Christmas Break 2011

Yes, I realize this took almost a month to write, but better late than never, right?

The Mommy Necklace
Cruise came home from school the day before Christmas break with an awesome gift for me: a hand painted (in my favorite blue-turquoise color) round jewelry box with a special necklace inside that says 'Love Cruise'. I was so excited! I always wanted a Mommy necklace! It's like the final initiation into Mommy-dom. Ha ha ha! Really though, I love it!

Backwards Underwear
Cruise decided just as the holiday season began, that he'd start dressing himself. I for one didn't realize he actually knew how, so it was a huge surprise when he refused any help dressing himself. He usually does pretty good except his underwear usually ends up backwards and his shirts, if the same on both sides, is backwards as well. Not to mention his shoes are usually on the wrong feet. But it is really nice not having to dress both of them anymore. I can just hand Cruise some clothes and tell him to get dressed! Woohoo!!!

Excited!
Cruise LOVES Christmas, believe it or not, he loves Christmas more than Halloween! Which means he loves it A LOT! One evening, while poor Daddy was passed out on the floor from being overworked and under-rested, Cruise put on his Santa hat and had his stuffed animals pretend to sit on his lap. He even tried to get Jett to sit on his lap, but Jett's not the most cooperative two year old.

I like to call this one "The Thinker on Daddy"

There was one evening when we received some Christmas carolers. Our neighbors and their kids came by, sang, and brought some treats. Cruise was absolutely ecstatic over this new experience. He HAD to try it! So he immediately grabbed a couple candy canes off the tree, got his coat and shoes, and made Dave take him caroling. They went by the neighbor's house where he sang "Jingle Bells" in his own style as he danced, handed them the candy cane, and said, "Merry Christmas!" That earned him a hug and kiss. He then headed to another neighbor's house but found that they weren't home, so he tried other homes who also didn't answer their doors. Walking around that much makes a little boy hungry, so he started eating the other candy cane. He finally went back to the second house and tried again. They answered and so he sang his song, handed them a half-eaten candy cane, and wished them a Merry Christmas. He and Dave came home and Cruise was just so excited! The next day he asked to go again, so we whipped up a bunch of cookies and stopped by the same houses and then a few to make up for the half eaten candy cane. I swear he could've caroled all day long.

Festivus

For those of you who don't know what Festivus is, you'll have to watch this episode of Seinfeld:

If you do, however, welcome to the Greer Girls' 1st Family Festivus!

As a fun little joke, we all decided to celebrate Festivus this year. We had a potluck dinner, followed by the Airing of Grievances, and concluded with the Feats of Strength.

The Festivus Pole covered in Grievances

Christmas Eve
Cruise had a really tough time with Festivus, and we summed it up to not having his necessary dose of proprioceptive and vestibular input. So Christmas Eve day, we all drove up to Aspen Grove and did some sledding. Jett and I got cold really fast, but Dave and Cruise couldn't get enough of the snow and sledding. So after a bit, Jett and I headed for the car and watched a movie while we waited for them.

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Every Christmas Eve, my Mom always makes a big spaghetti dinner followed by opening family presents (Santa presents are for the morning, obviously). Before heading over, we had the boys open their presents from Dave and I. Jett got Don't Spill the Beans and Cruise got Ants In My Pants. Dave got a nice soft scarf from the boys and two long sleeve shirts from me. And Dave gave me some new Victoria's Secret perfume. Then we all met at my parents' house and enjoyed a big spaghetti and meatball meal and enjoyed Charlotte's vegan/gluten-free trifle for dessert. It was AMAZING as usual.

Then we all got to open family presents.

Cruise with his new SpongeBob matching game from Grandma and Grandpa Greer

Jett with his Zingo game from Grandma & Grandpa Greer

Buzz Bandaids

Something we didn't get a picture of was my new dishes from my parents! I got a beautiful set of black and white damask dishes for my new house.

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve, Dave and I spent 3 hours putting up the boys' big present: a train set. It was a little tough shopping for the the boys this year since they are definitely not in need of anymore toys. But, you know, it's Christmas.

Christmas morning, Cruise was the first one up. He was instantly in love with the train set. He didn't even notice the presents under the tree. Jett heard Cruise up, so he was up and playing in no time. It was so nice to have them playing with the same thing and not be fighting! Woohoo! (I have no idea why the font isn't working in this part...sorry).

Cruise signing & saying "STOP"

We finally were able to divert their attention to the rest of their presents. Since they weren't really low on toys, I decided to get them some things to make their rooms a little more fun. Part of this idea came from the fact that we'll be moving soon and I want the transition to go as smooth as possible. So I figured if they have certain things in their rooms that makes it theirs, they'll adjust at least to their new rooms a bit easier. That's the idea in theory. Who know how it'll go. 

Anyway, for Cruise, we got him some space wall decals, a space bed set, and a Moon In My Room (AWESOME!). For Jett's room, we got him Buzz Lightyear wall decals, an alien lamp (the alien from Toy Story), and the same space bed set. 

The boys also got Christmas tree shaped crayons that I made for them, a couple coloring books, candy, a toothbrush, Cruise got the movie ELF (one of his favorites) and Jett got the new Winnie the Pooh movie, and they each got 3 Star Wars character toys. Oh, and Dave got the new X-Men movie in his stocking.

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Here's Cruise's finished "room". He currently sleeps in the living room aka playroom, so it was nice to make his little corner more bedroom-ish. Jett's I still have to take a picture of.

Moon In My Room lamp

After opening presents, the boys went back to playing with the train while I made our big Christmas breakfast of waffles with fruit and whipped cream, scrambled eggs, sausage, and orange juice.

Despite the fact that church was going to be cut short, we knew what would happen if we had gone: major meltdown from Cruise because there would be no Primary class after Sacrament meeting. I just wasn't up for that on Christmas Day. So we skipped Church and talked about the birth of Jesus with the boys. For the rest of the morning, they played with the train table without any fighting. It was AWESOME! 

That afternoon, we headed over to my parents' house to have our Christmas Feast with my sister and her family. My parents and other sister & her hubby all left for California early that morning. Our feast included ham, loaded sweet potatoes, green beans, lots of bubbly, rolls and Charlotte's amazing potatoes. For dessert, we had pumpkin pie and more trifle. It was all delicious! 

In the evening we visited with Dave's sister Mary and her family and his brother Dan and his wife Sofia. We ate dessert and swapped gifts. I was actually really impressed at how well our boys did with the long day. Christmas was a success! 

Here's a few fun pictures from the break:

Oh yeah...did I tell you we got a house? : )