Let’s start with Christmas Eve.  Cade will remember this as the year UPS let him down.  We waited all day for his Christmas Eve present to be delivered and it never came.  Finally at 8:30 we gave up.  😦  Here’s the official news announcement.

Thousands of holiday gifts won’t arrive by Christmas after an unpredictably large number of packages overwhelmed UPS, the world’s largest package delivery service.

“The volume of air packages in our system exceeded the capacity of our network, as demand was much greater than the forecast,” UPS spokeswoman Natalie Godwin said Tuesday. “As a a result a small percentage of shipments are delayed and will not be delivered today.”””

Cade’s Transformer bed sheets are now among the “small percentage” that will arrive the day after Christmas this year.  I will say I am very grateful for all the UPS workers who were out driving around the country as late as 8:00 last night delivering presents to all the girls and boys.  Cade was not so forgiving, but he handled his misfortune rather well and did get to open a present anyway.  Mom learned an important lesson.  Don’t buy anything online two days before Christmas.  Sometimes even Amazon can’t guarantee two day delivery. 

Next we’ll talk about the Holy Nativity that wasn’t so holy.  The kids were quite a bit more wild this year on Christmas Eve, if you can imagine that.  Consequently all was not calm or bright or silent last night.  Reagan and Liberty had a knock out brawl over who was going to be the angel, until he convinced her that she could be the angel “partner”.  And isn’t that just what Jesus would want on his birthday- children fighting over parts in his nativity?  After all the fuss and screaming, Liberty changed her mind and decided to be Mary anyway.  Except for the shepherd scene where she abandoned the manger and baby Jesus to sing in the angel choir.  She got back to the stable just as the shepherds were comin round the bend.  Levi spent the entire show being either a sheep that would not listen to the shepherd’s voice or a camel with a hairball in its mouth.  Cade decided he’d had enough shepherding this year and played the dual role of Joseph and a wise man.  Reagan would not perform as the angel until his hair was ‘done’ and then he spent much of the time flapping his big white sheet in everyone’s face and jumping from the highest point in the room.  All in all it was loud, rowdy and hardly spiritual at all.  Sigh.  I’m thinking we need to rethink it next year. Maybe we could do it in mime.

Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem.  The road to Bethlehem was all uphill for this donkey.

Christmas morning went mostly well.  No crying, no “he got a bigger one!” and the kids were silent until the very late hour of 6:30!!!  Benadryl works wonders!!!! 

This was the Christmas of the bikes.

 
If you know anything about our children you will not be surprised to know that the excitement over the bikes lasted for all of one minute and then they were sniffing the presents under the tree for the Legos.  Sigh.   Santa graciously let Mom and Dad buy the legos this year, so once that coveted gift was open, the boys took a two hour break to put them together!  I got a nice nap in!

What did Liberty do during those two hours you ask?

She patiently waited for her brothers while coloring the entire Hello Kitty notepad they got her. 

Car and Driver Magazine was a BIG hit.  I wish I could have gotten their excitement on video. 

The sparkly crayons and Strawberry Shortcake coloring book were also a big hit.

This was my big hit.

I’ve wanted a Christus forever! 

This was my favorite wrapped gift.  Courtesy of Amazon.  Maybe I won’t have them wrap my gifts anymore.  LOL.

Thanks, Aunt Alli for all the cool presents!  Reagan is creating his next Stop Motion Video as I write!

Reagan and Cade pooled their money to get me a pizza stone!! 
 
I’m very excited to use it and so proud of them for making their own money to buy it for me!

And lastly, the annual Christmas pictures in front of the fireplace.  For the first six, just look at Levi.  He’s a riot.  Not helpful at ALL, but a riot.

Finally a good one…

Boy, that was a lot of work!

We hope you all have as good a Christmas as we’ve had.  We love you all and wish we could be with you!  Merry Christmas!