Christmas 2008

I like to think of Christmas 2008 as a near week-long event. Not including Breakfast with Santa, I think our Christmas festivities really started on the Friday before and went all the way through Christmas afternoon.


CHRISTMAS DAY:
All the presents were arranged under the tree with care...it was Allison's first Christmas, and she was so excited that she woke up nearly three hours before Emily! Okay, actually Allison woke up at her normal time, but Emily slept in until almost 10 am! So I tried to occupy Allison until her big sleepy sister woke up and we could proceed with the Christmas festivities.

Luckily Allison got a few books in her stocking and a really fun "makes lots of fun sounds" toy that kept her occupied.

She also made a little bit of a mess...I mean, hey, how do you occupy a 11.9-month old for nearly three hours? I tidied back up before Emily came out.

"Hurry up, Emily!! I've been waiting forever!"

Finally big sis woke up and came out to find her dream scooter (minus the pink paint) under the tree. Lucky girl! Though really she's lucky to have a Dad who feels like little kids should get what they wanted for Christmas...I thought we were done with the Christmas shopping until two days before the big event Emily informed us that she was getting a scooter for Christmas. A wha...?? This was the first we'd heard of it. I tried using the old "what if Santa brings you something else you really like" routine, but she insisted. So magically somehow between coming home from Christmas Eve dinner at Grandpa's (9:30 pm, mind you!) and Christmas morning, a scooter magically appeared under the tree. Oh, right, Santa IS magic!!

Later in the day Kevin's two brothers and our sister-in-law came over for a little gift exchange. That was the end of the Christmas presents...I think in total we had four rounds with different family groups.

CHRISTMAS EVE:

I honestly don't remember what happened during the day (is that bad?), but in the evening we went to Kevin's Dad's house for a little Christmas Eve dinner with the Boam side of the family. It was a nice relaxing time, highlighted for Emily with some great gifts, of course!

TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS:

Tuesday...I went to work at the Zoo in the morning and our department had our annual holiday potluck luncheon. Out of 8 people I think we brought enough food to feed at least 30, and every single dish was sooo good. I ate at least two plates of food plus dessert. I was super stuffed, but it was all delicious and I had to at least try each dish!

Meanwhile, Kevin's Mom and Grandma (Loudenslager) arrived from Sacramento (Hope flew from San Diego to Sac and they drove down together). So the 23rd was the first family Christmas celebration, including lots of gift opening and some delicious homemade pizza, with the George/Loudenslager/Boam group. Below are the three Boam boys with their Grandmother, all sporting beanies from their Mom.

Emily had fun with her great-grandma, too. She likes to wear her pajamas all the time when she is at home, by the way...

Here's the group...sister-in-law Michelle was also here, and I'm taking the picture, of course.

SATURDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS:

Our Ward Christmas party. I am the ward activities committee chair, so the whole thing was pretty much up to me this year. We did an Italian-style dinner for the entire ward, which is significant because in the past it has been adults only, so adding the kids in created a much bigger crowd. Over the course of about a month, I made 12 20-serving lasagne (true Italian style, of course) and four large pans of macaroni and cheese. We served about 250 people with the help of 50 different volunteers bringing bread, salad and appetizers, plus the lasagne and then Italian panettone for dessert. It turned out really well, although I spent the entire time in the kitchen and made it into the dining area maybe twice, just to bring food out. I got a lot of compliments on the lasagne and all the kids were happy that Santa made an appearance, so we'll call it a success!

FRIDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS:

Emily's "holiday program" at preschool. Emily goes to school Monday through Wednesday, so having the program on a Friday put a slight dent in the schedule. I bring this up because that caused us to be a few minutes late, which meant the program had already started when we arrived. :( All the kids were all dressed up in their reindeer or santa costumes, and I tried to rush Emily in to the open chair on the end, which she was not too happy about. She's not too good in front of crowds (especially adults) anyway, so it didn't really go so well. As you can see from the photo, she sat on the edge with a frown on her face the whole time. I was the mom on the side trying to smile really big and mouth the words to the songs to get her to sing, with absolutely no luck. She told me afterwards she was nervous. Poor thing. This is a child that talks so much we can't stand it sometimes, but she really clams up in these types of situations. Oh, well. Merry Christmas, anyway!