Christmas!

Pajamas lovingly made by Grandma Tregaskis!



Christmas this year was pretty near perfect at the Findlay home. My parents did the Santa put-together as a surprise so we went to bed at 11 pm and slept until 7. Not too shabby. In the morning, once we were ready, the plan was to let each child loose one at a time so I could get a picture of his/her face as he encountered the glory of Christmas morning. Each child came running in with a fake, frozen smile, stopped dead in front of the camera and stayed there, waiting for the flash, with out looking from left to right at the presents around them. Huh.

Ben waited for his allotted "flash" and then casually looked around before doing the double take of all double takes. He saw his bike and I think it took a few moments before he realized that THIS thing was HIS! For a second, he just stared at it before bounding over. "I GOT A BIKE!" Yes. Not only a bike, but the 'COOLEST BIKE IN THE WHOLE WORLD'!

Lizzy came running and stopped about halfway into the room. She posed as only Liz can pose before going for her stocking. Mean mom that I am, I wouldn't let them have any candy before breakfast. (I let them once, and 3 kids threw up.) We couldn't have that mar Christmas morning. After checking that her stocking was safely stowed, she turned as Jane came in, 'froze' for her picture, and then they both began testing all the doors, knobs, and buttons on their play kitchen. Jane's first action after that was to look for the presents she bought for others. The girls spent the entire morning making a wedding lunch in their room and getting all dressed up for it. I was invited to tea and the dancing to follow.

Liam was the only one who came straight in, (of course I didn't get a picture of him because by that point, I had given up) found his GeoTrax airplane, and began exclaiming over it while trying to tear it open. He tossed the name card aside without reading it; he KNEW this was meant for him. He only asked for one thing for Christmas, and while it didn't match his description exactly, it was what he wanted. (A airplane with one turning thing that's orange and has a remote control.)

Natalie came chirruping in and spent the morning wandering from kid to kid, kissing, hugging, and stealing their presents, interspersed with sitting on my lap and opening her presents. She loves to see the kids happy and was in her element that morning.

We only had a partial meltdown later that afternoon (I think because of the regular wake up time-but really, who could expect kids to sit down on Christmas day and do something ordinary like eat lunch when there were so many toys and puzzles to use?!) and that was followed by quiet time at Grandma's that lasted for almost 2 hours. Mommy got to read and rest and Daddy got to try out new Nintendo games with Ben. We were totally spoiled by our parents and friends around us who helped us out during this period of unemployment and made Christmas magical for our kids. WE LOVE AND THANK YOU! We hope everyone's Christmas was wonderful and that a great new year will follow for all of us.

Headline: Karate Baby Kills Mother in All Night Wrestling Match

Natalie has grabby hands. You know that part on "The Incredibles" where Helen is all stretched out and stuck in the doors? You see her hand reaching around for the bad guy and then she punches him and knocks him out? I experienced that at the hands of my innocent little girl last night. Several times. I'm glad I don't have a black eye today. She also likes to feel around for my jugular, and then HIYAH! Karate chop to the throat. Why? She's half asleep, WHY- I ASK YOU must she flail her arms and dimpled little fists about my face and throat. This went on last night for FOUR HOURS! I kid you not. Now, let's add to the equation: I must have been more tired than I thought because instead of taking my antacid, I accidentally took one of Ben's sleeping pills. Soooo, in addition to the judo match, we add THE WORST HEARTBURN IN THE HISTORY OF HEARTBURN and super dizzy brain from the sleeping pill. When will that last stubborn molar poke through?

Of course, when we woke up this morning, she climbed up into bed with me, chattering happily, and gave me a big slobbery kiss and a luvey. Ahhhhh.....all is forgiven.

Cutting a Tree

Monday we started a new tradition and took the kids with us to cut down a Christmas tree. It was fun to be together and let the kids rediscover snow. Natalie's reaction to the snow was funny. She started out standing with her feet braced shoulder width apart and her knees slightly bent. A minute later, she was squatting and flicking it with one finger. A minute after that, she was sitting in it and eating it with a huge grin on her face.

We parked the car by the side of the road and let the kids play while we walked the prescribed 100 feet from the road and cut down our tree. We also had fun touring around Ephraim showing the kids the places where we met and had our first kiss. (I later found a paper Lizzy had been coloring. She wrote: Mom Daddy + Lizzy and Jane. Pas (place) cod (called) Ephraim is mommy and daddy cist (kissed))

On the way out, we stopped to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Findlay's grave site. I think the kids will remember the day for a long time. It was fun to go somewhere together!