(Warning: This post is kind of lengthy, but it's for my own journaling purposes!)
We had a Merry Christmas this year!
Things didn't go exactly to plan, but when does that ever happen, really?
Hayden's Chorus Concert that was canceled last week due to snow, happened on the Tuesday before Christmas.
They did great.
Hayden made our Christmas dessert this year.
His French teacher offered 20 extra points if they baked (and had photos to prove it) a Buche de Noel, or Yule Log.
So, we decided to have this instead of pie this year.
It turned out great!
Good job Hayden!
I found these all set out by Madelyn...she wanted to bake too.
So, we had our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve (no photos were taken).
Kind of frustrating how I've been so good at taking photos the whole month of Dec., but then I don't take much at all on Christmas!
In my defense, I WAS sick all week, and cooking dinner and getting ready for the big day was just about ALL I could muster up the energy to do.
Anyway, we ate early and then decided to go to one of three places that night:
The Washington D.C. Temple Festival of Lights, The National Tree & Yule Log, or Miracle on 34th Street in Baltimore.
These were all things we had plans to do during the month of December, but due to sick children (or mommy) for the past 2 weeks we didn't get to do. Well, this was the first night we had NO ONE with a fever, and put it to a vote as to what we should do!
The winner was the National Tree and Yule Log fire in D.C.!
It is right in front (or back really) of the White House, and was such a pretty sight.
They have trees from all 50 states (decorated by school children) all around it.
And a HUGE fire!
This is by far the boys favorite part (the only thing Ronan came to see really).
It's SO hot, you can feel the warmth before you get there. And they have whole tree trunks thrown in there! Very cool (or hot) fire.
Getting them away from the fire for a photo was difficult, and this was all I got.
(The White House is just behind Brian's head)
We then came home (a bit later than planned), hurried to get ready for bed, read the Christmas story from the bible, and get tucked in so Santa could come.
We forgot milk and cookies for Santa!
But nobody seemed to notice but me.
Ashlyn sprinkled reindeer food on the front porch, so they were taken care of.
I told the kids that Brian & I had a project we were working on for Christmas, and so if they heard anything, NOT to come downstairs. We were working hard to get it done, so that Santa could still come.
This was the project:
Desks for the 3 older kids.
The story of the desks has to be written, so we can laugh at ourselves in the years to come.
I bought these desks like 2 months ago, and they were in their boxes hidden under our bed this whole time. Brian did NOT want to bring them downstairs and put them together Christmas Eve.
"Let's just leave them upstairs, slide the box into their rooms with a bow on it and put them together the next day.", he said.
"NO! How fun is that? They need to wake up Christmas morning and SEE the desks! I'm bringing them down!", was my response.
"This is insane, I've already carried them UPSTAIRS, now you want me to bring them DOWNSTAIRS, build them, then carry them UPSTAIRS yet again?!"
"Yep."
Well, we had this discussion for weeks leading up to Christmas, and even pooled friends and co-workers to see which made more sense. The verdict was if the wife wants to put them together, then put them together you shall!
Yay!
So, the kids are in bed, we turn on It's a Wonderful Life, and begin assembling the desks.
They took a little longer than anticipated, and we started later due to the fact that we went to the National Tree that night. At midnight we had 2 of the 3 desks completed, and I agreed to stop then. Hayden & Ronan's desks are identical, so we decided to put a note on it to both of them and explain in the morning that we would build the other desk that day (side note:It's 2 days after Christmas and the 3rd desk still hasn't been built).
After all, we still had a slide to put together too:
(Note the slide in the background-a gift from Santa to Madelyn)
Funny enough, the slide (with only maybe 5 parts) proved to be more difficult to assemble than the desks! While pounding the rod in, Ronan was awoken. I heard him call out, and I sprung upstairs to stop him from coming down. I found him shaking at the top of the stairs, and when he saw me he began to cry! The poor guy had heard the noise, and assumed that there was a robber in the house. He had been laying in his bed for 5 min. scared to death that someone had broken in. I felt SO bad. I explained that we were just still working on our project. "At 1:00 in the morning?!" "Yay, we are finishing up, and will get to bed soon so Santa can come."
So, we got to bed by 1:30am, Ronan (who was still scared) couldn't sleep and came in to sleep on our floor. Between hearing him roll around, and Brian snoring, I couldn't fall asleep until 2:30am. THEN at 4:50am, Hayden woke me up to tell me he couldn't sleep! Ahhhh! Well, now neither could I!
I heard Hayden & Duncan talking and laughing in their bedroom, and never fell back asleep. So, at 5:40am I decided to go ahead and get the show going!
The kids were excited, and loved the desks-yay!
It was a fun Christmas morning.
I love watching them open their gifts.
This was a "Oh my goodness, I SO excited we got those!" hug between Hayden & Ronan.
Love those moments.
Madelyn (and the rest of the kids) got a chef's hat from Nana & Papa, just like the one they had sent Duncan with his chef outfit a few weeks ago. Cute, cute.
Everyone enjoyed their gifts.
Even this:
This was the box Madelyn's slide came in, and I told Santa to leave it here, as someone would love to play in it. This is ALL that Duncan played with ALL Christmas day! (These photos were taken by Duncan, as I had slacked off in the camera department that morning)
The inside:
I think Duncan took the photo below as well.....after the craziness was done.
I surprised Brian with a trip to Jamaica for the two of us in Feb., or so I thought.
It has been SO hard to keep this secret for the past 2 months!
I called and asked Brian's mom to come watch the kids so we could go, which she agreed to do.
She and I kept it quiet this whole time.
I even set up a new email account to have the confirmations sent to so he wouldn't see.
But, when I gave him the gift, he said in a very monotone: "Oh, we're going to Jamaica."
"WHAT?" "Where's the animated, excited response I was looking for?"
"I'm just tired from the desks last night."
"I was REALLY expecting a better 'Brian Mahaffey' response."
Anyone who knows Brian, knows that he is very animated, dramatic, and loud. But I got none of that Christmas morning!
Come to find out....he peeked at the credit card statement!
In the 15 years we have been married, he has NEVER looked at that statement, or any other one! There have been times I have begged him to do the bills with me, his response: "But YOU do it so well."
And he picked THIS month to look at it!
AHHHHHH!
He said he didn't know WHERE we were going, only that we were going somewhere in the Caribbean.
Little stinker.
I'm gonna have to give him grief about this one for a bit.
He has since shown a lot more excitement after checking the place out online.
I'm excited anyway, it's gonna be GREAT!
Thanks Karen, for agreeing to watch the kids!
We spent the morning laying around (Brian & I took turns napping), while the kids happily played. Then we took everyone to the movies. We saw Tangled (for the 2nd time for everyone but Brian), came home and spoke with family far away, and just relaxed.
This was the 1st year we've ever had anything to 'assemble' the night before, and we've both agreed it will be the last. More sleep in on the list for next year!
But, all in all, it WAS a great Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
