Showing posts with label Christmas Eve. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas Eve. Show all posts
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Christmas Eve 2015
We made it to Christmas Eve!! It was touch and go there for a while! Just kidding - it's been a fast paced fall and I'm happy that we have two weeks off from school to recover a bit before we jump back into the grind! Tonight we had our traditional dinner of Chinese food - and after a year and a half here, we finally found a good place!! The kids opened a present from us and a present from their siblings. The Christmas Eve present opening is kind of a fluid tradition and changes based on what's going on each year and how old the kids are. They seem to really enjoy opening a few presents and they really enjoy playing with the few things that they get - new jammies and a toy or two - pure magic!!!
A new scooter AND a BB8 sweatshirt!
Car carrier truck!
A fluffy lap blanket from Aoife!
Frozen legos!!
Gramma and Daddy Jim enjoying the chaos:
Headphones and more legos!
a Stuffie!!
gotta get those legos done!
A new scooter AND a BB8 sweatshirt!
Decorating Cookies on Christmas Eve
I had made a whole bunch of cut out cookies with the intention of decorating them for Christmas but, let's be honest, that wasn't going to happen this year. I made a bunch of buttercream frosting and got out all of the Christmas sprinkles and let Emmy and Aoife go at it. It kept them busy for HOURS and they were so happy to do it. The cookies turned out great, they had fun and I didn't have to stay up super late at night to get them done!!
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Christmas Eve
Phew!! It's Christmas Eve! This month totally flew by and between all of the preparation for Christmas, I think I forgot to slow down and actually enjoy it. Christmas Eve is the one thing that is calm for us - we order Chinese food and open family presents before Santa can drop off his stuff later on. We didn't always do this - for a few years the kids opened one present on Christmas Eve but then we found that their gifts to each other kind of got forgotten on Christmas morning. So they open a gift from each of their siblings and a gift from Mommy and Daddy (something small). Everyone is always very happy and appreciative of everything they receive!! This year we gave them the DVD of the Nutcracker (the one on PBS that I watched as a kid). I had these grand visions of everyone cuddled up on the couch with their hot chocolate, raptly watching the dancers on screen. I remember being mesmerized by the Nutcracker! I don't think it worked out exactly as I had planned - they enjoyed the hot chocolate but then seemed a bit bored by the Nutcracker. Maybe they are a little young? It is pretty long. In any case - we tried to establish a new tradition this year - hopefully it will hold on!
The Botanical Gardens at Christmas
It's Christmas Eve! We went to the Botanical Gardens with my parents today because it was raining and someone told us that it's always empty on Christmas Eve! Well....it wasn't exactly empty but it wasn't too crowded. I would suggest getting there about 15-20 minutes before it opens because you can park right outside in spaces that are usually reserved for the Hill but they fill up really quickly!
It was beautiful - I had never been before but we need to go back! The Christmas decorations were everywhere and were gorgeous!! The kids had a fantastic time looking at all of the flowers and plants and the TRAINS! Declan was delighted and we spent a good 20 minutes watching one train go around and around a tree. It was actually more fun than it sounds!
I think we need to make this a tradition - it's a great way to spend Christmas Eve day!
It was beautiful - I had never been before but we need to go back! The Christmas decorations were everywhere and were gorgeous!! The kids had a fantastic time looking at all of the flowers and plants and the TRAINS! Declan was delighted and we spent a good 20 minutes watching one train go around and around a tree. It was actually more fun than it sounds!
I think we need to make this a tradition - it's a great way to spend Christmas Eve day!
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Christmas Eve 2013
Christmas Eve was definitely not what I planned it to be this year. Declan has been sick for a few days - cough and not sleeping very well. I thought he would get over it on his own and so I didn't bring him to the doctor the day before Christmas Eve. That always turns out well, doesn't it? He woke up on Christmas Eve morning after a horrible night's sleep (maybe the 3rd in a row) and wasn't any better than the day before - maybe a little worse. He wasn't his normal happy self but didn't seem to have a fever so I wasn't too worried. He woke up after his nap and was warm for sure. My thermometer said 99.8. Since my neighbor was over with her daughter, I decided to take Declan into the ER. Monica said she would take the kids and order dinner - we were going to eat Chinese together anyway. Declan and I packed up and headed out.
We got to the ER and got all checked in really quickly. About 10 minutes later we were in triage and the nurse took his temp - 103!!!! The nurse immediately freaked out and told me he needed Tylenol AND Motrin right away to get his temperature down. Two lessons from that - 1) my thermometer sucks and 2) you can take tylenol and motrin together - who knew? Declan is the worse medecine taker and promptly gagged on the tylenol and threw up all over himself, me and the floor of the triage room. If you want a nurse to really warm up to you try bringing a sick little baby in and have him puke everywhere. The entire staff was super nice to us - they even brought Declan a little shirt to wear and gave him a little bath.
After a few minutes we got to see the doctor and she ordered a chest x-ray. They came to get us and poor Declan had to be strapped into a plastic tube with his arms over his head for the x-ray. Needless to say, he did NOT like that and was very happy to be released and to get a popsicle as a reward. Thankfully, it was not pneumonia but his chest looked bad enough that they sent us home with a steroid to help him out. The steroid seems to be helping but totally prevented him from sleeping at all today. He went full steam from 7 am until 7:30 pm when I forced him into bed. Lord help me if this child doesn't nap for the next 3 days!!
We were discharged and headed home after only about an hour and a half. The ER at Fort Campbell is the fastest ER ever! I have never been there longer than 2 hours! We got home and retrieved the other kids. I tried to get Declan to eat but he didn't want anything more than a few Goldfish. After a bath he seemed a little revived and had a good time opening presents. We open the kids' presents to each other and Mommy and Daddy's present to them on Christmas Eve. Santa brings everything else the next morning. They all had fun playing and headed off to bed happily, ready to wait for jingle bells on the roof! I collapsed on the couch, ate a plate of Chinese food and got to work. Luckily, there wasn't much to do since I had done 90% of everything in the week leading up. It's a good thing or it would have been a much later night!
Declan and me in the ER in his new hospital garb:
Getting ready to open presents!
We got to the ER and got all checked in really quickly. About 10 minutes later we were in triage and the nurse took his temp - 103!!!! The nurse immediately freaked out and told me he needed Tylenol AND Motrin right away to get his temperature down. Two lessons from that - 1) my thermometer sucks and 2) you can take tylenol and motrin together - who knew? Declan is the worse medecine taker and promptly gagged on the tylenol and threw up all over himself, me and the floor of the triage room. If you want a nurse to really warm up to you try bringing a sick little baby in and have him puke everywhere. The entire staff was super nice to us - they even brought Declan a little shirt to wear and gave him a little bath.
After a few minutes we got to see the doctor and she ordered a chest x-ray. They came to get us and poor Declan had to be strapped into a plastic tube with his arms over his head for the x-ray. Needless to say, he did NOT like that and was very happy to be released and to get a popsicle as a reward. Thankfully, it was not pneumonia but his chest looked bad enough that they sent us home with a steroid to help him out. The steroid seems to be helping but totally prevented him from sleeping at all today. He went full steam from 7 am until 7:30 pm when I forced him into bed. Lord help me if this child doesn't nap for the next 3 days!!
We were discharged and headed home after only about an hour and a half. The ER at Fort Campbell is the fastest ER ever! I have never been there longer than 2 hours! We got home and retrieved the other kids. I tried to get Declan to eat but he didn't want anything more than a few Goldfish. After a bath he seemed a little revived and had a good time opening presents. We open the kids' presents to each other and Mommy and Daddy's present to them on Christmas Eve. Santa brings everything else the next morning. They all had fun playing and headed off to bed happily, ready to wait for jingle bells on the roof! I collapsed on the couch, ate a plate of Chinese food and got to work. Luckily, there wasn't much to do since I had done 90% of everything in the week leading up. It's a good thing or it would have been a much later night!
Declan and me in the ER in his new hospital garb:
love this mess!
Santa came!
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