Christmas and the Day After

The boys were still full of energy and wide awake at midnight on Christmas Eve, so we went to their first midnight mass. It will be a couple more years before we attempt to do that again. Jacob made it 15 minutes in the service before he was out like a Christmas tree light. The older two complained most of mass about tired they were and sat through much of the service, I figured that would happen and wasn't to bothered by it. The last 10-15 minutes though they completely lost it from being overly tired and were so giddy and got the giggles. Even when I gave them "The Look" they giggled harder. It definitely was an adventure, one I don't plan to repeat for a couple years.

I was blessed with children who slept in Christmas morning due to not getting home until almost two in the morning. Joey was the first one up and waited patiently playing with his new toys from the day before for everyone to be awake. Opening gifts went smoothly with only a hiccup with the video camera, then later another one when my camera decided to invert colors. The boys didn't get everything they had hoped for, but were excited with what they did receive. Some of their favorites were a bow and arrow, Mine Craft Xbox game, iPod speakers, and a TMNT pillow (and the cat liked the new bed Santa brought for him).

We had planned on going down to the grandparents early so I could work on the laundry while we were there. We were all very involved with checking out their new stuff and get even leave the house until after 2:00 in the afternoon. Once there we exchanged gifts with my parents, my niece, my nephew, my brother, his girlfriend and her little boy. My brother is a chef and brought over a duck as part of our dinner. My poor niece has a pet duck and wasn't thrilled by the idea that one we would be eating one of it's relatives. I was surprised that eventually she did taste a small bite. Actually everyone tried at least a tiny bite, Joey and I were the most reluctant but we did it (and actually liked it). Jacob LOVED the duck and asked when Uncle would be making another one. We enjoyed the day as a family, including watching a movie all together.

Today was a day of trying out their new stuff; putting together the Lego sets and testing how difficult the video games were. Jordan spent most of the day on one video game. Joey built a carnival ride out of K'Nex and drew many picture with his Spirograph. Jacob spent majority of the day resting on the couch with a sour stomach. I also tried out some of my new things like my much loved George Foreman, I don't care much for standing in the snow to BBQ. I have been  putting the loom set Joey  got for me to good use making hats. Being not real sure what I was doing I started with a hat for our cat. He's such a good sport about dealing with all our tomfoolery. The younger two did make it outside for an hour to get some fresh air (that's our only outside time so far this week).

While Christmas is over, we are not done. We are still planning on working through our Christmas Around the World just on a smaller scale. Also part of our Winter Bucket list is up, but we're still looking for approximately another 10 items to add to our list. You can have a sneak peek  by looking under 'Our Seasonal Bucket Lists" tab.

Orange Rhino update:
I was thrilled to make it to day 12, I always stumbled on day 10. I however am back to day 2. I fully understand that the boys  being giggly in church was not their "fault", but while explaining why it wasn't acceptable I did raise my voice. I caught myself right away, but the fact remains that I did raise my voice. I also understand that my boys would not have been giggly if it wasn't  after 1:30 am and I also probably would have maintained  my lower volume if not for the time and myself also being extremely tired. I now that I can make it at least 12 days, and should be able to get there again with more ease.