The Elf on the Shelf has arrived! He made the journey to NZ in Grandma Fran and Grandpa Dennis' luggage when they visited us in November. He has been watching the kids everyday in the
lead up till Christmas. Each night he reports to Santa on the boys' behaviour. Luca would get delight in waking up and rushing around the house trying to find out where Ralph (that's his name) was sitting. Each day he would be in a new location, but the boys were not allowed to touch him - otherwise his magic might fade. This was all well and good....until the bug man arrived.
The week before Christmas he came to spray the house for spiders - and we walked around the house together covering up all the toys, pillows etc. While I was in the other room covering up cots and toys, he must have advised Luca to move the elf. That day I looked everywhere for that darn elf, and started to panic that the bug man had hidden him away somewhere. We ended up finding the elf under Luca's duvet. The
bugman apparently instructed him to move the elf somewhere safe. I can just imagine the puzzled look on Luca's face when he was asked to move it....when we had so clearly been telling him DO NOT TOUCH THE ELF.
And our own real live version of a little Elf! Wyatt on Christmas morning with his one tooth.
When Luca woke up, the first thing he noticed was not the presents, but that the cookies were gone and part of the carrot had been eaten. This was the first Christmas that Luca really understood what was going on.
Mommy, we don't want to take pictures, we want to open up more presents!
Our baby alarm clock went off at the standard time of 6:30am, and the festivities began. Stockings, gifts, a cooked breakfast of homemade egg
mcmuffins,
skyping and more
skyping, and playing with toys. Again we all were spoiled. James got me a gym membership to my beloved gym in the city (this year I have been going to the university gym because I was a poor student but I MUCH prefer my other gym, and now that I'm going back to work we'll be able to afford it again). I think most wives would take that as suggestion to get into shape - but James knows I've been wanting to go back to my old gym, so this was a perfect gift. The day after boxing day, guess who went to the gym? Thanks Babe :-)
James got a pile of new clothes from family in the States - and they all fit! He loves them. I also surprised him with a new ipod. The boys...well yeah, you guessed it....more toys! (and a sleeping bag, magazine subscription, PJ's, and socks). Thank you Dad and Fran, Mom and Bob, Erin, and Grandma Loomis for sending us gifts to make our Christmas Day special.
We did something that we usually don't do. We went to church. We all enjoyed it, and it has inspired us to get back into Christianity and find a church to join. More about this in a later post. It's an exciting development in our little family, and one I am really looking forward to.
Then the chaos began...everyone started arriving at our place for Christmas Lunch. James' Dads' side of the family came over - about 20 of them. It turned out better than I had expected. We had plenty of food, and it was a great afternoon. You feel like a real grown up when it's actually your turn to host Christmas. Now that we've had our turn, I guess we are off the hook from hosting it for the next few years...lol.
Caydn (Luca and Wyatt's oldest Cousin) and his new guitar. He's a very talented musician.
James' Aunts, and Miang
Your lovely Christmas hosts...look at us in our matching black shirts - I didn't even realize this on the day (PS...mom, James loves that shirt!) We were exhausted by the end of the day and took all our leftover desserts to our neighbors. We had eaten too much and just wanted it out of the house. We had
sooo much food left over and the last thing we wanted were rich calorie laden desserts. Our neighbors gladly accepted the desserts.
Unfortunately the next day we were like, "
hmmm, I kind of wish we would have saved a few of those desserts." Ha ha...live and learn.
Luca's new inflatable
crocodile. He's got a thing for alligators and
crocodiles. He insisted he take it in shower with him. It takes up the entire shower. When the shower was over James stood it up in the corner of the shower, and in the middle of the night when I used the bathroom it scared the living daylights out of me. From the corner of my eye it looked like someone was actually standing in the shower - YIKES.
What do guys in the army do when they have a few weeks off work? Grow beards, of course.
My wondeful and gorgeous friend Toni and her husband Darron
And there were many, many more
