At 6:30am, 2 excited kiddos woke Sam and Jess up, ready for Christmas morning. Ok, they had no idea it was any different then any other day, but Sam and Jess complained less about the wakeup.
Sam got the cinnamon rolls in the oven, and prepped a pineapple - something Mimi would serve on special mornings.
Eventhough our family was thousands of miles away from other family and friends, they were clearly with us under the tree.
We began with a little stocking opening. This was Maddie's first stocking stuffer. To add to it's yuck nature, it also has a slightly sticky outside, which when dropped on the carpet, collects all the wool lint, making it sticky and fuzzy.
This is what you do with it. Blow it up through it's mouth, shove the mouth hole into it's mouth cavity, grab it by the tail, and voila - disgusting punching bag with little rubbery limbs sticking out.
Max got a chew toy.
At the bottom of the stockings, were oranges - a Page tradition from the Germans, except this time it was Cali updated - the oranges were from our tree.
Maddie's first choice of gift was the one that was the same size as her from Taisie and Grandpa Toby.
Sam and Jess quickly realized that a parent duty on Christmas Eve is some assembly required. This dog came with it's nose, eyes and ears in a bag.
Max spent some time trying to figure out how he could both sit and use his hands for grabbing. While able to now hold himself up for short periods, he will usually end up either listing to the side or in a clothespin position.
The effort was exhausting.
A present break came at lunchtime. Back in Jersey, the only restaurants that are open on Christmas are Chinese. Out here, we headed for a Thai buffet.
Then, a return to the gifts. Wholly embracing the consumer side of Christmas, Kears and Todd sent Maddie down a mini shopping cart. Their Maya received an identical one with food to go in it, and a cash register for the "supermarket." Maya has begun referring to herself at the cash register as "the man" (it came from Kears telling Maya at the real supermarket to "give the money to the man" - the end result speaks for itself).
Next, a talking book from Great Aunt Renee and Great Uncle Chris.
Max got to enjoy a minute or two with some stacking toys from Maya and a truck from Mimi and Dzedo, before his sister saw he was enjoying them and decided to enjoy them herself.
Aunt Kerry sent Maddie a stuffed pig, something her cousin, Gwen, has recently chosen as her lovey. Maddie seemed drawn to it with the same ferver. Coincidentally, Auntie Kerri also sent Maddie a book about a pig who shares some personality traits with our girl.
Then followed some stickers from Aunt Tara and Uncle Ant. As Maddie could not reach her bellybutton (her shirt is a onesie), she stacked an entire page on her hand.
It was then that Sam decided Max was now old enough to start walking.
A traditional chicken paprikash and homemade spaetzle Christmas dinner (traditional in that we are creating our own traditions, and Sam liked it so much at Great Grandma's, he requested it again).
Before bed, the family took a walk to look at the neighborhood homes' displays, as neighborhood goes nuts at Christmas. Sam and Jess noticed a slow moving van going very slowly down the street. As they rounded the block, the same van came cruising slowly down the next street. After some discussion of writing down the license number, they began to notice that there was another slow moving car coming down the block, and then another. Apparently the neighborhood is so done up, people drive by slowly in their cars just to enjoy as well.
After the kids went to bed, Sam and Jess cracked open a bottle of wine they had bought about 4 years ago. It was from a wine tasting trip that they had taken just about when they began to think of starting their family. The bottle of wine is Buttonwood 2004 The Infant.
At 6:30am, 2 excited kiddos woke Sam and Jess up, ready for Christmas morning. Ok, they had no idea it was any different then any other day, but Sam and Jess complained less about the wakeup.
Sam got the cinnamon rolls in the oven, and prepped a pineapple - something Mimi would serve on special mornings.
Eventhough our family was thousands of miles away from other family and friends, they were clearly with us under the tree.
We began with a little stocking opening. This was Maddie's first stocking stuffer. To add to it's yuck nature, it also has a slightly sticky outside, which when dropped on the carpet, collects all the wool lint, making it sticky and fuzzy.
This is what you do with it. Blow it up through it's mouth, shove the mouth hole into it's mouth cavity, grab it by the tail, and voila - disgusting punching bag with little rubbery limbs sticking out.
Max got a chew toy.
At the bottom of the stockings, were oranges - a Page tradition from the Germans, except this time it was Cali updated - the oranges were from our tree.
Maddie's first choice of gift was the one that was the same size as her from Taisie and Grandpa Toby.
Sam and Jess quickly realized that a parent duty on Christmas Eve is some assembly required. This dog came with it's nose, eyes and ears in a bag.
Max spent some time trying to figure out how he could both sit and use his hands for grabbing. While able to now hold himself up for short periods, he will usually end up either listing to the side or in a clothespin position.
The effort was exhausting.
A present break came at lunchtime. Back in Jersey, the only restaurants that are open on Christmas are Chinese. Out here, we headed for a Thai buffet.
Then, a return to the gifts. Wholly embracing the consumer side of Christmas, Kears and Todd sent Maddie down a mini shopping cart. Their Maya received an identical one with food to go in it, and a cash register for the "supermarket." Maya has begun referring to herself at the cash register as "the man" (it came from Kears telling Maya at the real supermarket to "give the money to the man" - the end result speaks for itself).
Next, a talking book from Great Aunt Renee and Great Uncle Chris.
Max got to enjoy a minute or two with some stacking toys from Maya and a truck from Mimi and Dzedo, before his sister saw he was enjoying them and decided to enjoy them herself.
Aunt Kerry sent Maddie a stuffed pig, something her cousin, Gwen, has recently chosen as her lovey. Maddie seemed drawn to it with the same ferver. Coincidentally, Auntie Kerri also sent Maddie a book about a pig who shares some personality traits with our girl.
Then followed some stickers from Aunt Tara and Uncle Ant. As Maddie could not reach her bellybutton (her shirt is a onesie), she stacked an entire page on her hand.
It was then that Sam decided Max was now old enough to start walking.
A traditional chicken paprikash and homemade spaetzle Christmas dinner (traditional in that we are creating our own traditions, and Sam liked it so much at Great Grandma's, he requested it again).
Before bed, the family took a walk to look at the neighborhood homes' displays, as neighborhood goes nuts at Christmas. Sam and Jess noticed a slow moving van going very slowly down the street. As they rounded the block, the same van came cruising slowly down the next street. After some discussion of writing down the license number, they began to notice that there was another slow moving car coming down the block, and then another. Apparently the neighborhood is so done up, people drive by slowly in their cars just to enjoy as well.
After the kids went to bed, Sam and Jess cracked open a bottle of wine they had bought about 4 years ago. It was from a wine tasting trip that they had taken just about when they began to think of starting their family. The bottle of wine is Buttonwood 2004 The Infant.
4 comments:
Looks like a really fine Christmas with old family traditions and new ones too, especially stockings hung around the computer fireplace!
Nice to start your own traditions. We had cinnamon rolls too -- thanks to Theo and a stop at Ikea. Yummy sticky buns.
You had a festive time.
love, Christina
Okay, now that Christmas is over by a few days and I've so much enjoyed all the Christmas photos, I have to say that that thing that was rubbery and sticky in Maddie's stocking that you blow up--well, that looks like a gigantic tick.
while it was sad not to have you all here. i adore the establisment of the k-p traditions
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