A Christmas to Remember, Parts II & III

Christmas at Grandma Mary and Grandpa Tim's house has two parts.  Part I:  Kid Christmas and Part II:  Adult Christmas.  When there are nine children, four and under, it seems everyone enjoys it more this way.

Part I of the evening started with dinner:  frozen pizza, no veggies, and something sweet for dessert.  Our kids' dream dinner, except for Joey, of course, he only dreams of milk.

Best part of this picture:  Joey.

Not pictured:  Lucy (she's just two months older than Joey and either eating or sleeping somewhere else in the house)

After dinner we all headed downstairs for the reading of the Christmas Story.

Grandpa's a good reader.

The kids were mostly captivated, which is pretty good for this crew.

They also could answer zero questions about the story when he finished reading.  Right in line with what you might expect from a bunch of excited small fries.  Who can concentrate with all of those presents in need of opening looming under the nearby Christmas tree.

They might not have remembered anything he said, but at least they weren't making faces during the scripture reading.

Once Grandpa Tim finished up the story, we couldn't hold them back any longer.  Present opening commenced.

Then there were lots of hugs

and thank yous

and cuddling.

 

Joey and Great Grandma Dort

Then we talked to Auntie Lisa and Uncle Andy via Skype (more on them in a future post), got the kids ready for bed, let them eat a Christmas treat, and got the adult Christmas dinner on the table.

There aren't many pictures of Adult Christmas, but it was very much like one would think.  Yummy food followed by presents, Joe and Laura's customary Christmas picture, 

((with an added flair from Crazy Man Tim)

They always dress up, Joe always wears something unique on his head (this year it was a pink blanket and scarf), and they always stand in this doorway for the picture.)

and the yule log ceremony.  It was a unique ceremony this year (although, I think the pictures are on Auntie Beth's camera), as we had TWO yule logs.  Last year I wrote about how Tim misplaced the yule log. This year he redeemed himself by finding last year's yule log and at the same time not losing this year's yule log. Well done, Gramps.  He ceremoniously threw them on the fire and it was twice as good a yule log ceremony as I've ever scene.  Joe and I ended the evening with a quiet, midnight walk in the beautiful, Charlie Brown snowfall outside.  

Boys, Girls and Their Grandpa

At Grandma Mary's house, there's a Grandpa Tim.  He always helps make the trip fun and memorable. 

There's not much testosterone at Grandma Mary's house.  At least not in comparison to the amount of estrogen. Out of ten grandchildren, only two of them are male.  So when the guys get together, they like to act like men and do masculine things.  Things like pick their noses, 

sleep, and just be guys together

Until, of course, Grandpa Tim wakes up.  Then he puts the little boys in pink dolly cribs.

And we run and get the camera.

And take lots of pictures.

It seems Joey doesn't get enough of this kind of torture at home. 

And then there's reading time with the girls. 

Everyone reads together...

on their own.

Actually, the reading usually looks more like this

and this.

And among his many gifts and talents...

strange head gear (see final picture in the post).

He's a man of many talents and interests (pics 8, 9, 10, & 11). 

It's why he's so fun!

Bright Noses and Loud Speakers

The 2011 Number One Christmas Toy:  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

The above pictured Rudolph resides at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  He's a very special part of a set of characters from the Rudolph TV Special.  In addition to Rudolph, they also have Cornelius, The Abdominal Snowman (according to Auntie Beth as a child), and Hermie the Elf.  The other characters didn't get much use, but this little guy, whose nose lights up while singing (rather loudly) "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" when you push his ear, was carted by Theia and Liyah from one end of the house to the other, singing all the way. 

Eventually Grandpa, in a futile effort toward peace and quiet (there were nine little kids in the house after all), hid the Rudolph.  That lasted for a day or two until one of the kids saw it hiding high up on the piano.  After that, Rudolph came out of hiding and again began his tormenting of all those in the house over the age of two.  By the time we left their home, all of our children had the song memorized.  They're still singing it in February along with a collection of other Christmas favorites.  Sometimes they sing the Christmas words and other times they make up their own words to the Christmas tunes.  This is a silly, but endearing habit they've picked up from their mother - the word changing part, not the singing Christmas songs in February part.  I may blog about Christmas in February, but I draw the line at singing Christmas Carols. 

Snow Problem

While those born and bred in North Dakota handle with grace and a shovel,

our children cry, whimper and complain and run for the indoors.  The pink in the lower left corner of the above picture is the backside of Xandra's coat headed into the house.  She wasn't even outside long enough for us to take her picture before she started crying about the cold and about the snow getting on her gloves and shoes. All this while her one-year old cousin, Laney, quietly sits in a snow drift, and her two year old cousin, Liam, shovels snow from the porch.  Every since this incident Xandra regularly announces her dislike for snow and wintertime.  After Xandra's done griping, Theia immediately chimes in with the story of how she fell off of the sidewalk at Grandma Mary's house, face first in the snow and couldn't get up on her own.  Not really a happy snow memory for her either. 

I guess when you live in a place where the forecast for February 18 is 67 degrees, you get a little uncomfortable in two feet of snow and single digit temperatures. 

Subduction

Around Grandma's house, there's one guy that's a hot item.  At least to those under the age of five.  (Don't get me wrong, I think he's great, I just don't usually think of him as a hot item.  I like to leave that toAuntie Beth.)  The kids flock to him in droves, tackling, screaming, and laughing.  To subdue them he has to beat them off with sticks.

Or he simply settles for reading them a book,

and then wrestling them to the ground with tickles,

and then reading them 40 more books.

What can I say?  He's a good reader.

The Five of You

Some would say our house is a circus.

 Others might call it a zoo.

It's messy



surprising

and often funny, too.

Through all the smiles and laughs

and hard days, too.

I simply want to say

I love the five of you.

Happy Valentine's Day Joe, Xandra, Theia, Liyah and Joey!

At Grandma Mary's House

At Grandma Mary's house

grandkids get to help make the brownies,

and lick the spoon,

even when Grandma's watching.

At Grandma Mary's house

she let's you unwrap the whole bag of chocolates,

even though she could probably do it faster by herself.

At Grandma Mary's

she lets grandkids wear shawls that great grandma made for her to wear when she was a little girl.

At Grandma Mary's

even though there are lots of kids, there's always enough playdoh for everyone.

At Grandma Mary's

the pancakes are always shaped like Mickey Mouse.

 

At Grandma Mary's house there's a Grandma Mary who gives big smiles, warm hugs and lots of love to little ones.