work. The rink is free and skate
rental is free which is great, but they didn’t have any assistive equipment like
some of the rinks have. I will take her
to a rink soon and try again. Everyone else enjoyed the adventure.
This is the third year in a row
we have spent New Year’s Eve at Ruth and Todd’s house. We always have a great time. Jack and Vivi didn’t want to leave and they have
asked when we are going to another party. We take a picture of all the kids
every year. This year, Vivi refused to
take part.
We have had a fun couple of weeks,
I think Jack has enjoyed his time off from school. We are truly blessed by an amazing family and
group of friends. We still have one more
Christmas left with my Dad and Arleen in a few weeks when we take Nicholas back
to school. It has been awesome having
him home. Celebrating with Jack and Vivi this year was just incredible. They loved every minute of Christmas
preparations and Christmas itself. Their
enthusiasm made Christmas magical for me. I took them out for a bit earlier
today and Vivi was especially upset to discover that Bernie had taken the
Christmas tree down while we were gone.
She made us promise we would get a big tree next year.
I can hardly believe that 2014 is
over already.
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