springdellgirl

Christmas Vacation 2011

We had a wonderful holiday season this year. Christmas vacation seemed particularly long maybe because we were all sick for most of it. There was a lot of vomiting going on. Regardless, we were able to pack in quite a lot and still had time for lazy days, date nights, reading books and movie nights. Anyway, we are all on the mend now and back to our routine this morning. My alarm going off at 5am this morning was quite the rude awakening.

Here are some pictures from our Christmas vacation. Unfortunately my camera had the audacity to stop working...on Christmas Day...if you can believe it? The pictures taken at my mom's house are courtesy of Kelley.

Our holiday festivities kicked off with the Vintage Christmas sale that Sisters Creed participated in. You can read about it here. We had a great time. It really put me in the mood to decorate for Christmas...which I was NOT in the mood to do before hand. (I had finally completely unpacked us from our "non-move" about 2 days before my sale.) The last thing I wanted to do was put away stuff that I had just unpacked to unpack 10 Christmas bins. But...I did it and I am glad that I did. It was nice to forget about our hideous fall and to enjoy a little Christmas Spirit. You can read about my holiday decorating here.

This year my favorite new decoration was my ruffled tree skirt courtesy of my mother. I love Pinterest. It is full of great ideas that amazing people like my mom pin and then make. These were for sale at our Christmas sale as well as some ruffled burlap ones. Darling. My tree skirt was just so gorgeous that I didn't even want to put any presents under the tree until Christmas eve so I could enjoy it's ruffled beauty.

As previously recorded Ailey participated in her first piano recital. She and Bryn really wanted me to include this picture of them on my blog. I am happy to oblige.

All of Ailey's constant practicing of "I Saw Three Ships" lead to this little number.

Yep. Those are pull-ups on Bryn. We are in potty training hell. I forgot how much I do not enjoy potty training. And...how pull-ups are an enormous waste of money. Luckily Santa brought lots of panties for Brynnie and things are on the upswing.



In case you are wondering why our Christmas Tree went black during the video...it was connected to "the clapper" which hates our voices (particularly mine) and would constantly turn off the tree lights nearly every time I spoke...or laughed...or yelled. Delightful.

Bryn also does a rousing rendition of Dreidel Song (taught to her by Ailey) which she particularly loved to sing at the top of her lungs in Walmart and Costco. I kept waiting for someone to wish us a Happy Hanukkah. If you would like to see the same performance as above including the Dreidel song and the ABCs watch below.






We also celebrated my mom's birthday which you can read about here. If you haven't eaten at the Green Frog in Palouse, WA you are missing out. The Viking Sandwich (a grilled mushroom and Swiss) is the stuff dreams are made of.

I love this picture of my mom and Reilly.

Grandkids eagerly awaiting their food at the Green Frog.

Reilly and Stacey

Elle, Kelley and Stacey

Waiting for Santa and a hay ride

This year to try to eliminate some of the holiday frenzy and stress we decided to pare things down a bit. No sending out of Christmas cards and fewer cookie plates. We still made way too many treats...that no one in our family ate because we weren't feeling all that great...and we should have given them all away. As far as Christmas cards go, we wondered if they were really necessary in the world of Facebook and blogs. My conclusion...yes, they are. Christmas cards are THOUGHTFUL. So to all the thoughtful people who took time out of their busy lives to send us a Christmas card and to wish us a Merry Christmas, they were truly appreciated and you will get a card from us next year. :)

Christmas Eve

I am including pictures of the kids opening pajamas since they are the only "opening of presents" pictures my camera recorded before it bit the big one.

Mary and Joseph...the angel was a little hopped up on sugar and refused to stay in one place long enough for a picture.

The parents

How we really felt!!

Bryn was up until 2 am which made it a little difficult for Santa to make a stop at our house.

On Christmas Day we headed up to my mom's house. We had a fantastic time. Everyone seemed to be feeling better and was in a festive mood.

We were joined by my Uncle Steve and cousin Tania.

The kids table

We ate and laughed and stayed up way too late for the second night in a row. It was wonderful!!

The grandkids...minus three out-of-towners. My mom made silky princess jammies for the little girls with matching peignoirs. Darling. Stacey, Kelley and I would like some adult ones for next year!!

Kelley, Tania, Stacey and Kristin

We had a wonderful New Years full of fun and games, and food and family. We were definitely happy to ring in the New Year.

We hope that 2012 is a wonderful year full of love , joy, health and happiness for everyone!!

Love,