Kids, Christmas, and Chaos

It may not be in that specific order, but this holiday season has certainly been filled with Christmas, chaos and KIDS. I don't know if it was the fact that I was asleep during the entire holiday season last year or not, but this year, it was like our kids were on Christmas steriods. The 'roid rage only intensified as the Day drew closer and peaked last night, almost pushing more over the edge as Kalee bolted from me in her pajamas outside our friends house at 8 pm at night and did not intend to stop. Four houses down, I caught up with her where she continued to fight me and bite me (yes, she is still in the cat phase). Maybe I shouldn't have let her have the tub of frosting?!

But seriously, it was fun watching the kids get excited, despite the line of "can I open my present" got old after the millioneth time yesterday. Today was also great. We got up around 6:30 and started opening presents. We really try to take the slow approach to opening presents to stretch it out as long as possible. Each toy the kids would open up we'd play with it till they got bored and then go back to opening more presents. Koebe's favorite gift is a toss up between his bike and his violin. Kalee was crying before bed becuase she wanted to play with her pet shop. All in all, everyone seemed to be very happy!

Tonight was a feast of feasts! We had 4 other families over and we ate like kings! You know, sometimes you never know what you'll get a group dinners, but today was an exception with everybody's dish being first class. We had prime rib (my first ever!), roasted carrots, french green beans, au gratin potatoes, pear salad, rolls, appetizers and fabulous desserts!

With family not around, it was wonderful to have friends over to break bread and enjoy the holiday season. Hope yours was as enjoyable as ours! Till the next post! Enjoy the slideshow.

Toot! Toot!

Ok, so I don't normally toot my own horn, but I had to post this link. I have been working on airport marketing for our company for the last year and managed the installation of our Samsung Mobile Charging Stations at airports in LA and New York. Well, Businessweek.com ran an article titled "Branding of the Year" and the charging stations were featured! Toot! Toot! (it's a photo slide show- it's #13)

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/12/1212_ad_roundup/index_01.htm

"Pajamason" and Christmas Oranges

Ahhh. Christmas time. The kids are so amped up about the holidays. Every night it's requests for hot cocoa with "whip cream and marshmallows" and cookies. Koebe is the biggest creamsicle. He is always running around the house, closing the blinds and turning off the lights so he can be "cozy" and watch the lights on the tree. If he's really into it, he'll pester us until we light the candles and then read Christmas stories.

But, getting back to the title of this post, every night after baths, for as long as we've been giving them baths (which is too long in my book!) we dry them off and then tell Koebe to go and get his "pajamas on". Well, night after night of hearing this, he now thinks "pajamas" are called "pajamason". Aprille tried to explain it to him that "pajamas" and "on" were two separate words and that they are just called "pajamas", but there is no convincing him- or Kalee. Koebe to Kalee, "Look, at my Christmas pajamason!" or "I want my dinosaur pajamason!" I guess we just continue calling them "pajamason" until he figures it out.

Christmas oranges. The other night, I was thinking back to Christmas' at home growing up. There were a lot of good memories to be had- mom forgetting what presents she wrapped or where she placed them, a brother eating my sister's entire tube of chap stick from her stocking or the year Santa delivered our favorite cereal (the sugary kind!) in our stockings. But there is one Christmas that is really memorable- if not infamous. Every year for Christmas breakfast we would have breakfast casserole (creamy concoction of bread, cheese, cream of mushroom soup, sausage, etc.), sweet roll from the Jones' (they delivered it every year on Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember) and sliced kiwis and oranges sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Before I go any further, I will have to say that I what I am about to share may just come back to haunt me and it will definitely embarrass me, but it is just too good to not tell. This particular Christmas breakfast, I was about 6 or 7 (I think) and we were all sitting down enjoying the breakfast casserole and sweet roll. For some reason or another, we got to being silly and started laughing. We laughed and laughed until I fell off the chair and peed my pants. Yes, I admit it. It happened. (If I ever run for office, this posting will be removed immediately!). Well, kids will be kids and my brothers and sisters started to tease me and my parents got mad. They picked me up off the floor and for while- Christmas breakfast stopped. I changed, my parents chided my siblings and cleaned the floor (for obvious reasons). As we sat down to restart our breakfast, there were some giggles and side glances- of course- we were kids!

Well, we dug in and started eating the sweet roll, the casserole and the fruit. For some reason, my older brother and sister- I will call them out- Taylor and Tamara- started to laugh uncontrollably. Not knowing why, we continued to eat. Finally, it was too much and my parents demanded to know what was so funny. Not being able to hold back any longer, they confessed that in between me falling on the floor and, well, you know, and changing my clothes, they had done the unthinkable. With my parents out of the room, they quickly grabbed the sliced oranges sitting on the table- the very oranges we all ate (with the exception of them)- and soaked them in, well, you know- what was on the floor- and put them back on the platter before we rejoined them. I'm not kidding. Of course we all about gagged and I'm going to say they probably got into trouble. But that, my friends, is my story about Christmas oranges.

Kiss Me Baby!

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