What a crazy December we had! It seemed like we were constantly running from event to event. (My dishwasher never stopped running either!) We had a really nice holiday, and I'm sure I won't remember all of the exciting details, but some of my favorite moments with the kids are documented below. You know, for posterity.
Sam had a laundry list of items he wanted for Christmas, but Santa chose to bring MarioKart AND a Star Wars LEGO spaceship. Between that and all of his other loot, he was pretty well satisfied. Stuart showed him how to track Santa's flight on Christmas Eve, so despite my attempts to keep up with our other traditions—Jesus' birthday cake and happy birthday song, Christmas pjs, reading of our favorite Christmas book—Sam was really just concerned with getting on the laptop to see where Santa was. He even made Dad bring the laptop to his bedroom to check one last time before going to sleep.
When he woke up the next morning, he snuck into our room and whispered, "Santa came, mommy, and he brought me just what I wanted!" "How do you know that?" I asked. "I looked! Santa didn't wrap his presents like on TV!" "That's because Santa didn't think that you would peek!" I said. So I guess next year, Santa's wrapping presents. Sam waited a full hour before we let him wake up Kate and head downstairs. He was so excited about the whole thing that he was jumping up and down and cheering, so Kate did too.
Kate had asked for Dora and a baby doll. So, Santa brought her a Dora doll and a baby Cinderella doll that crawls and giggles. She was very pleased. He also brought her a toy doctor's kit, which she now refers to as her 'doctor purse.' It was a big hit. In fact, I couldn't now tell you, two weeks later, where the Dora doll ended up, but she plays with the doctor's kit and calls herself Dr. Kate.
We had lots of time with family and friends over the holidays, including a visit from my brother and his wife. The kids really enjoyed that. We all went to movies, played putt putt inside the mall, and played MarioKart. One night we went to see Bedtime Stories, minus Sam and Stuart, and when the credits came on at the beginning—with the big Disney castle logo and such—Kate started yelling, "It's Cinderella's Castle! I see it. You see it mommy? That's Cinderella's Castle!!!" Fortunately, I think it was more amusing and less annoying for the full theater of people. At least I hope so. Philip thought it was hilarious.
While we were at the movie, Sam went to a birthday party at CocoKey (indoor water park) for one of his classmates. You know how Sam has a way with the ladies, but apparently he was quite a hit and had a great time at the party. Stuart went as our official lifeguard/chaperone. Apparently his idea of chaperoning is a little different than mine, because Sam came home and, after prompting from Stuart, told us that he got kissed by the birthday girl in the HOT TUB. I'm not sure at what age I thought hot tub kissing would start, but I really don't think I anticipated 5.
All in all, it was a pretty great Christmas. I sure am glad to have it over with though!
