Continuing the Journey

The Merry Christmas Post...

While I'm still under the weather (oooo, this stomach bug I have is a whopper!), it has still been a Merry Christmas at our house!

Last year, Carson had no idea what Christmas was about. This year is SO different! Not only will he tell you that "Kwis-mass" is Jesus' birthday, he also knows it is time to "open pwe-sents"! Last year, he spoke little English and was so angry at us when we made him open more presents...he was quite content with the first box he opened and yelled at us (in Chinese) when we took it away and gave him another one. This year, he couldn't get those boxes open fast enough!

Meggie promises that tomorrow she will upload the pictures from Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa B's house (yeah, right...), but after they got home we opened our gifts to each other that evening. After all, our gifts can NEVER compete with what Santa brings on Christmas morning!

I won't make you sit through boring pictures of every present opened on Christmas Eve, but had to give you at least one of Carson digging in...
While opening gifts, he kept saying, "Oh my goodness," and "I don't believe it," and "I not kidding" over and over...it was hysterical! I guess he listened at Grandma and Grandpa B's house and was repeating what he heard (and what he thought he heard) people saying when they opened gifts. (We couldn't figure out what the "I not kidding" meant...)

After the gifts were all opened, the kids did this...
...so they could do this!
Doesn't that look like fun? Making a mess while Mommy takes pictures of it!

Here, the Teenager shows off her gift from Grandma and Grandpa B...
...hot pink luggage! Do you think we'll have trouble spotting those in the airports in China?

Since I've been under the weather, Meggie and Daddy have done a fantastic job of picking up the Christmas slack! Here, Meggie poses with the awesome cookies she made (Carson claims he helped, but Meggie denies it)...
...and the peppermint fudge she made!
And, by the way, my dear friend Sarah mocked me on her blog when I gave the peppermint fudge recipe out at our recipe exchange, claiming I've never made it. We just wanted you to know, Sarah, that we DO make peppermint fudge at our house...
...so THERE!

All that sugar started making the Teenager kinda wiggy...
...oh, my!

Daddy and I had a deal this year...no gifts for each other. After all, we wanted to focus our budget on giving the kids a great Christmas, plus we're going to China in the near future (hopefully soon.) Well, I sorta didn't keep our deal...
...but at least the things I bought for Daddy were actually for both of us. (He was a bit mad at me because I had nothing to open and he had five packages.) He got over being mad pretty quickly when he opened the new pots and pans, griddle, waffle maker, and rice steamer! When you've been married almost 20 years, it gets to the point where these things need to be replaced. Merry Christmas, darling!

After sleeping in (thank you, Carson, for sleeping 'til 8:30!), we headed downstairs to see the loot that Santa brought.
I tried to capture Meggie's reaction when she realized Santa actually brought HER something fabulous...
...a flat panel TV for her bedroom! See, Meggie, Santa still loves you, too!

Here, Fireman Carson is on the walkie-talkie, asking for backup...
...since he decided that the fireplace was suddenly a hazard. Thankfully, no backup ever arrived. (I LOVE sitting by a crackling fireplace!)

Geez, Daddy, must you ALWAYS play with Carson's toys?!
That's better, allowing Carson to play with his OWN toys!
I was sitting in Daddy's chair, wrapped in a blanket (see my fuzzy socks in that picture above?) and Meggie climbed in to snuggle with me. Carson was FURIOUS...
...and spent quite a while pouting under the Christmas tree! Oh, dude, you better get ready to share Mommy 'cause Molly's coming in a few months and will surely want her turn in the "Mommy zone"!

Since I was able to keep breakfast down and was feeling a bit better, we decided to keep our Christmas Day plans and head to my sister Debbie's house. I have hosted Christmas for my younger sisters for years, back when they had no spouses or plans (our family does Christmas on a random Saturday in December or January so it doesn't conflict with all the in-laws' plans on Christmas).

Since Debbie is married and has a baby now, she offered to take her turn hosting our get-together. It was weird...but in a good way...not to be hosting Christmas Day. Debbie and her husband, Brandon, provided most of the meal (as we had in the past when we hosted), so we got to bring "fun" food! Since I had been ill, I figured it best that I not prepare food. Look what Daddy prepared...
...isn't that awesome? It's a feta cheese dip (a new recipe I got from Weight Watchers) and he even made it decorative! I was super impressed!

Debbie debuted her fine China for us...
...and even had adorable placecard holders!
Dinner was delicious!! Actually, before eating, we opened gifts. I felt so bad when Carson opened his gift from Aunt Debbie and Uncle Brandon...
...it was a Bionic Eye and he immediately expressed his displeasure with it. He kept saying, "No, I don't want that. I won't like that." He had no idea what the gift was and was pretty ticked off! Only after Debbie hooked it up to their plasma screen and convinced him how fun it was to look at his sweater, my eyeball, and...the clincher...his boogers at 100x magnification did he gain an appreciation for this crazy present.

Since I didn't go to Grandma and Grandpa B's house, we missed our traditional picture in front of the tree. Not to worry, we just handled it at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Brandon's house!
Of course, then the silliness had to start...
...as Aunt Debbie and Meggie squished Carson with smooches!

Here, the first cousins' picture with Baby Sophia in the mix!
What a great looking group of kids, huh?!

Meggie, thanks for being such a great kid and picking up the slack while I've been sick. I think you're swell!
She's so modest.

Debbie and I made an effort to put together gifts for each other this year that required time but not much money. Since Debbie is always photographing her gorgeous baby and filling my e-mail inbox with those photos, I decided the best place to put all those pics would be on her own blog! I created the basic design and gave her a quick tutorial Christmas Day...can't wait to see what she does with it. (Debbie is INFINITELY more creative than I will ever be!) I've linked her blog in my side bar blog list ("Simply Sophie") in case you want to peruse it and keep tabs on my gorgeous niece.

Her gift for me? She stole a bunch of pics from my laptop and created a personalized calendar for me, entitled "2009 According to Pookie." (We have called each other "Pookie" for as long as I can remember and I really have no idea why.) The calendar is so fun and creative and I thoroughly LOVE it!!

After gifts and dinner, we rekindled a Christmas Day tradition that has been overlooked for the past few years...we headed out to see a movie. This was a momentous occasion since Carson has never been to a movie theater! (Neither has Sophia, but of course she IS only 10 months old!)

We tried to take a pic of Sophia, but she was too busy enjoying a bottle...
...but Carson was very happy to ham it up for the camera!
He was AMAZED at that big screen at the movie theater! He sat perfectly content in his own seat for most of the movie. (We saw "Bedtime Stories" and it was pretty funny!) When he got antsy, he moved to Daddy's lap for a while, then ended the movie on my lap. He has the BEST giggle and was truly tickled by this silly movie! The woman in front of us even commented at the end that she enjoyed hearing his great laugh during the silly parts of the movie. (Glad he wasn't bugging her!)

Santa brought Molly a couple of gifts (a baby stroller and some play food to share with Carson in his play kitchen) and Aunt Debbie gave her this...
...a hippopotamus for Christmas!! It's actually a pillow and blanket snuggly (the blanket zips into the body of the hippo) that we'll take to China to give to Molly. While a hippo might be odd to most, Pookie knows that my absolute favorite Christmas song is "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"...and now I have actually gotten one (for my baby girl, anyway). Can I tell you how much I love that my little sister totally GETS me?!?!

We love you, Molly Jayne, and can't wait to bring you home to us! This WILL be your last Christmas without a family!!

So that's it...the end of the Merry Christmas Post. I hope you all had a great Christmas, surrounded by the love of family and friends.