Christmas 2014

We are home from spending Christmas with Eric's parents in Maine.  We went up on the afternoon of the 23rd, and the kids were SO excited to go to Memere and Pepere's.  We got in around midnight, and when the kids woke up at 7, dumped them on Eric's parents.  We got to sleep in until almost 9, and then waited for Eric's brother and his family to come over.  We are still trying to figure out what Christmas traditions work as our families have expanded over the years- it used to be Eric's parents, Eric, me, Eric's brother, and his wife every Christmas morning, but now that there are a total of 8 grandchildren with varying schedules, that doesn't work.  This year, our Christmas morning was on Christmas Eve morning, and everyone opened their presents and then we had breakfast.  Charlotte was very into it, and loved her gifts.

Opening presents

Quick learner

Her favorite present- an Elsa doll that sings "let it go"

We spent the rest of the day being lazy; the kids took long naps because they didn't sleep well in the car the night before.  I made my trip to Walmart, where I am always in awe at the quantity and variety of items they have there.

Christmas Eve is always spent at Eric's grandparents' house, and Santa visits us there.  Asher had a tantrum because "there is no food for me to eat!" at Eric's grandparents.  Eric's parents were ready to drive back to their house to get him an uncrustable.  I said NO WAY. Not humoring his crazy pickiness- there was plenty of food there for him to eat.

Charlotte with Aunt Annette behind her, Asher, Memere

 Charlotte was very excited when Santa came, because he called her name for a gift first.

Graciously receiving her gift

 But he only brings 1 gift per child, which Charlotte didn't understand.  She spent the rest of his visit standing in front of him, patiently waiting for more presents.

"More presents?"

 Then she got less patient, and started asking for more.  Benjamin was the last one to receive a gift, and he was very patient in waiting.

Benjamin gets a gift, and Charlotte tries to claim it!

 Then it was time for Santa to leave.  Which resulted in Charlotte crying big, fat tears because "no more presents."  Keep in mind, this poor unfortunate girl had just gone through 8 nights of Hanukkah and one birthday.

Tears and hand-wringing over no more presents

We got a picture of Great-Grampa and the great-grandchildren who were present, which was only 7 of the 13.  Charlotte is his only female biological great-grandchild (our nieces are adopted)- she broke the mold!

Benjamin snuggling with Memere. 

Poor Memere got a terrible cold, so she was more tired than she usually is.  Lucky for me, this meant that she let me make my mess in her kitchen and tried not to get too upset about it.  Saturday afternoon she sprang into action and started telling me to put my things away and clean up- she must have been feeling better!

Saturday night we had a birthday celebration for Charlotte and her cousin Chandler, who is 1 year and 1 week younger than she is.  I made her another Hello Kitty cake (I had made one for her birthday the week before) and Chandler got cupcakes.

"Hi Kee-kee!" cake

She blew the candles out herself!

On Sunday we packed up and drove home, through our friend's house in Plympton, MA, which is close to the Cape. They bought a cute little farmhouse a few months ago and we got to poke around- it is over 200 years old, and so full of charm and character.  We had a delicious lunch, and then headed home at nap time.  It took us forever to get home from their house, but got home right around 8.  It's always good to be home after time away, and we were all happy to sleep in our own beds.

Eric got an extra gift from his parents- his mom's cold! So he has been feeling lousy ever since.  Even so, we had a wonderful holiday, with no major crises, lots of fun, and lots of family time.  We are already getting questions about when we will have Christmas again, and Charlotte is STILL asking for more presents.  We are trying to wean off dessert for breakfast, but not having much luck- I think we are still at 3 desserts/day.

I am so delayed in posting everything- it has been crazy over the past month with holidays, travel, Charlotte's birthday, and I organized a bake sale at the kids' school... I'll catch up someday, I hope!