Christmas Craziness part 1

It felt like Christmas came very early this year!  The kids had school on December 23, but Mac did not have to work.  He got a head start on some projects around the house, getting ready for the Big Move and (hopefully) a quick sale of our home. 

On December 24, the twins were involved in swim team activities almost all day long.  They started off with a fun practice, with lots of games and relays, followed by lunch at Cici's Pizza (amazing how much pizza Luke can eat-- truly.  He's a little guy, only weighs around 60 pounds, but he can eat at least 1 whole pizza all by himself PLUS cinnamon buns, etc., etc.).  Mac met us for pizza, having worked all morning on our master bedroom closet project.  Funny that wasn't even a project on My List...

After pizza, we headed over to a soup kitchen ran by a Catholic church in the area.  The church does not accept any state funding, so it's an interesting place.  It's really great, actually!  All the donations come directly from people from the community.  This ministry has been going on for years, and our swim coach has been a part of supporting it for ages.  About 20 kids from the team stuffed donated socks with all sorts of toiletries for the patrons of the soup kitchen.  The idea is that the homeless need to carry all their belongings with them at all times, and to have a sock filled with small trial sized toiletries is an easy thing for them to carry and to enjoy.  The kids also worked on Christmas cards to hand out while they were eating lunch.  It was a good time, and the kids really enjoyed it.  Josie even got into the spirit, and she loved stuffing socks, but she was a Very Tired Girl so we all headed home after stuffing socks.

Back home, Josie took a rest, the kids did their usual Wii-playing, and Mac went back to work on the closet doors.  We bought bifold doors to fit a 48" opening, but our opening was "just shy" and so...  Mac decided to Make It Fit.  He eventually did, after several days, and it is nice to finally have closet doors in our bedroom, but the project took over 3 weeks to complete... 

Also, on Christmas Eve, we made gingerbread cookies.  This was a big thing.  I had to get out the rolling pin and the cookie cutters and get to work.  I have never made gingerbread cookies, and I have never rolled out cookie dough and cut cookies with the kids before either. The kids had fun cutting their cookies out, and decorating them.  It made me remember making cookies with Great Grandma, of course!  The cookies were delicious, and it's a good thing we made them right before Santa came, otherwise I think he would've missed out entirely. 

Josie loved making gingerbread girls (or gingerbread gels as she pronounces it-- gels with a hard g, not to be confused with the stuff you put in Steven's hair to try to make it flat.

Isabel really loves baking!  And she was very careful about which cookie cutters to use.  And which decorations to use.  And how many cookies to make.  She's a cautious girl.

Luke did manage to get some cookie decorations on the actual cookies, even though it looks like the baking sheet got most of the sprinkles!  (Note to self:  use parchment paper.)  He made a good variety of gingerbread people- a whole village worth, in fact.

Steven was mostly interested in eating his cookies, but he did a great job decorating them as well...

Yummy!  You can see the different decorating styles of Luke and Josie.

So proud of her darlings!  She spent so much time making her cookies just perfect.

Christmas Eve was very busy.  At one point in the day, Mac remembered that he needed to go shopping.  So he took the kids out to Walmart (ugh) to buy a Christmas gift for me.  I may have finally convinced him that next year, if he wants to hit a home run in the gift department (or even if he wants to make a bunt) he should go to a store I actually will shop at.  I have no problem with Walmart necessarily, but I just can't stand the layout there and am always underwhelmed by the quality of stuff.  I am a Target girl.  What can I say...

We ended the day by putting out the gingerbread cookies for Santa...

Oops!  She forgot to sign her plate...

That's better.  And with a Sharpie, no less.  Perfect.

Since I can barely read this, I'm guessing most other people can not.  My ever humble Steven wrote:  "A cookie for Santa, From Steven the great." 

And here are the girls, under our amazing tree (amazingly puny!), imagining how thrilled Santa will be when he sees all those cookies!!  And Luke also left Santa a hand-crafted gift.  Santa appreciated that gesture, and left Luke a nice little thank-you note.

What else did Santa leave the kids?  Well, even though Kate did NOT leave Santa a cookie (she did deign to eat several of them), he did leave her a gift along with the gifts for her siblings.  Here is what they all got from Santa:

Josie:   Lollaloopsie dolls

Isabel:  a book called "The Double Dare Book for Girls"

Luke:  a Jedi costume

Steven:  a Large squishy Mariners ball-pillow thing

Kate:  a gift card to Charlotte Russe

Since we didn't have any plans for Christmas day, and had no where we needed to rush off to, we stayed in for the rest of the day.  Mac and I let the kids enjoy their Santa Gifts for a while...  Then came the time to open The Rest of the Presents...