Our Happy Holidays

I took a break from posting to give my family a special gift...my undivided attention for the holidays! Here's how we spent our time:


I woke up early on Christmas and tiptoed downstairs to stuff the turkey, hoping to slip past the radar of our very excited younger kids. Didn't happen...Tanya and Max were on the stairs in a flash, begging me to be allowed to storm the Christmas tree. I sent them back upstairs for 15 minutes so I could get the turkey in the oven. By then, even Ms. Teenage Kate was awake and begging to begin Christmas. Craig was obviously not feeling well but he got up and the frenzy began about 7:00am, first the kids saw what Santa brought them (a guitar for Tanya, an archery set for Kate, and a huge number of Legos for Max). Then we moved on to stockings, followed by the rest of the gifts...and somewhere in all of this fun, Craig seemed to be melting. He lasted until the kids opened all of their gifts but didn't feel well enough to open much himself. As I started fixing the kids bagels for breakfast, Dad went back to bed...and he stayed there until dinner was served. The poor guy was feverish and achy all day, managed to eat some dinner and then melted back into bed again. Was it a fun Christmas for him? Well, not his best...but we were home and all together for Christmas so we're calling it a success. As for gifts...well, nothing could possibly beat the gift we got in court when our adoption was granted.

The rest of Christmas week was great, Craig recovered nicely and the kids had a blast with their gifts. They all got cookbooks and we spent the next few days trying recipes. Tanya made delicious Russian blini (thin crepes/pancakes) for all of us and Max made a Jello and fruit dessert to share with us all and Kate made a Spanish frittata that was delicious. Flush with these culinary successes, Kate suggested that they all make Dad a special birthday dinner (Craig's bday is December 30). Max baked brownies with butterscotch chips and chocolate frosting for Dad's cake, Tanya made a beautiful banner and helped decorate with crepe paper streamers, and Kate made Prawns in Garlic Oil, Parmesan Risotto, and Olive Bread with Mom acting as sous chef. I have to say, the meal was very tasty and I was so proud of our kids for wanting to give their Dad this special treat for his birthday.


New Year's Eve was fun, too, in spite of freezing cold temps and quite a bit of fresh snow. The kids made individual pizzas for dinner and watched movies. Our closest friends, Rick and Deb, joined us for appetizers and a simple dinner of delicious soup that Rick made, served with crusty bread.
I passed out party hats and noisemakers so that our celebration wasn't too quiet. The kids were thrilled to be allowed to stay up until midnight and they were going strong, running in and out of the kitchen to visit with us and blow their noisemakers. The grown-ups toasted the New Year with champagne at 11pm and our friends went home, then we joined the kids upstairs in the family room to watch the ball drop on TV.

By this time, the kids were pretty tired...they managed to stay awake long enough to toast 2009 at midnight (that's ice water in those champagne flutes), then they collapsed into bed. Max was literally asleep the second his head hit the pillow, Tanya and Kate weren't far behind.

We started the first day of the New Year by going to a rug sale...we bought new area rugs for the kids' rooms on a special inventory clearance...then we went to a party! Rick and Deb host an annual New Year's Day Open House and we always attend, it's a great chance to catch up with all of our friends and review the events of the past year. (We had lots of news to share this year!)

After the party, we headed home to do something exciting...we took apart Max's bunk beds and cleaned his room. Why was this exciting? Because it was in preparation for the delivery of the triple bunk beds we purchased last week for our 3!!! boys to sleep in. Yes, it's true...after all the waiting and worrying, the time has finally come to prepare for the boys to join us in our home. I've never smiled so much while cleaning...Happy New Year indeed!