Christmas Bustling?

My oh my what a busy "break"! I think the word "break" was meant to be, like, break in the action. To provide a time of quiet and rest. I think this "break" was meant to be like, break the bank, and break my back, and break neck speed. It's been great fun and we have been able to see all our grandparents! I can't recall a time when we have seen all the grandparents in such a short stretch of time.

The "Break" started with a quick over night at mom's house for Carl's memorial. We spent the time after the service with Dad and Sally. We couldn't stay another night because we needed to be at church the next day, all the kids were in the Christmas Program.

Bob worked on Monday and Tuesday. The kids and I just hung out and did a little shopping. We made the mistake of meeting daddy down by his work for dinner on Tuesday night. The mistake was leaving home at 4:55, in the rain, right before a major holiday when everyone was headed out to do some last minute, late night shopping. AND the place we were going was across the street from a major mall. It's usually a 15 minute trip....it took almost an hour.....Lesson learned....

Mom and Ed arrived on Wednesday. We set up the basement as a guest room since Bob has taken over the former guest room as an office. It worked out nicely. Sophia and I went out for a couple hours to do some last minute shopping our selves. We knew exactly what we were going to get and how it would go. We worked in a lunch at Nordstrom and had a really nice time together.

Christmas Eve we went to church, wrapped presents and set up Santa Gifts. As you know.....Santa is a busy guy. He can't wrap his presents but he does put them together or set them up. (Bob and Ed) Santa built Sophia's Playmobil horse training facility. It took an hour and a half and a couple shots of Tequila but Santa got the job done. Ed made the following mistake on Christmas..... He said to Sophia (when he was sure it was done by Bob) "Darn, I wish I could have put the Vet Center together with you." She said, "We haven't done it yet Grandpa!" Ed laughed, rolled his eyes and got to work. He and Sophia worked diligently for about 45 minutes and then Sophia was bored so Grandpa finished the job. He won't make that mistake again and for his part now.....Lesson Learned.

Christmas day was a flurry. We all got plenty of stuff. The kids got less then last year and that was great. In early December we went through their stuff and got rid of the old to get ready for the new. The things that they got went along with current things. I do not want to start a new collection of what ever. You have Legos, you get more Legos. You have Playmobil, you get more Playmobil. You get the idea. This has worked well for us.

Christmas Night we had dinner at the Wang's with the Klines as well. Sarah's mom and her husband were in town too. You'd have thought Sarah's mom and my mom were old high school buddies. They chatted and laughed their heads off. We all had a wonderful time. The kids played, we laughed and talked and shared the responsibility for the dinner. It worked out very well and was great fun.

Mom and Ed left on Saturday morning because they needed to get to Seattle to celebrate with family up there. We packed and got ready for the Great Wolf Lodge for Coulter's Birthday.

Sunday...Great Wolf Lodge. It was a total cluster last year. Lots of waiting in line. This year we arrived at 12:20 and walked right up to the desk, got checked in and went to our room. Talk about a different experience! It was great! Rex and Tina met us there. We went sliding for hours. The toddler pool was closed, some kid threw up in it, so Kees was pretty bummed and bored. He and I left the pool early and played Magic Quest and had a hot chocolate. He loves his mommy and Kees time.

We had microwave dinner from Trader Joe's and then Dad and Sally came to visit. It was low key and really fun. I had been worried that it would be too crowded and chaotic but really, it was fine. Dad, Sally, Rex and Tina took the kids to play Magic Quest and Bob and I went to the bar for a glass of wine. It was nice. We hadn't just sat down with only the two of us in at least a week. We enjoy each other's company so a week is a long time when we don't get to be together alone. After about an hour we all congregated back in the room. We ate cake and Coulter opened presents. Dad and Sally left and Rex and Tina took the kids back to the arcade. The kids didn't get to bed until 11:30. When they did they passed out in about 30 seconds.

All 8 of us would have slept fine except Kees was coughing, the kind of coughing that has sent him to the hospital twice this year. I got up and had him upright so he would stop coughing. He slept on me most of the night. I didn't sleep much or well. You know, sitting up with a coughing kid on you, it's not really conducive to a good night's sleep.

Monday, more sliding, more Magic Quest, pack and head home. Oma and Opa (Bob's parents) were pulling up in front of our house exactly as we were pulling in the drive way. We had prepared the basement for their arrival before we left town and were really glad because, obviously, NOW we didn't have time to get ready. Hugs all around, lots of chatting, left overs for dinner and an appropriate bed time.

Tuesday was Coulter's actual birthday. Being Coulter he was now expecting his birthday party. I explained that the Great Wolf Lodge was what we did INSTEAD of having a party. He still wanted to know who was coming and when. OH, and it snowed! The kids were all ready to build the "Black Diamond." Last year Bob built them a luge course right out the front door. That was with 2 feet of snow or so, not 2 inches! I ordered a Star Wars Cake for the evening. We had a present for him, the neighbors came over and we ate cake....Good enough. The kids played Wii, they went to bed, the adults played Wii and we went to bed. It was a nice day.

Wednesday the kids had play dates and played all day. We went out for Chinese food for dinner. A little more Wii. Another great day.

And today is New Year's Eve. Our neighbor is having a last minute get together. We will go for a bit but I don't anticipate being there long. Ans and Bert have to leave our house at 6:30 to make their flight. I don't want the kids staying up too late because we HAVE to get them back on a schedule.

Our last couple of days of this "break" will be spent as a family. Hopefully unwinding a bit and just hanging out. I wouldn't have cut any part of it out because it has all worked pretty well and we have enjoyed seeing all of our grandparents and friends. One thing dove tailed into another and timing was everything. It was a lot of planning and work but really worth it.

We have enjoyed all the chaos, busy-ness, fun, family, sliding, etc but it certainly was NOT a "break" for us. I think that you can agree that in this instance, we really should come up with another term for it. This year we had a Holiday Chaos or possibly a Holiday Willy Nilly, maybe a Christmas Crunch or Christmas Bustling? Any of those could work but certainly not a "BREAK."

Have a happy and safe New Year's Celebration. We will see you in twenty ten.