The Great Gift Dilemma

Daddy and I have been avoiding shopping for Gracie and Luke. We can't really agree on what to buy them for Christmas. Should we get them Mr. Potato Head? A Sit and Spin? Big Wheels? Food for their play kitchen? What?

I think what is bothering me is they already have so many toys; toys they don't seem to play with. They have puzzles whose pieces are strewn about their room. They have books that are read, but mostly destroyed (their new favorite thing is tearing the covers off of their books). They have dolls and stuffed animals that they sometimes cuddle, but mostly live in a storage box. They have Lego Duplos and they like those, but I'm always finding them in crazy places and am terrified that Daddy will trip on them.

It's frustrating. We want Gracie and Luke to have toys that will spark their imaginations and give them the opportunity to play. But, we don't want to add to the unused toys and we don't want them to get the message that Christmas is all about gifts.

Today, a writer on a How Do You Do It?, a multiples mommy blog, wrote about this very topic. She added that she is making service as a part of her family's traditions. I love this idea and I'm going to have to work on how we can contribute during the holiday season.

One thing that caught my attention was this: limiting the gifts we give our children to 4.

• Something they want
• Something they need
• Something to wear
• Something to read

This makes total sense to me and will be a great guideline as we go forward. Strangely, this is what Grandma and Grandpa have been doing for years (minus the "read" gift). They always give Daddy and his brothers one thing they want, underwear/shaving supplies/cologne they need, and a new outfit or jacket to wear.

I'm feeling a little better now that I can focus myself. Hey! Maybe we will actually go shopping this week!

The Metrolink Holiday Toy Train

Every year, Metrolink sponsors a Holiday Toy Train (it really should be a Christmas train since Santa is involved). They pair up with the local firefighters and collect toys from the people who stop by to see the show. This year, the firefighters were called away to take care of an emergency, so we did not get to give them they toys we brought. However, we plan to stop by our fire station so that the toys can be given out to people who need them.

We've been going since before Gracie and Luke were born. In the beginning, it was just Cousin Hailey! Last year, I took Gracie and Luke and they were interested, but not as much as I suspected they would be this year. Boy, was I right! They loved the lights and kept pointing at all of the characters dancing around. Gracie even sang along with some of the songs.

Aunt Bec, Gracie and Bianca sat on the cold ground to watch the show.

Bianca (a.k.a. The Picture Ham!) and Gracie from above.

Lukie was very interested in drinking his entire chocolate milk.

Why is Bianca in so many pictures?
Don't you love the chocolate milk moustache?

Nate and Brandon waited patiently for the train.

Gracie looking at Baby Emmie sleeping in her wagon, decorated with lights.

Gracie and Lukie looking for the train.

A spontaneous smile!

Baby Emmie (believe it or not, she's wearing an outfit Gracie wore last winter!) and Aunt Bec

Lukie loved the lights.

The reindeer (a.k.a. "horsies!") on the Holiday Toy Train.

Cookie Day 2009

When I was little, Cookie Day was actually more like "Cookie Weekend" with Auntley. We'd spend days with her at Grandma's house, making cookies, fudge, brownies, breads and making ourselves sick in the process. I have an image in my head of one particular Christmas when we made SO many cookies that Grandma's entire dining room table was covered end to end with sugar cookies, chocolate cookies with chocolate frosting, snowball cookies, chocolate chip cookies, Auntley's favorite thumb print cookies, and refrigerator fudge. There were more cookies than anyone could ever could have eaten and it is one of the few memories I will never lose.

Aunt Bec, Auntie Ten Ten, and I have tried to recapture some of the magic of cookie day. I don't know if there are too many adults involved, if the kids are all to little, or what, but it hasn't quite developed into an event that can match our amazing memories of Cookie Days Past. However, I can say, that we have fun anyway! Cookie Day is evolving into the memory we will make of it.

This year, we met at Aunt Bec's house to bake our cookies. We went through more than 3 lbs of butter, two bags of flour, one bag of powdered sugar, one full bag of granulated sugar, a dozen and a half eggs, and 4 bags of chocolate chips (semisweet, white, and peanutbutter/chocolate combo). This year will be dubbed as the St. Paul's Cookie Day. Nana found a cookbook from St. Paul's Parish (where Auntley was the principal of the Elementary and Middle Schools for 20 years) hiding in her house. We opened it up and found a treasure trove of recipes, including the original recipe for Snowball Cookies! Yay!

Some of the recipes worked better than others. For example, the Snowball Cookie recipe rocked! The lemon bar recipe was a major fail. The lemony part never made the nice solid gooeyness that is a required part of lemon bars. We were very disappointed.

Nana suggested that we create a Cook Girl Cookie Day Cookbook and store all of our favorite cookie recipes in there so that we preserve them for all time. I'm thinking maybe we could make one and take pictures of our cookies, along with some pictures of ourselves making the cookies and I can create photobooks for each of us. Wouldn't that be cool?

We had a great time! Many thanks to Auntie Ten Ten (from whose Facebook page I have stolen these pictures because I failed to take a single picture).

Here I am cutting the lemon bars that never solidified!
They stayed a liquidy mess. Aunt Bec had to throw them out.
She told me the other day that she has been craving them ever since
the Great Lemon Bar Debacle.

Here's Aunt Bec with me in her kitchen.
Her oven is crazy and kept trying to burn the cookies.
For Christmas, I am going to call the Gas Company so that they can fix the temperature!

Auntie Ten Ten helping Nathan and Gracie "paint" their cookies.

Lukie creating a "Lukie Special" as Auntie Ten Ten called them. They consisted of frosting, white chocolate chips, saliva from licked fingers, saliva from licking the spoon, and sprinkles.

Gracie enjoying a cookie she "painted."

Nana with all of the Girly Grandchildren.
See the terror on Emmie's face? She was not excited about the picture.
Notice how there are no more bows in Gracie's hair. They did not last long!

Left to right: Emmie, Hailey, Nana, Gracie, and Bianca.

Nana with the Boy Grandchildren.

Left to right: Brandon, Lukie (OMG! Look at that crazy hair!),
Nana, and Nathan.

Tiny note for posterity: Cookie Day was Sunday, December 6. Yes, it took me more than a week to post these pictures.

One Step Closer to Christmas

I haven't mailed our Christmas cards. One moment it was Thanksgiving and, today, I looked at the calendar and it is December 12! Where did the time go?

I sat down tonight to try to get them started and realized none of my attempts at photos of Gracie and Luke have gone well. So, I decided to see if I could digitally scrap something together. This is our Christmas picture to be included with our cards (at least when I get them done):


If you usually get a Christmas Card from us, keep your eyes open for this crazy creation!

Our Lone Picture with Santa

Gracie will not sit with Santa.

But Lukie will!

So far, this is our only picture with Santa. Really, Lukie only sat on Santa's lap for the candy.

It worries me that my son will do anything for a peppermint candy cane!

An Attempt at a Christmas Image

People everywhere seem to be able to get pictures of their children smiling, giggling, looking straight into the camera.

Mine? They want nothing to do with it and unless my camera has a spanking new battery in it, it can't focus quickly enough to snap the shot. As a result, I have a ton of pictures of the sides of Gracie and Lukie's heads. Two weeks ago, we spent Sunday with Nana in anticipation of the Metrolink Christmas Train. We started our day at Victoria Gardens and attempted to take a picture in front of the Christmas tree. I won't bore you with the story of how our visit to Santa was thwarted, yet again.

Instead, I give you a selection of pictures that did not make it into our Christmas Card:






Seriously. Is it too much to ask?

Nana tried to convince Gracie to smile for me.
That didn't work either.

It's happening again

...I have about 3 different blog posts bouncing around my brain. All of them include pictures which currently live on my camera or video that currently lives in my Flip.

I promise to come back soon with updates.

Here's a sneak peek:

1) Christmas Light Festival

2) Cookie Day

3) Christmas Lights at home

All Christmas until 12/25!