Christmas Eve

December always go by soooo quickly, and we were shocked when December 24th finally arrived. We prepared our ham, mashed potatoes and loaded deserts in the car to celebrate at my mom's Christmas gathering. 

We had a delicious meal with family, visited, celebrated and opened a couple of presents.  

Mom/Grammie stayed home to visit, but would join us later. Lauren had us on a very strict schedule in order to have everything completed so that we could all be in bed when Santa arrived.  

After unloading the car, our first order of business was to decorate the gingerbread house. One of these years I am going to build the house first and let it set, but this was not that year. We ended up decorating the roof only (as is our way), and being happy about it.  

After laying out snacks for Santa and saying goodbye to Zippy, we left snacks for the reindeer.  

We also pressed the "Santa Stop" ornament on our tree, to signal that we were ready for Santa to come to our home. 

Since Pixie knows Zippy and Santa personally (from being born at the North Pole and delivered by Santa three years ago), she really wanted to stay up, but Lauren vetoed that plan. She also strategically limited Grammie and George's liquid intake so that there wouldn't be an excess of restroom visits during the night.  

She takes the rules verrrrry seriously.  

Finally, we read The Night Before Christmas and the Christmas story and turned in for bed, all the while tracking Santa as her criss-crossed across South America and made his way into Canada.  

Christmas Vacation + The First Party

We enjoyed having a couple of days at the beginning of Christmas break to get some errands completed. We all had hair appointments on 12/20, including Pixie, and we were looking and feeling better after that item had been checked off the to-do list. During the afternoon, Skip and the kids were playing football out front when Lauren and George collided, necessitating an emergency trip to the dentist. We will have to see how well the tooth handles the contusion (thankfully, it didn't chip and isn't loose), and there's not really anything to do except wait and see. Lauren was a very brave trooper, and we have decided to be optimistic.  

We are running behind on well visits to the doctor so we made a quick trip on 12/21 for flu shots and the girls' eleven year old immunizations. Granted, this was not how they wanted to spend their vacation, but at least the unpleasantness was behind them.  

We had Christmas lunch with Gran and Poppa on 12/23... a much, MUCH more pleasant experience. They had our favorites (steak for the adults + Grace) and spaghetti and meatballs for Lauren and George. We had a good time celebrating and visiting.  

After our visit, we returned home to start working on cooking prep. We made one of our family favorites, chocolate oatmeal cookies, along with two chocolate pies and a cake. Skip worked on mashed potatoes and prepping the ham for cooking the next day. 

Pixie's Anniversary

Three years ago today Pixie took a crazy ride on Santa's sleigh, accompanied by our elf, Zippy, and landed underneath our Christmas tree. She is/was the best present ever.

A look back:
Christmas 2014: Pixie Lindsey from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.

Whobilation + Boy Scouts Christmas Party

During the last full week of school, William George had a very busy schedule. He has a "Whobilation" party to wrap up their week studying "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and all things Grinch and Whoville.  

The class wore pajamas, had crazy hair and enjoyed all sorts of Whoville-inspired snacks.  

George's class had a special visit with a service dog. She wore a Christmas dress, performed flawlessly and was given treats by the class.  

George's Scout troop got together for its Christmas party at a local skating rink. The whole family got to join the party, and the trio had a fantastic time skating. Whenever we got to a skate party, I am reminded that we need to go skating more.  

George's Scout troop also had a field trip to a hockey game during this same week, but unfortunately, I did not take any pics. I did, however, capture some of the fights on video, but something tells me you might not be interested.  

We had a wonderful time partying and socializing with friends.  

Basketball (x3)

This past Saturday consisted of two basketball games. George's team had a great game, wherein everyone got to play, shoot some baskets and walk away with a win, 22-0. George was really excited.  

George's buddy from baseball executed a beautiful pass, and George took a great shot.  

The girls had a tough game. We had some formidable players on the opposing team, and we are learning to live with officiating. Specifically, the referee's son was the coach of our opposing team, and unfortunately, the types of things one would expect from that situation tends to occur. 

This is real life, and sometimes it's not fair. 

Our girls tend to hold authority figures in the highest of esteem, and we have had to explain that referees are prone to error, just like anyone else. All they can do is play their best game, which is exactly what they did. In the end, they came up two points short.  

While shaking hands/congratulating at the end of the game, one of the opposing players called our point guard trash. Someone needs to explain to that girl that "trash talk" shouldn't be literal.  #stayclassy

In the end, these types of games make them tougher.  

And we will be ready for this team when we play them again.  

#gohigh

Classroom Christmas Parties, First and Fifth Grade Editions

Yesterday the trio had class parties at their elementary school. For the fifth grade duo, this was their last Christmas party at this school, whereas this was George's first party here.  

They all had a blast. George's class quickly garnered the reputation of the "wild" room, what with all the merriment (and wrestling around).  

The fifth graders continued their "Let it Snow" theme with cupcakes, a hot cocoa bar and lots of goodies.  

They had such a good time with friends.  

And since nothing really happens until it's on social media, both classes had strong photo booth game.  

We really enjoyed our parties, and now I am ready for a nice rest.