CHRISTMAS celebration in the Guard house

I had conned my parents into coming to DBQ on Sunday instead of waiting until Monday/Christmas Eve - since it was the weekend and they weren't working. Told my dad that IF they came on Sunday instead, I would take him Christmas shopping since he had JUST asked me "any ideas what I should buy for mom?" and hinted that I should do his shopping for him. Lowell came a little earlier for me on Sunday and he went with the boys and I to do grocery shopping before my parents arrived. (It was a BIG HELP with the stores being especially busy and keeping the kids cooperative. PLUS, Grandpa Lowell enjoys coming with us to Sam's Club because they often have DELICIOUS samples!) Then, we (all of us except Mike - who was working) enjoyed Papa Murphy's for dinner.

Mom and I made Chocolate covered PB balls... our family tradition for the holidays! Mmmmm!



We also had some leftover chocolate so, we dipped some Nutter Butter cookies AND some fresh raspberries. YUM! The berries were FANTASTIC with the dark chocolate coating!!! It was a nice day.

Took Dad shopping on Christmas Eve - late morning - while mom played PlayDoh with the boys and discovered that SILAS knows how to count! (He had announced "FOUR, FIVE, SIX!" before Sydney got to those numbers. She was dumb-founded!) They also glued cotton balls onto Santa's advent beard. Dad and I returned in time for me to put the boys down for naps and then, mom and I worked in the kitchen (until Mike got home from work)!

Mike and Lowell arrived within minutes of each other on Christmas Eve. I think it was around 5:45 if I had to guess; didn't look at the clock. I had spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen with my mom. I made a Christmas Lima Bean casserole (and had made the strata for breakfast). Mom was making chutney and twice baked potatoes. A month or so ago, Mike and I had made a DELICIOUS chicken dish and declared that we wanted to serve THAT for Christmas dinner. A week or so ago, Mike made steak in a new rub and sauce that HE wanted to serve for Christmas. He had planned on doing the flank steak and sauce when he got off of work. (I went ahead and started making the chicken dish as he was walking in the door and I know that he was mad at me for it. "You just can't leave well-enough alone. What's the matter with my steak for dinner?" I told him that I wanted to have BOTH. Personally, I would rather have too much food, than not enough.) It all worked out and was delicious in the end! 

After Christmas Eve dinner, we separated out all of the gifts into PEOPLE PILES and then, took turns opening. 

As we were moving presents from the dining room to the living room, Morris Stegasaurus started to talk through the wrapping paper. Of course, Sydney heard it and was SO EXCITED, but didn't really know WHICH PRESENT was Morris.

The boys LOVE to help everyone open presents!

Throughout the night, I think I opened ONE, maybe TWO, on my own - because the boys were distracted.

Photo Credit: Lowell Guard

Sydney's preschool had sent home a gift in a manilla envelope that Sydney had decorated. Inside was a booklet... the 3 year old's interpretation of Christmas with the kids all dressed up in costume. Sydney was A COW. Cutest - Cow - EVER! (Other classmates were wisemen, shepherds, etc.) 

Silas took a break from presents to steal Daddy's (cheaters) glasses and to read a book. 

I'm glad it wasn't ALL about presents, but that we were able to enjoy just BEING TOGETHER.

Christmas Eve, Silas got: Tractor book; John Deere tractor/gator, farmer and animal set; a See & Say; a Super Grover doll; Washable Crayola Marker 8-pack; a toy dump truck; some clothes.

Christmas Eve, Sydney got: A Dinosaur Train puzzle; a multi-pack puzzle with consutruction equipment; a 50-pack Crayola washable markers; a utility bucket truck; a Harold & the Purple Crayon book; Morris Stegasaurus; some clothes.

Christmas Eve, The boys shared: 3 pack Dinosaur Train dinosaurs (Tiny & Don Pteranodon and Ned Brachiosaurus) AND a Sid the Science Kid DVD.

The boys were SO EXCITED with the gift from Lowell and Carol. THREE of the talking Dinosaurs! Ned Brachiosaurus had been on Sydney's wish list for A LONG TIME! Then, it was supposed to be TINY and a different kind of dinosaur, but Walmart had shipped TINY and DON... brother/sister dinos. That works out OK, too.... this way, they can EACH play with a pteranadon at the same time since we have Tiny AND Don now. Silas was SO FUNNY... he wanted to play with them, but had to wait until Sydney was distracted with something else and then, Silas ran behind the recliner to play with them out of sight. CUTE!

Silas wanted a turn with the dinosaurs...

so, he swiped a few when Sydney wasn't looking and ran behind the recliner to play with them quickly.

We gave Silas a SUPER GROVER doll. He LOVED IT!!! 

Funny how the boys instinctively KNOW to go to Papa Olson to rescue new toys from their packaging.

We thought it was sweet... Silas was standing on top of Papa's feet while Papa was trying to get Grover out of the box for Silas. 

Immediately, Sydney tried to take Super Grover away from Silas, but Silas fought to keep it for himself. Silas also thought it was funny to bite Super Grover's nose. (He's biting A LOT lately.... most often when he is tired.)

Grandpa Lowell, Nana and Papa all headed home (or to the hotel) for the night; we looked forward to their return in the morning for brunch.

At bedtime, we read our letter from Barney that said we could hug/kiss him goodbye. 

The boys have NEVER been so excited to brush their teeth and get ready for bed before so that they could say GOODBYE to Barney properly.

Advent Book #24 was... the Night before Christmas! (Fitting, eh?) 

An audio book that we'll cherish for years and years to come!

Struggled to get Sydney to sleep on Christmas Eve. I think it was almost ELEVEN before he finally settled down. I felt HORRIBLE that we forgot to re-hang our stockings and to set out milk and cookies before bed so, I made sure to do those before I came to bed so that our house was ready for Santa's arrival. 

Sydney was relieved to see that had been done on Christmas morning. He was disappointed that Santa didn't eat the whole peanut butter ball, but he thought it through and told us his hypothesis... that Santa probably gets FULL if he has some cookies and milk at EVERY boy and girl's house. (Good theory from our 3.5 year old!)

CHRISTMAS DAY

A view from Christmas morning...

Mike got a call from the alarm company that there was motion inside the store. (I was CRUSHED!!! I didn't want Mike to miss Christmas morning with the boys.) Right after he left, I heard Silas call "Mommy!" but I pretended not to hear him. Sydney had crawled in our bed early this morning and fallen asleep. I had HOPED that we could all stay in bed until Mike got back. I snuck out of bed to go to the bathroom and then, heard the front door open; Lowell was here. I snuck partway down the stairs and whispered that Mike had to go to work and that I had HOPED to keep the boys asleep or upstairs until Mike returned; told him that I was going to run some bath water - in case I needed to use THAT as a stall tactic. Thankfully, a few minutes later, I heard Mike come back home. (He said that there are 2 less BIRDS in the world now; he shot them with a BB gun at work. I guess there WERE at least EIGHT of them living inside the store. They can't really "HUNT" with guests in the store. So, bird(s) set off the motion alarm in the back of the store.)

Sydney must have sensed that Mike was home because all of a sudden, he woke up so, we rescued Silas and ventured downstairs. (Mike had turned the trains ON before the boys came down.) 

They were THRILLED to find TWO Dinosaur Train train tracks... one regular train and the other was "the water one" that travels underwater. They didn't seem to notice any of the other gifts from Santa.... OR the stockings.

The boys DID notice that Barney had left us some of his favorite donuts (that he brought us for our North Pole breakfast on Dec 1st) AND 2 candycanes, placed in the shape of a heart. (He must LOVE us!)

Silas wondered where Barney was for much of the morning. Sydney declared "Daddy was right! Barney DID take his fireplace home with him!"

My parents returned to our house. Got a text message from the neighbors saying that they had some extra carmel apple pecan pie and wondered if we were interested in any. Texted them back and Ben dropped off most of a pie. It looked really yummy. Mike didn't wait for breakfast; he tried some and said it was good. A minute later, our other neighbor, Lisa, called to say that she was coming over to drop off homemade cinnamon rolls. Within a few minutes of that, our breakfast strata was done and we dragged Sydney away from the trains to eat. (Silas was already at the table... he was hungry and waiting for breakfast!) We ate mid-morning; even Sydney declared the breakfast as delicious (although, he was commenting specifically on the juicy HAM in it). 

After breakfast, we noticed that the boys were UNDER THE TABLE opening Santa presents. 

Silas came out with Mike's unwrapped present. (OOPS!) 

Sydney got a Dinosaur Train A-to-Z book, Silas got a Sesame Street Search & Find book, Mommy got a Photography for Mothers book and Daddy got a Sudoko tablet.

Eventually, long after we woke and after breakfast was done, we opened our presents from Santa Claus and did the stockings, too. Each of us got Cyclone gear in our stockings... a hat for Mike, shirts for Sydney, Silas and I.  The boys each got a card game, too... GO FISH for Silas and CRAZY 8's for Sydney. Mommy got some Project Life cards.

The boys each got some additional tiny dinosaurs to ride the train(s).

Sydney opened his present from Santa.

Sydney thought it was his civic duty to (help) open the gift that Santa
left for Silas. Thankfully, Papa Olson could hold Sydney on his lap so
that Silas could open HIS OWN gift!

Mommy got a box of Project Life supplies. AWESOME! (No photo.)

Daddy got a grill mat. (The boys opened it on his behalf while he watched.)

Grandpa Lowell and the boys are checking out all of the
new dinosaurs that can ride on our new Dinosaur Train(s).

Silas helps Daddy break another batch of dinosaurs out of the package.
Silas is QUITE INTERESTED in getting the scissors, announcing
"That! That! Scissors! Cut! Cut! Cut! WANT THAT!"

My parents left around noon to head to another Christmas celebration. The boys (Silas, Sydney, Mike and Lowell ALL took naps while I downloaded LOTS of pics off of the camera!)



In the afternoon, I made Clam Chowder (and baked frozen Baked Cod and Garlic Toast). We ate an early dinner and Grandpa Lowell headed home early.

Around 6pm, while Mike was enjoying a hot bath, he talked to his mom for two minutes when she returned our call. She reported that she LOVED her gifts that we sent her.

Later in the evening, Sydney discovered the 2 presents left under the tree for the cats.

"We should open these for them because they don't have hands." he announced, convincingly.

Silas started announcing "Barney. Elf. Went North Pole. With Santa. In sleigh. Fireplace gone. Miss him. Love Barney."

We enjoyed some popcorn and a movie tonight as a family before bed. (Started watching Horton Hears a Who, but switched over to How the Grinch Stole Christmas... Daddy's FAVORITE holiday movie!) Sydney declared that he wanted HIS popcorn spicy and demanded "I want cayenne pepper on it!" (He shares with Daddy... and they enjoy nice cold milk with it!) Silas snuggled with me on the couch; our popcorn was without spices. I enjoyed watching Mike and Sydney snuggle together in the recliner; melts my heart to see him interact with the boys and feeling badly that he works so much, missing out on a lot of the fun that we have in our house.

After battling with Sydney at bedtime, I discovered that Mike turned on MY FAVORITE holiday movie... ELF... and was sitting in the living room, waiting to enjoy it with me. (He had made nachos and chips for himself.)  I thought it was sweet of him to play it for me and I didn't have the heart to tell him that I was tired and would have liked to have gone to bed, too. I hadn't yet seen that movie this past holiday season so, it seemed like a GREAT way to end the day! He eventually just fell asleep, snuggling on the couch with me. It was really appreciated to enjoy some quiet time, sitting together on the couch. (Honestly, I fell asleep snuggling on the couch with him, too, but that, too, was nice.) Eventually, he declared he was going to bed. (My movie was nearly over.) Then, we realized that we still had to take our garbage out. Brrrr!

We had a FANTASTIC holiday! Took LOTS of pictures. Created LOTS of holiday memories. Felt A LOT of love. Enjoyed the holiday season!