The Best and Worst Traditions of our Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm a big believer in traditions.

* Let's start with the bad: *

If you've read my previous posts, you know that I consider myself to be quite the ....uhhhh... exceptional! .... photographer, and so I bring to you the Worst Christmas Card Photo Ever (you should double-click to enlarge it to get the full, glorious effect):


And if you think my photography skills are amazing, check out the Worst Christmas Video Ever (recorded by yours truly, of course):



Nose picking, dog barking, camera dropped, Mommy yelling AND singing (which was worse??). Let's see, did I leave anything out in putting together this memorable, one-of-a-kind video? And it cut off where it did because, well, we never DID get a verse of song actually sung successfully. Merry Christmas, Grandma & Grandpa.

Here's Noah trying on the cats' Christmas present (a crinkle-tube for you non-cat people). Not much to say here about this treasured moment, although I think I overheard Mark mutter "Not our proudest moment as parents."


And now may I present the Most Expensive Christmas Bomb present. In her short almost-two years of life, Shelby has always been ripped off present-wise because we figured she wouldn't know the difference. Well, this year I wanted to do right by her (and because she's old enough she might start remembering how unfairly treated she was by her parents when it came to gift-giving), and so her loving Mommy bought her the BIGGEST and the most EXPENSIVE Christmas gift this year - her very own special chicken bean bag chair (I know how ridiculous that sounds, but just look at the photo, okay? It's super-cute, am I right or what?!?!).


Well, she hates it and refused to sit in it after I took this first photo. So now it sits in the playroom in the corner, completely unused and neglected. And I'm not going to list how insanely stupidly expensive this present was, because of the sheer humiliation of it all, especially seeing as how I have a university minor in Accounting.

* And now let's move on to the BEST! *

What Christmas would be complete without my "Merry Toes" tradition?!? And this year I'm happy to announce that Shelby and Noah joined me in this festive feat! Bwa ha ha, get it?!?! Ha ha ha! Anyway, I'm still working on getting Mark and Connor to join in on this one, no luck yet.


I LOVE Christmas lights. And as you can see, I'm pretty much the only person on our street that does. Boy, do I love our house at Christmastime! *blissful sigh*


I know it's not one of those wild Christmas houses (but which I also love), because I like to keep our Christmas decorations respectful and elegant and spiritual, if you know what I mean. Hence the nativity family in the door wreath, the candles in windows (to signify lighting the path for the Holy Family) and an angel.

I also love to drive around and look at Christmas lights every chance I get. However, Connor and Noah are getting sick of looking at Christmas lights. So now I have to think of new ways to bribe them. This year I let them sit in the back of our SUV on big pillows with sippy cups full of hot chocolate and a box of Dunkin Donuts munchkin donuts to eat. It works, and as you can see, the sugar overload definitely puts them in a good mood! I should note that I only do this on nights that Mark is home to put them to bed. I'm extra-thoughtful like that, you know.


And bling-baby Shelby's favorite Christmas present was from Grandma Davis, a furry purse full of necklaces and hair bows. And every day since, Shelby has insisted on wearing ALL of the necklaces. All at the same time.


And, to put us in our best light with most of the worst carefully edited out, here is our annual Christmas letter for you download, if you'd like. And yes, I know it's long, but since I haven't gotten around to scrapbooking yet, this is pretty much my only documentation of the year and it's mostly for me! CLICK HERE to download the Christmas letter PDF file.

Now, it's time for one of my FAVORITE Christmas traditions - watching Christmas Vacation (I'm simply not a It's a Wonderful Life-type of person, sorry!) for the 9 millionth time - yippee!!

Happy holidays, and cheers to traditions, good and bad! *clink*

An Absolutely 100% Totally Completely Sweet Parenting Moment

Today I took Shelby and Noah through the car wash. Shelby always cries and I feel bad, but in a Syracuse winter (yes, it FINALLY snowed here. FINALLY! Yay!) where your car gets dirty so fast with the road salt and the sunny days are few and far between, you have to take your car wash opportunities when you can get 'em! Even it means skidding into preschool 10 minutes late because you went to the car wash instead.

Anyway, Shelby cries EVERY time. And I feel terrible about it every time. But I also want a clean car.

Today, when the car wash started up, her eyes were huge and welling with tears. I looked back at her and said, "Shelby, it will be okay." She nodded her little head. A minute later, I looked back at her and said the same thing, "Shelby, it's okay." She still had tears in her eyes, but she wasn't crying yet, and she looked at me and nodded. I did this several more times during the car wash (unfortunately for Shelby, I always get the super-ultra-mega-deluxe looooong wash and dry, nothing but the best for my beloved Beemer), and she held her tears in her eyes, didn't cry once, and just looked at me with huge eyes and kept nodding every time I said she would be okay, though I could tell how scared she was.

Now to be 100% honest, I'm not usually very sappy about my kids - most of the time I'm tossing them around upside-down on beds, putting gags in the toilet for them to find, pinching them on the bum, giving them Melvins with their underwear. I even put a disco ball up in our car. But today, with my brave little Shelby totally counting on me and looking only to me, her Mommy, to keep her little world together and safe ... I was overwhelmed at the realization at how much these little people trust us and need us and it was just a magical parenting moment for me. And as we exited the car wash, *I* was the one crying.


Silly sappy me. Time to go give Noah a Melvin or blow a raspberry on Shelby's fat little belly.

All I Want for Christmas Is.....

...for people to update their blogs!!!!! Is that too much to ask?!?!? I have the most pathetic blogroll - you scroll down it and all you see is "updated 4 months ago," "updated 1 year ago,", "updated 9 millenia ago," etc etc etc. Or else I'm going to have to find myself some new blogging friends!

Bah humbug!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Seasons greetings! For your viewing pleasure (we hope!), please allow us to present our 2009 family Christmas tree:


Connor and Noah picked it out, and did a very nice job selecting a nice, fat soft-bristled tree that smells divine! And then all three kiddos did the decorations pretty much by themselves, allowing me to lounge on my tushie with a hot chocolate, just enjoying the sights of my living room.


And the most astounding sight to see were all three of my little cherubs actually getting along, singing together, and decorating the tree (I think there was only one scuffle about the proper placement of an ornament and only one broken ornament). It surely IS the season of miracles!


I absolutely LOVE this photo of Noah - either he's squealing in glee about Christmas presents or he's shrieking about Connor grabbing him in an awkward spot. And Shelby is just rolling her eyes at them - as we keep telling her, "Shelby, for better or for worse, they're your brothers forever."

And finally, here's our Christmas Advent calendar - you know, where you open a new picture each day of December, but with a twist - chocolate on each day! My mom made this for my brother and I and it was always our most favorite holiday decoration and tradition, and it's SOOOOO much fun to be using the same one, now for my kids! They love it as much as I do/did. Well, almost. I remember that one year I took most of the candies off and ate them all at once, and then sneakily replaced them later - now that is true advent calendar devotion, my friends. When my kids start doing stuff like that, well....I'll be so proud of their ingeniousness!

Happy holidays!