Just a Little Too Magical

I finally had to wave the white flag. Christmas, of course, was all things magical. But we may have overdone it. We went to bed early on Christmas Eve, planning to catch up on some much-needed sleep. The boys, however, had other plans. After months of never hearing a peep from either of them at night, they both woke up several times, starting at 10:30pm. Gavin had an ear infection, and Graham had a really awful croupy cough and rapid breathing. We were both up with both of the boys at different times. I bounced from our bed, to the guest bed by Graham's room, to Gavin's bed, back to the guest bed, and back to Gavin's room. We probably got four hours of broken sleep. Not the ideal way to start Christmas morning.

The excitement of opening gifts was enough to power the boys through the morning, but they started to fade after that. My cumulative sleep deprivation made me feel like I was living in an alternate universe, and Dylan was not at his best, either. By the time we made it to my parents' house in the afternoon, the boys were in rough shape. Gavin told me several times, "I'm having a hard day." We had to call it a night pretty early, and we were all buckled in the car by 5:30pm. The boys were both snoring in their carseats minutes later.

Christmas Day may have been kind of a bust...but the season on the whole was really awesome. The older the boys get, the more fun it becomes. We kicked off Christmas Eve with the 9am service at church, which was amazing. The boys enjoyed the train ride, petting zoo, face painting and pictures with Santa afterward. Then, the Jordans and my parents came over in the afternoon. The boys played happily while the ladies drank wine, and the guys did whatever guys do. Our feast was incredible, and Elaine even brought cookies for the boys to decorate for Santa. Graham climbed up the couch to reach Santa's designated glass milk bottle on the shelf and then chucked it on the floor. We hoped Santa was okay with going without milk at our house, but we did leave him two cookies. Gavin sprinkled the "reindeer food" that his teachers gave him outside, and then everybody cozied up for a long night of not much rest.

Train ride at church!

Crafts with friends from school.

Little monkeys!

Sad, croupy baby

The reindeer food is ready for the reindeer!

Opening a shared gift on Christmas morning.

Christmas Day- don't we look [the opposite of] healthy and rested?

I guess it's always a bit of a relief when Christmas is over, though I do always mourn the passing of the excitement and adventure that the season brings. This year, though, I'm pretty spent from a very full month, and I'm only looking to the future. We've got adventures on the horizon, and we are going full force ahead. I went to work the day after Christmas, and today I've started taking down decorations. We've all caught a sickness, and now with the house half-decorated, I'm taking a break and getting off my feet. It's starting to hurt everywhere...and the last thing I need is to be bedridden. Here's to hoping this New Year finds you and your family healthy and happy. We are ready for a productive weekend and can't wait to find out what the New Year will bring!