Christmas fun

Our Christmas was incredible! We had the best time on Christmas Eve with family at Nana and Poppy's house, then a blast opening Christmas gifts on Christmas morning at our house. Then more fun on Christmas night at Aunt Mare and Uncle Ted's house. These kids are spoiled with all the fun, family, food, presents and general craziness! I don't think anyone in our house went to bed before 9:30pm on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

The kids all loved opening all of their goodies the best, of course. Robbie's favorites seem to be anything that had a "Scottie" gift tag on it. ;) Scottie's favorite was my personal favorite, though. It seemed to be the only thing on any list that didn't come from a commercial. It was just something he thought up and asked Santa to bring: a drum. A simple, basic, old-fashioned tin drum. And Santa delivered. Scottie's enjoyment is obvious!
And Allie's favorite was just watching the chaos and being in the midst of all the pretty paper and bows.

There really is nothing that can compare to the wonder of Christmas through your children's eyes!!

Christmas Rejects

This was first printed in my column, "Because I Said So," on The Alternative Press.

My kids are so good. Every year, come December, they put up with my alter ego: Crazy Picture Lady. They suffer through about four clothes changes, some in sweaters, some in jammies, some with Santa hats, some without. They sit in front of the tree, on the steps, by the stockings, on a chair, on a stool, kneeling, standing, and sitting in laps. Crazy Picture Lady only comes around once a year, but can stick around for as many as three or four days, depending on how tough it is to get a shot good enough to be deemed "The Christmas Card Photo." One year, I counted and took 281 pictures of my kids to get one useable photo for our family Christmas cards. (This year may have come close to that. Good thing I didn't count!) Thank goodness for digital photography and the "continuous" option on my camera that just keeps the pictures snapping away while I hold down the button to try to get one shot of all three kids looking in the same direction with something resembling smiles on their faces.

As I shuffle through the hundreds of photos on my computer, trying to find the perfect one, I have a great time laughing at some of the rejects. In one, the baby's Santa hat was completely covering her eyes, so all you could see was her little nose and mouth. In another, my younger son had a wide open mouth full of cereal for the world to see. In yet another, my oldest son was holding up his pointer finger in the "I'm #1" pose. I laugh as I see them looking at each other and laughing at their crazy mommy. So I saved a few of the rejects to share this year, just because they're so much fun. In fact, a couple of the rejects are now on my computer desktop because they're my new favorites. They actually show my kids' true personalities. And they reflect the reality that is our family. Far from perfect, but much more fun.

Putting my album of rejects together made me think of all the misfit toys from my favorite Christmas show, the old-school Rankin-Bass production of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Those cute little misfits were the rejects of their lot, too. A train with square wheels, a Charlie-in-the-box, a bird fish, and a spotted elephant. All deemed too imperfect to be played with. But they've ended up as stars of the show now. Even Santa recognizes their value in the end.

The Christmas season is filled with so much magic and wonder, but so many of us make ourselves crazy trying to get everything perfect. We want our table to look "just so" for our guests, our house decked to perfection in every room, even our landscape twinkling with perfectly-spaced lights on every tree or bush. Yes, it's a magical time, but I think the misfits and rejects are what make it so magical. Some of my favorite ornaments on my Christmas tree are old and faded and worn. There are threadbare hand-knit ornaments that my grandmother made for my parents' tree, paint-chipped toy soldiers and snowmen that were gifts to me as a kid, and one little bear ball that my Nana had bought the year she passed away. I collect Christmas angels as my favorite decorations and my three favorite angels are each broken or worn in some way. But I take them out of their boxes every year and remember the time, place and person who gave them to me with warmth and fondness. If I could find brand new versions of the same favorite angels, I wouldn't trade them for anything. It's their imperfections that give them character. I suppose I have my own misfit choir of Christmas angels. But I love them.

So I thought I'd send out a misfit version of a Christmas wish for all of you. Instead of wishing that your holiday season be filled with perfection, I actually am wishing that you're able to find the joy in all of the misfits and rejects you encounter. May your wreaths hang a little crooked, your cookies come out a little crumbly, and your Christmas card photos be crazy. I wish for you that all the imperfections of the season bring you nothing but joy and laughter and fodder for future Christmas stories worth retelling.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!

Our big boy, Scottie

This week saw two visits to the pediatrician for us. First was not good, for Allie's first fever (101.6). Second was a happier visit, for Scottie's 3 year well visit.

He continues to grow right on up those charts. He's between the 50th and 75th percentiles for both height and weight. He's 37.75 inches tall and 33 lbs even. Scottie and Robbie now weigh exactly the same amount, despite their 17 months difference in age! Definitely continuing the string bean and meatball categories.

The boys are getting into the Christmas spirit, as is our house. The halls are decked and kids all went to see Santa today. Fun stuff! We're loving our DVR right now, as we have so many fun Christmas specials to record (thank you ABC Family). It's a little before-bed indulgence for all of us these days. The boys love the Rankin-Bass claymation shows just as much as I did. I know I could buy them on DVD, but it's just not as special as when they're on TV once a year.

Here's hoping all of you are enjoying the season!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Scottie!!

Scottie turned 3 today!! I can't believe my baby boy is three years old!! He had a fantastic day, filled with lots of fun stuff.

Woke up this morning to all of his birthday goodies and lots of balloons. He wanted an animal themed birthday, so we went to Build-A-Bear in the morning. Scottie made a special stuffed elephant (his favorite animal), which he named "L. E." Robbie made a stuffed zebra named "Zoozer," and the boys made Allie a stuffed bunny, which they named "Bellie Bunagoo." They all had a blast!

After naps, we all headed out for a night of bowling. Nana and Poppy joined us and we all had lots of fun. They have a cool ramp thing you can put in front of the lane to help the kids get the ball rolling fast enough. That plus the gutter guards made for lots of fun for Scottie and Robbie! They both had such a great time!!

Wonderful day for my wonderful boy. Happy Birthday, kiddo! You will always be the absolute BEST surprise I ever got. I just can't imagine our lives without you. We love you!!

First Solid Food!

Big day over here yesterday. Allie got to try her first solid food! We skip the rice cereal at 4 months and just wait until 5 months to do the baby oatmeal. (We learned our lesson about the binding nature of the rice with Robbie.)

Allie did great and seemed to enjoy getting to eat off a spoon for a change! Of course, the tongue thrust reflex forces most of the food right back out of her mouth again anyway, but she managed to eat her entire first serving. Ron did a great job of the spoon swipe to get the food off her chin, and Robbie quipped that it looked like Daddy was shaving Allie's face! I had to include a little video of her experience below.

Then, last night, we took the kids into town for the annual Christmas Walk. Nothing like standing outside watching Santa arrive on a rooftop and parading down the street after the high school marching band to make you love living in a small town. It's all very Rockwellian with kids atop shoulders and carols being sung on the church lawn. I love that night in this town!

I've been Tagged...

I've been tagged! I was tagged by Kate to share Eight Things About Me. Here are my replies:

8 Favorite TV Shows

• Grey's Anatomy
• Eli Stone
• Desperate Housewives
• Brothers & Sisters
• Lipstick Jungle
• House
• Army Wives
• Big Bang Theory

8 Things I Look Forward To

• Christmas
• Bank Holidays
• Naptime
• Tackle Hugs at preschool pickup
• Allie's face when she sees me first thing in the morning
• Ron getting home from work at night
• My April Girls' Weekend away
• Penn State Football Saturdays

8 Things on My Wish List

• Kitchen renovation
• Financial security
• Sushi everyday
• Losing weight
• Housekeeper
• The ability to get inside Scottie's head to understand him better
• More motivation
• More patience

8 Things I Did Yesterday

• Took the boys to preschool
• Vacuumed
• Did Laundry
• Played Elefun
• Cooked dinner
• Changed diapers
• Sat on the bathroom floor while attempting to get Scottie to use the potty
• Finished a batch of hairbows for Allie

8 Favorite Restaurants

• East
• Midori
• Arthur's
• Tony's Pizza
• Texas Roadhouse
• Wild Wings
• Monster Sushi
• Black Horse Pub

8 People to Tag
I am supposed to tag eight bloggers here, but I can only come up with four bloggers I know well enough to pester to update their blogs (hint, hint). Copy what's here and do the same on your blog if you can. I totally understand if you don't want to join in, but let me know if you do!
Robin
Marla
Kelly
Jen
Rules, Rules - here are the rules:'
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Answer all 8 of the six items listed.
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog or emailing.

November in NJ

November seems to have flown by so far. I can't believe it's already Thanksgiving week and Scottie's birthday and Christmas is just around the corner!

We've spent most weekends this month tackling the never-ending flood of leaves. We laugh at how all we wanted in Charlotte were some mature trees on our property and here in NJ we talk about cutting off limbs and contemplate chopping down trees to reduce the leaves, acorns, twigs and other yard debris that drops in the fall!

At least the kids have enjoyed the leaf cleanup. Even Allie got into the act when we brought her jolly jumper outside and hung it on a tree limb (so those trees ARE good for something)!.

Robbie likes to pretend he's Daddy with his own leaf blower.

Scottie likes to run under the blowing leaves and collect them in his bucket.

And both boys love to jump in the piles. Fun stuff!