Waive Goodbye to Your Luggage

December 15th was the day we took the Pull family show on the road.  Actually, it was a plane.  Thankfully, this time it was an afternoon show, not a morning show.  When we travel, an onlooker sees two things:

1.  strange packages and

2. lots and  lots of luggage

They probably see lots of other things, too, but let's just keep to the luggage.

This asymmetrical, taped up fiasco of a box was one of our checked bags this Christmas.  I was transporting some wreaths (gifts) that simply would NOT fit in our big as can be, but still within the allowable limit, suitcases.  At 11 AM on the morning of our 3PM departure, after realizing our suitcases were incapable of housing the wreaths (I know, I know, excellent planning), I broke down a large box, cut it up and taped it back together.  I was in a hurry and this beauty here:

 

is the final product.  Upon seeing it the ticketing agent (and my husband) gave an audible sigh accompanied by an eye roll (Joe here, too) and some spiel about me needing to sign a waiver (this was just the ticketing agent).  The waiver said something about them not being responsible if my box and wreaths got run over by the airplane and smashed to smithereens.  Evidently airlines don't like boxes.  Who knew?

That beautiful, funny shaped box, held up very well.  Thankyouverymuch.  It made it all the way from the floor of my living room to this picture in the Minneapolis airport at midnight (and beyond), along with all of our other bags and stroller.  The kids and Joe made it, too, and I didn't have to sign any waivers for them. 

What didn't make it was three out of our four carseats.  I signed a waiver for these, too, but I'm pretty sure the waiver didn't cover the total loss of the carseats, just the destruction of them.  Funny how these things work.  The fine lady at the Southwest counter gave us some loaner carseats to take to the hotel and return when our actual carseats arrived (hopefully without having come into contact with the airplane wheels).  She also gave us $50 worth of future flight credit.  I asked her if she'd like to lose any more of my bags.  I could really use another $50 or $100 of flight credit.  It's expensive paying for all those airline seats, and no matter how hard I try, Xandra and Theia won't agree to ride in any suitcases or funny shaped, taped up boxes. 

I guess they're scared of getting lost. 

Puddin' Face

To go along with the Christmas flashlights, Joe also bought each of the girls a four pack of pudding cups.  Xandra did not care for the pudding, but Theia and Liyah enjoyed theirs, 

a lot.

Maybe Xandra didn't like the pudding cup because she thought that in order to truly enjoy it, one must look like this:

It's unclear whether or not this child actually consumed any pudding.  She may have just used it as face paint.

Note to self:  next time Joe gives the girls pudding cups, they eat them at dinner and daddy's on clean up duty.

Unstuffing

The morning after Christmas around our house is the time when we usually tear into stockings. This year, however, since momma was a bit under the weather, we put it off for a day.   Xandra was old enough to know that things were out of sync but she didn't give me too much trouble over the delayed appearance of the fun tradition of unstuffing stockings.

As usual, nestled in the stockings are hats and scarves for each girl.  I whipped these up out of some leftover fleece.

They also each got an apron.  The aprons are double sided with pockets along the bottom.  I made a number of these this summer and we've shared them with many of the girls' friends for birthdays and special events.  I think the girls were excited to get their own to wear around their kitchen.

Aliyah also got a crayon wallet, too.  Xandra and Theia got theirs last Christmas and she's done her fair share of stealing theirs away this year.  I decided she was big enough for one, too, and whipped one up for her a few weeks before Christmas.

There were a few other odds and ends, some homemade playdough, individual tape dispensers, flip flops, socks, and of course, a bit of candy (which the big girls got to eat a piece of before breakfast).

For the first year, I, too, got a stocking.  Thanks, Santa.  Joe informed me, as I was unstuffing my stocking that good stockings have two primary parts (I fill our stockings each year and I had no idea there were rules):

1.  Lots of small loose things (I had a pair of socks (brightly striped, warm and fuzzy), a Susan Boyle Christmas CD (yay!), and some corn on the cob holders (they were loose in the bottom)) 

2.  Something sweet (I got a big SAMS bag of Splenda since I'm trying to drop some weight right now.  I love Splenda, but hate to spend the money on it as it's very expensive, so it was the perfect gift!). 

I'm glad I now know how to properly fill the stockings.  I would greatly dislike (Xandra always yells at me when I say hate) it if our children grew up with improperly stuffed stockings.  I'm guessing it would be a real black spot on their childhoods. 

A Christmas to Remember

Every year during the Christmas season, a song, sometimes one that I've heard many, many times, will stick with me and seem to fit the current season.  This year's song was A Christmas to Remember, sung by Amy Grant.  Here's a little excerpt:

I know it's true
Time doesn't stand still
Many things can change
But we know some things never will
The memories we share
The songs we always sing
The mystery of life
The hopefulness this season brings
And I have a dream or two
Maybe they will come true

Setting our hopes on a big snow tonight
We'll wake up to a world of white
It's gonna be a Christmas to remember
Light up the fire, play some Nat King Cole
Always sentimental and don't you know that
It's gonna be a Christmas to remember

Here are a few reasons why I just couldn't get that song out of my head:
Christmas at our house, which was celebrated on the 12th of December, began as every Christmas should,

with a warm fire and the burning of the yule log (aka last year's Christmas tree).

Joe read the Christmas story from Luke 2 while we all attentively listened. 

Okay, the kids weren't that attentive, and I felt like sleeping or throwing up or at least like laying down, which kept me from being attentive, too.  It definitely wasn't the most reverent reading of the Christmas story I've ever witnessed.  It's tough when you're little and it's also tough when you're big and life doesn't stop for you to have the stomach flu.

After the Christmas story, I went back to lying on the couch and Joe took pictures of the kids in front of the tree.

I have no idea why Xandra is wearing those lovely strawberry glasses, but she wore them the whole evening.  I think I remember her mentioning something about them helping her see better.

The presents in these pictures were literally under the tree less than three (maybe two) hours from wrapping to opening.  I really regretted my decision not to wrap them earlier in the week when I had to hoist myself from my sickbed to wrap them during naptime.  

First up was jammies for everyone.

Next, Xandra and Theia opened up warm, big blankets I made for them from fleece and flannel.

In the weeks before Christmas, Aliyah had taken quite an affection for Theia's bear, AMP (Aletheia Miriam Pull).  This did not set well with Theia.  At some point I had purchased an extra AMP just in case we lost the one Theia loves so much.  Instead of holding on to it for Theia, we decided to give it to Aliyah for Christmas, so she could have a bear of her own.

Thus, on Christmas 2010, CAP (Aliyah Charis Pull) was born.  For several days, Aliyah still preferred AMP, but in the time since, she's gotten pretty attached to CAP.

Another highlight for Xandra was a game called Polly Porcupine.  A fun game with a die and removable porcupine quills.  My friend Christa found this game a few years ago and gave it to us.  Xandra's finally old enough to play and enjoy the game.  We've played it many times since Christmas and even Aliyah and Theia, with assistance, can join in the fun.  

After the kids opened presents we sent them off to bed with their new flashlights.  The flashlights were a gift from Joe and excited the girls more than any other thing.  They told us that now they would be ready to go caroling next year because they could use their flashlights to see the music.  They were up a LONG time playing in the dark together. 

While they played in the dark with their favorite 99 cent gift, we enjoyed another Christmas tradition:  exchanging gifts between Joe and I once the kids are in bed.

Stomach bugs aside, it was a sweet, memorable evening as a family.  A Christmas to remember.

Sick Day

At our house, when mama's sick, this is what it looks like:

and a few hours later, everyone else is "sick" too, not just mama:

Fa la la la la

On a cold winter night we gathered at our friends' house, the Amans (their daugther Beth hangs out with us frequently), enjoyed dinner together and then walked their neighborhood singing carols to anyone who would listen.  Surprisingly, our girls did not complain about the cold.

Next year I think they'll be ready with their singing voices.  This year they mostly gawked and stared and asked to ring the doorbells.  The singing must not have been too bad, baby Joey slept through the whole thing.

Another Tradition

Here's a play by play of our annual tradition of frustrating everyone in the family in an effort to get a reasonable picture for our Christmas cards using the self timer on our camera.

I think he thinks he's funny.

Okay, he is.

No major casualties this year.  Everyone still had both eyeballs when we were done (barely) and Aliyah was the only crier.