"Have yourself a merry little Christmas..."

Well, that was fun, our 1st Christmas with two toddlers in the house!  It had lots of excitement, smiles and even more tears!  We didn't realize how many tears go hand in hand with the excitement of Christmas. Apparently for my kids the anticipation, the stack of presents under the tree were all too much excitement so periodically they just had to sit and cry it out!

We had a very nice, quiet Christmas. Peter was off Christmas Eve, it was nice having him around the house for the day!  I actually ran into town to pick up a few things, they were things that I wanted but didn't really need so it wasn't stressful. It was funny to me to see the frantic shopping of some people that apparently had waited till Christmas Eve to start shopping. I was at a toy store and this guy walked into the store stopped and said "I need toys!"
the associate says "ok sir, we can help you, is there anything in particular you are looking for?"
"no, I just need toys."
"ok sir, what ages of children are these for?"
"my kids, two boys, 4 and 6, I just need presents for them."
The associate went off to help him, you had to feel a little sorry for the guy, he looked absolutely terrified. Considering that it was Christmas Eve and not having any gifts for your 4 and 6 year old he probably was right to feel terrified!

That evening we went around the neighborhood and dropped off cards and baked goods to our neighbors. We got to visit with a few but then it got close to dinner time and the kiddos were reaching meltdown point so we made a few quick drop offs and then headed back home. I had picked up some easy food for dinner, chicken tenders, cheese and crackers, things like that. After dinner we started the tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve, which (of course) was pajamas for everyone. We all got coordinating pajamas. The kids pj's were a two-piece red with snowflakes and sock monkeys on them, mine was also a 2-pc similar to theirs. Peter got really lucky and he got a red, one piece, footed, zip up pajamas with sock monkey feet! We didn't get a good picture of all of us in our pajamas, we will have to try again because this must be documented! We then got the kids ready for bed and I had Wythe set out the milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

setting out cookies

carrots for the reindeer 

the leftovers

I explained to Wythe why we were leaving out cookies and carrots but I wasn't sure if he understood but in the morning when we brought him out to the living room the first thing he noticed, not the pile of presents under the tree, but that the cookies, milk and carrots were mostly eaten. He said "Santa eat milk, Santa eat cookies!" Then he picked up the leftover pieces of cookies and proceeded to eat them!

Santa was very good to the Rightmyer family this year, as you can tell from the picture below!

Wythe, checking out his stocking

Ainsley & daddy emptying their stockings

 Opening presents

Ainsley got a couple of toys but mainly items for a toy kitchen. Wythe got more cars, he loves cars, some more Lego's and the best of all Thomas the Train. When he opened Thomas the Train it totally "derailed" him and he didn't open anymore presents until later in the day.

I received some books I had been wanting to read as well as a new coffee maker!  I got the Tassimo coffee maker so in the morning I can enjoy my Starbucks latte!  Peter got mainly practical items, shoes, slippers, socks, a couple books. He said the socks were probably the best present, he didn't realize how bad his socks were until he put new ones on and his feet stayed warm all day!

We gave Ainsley my play kitchen that I had gotten for my 2nd birthday, amazingly it is still intact. So, far both Wythe & Ainsley are enjoying playing with it.

We had a couple neighbors join us for Christmas dinner, I was so glad they came to help us eat food, otherwise we would have been eating leftovers for the next month! We had spiral sliced ham, green beans with red pepper and caramelized shallots, Brussels sprouts and scalloped potatoes. I also made a spiced mocha cake for dessert and forgot to serve it, I remembered as our company was driving down the driveway.

I hope everyone else had a Christmas as lovely as ours!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

'til next time...

The "joy" of Christmas cards...

I like Christmas cards. I like receiving Christmas cards. I like mailing Christmas cards. I even like making Christmas cards. What I do not like is waiting until the last minute to make cards and ending up staying up till 1AM several nights in a row trying to get them finished and mailed before the 25th. Every year I promise myself that they will be finished by the beginning of December and every year I fail.

Around the beginning of this month I finally finished taking the kids pictures for our Christmas card. Although I had intended to have the card finished by the beginning of December they were actually not all written and mailed until the week of Christmas....I almost made it. As those who receive our cards know, they are handmade, sometimes funny, sometimes corny (most of the time) but always one of a kind.  This year we attempted to incorporate the house addition project into our card since that has occupied most of our year. To do so we spray painted a Christmas tree on the Tyvek on the side of our addition. I then "gift wrapped" some cinder blocks as "gifts" and took pictures of the kids standing in front of the tree.
The front of the card read as follows.

"Due to the current economic situation and the fact that most of our money had gone to our house addition project, we thought about keeping Christmas low key this year..."

...but decided not to.

Here are a few more of the pictures that were taken for the card.

'til next time...

Santa is scary!!! (to toddlers...)

We met Santa Claus this year. And we had our picture taken.

Knowing my children as I do, I was reluctant to take them to the mall, see Santa and pay lots of money to get their picture taken. I felt that it was unlikely that they would be too enthused and therefore the odds of getting that picture of the smiling child on Santa's lap was not in my favor. So, when I heard that the local Chick-fil-A was being visited by Santa and that you could have your picture taken for free...I knew that was the place for us!

So. we went, we waited in line and "we" were pretty excited to see Santa. Now, I cannot claim without a doubt that everything would have gone fine, "we" were happy in line but there is no guarantee that "we" would have stayed that way. What I can conclusively state as fact though, is that the Chick-fil-A cow wearing a Santa hat did not help our cause. Right when it was our turn to see Santa in walks the 17 foot tall Cow, he is there to greet Santa, have his picture taken with Santa and talk to the kids. This instantly wipes the smiles from the faces of my children. And when the Cow tried to hug my 2 year old he went from uncertain, to distress, and started yelling "no, no, go away, go away!!!"  Then, of course, it was our turn to see Santa. The plan was to put them both on Santa's lap and get a picture together. I put Ainsley on Santa's lap, and Wythe dissolved into a puddle on the floor.

The picture above shows that Ainsley is not too happy to be there, what you can't see is that Wythe is on the floor at Santa's feet, screaming and thrashing about.

It is now becoming apparent that not only will I not get Wythe in the picture but that Ainsley is not going to be comforted by Santa, even the offer of the candy cane had no effect. At this point I decided to gather my kids and retreat to a corner to attempt to quiet the screams. So I drag two hysterical toddlers to a booth and we sit down. I'm still not ready to completely abandon hope, so I order some food for the kids. While we are eating Peter arrives and I tell him that I would really like to try again to have Wythe's picture taken. So after we finish eating we get back in line for attempt #2. When it is our turn Peter just sits Wythe right on Santa's lap, at first things seem to be going well.

Then, things quickly deteriorate.

So, daddy rescues Wythe from Santa's lap, Santa thinks to himself "thank goodness...I was about to lose my hearing, why can't they only bring happy children???" And, we pack up and go home, mission accomplished, we have pictures of the kids with Santa. Now we will save these and bring them out to torture them with in about 10 years.

'til next time...

Reading...The Brutal Telling

The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny.

This is the 5th book in her Armand Gamache series.  I had mixed emotions about this book. It was just as captivating as her previous books but it was sad, I felt a little like I had been punched in the stomach when I read it.  I'm a little confused how things will play out from here so I'm looking forward to the next book!

'til next time...

Reading...A Rule Against Murder

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny.

This is the 4th book in the Armand Gamache series.  It was also published under the name "The Murder Stone".

As with her other books, I loved it!  This book took place mainly at a vacation spot so it didn't have as much about all of the residents of Three Pines but I still enjoyed it.

I also found out that I can order a tea cup with the Three Pines logo on it.  The cup is pricey when you add the shipping from Canada but it sure is tempting!

'til next time...