It's Christmas Eve Eve! Also, A Christmas Party

The kids had their annual Christmas party today. Because it can't be Christmas without a Christmas party of some sorts! Besides, one of the most important parts of my childhood Christmases were the annual cousins' Christmas parties put together by my aunt and uncle, and there's nothing more fun than carrying it on for the next generation. And from the looks of it, those parties will continue in future years and feature lots of BOYS, since that seems to be the only type of tiny human born lately in this or any family. 

So anyways about today. We started things off with a chocolate pudding and whip cream eating contest. The usual type, hands behind your back, shove your face in and make a mess type of contest. Sydney and Calen were too busy talking and cleaning their faces in the middle of it, so Hailey blew them out of the water. 

Then we had cookie cutter pizza for lunch. This is so stupid simple (which is my kind of project, mind you). Premade pizza dough. Cookie cutters. You figure out the rest. Suddenly, pizza becomes Christmasy. Magic. 

After that we had a small gift exchange and decorated gingerbread houses, foam stick puppets and finished up the party with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (Burl Ives edition) on the tv while the kids enjoyed these ridiculous lollipops that made them look like they have Rudolph character mouths. Personally I like the "Bumble" teeth. 

"Didn't I ever tell you about Bumbles? Bumbles bounce!"

Who doesn't like Yukon Cornelious. 

Calen said the snowman needed "pockets", and the reindeer needed eyebrows. Can't argue with artistic brilliance.

He passes off as a believable Bumble

 

Tough Lessons, Holiday Edition

We've had some hard lessons this week. 

The first lesson learned was by my sweet starry-eyed four year old. Like every Christmas, my husband and I go totally overboard on Christmas presents. Not because we want to raise spoiled, rotten little brats, but because it's that fun for one day a year to break all the rules, not say no for a change and see the kids' faces light up and and eyes pop out of their heads when they come around the corner Christmas morning and see the family Christmas tree transform into a cornucopia of packages neatly wrapped with pretty bows and tags with their names on them. 

I decided that now that Calen is only a couple months away from turning five, it's time to start teaching him that giving is just as important as getting. 

Pay close attention to how I phrased that last sentence. I'm not fooling myself, or my son, or anyone else for that matter. There is no way that any human being living on this planet would ever convince a four year old child that giving gifts is better than getting. It's not, when you're four. Getting gifts at that age is magical. Because toys are everything when you're four. It's your only true property, your bartering tools ("hey Brother, I'll trade you this truck for that sword."), your way to make friends, the list goes on. I get it. Getting is the best thing ever at that age. But that doesn't mean that you can't teach them that it's equally important to give at Christmas. Because it's a nice thing to do. Because it makes other people happy. Because it's what you do for people that you love. 

We have to start somewhere, right?

So, I took Calen on a solo mission to the store to pick out a present for Daddy, and a present for his brother. And that's it. No treats for himself, or toys, or anything. Just gifts for people he cares about.

It was hard for him, I'll admit it. First we shopped for Camden. This was the hardest challenge because we're right in the middle of the ever tempting toy section, in Calen's favorite aisle, the toy car aisle. First he tried to choose toys for Cam that Calen would want to play with. Not that they have completely different interests but it was definitely a "let's buy this for Cam so that I can play with it while he's taking a nap" type of scheme. So we had a few little talks about how this was for Brother and not for him, and let's think of something that Cam would really like. With a little direction, he picked well. And though he expressed that he was sad he didn't get to pick out anything for himself, he was a good sport and I kept encouraging him, telling him how nice it is that he picked out something for Cam and that Cam is going to be so happy when he opens it. Daddy was a little easier since it was more boring stuff. It took some work to convince Calen that Daddy wouldn't want a toy car, or a Captain America toy, and that Mommy couldn't afford to buy him a real, big car even though it's such a thoughtful idea. 

We survived the trip and good lessons were learned. When we got in the car I looked back and almost felt bad because Calen looked so dejected that everyone else was getting a gift except for him (regardless of the 7,201 presents with his name on them under the tree at home). So I mentioned to him "You know, Camden got you a present too, because he is a nice boy too." Calen lit up and goes "He DID?!?!?" And the rest of the drive was not about how he got Cam and Daddy nice gifts for Christmas, but about the one gift that Camden got HIM. 

Well, there goes that lesson. Way to blow it Mom. 

At least we tried, right?

Also, the kids made their own wrapping paper using homemade cutout sponge stamps and paint for their gifts to each other today. It kept them busy and actually turned out pretty cute. 

The other lesson we learned this week is more on my end. Most of you know we didn't fly home this year for Christmas like we have every year since we moved away. Even though we really wanted to this year, we just simply couldn't afford it being only three weeks after we returned from Disney World. And let's not talk about how high our credit card balance is after that....yikes. 

I was disappointed that we weren't making it back home to family this year, but also almost relieved, that for once we didn't have the huge load of stress and anxiety in the form of flying during the holidays. I really can't think of anything worse than flying over Christmas with preschoolers. Seriously. I used to love to fly. Then I had kids. Besides, it was something we hadn't had in years. A relaxing Christmas. No traveling, no 300 houses/Christmas parties/family members to visit in 10 short days, just us. And so shortly after Disney, we were gassed and in need of a break. 

But it hasn't been as nice as we thought. I mean, it's nice enough. And relaxing for sure. But something's missing. Actually, a lot is missing. Making cookies with grandparents. Family dinners. Traveling all over kingdom come visiting everyone (Yep, I said it, I even miss that). Christmas Eve with my family. Christmas morning with Brad's family. I miss it. I hate that we don't get to have it. And each day that brings us closer to Christmas, I long for it more. I wish I could trade every gift under that tree for four plane tickets. And though it's too late now (though seriously, unless Santa Claus brought us a few grand to pay off Disney, we couldn't afford it no matter how much we wanted it or how many of our belonging we bartered off), it's been a very good lesson. That no matter the cost, no matter how stressful and crazy and exhausting it makes the holidays, it's worth it to be home for the holidays. Worth everything in the world. And it's definitely something I'd never like to repeat in future years. 

Not that Disney World wasn't worth it, mind you. Because it was. But next time, we plan on budgeting differently, so that we can afford both the trip, and the trip home. 

 

Christmas Is Beating the Pants Off the Competition

So as most of you know we decorate for Christmas. No. We don't just decorate. We decorate. We Griswold the shit out of our house, both inside and out. Why? Because we like to. Because it's fun and it's nice to look at and it's completely and disgustingly festive. And because we're awesome. 

My Snowman and the No-L Sign. (No-L. SOUND IT OUT)

Our walkway

Unrelated to amount of decorations we put up, our neighborhood has a Christmas decorating contest each year. Last year we won "best theme" which is funny because we really don't have a theme, unless you consider "quantity" a theme. 

The winners of this year's contest were announced and we won first place overall for best house, PLUS our 5-unit townhome won "best block" of the whole neighborhood. 

Because that's the true meaning of Christmas. Beating the pants off the competition. 

Disclaimer: Like I said, we really didn't put up any more than we normally would have. We didn't even buy additional lights this year like we usually do, except for replacement strands to the ones that stopped working. Also, obviously we know that's not the true meaning of Christmas. We believe in Jesus and family and big dinners and Santa Claus and presents. And lights. And if they want to throw a contest in our general direction then they better be ready to pay up since we're already awesome by default. Save your hate mails. Bah-humbug to you. 

Today's Christmas activity happened to be related to the lighting contest. We put the kids in pajamas as if they were going to bed, but they tossed them in the truck with a blanket, some hot warm chocolate and a rice krispie treat, and we drove around Cape May on the hunt for Christmas lights. The Victorian mansions in town were pretty awesome but it was THIS house heading towards the ferry that won super amazing house of the night. 

I couldn't zoom my lens out far enough. This goes straight back a further 100 feet, plus probably 20 feet to each side of this picture. Plus music and half of these were moving.

I asked Calen which house was his favorite tonight, and he said "the house that has EVERYTHING in it." That pretty much sums it up. 

  



 

The Case of the Ridiculous Pajama Saga

We've spent the past three days making treats of one kind or another. Because holiday calories don't, obviously. 

So the kids helped me make Chex Mix and Rice Krispie treats and a second batch of reindeer bites, and in between that they made their own graham cracker gingerbread houses which of course fell apart but isn't the point of these little houses were to eat them. 

Making Chex mix together

 

Cam ate all the candy off his house and then picked up the roof and ate it. Who needs a stupid put-together house anyways.

And now, on to the Footed Pajama Saga. 

We pulled out the Christmas pajamas Thanksgiving night. Some new, some from last year. I happened to put a pair of snowman footie pajamas on Camden. Calen goes "WOW those are the coolest jammies! I wish I had jammies like that." I assumed he meant adorable blue pajamas with snowmen and presents all over them. So I began my search. I checked every store, every website, scouring literally the entire globe searching for snowman pajamas. But by God if I just couldn't find any this year in big boy sizes. Not a single pair. 

It actually seems that in general, the world has a shortage of holiday pajamas of any kind this year. Which is completely inexcusable and absurd, because a couple years ago you had dozens of brands and styles of holiday pajamas to choose from! What's the deal this year?? The Grinch stole them all? The sweat factories are all "bah-humbug"? Either way, my wallet is fatter but my kids pajama drawer is far less festive than it should be. Shame on you, world. Shame on you.

I put the idea of snowman pajamas aside for a while, but then every time this month that Cam has worn them, Calen makes sure I know how much he wishes he had a pair. I spent the better part of this month searching, but no such luck. Is it such a hard thing to ask of this world for? One single pair of snowman pajamas? It's not like I'm asking for a cure to the common cold or an ever lasting lightbulb or something. Pajamas. Snowmen. Preferably not pink. Small favors people.

Finally, something clicked in my head, and I ventured to ask Calen if it was snowman pajamas he was desperate for, or the fact that those pajamas were footed. To which Calen clarified that it was footie pajamas that he so desperately wanted.

Well now that's something we can work with!

Generally I don't bother buying Calen footie pajamas. They don't fit him right. His torso is ginormous and his legs are nonexistent and his feet are the size of cargo ships. They don't manufacture footie pajamas to fit Hansen boys. But, since it was something he really, really wanted, I'd let Santa Claus bring him a pair. 

Just when I thought we were done Christmas shopping.

Luckily, we Santa happened to find a pair of super soft footie pajamas at Costco in Calen's "size". He probably will only be able to wear them for a month before his ogre feet burst through the fabric, but it will at least make him super happy on Christmas morning. 

That's all that matters anyways, right?  

The apparent hot ticket item for this holiday season. Huh.

Santa Sightings and Ninjabread Men

We had a seriously fun day today! One of those "it really feels like the Christmas season" type of days. 

First we dressed the kids up in their classic Christmas outfits (that they'll someday loathe us for, especially when we show them to their girlfriends) and took them to the Coast Guard Christmas party on base. It was actually the first year in four Christmases here in New Jersey that we were in town to experience it. I really didn't expect too much, but I was very impressed with the whole thing. They kept the lights off in the base gym, and filled the place with holiday lights, decorations and of course giant blow up snowmen and other arctic critters. They had all sorts of carnival games with raffle tickets to "win" (Calen "won" a lot just for trying...which is totally awesome and fair) and turn in for fun Christmas prizes. And they even had a fake snow maker which of course was sheer magic to the kids. 

Then Santa rolled in (via firetruck...sleighs are SO last century you know). And he was a good one. The poor guy couldn't get in the door before Calen shouted "SantaIwantacarloopamonstertruckandwalltracksSanta!!!!!!!" as fast as a human being could possibly talk. We had to have a quick discussion about manners and patience and saying hello before demanding what you want for Christmas. Of course we were all laughing. He had forgotten his list in the car and wanted to make sure he remembered it all. 

the boys and Santa who looked and was pretty fantastic

After the party, our neighbor girls came over and we decorated ninjabread men. Regular old boring gingerbread men are ridiculous and dumb and not possibly fun to decorate. But when you make NINJAbread men, that's a whole other story of badass awesomeness. The commentary at the table while decorating was amazing. 

"This ninjabread man is wearing ONLY UNDERPANTS."
"Well my ninjabread man is bleeding blood on his head"
"Look my ninjabread man is kicking the other ninjabread man and I'm going to bite his head off."

Violence and Christmas is so cute and magical. 

Ninjabread making!

Then the kids did a much less violent craft, decorating foam trees and wreaths with foam stickers and markers, and watched Rudolph and Mickey's Christmas Carol. 

Can December last for two months instead of one? It's just so fun!

P.S. Fred rounded up some friends and played some board games tonight. Its was divided into two teams: good guys vs bad guys.

Zurg and Darth Vader really don't have a chance against Fred and Woody

Countless Christmas Activity Blog Post #617

Are you tired of my Christmas craft/activity blogs yet? You should be. But honestly, it's basically all we do from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas Day. What can I say, we are BIG Christmas people around here. 

Yesterday Calen and I made snowflakes. He had never made them before so it was a good lesson in scissors and folding for him, and I actually had more fun than I should cutting up snowflakes. I think this weekend we're going to make those Star Wars snowflakes I see floating around the internet. After all what could possibly be more festive than angry Chewbacca-face snowflakes dangling from our ceiling? Umm...nothing, that's what. 

Today Calen had his very first school Christmas concert. It was a nearly hour and a half program, for grades Pre-K through 2nd, but the Pre-K class sang one song. One. The other grades only sang two songs. That's it! I really wish that the classes were allowed to sing at least one more song each. Especially since Brad took the afternoon off work to watch Calen sing one two minute song. Calen even mentioned to me that he wished he could have sang "lots of songs".

The one song that Calen's class sang WAS very cute and I enjoyed every brief moment of it. 

Tonight I made ninjabread cookies but our plans with friends were canceled so they're in a tupperware waiting for tomorrow. But that didn't stop Fred from pulling one out and decorating it....

I had to do something extravagant since yesterday I forgot to move the little sonofabitch. This morning Calen comes downstairs and asks "where's Fred today?" of course I had to snatch the thing up while Calen was still searching and toss him in the bowl of oranges...at least he "moved" right?

 



  

Cookies and Milk

We've continued the Christmas-activity-per day around here, though a lot of them aren't super extravagant and picture/post worthy. 

Tonight the boys decorated some mondo snowman cookies (the cutter I have is 9 inches tall), then of course proceeded to eat the entire things. Because you know who in their right mind wouldn't eat all 893 calories in one sitting? The after effect of course was near-dumbfounding watching them bounce all over the house like they live in a giant pinball machine. 

After that, obligatory Christmas pajamas and a viewing of the Polar Express, a family favorite. Neither are too fond of hot chocolate (they don't like the "hot" part), so they got chocolate milk in festive cups. Everything is festive around here. We even have Santa Claus soap dispensers, for crying out loud. You can never be too festive for Christmas. 

 

Reindeer Bites

We've been trying to do a Christmas craft and/or treat every day, usually corresponding with a Christmas movie. And this alone should be why the Pinterest creators should win Nobel Peace Prizes. 

Yesterday, we watched The Grinch (live action with Jim Carrey). Then afterwards, Calen made a Grinch using construction paper and glue (he actually cut it out all on his own, following my drawn-on pattern. Ever taught a lefty how to cut with scissors when you're a righty? It seriously hurts the brain cells). To add to the fun, I did a little questionnaire on the bottom ("how would YOU make the Grinch smile and laugh?"). I cut out Grinch shapes for Camden to glue too but that kid hates sitting still to do crafts like I hate mustard. 

Oh well.

Today, we watched Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer (the old school one, with Hermie the dentist elf and Yukon Cornelius) and Calen and I made these Reindeer bite treats. More stupid simple awesomeness from Pinterest:

You will need:

1. Rolos (unwrapped)
2. red M&Ms
3. square pretzels (I accidentally bought buttered ones which I thought would be gross but turned out delish with the chocolate)

Preheat oven to 225. Put square pretzels on cookie sheet, place Rolo on top of each one. Throw in the oven for a whopping two minutes (enough to make the Rolos soft but not melted). Take more square pretzels and break off the corners of them to make "antlers". Shove them in the sides of the Rolos. Add a red M&M. Eat. 

P.S. these are effing delicious. 


And also, Fred zip-lined his way from the dining chandelier to the Christmas tree last night. What a troublesome little turd he is.  

 

 

Christmas Crafts Are Awesome (And Also, That Creepy Little Bastard)

The past three days or so Daddy has been spending every moment of his time at home outside pulling a Griswold hanging Christmas lights on the house/yard/everywhere, which means I have an extra four hours each evening of pulling the single-parent shift and trying to keep the rabid wolves at bay until bedtime. 

Luckily, it's December, which means endless Christmas activities, crafts, movies, books etc to fill the time with. These are just a few of the activities we've done since Monday:

Santa ornaments using salt dough (Cam on the left, Calen on the right)

Calen and I (but mostly Calen) built a super awesome Christmas Lego set)

This evening we made Christmas cookies

Cam caught eating one

Also, we started that tradition this year. That tradition that everyone does that I swore I'd never do. But when near every single one of your four year old's classmates has one and said four year old starts asking why his house doesn't have one, you kind of just have to surrender. 

Surrender to this creepy little bastard:

Hop on that bandwagon why don't ya.

 This is Fred. And as much as I absolutely detest to admit it, it's actually pretty fun having an Elf on a Shelf and seeing the kids laugh over all the ridiculous shit he gets into. We did it a little differently though, because I do not like the idea of "be good, the Elf is watching you!" (how about "be good, or Mom and Dad is going to annihilate you!"), so we did it a little different. We put Fred in a box on our doorstep with a letter from Santa, explaining that Fred was one of his special elves but he had a tendency of being naughty, and maybe he could spend the Christmas season with us and the kids can teach him grace by loving him even when he's naughty, like Jesus does to us when we're bad. 

How's THAT for incorporating both Santa AND Jesus in the same little elf weirdo.

So admittingly we've had a lot of fun putting him in funny places each morning. Calen actually gets mad at him "Fred stop being so naughty! Santa is going to be so mad at you!! You have to be good!"

Fred stepped in as the role of baby Jesus

Tonight Fred made a 2 foot tall castle with Lego Duplos

Welcome Back to the Real World, Holiday Edition.

I know, I KNOW. I haven't blogged in like, a month? Someone fire me or something. Well between planning Disney, going to Disney, coming back from Disney and relearning how to function in the real world, then hosting Thanksgiving and of course necessary Black Friday extravaganzas, then catching our first Cape May crud of the season, blogging has been the furthest from my mind. 

And no, I'm not sharing my vacation pictures on here. There is an album on my Facebook page for such nonsense. I'm pretty sure this host website would explode from uploading too many photos. 

So two days after Thanksgiving (meaning yesterday) we went and got our Christmas tree. The usual...drive to the tree farm, find a tree, cut down a tree, bring a tree home, decorate a tree. That kind of stuff. 

This year's beauty

Calen thinks he conquered the tree

How Cam decorates

New favorite ornament!

We also kicked off the Christmas season with our first Christmas "craft" activity tonight, a Christmas Lego set with Santa, a sleigh and a reindeer, and even little tiny presents. Calen did almost the whole thing on his own with little help. 

 

Jackhammering Jack O Lanterns

We carved pumpkins tonight. Because you know it's a week away from Halloween and that's what people do. 

This year was the first year that both kids could really participate in it. Obviously not the carving part because that would involve knives and giving two boys under five knives is probably as smart as walking inside a tiger's cage at the zoo wearing nothing but raw bacon. But they did get to scoop out guts which I maturely explained to the boys that they were pumpkin "brains", which in turn really freaked Calen out to the point where it took a lot of convincing to stick his hand in there. Parenting win.

We I carved the big jack o lantern, and Brad went uber MAN on me, busted out his power drill and drilled a thousand little holes in the two smaller pumpkins. (Before he used the drill, he used a hammer and punch to make the holes, so that the kids could participate in hammering. Only they could make carving pumpkins so incredibly manly).


The turnout was pretty fantastic. 

Also, these would look completely spectacular out on my front porch, if not for the stupid street light right outside my front door. Stupid street light and their stupid safety precautions.