Christmas and then some

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I just love spending time with my family and I love holidays. I don't want it to end and, thanks to the stomach flu for Joe, it kinda feels like it's not ending tomorrow because he's staying home one more day. 

Yay for me! (Worst wife ever, I know.)

When I last left this blog, we were doing something like this:

 

I like that this photo makes it look like we visited a sweet little corner tree stand with sweet bulb light strands. 

It's actually just Lowe's. Just the place where you can build stuff together. They have cheap trees.

Since then we turned that tree into this:

This was Christmas morning. I wanted one picture of my two adorable kids together. Instead I got my four-year-old and an angry elf.

Right now, the tree still has lights and ornaments but it's also incredibly dead. We should throw it away but despite the brittle needles and fire hazard status, the lights at night are still my favorite.

(I'm also still listening to Christmas music. I have a hard time letting go and moving on.)

Back to Christmas morning. We don't have many good shots of all the action and this one is terribly blurry but I love the emotions in it.

She and I love to talk and get excited. I love the quote "we could talk or not talk for hours..." but for Madeline and I, we always have something to say.

We opened our stockings, opened our presents and ate a big breakfast before heading out to grandparents' homes for the rest of the day.

Trying to do our own family Christmas morning plus hitting up both of our parents' homes makes for one long day but it's so worth seeing everyone. 

However, we do sleep very, very well that night.

And I know the photos don't show it but I promise Joe and Caleb were present on Christmas. Promise.

When people ask me how Madeline feels about Santa Claus, I want to whip out this picture of when Santa arrived Madeline's preschool:

She believes. Oh yes, she believes.

We got our first real snowfall last week.

Madeline thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was thankful Caleb was passed out in a deep nap so I could spend some good (but chilly) time with my girl.

Back inside, Madeline has been loving all her spoils/gifts from her very loving grandparents, aunts and uncles.

I had to snap this picture because this was Madeline's lemonade stand. She wanted Joe and I pay with her library card and each time we made a purchase, she asked for our email address and phone number. This girl knows how the checkout process goes when shopping.

Please note the ginormous coloring HOUSE in the background which takes up a third of our living room. Also? She's reading the Lifesavers box. LOVE. HER.

Caleb's been doing pretty well. He had a checkup just before Christmas and keeps gaining weight like a champ.

I'm convinced Turtle stores it all in his cheeks.

For the first time ever, I did not stay up for midnight on New Year's Eve. I've always watched the ball drop and since I've known Joe Mayes, I've always gotten a kiss at midnight.

But I just didn't have it in me this year. Everything started out so normal. Joe and I had our traditional NYE cheese fondue, peppered salami, sushi and Pinot (which I sadly didn't drink this year). We watched "The Bourne Ultimatum and started an episode of "Midsomer Murders" which should have taken us well past midnight. But at 11 p.m., Joe turned to me and said, "I think bed sounds better." 

And I totally agreed.

After I drank my prune juice and smeared some Ben-Gay, I checked my phone during Caleb night feeding and found a text message from my mom. She texted me at 12:15 a.m. to wish us a happy New Year. 

That's right. I got shown up by my mom. Not only did she stay up way later than me, she was awake and alert enough to text. It's a sad state of exhausted affairs over here. But hey, we felt great when we woke up on Sunday morning. 

Totally worth it, prune juice and all.