Adios Holiday Season. . .

I hope the rest of you were able to enjoy your couple of weeks of holiday blitz--I'd call it bliss, but we all know it's really alot more than that. For us, it included NOT getting up for school, staying up probably a little too late, eating meals at Grandma and Grandpa's, new toys, too many Christmas cookies, and a whole lotta movie watching and cuddling on the couch. It was great. So, let's take a quick photo-tour of the Droubay Christmas Holiday 2010:

Here we are baking cookies.
What do you think of our sprinkling talents?

Christmas Eve Eve is always spent at Ryan's Grandpa's cousin (did you get that?) Maxine's house. This is always ALWAYS interesting. This year, Annie got to be an angel and Carson said he wanted to be Joseph (even though he was the smallest kid there--but noone else was volunteering) but then he disappeared, so our 3rd cousin Logan was gracious enough to step in. The role of baby Jesus was played ever so well by none other than Rhett, who at age 6 months, did his very best to be the sweet newborn Son of God.

This party always marks the beginning of that 48-hour festival of food, family, fantasy, and fun known to this family as Christmas.

This was the coziest Christmas Eve scene:
Annie (who "isn't tired") fell asleep on the couch
and I just thought it was a total Kodak moment.
I still get warm fuzzies remembering how peaceful she looked all curled up.
The only thing missing was a blanket!

On Christmas Eve, we traditionally go to Ryan's parents for soup, shrimp, and an informal Christmas program that includes among other things reading the Nativity story, some Christmas carols, SEVERAL laughs, and . . .

. . .a new set of Christmas pajamas for the kiddos.

Oh man, I never thought the kids would go to sleep that night! They were so pumped, and with good reason. Why on earth would any parent expect children to sleep when they are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Jolly Old Elf and his sack-o-joy? For these children, the very thought of the Barbie computer and "twucks" and "twailoos" (that would be trucks and trailers) they'd asked for was nearly as exciting as Christmas morning itself.


A couple of years ago, I started taking pictures of the kids in the morning (in their Christmas pajamas) waiting for the "green light" from dad. Unfortunately, my so-so camera skills coupled with their Christmas morning ecstasy enabled me to only get ONE non-blurry picture--and although they appear a tad bit grumpy, I can assure you that only the opposite was true:

they were PSYCHED!

And who could blame them? Not only had Santa completely finished the plateful of delectable cookies (sprinkled and baked by the kids themselves), but he had left a note as well! WOW! Bonus points for Dad here, and I chuckled at the part where Santa gave them specific direction to try to be better. We'll just have to see if they heed his advice. . .


Another tradition we started several years ago (if I may digress from talking about my human children to type a tidbit about my beloved canine Jack) was to wrap Jack's Christmas gift in tissue paper and watch him go CrAzY while he opens it and plays with it for a few minutes.

This year was no different.

After a while, we made our way over to Ryan's parents to spend the rest of the day. It was really nice to watch the kids enjoy their grandparents (and the gifts they received there) and relax (and watch Star Trek) and EAT YUMMY FOOD! Thank goodness for Honey Baked Ham! Best served cold in this blogger's humble opinion. . .



While at Grandma's, Annie decided to set up shop with her new Barbie computer. It was hilarious. I don't know if you can tell by the picture, but she had quite the setup! It was funny to watch her arrange the table and bring over little holiday decorations to enhance the ambiance of her workspace!

Annie in her little office--she literally sat there for hours.
Easily the highlight of her Christmas!

Speaking of highlights, although he was totally thrilled with his trucks and trailers, books, and other toys, we could not pull Carson away from the Hess racing car that Grandma and Grandpa Foof sent out to him. It had a baby race car in the trunk. What is cooler than that for the boy who LOVES cars?

Here he is totally relaxed
(alongside another totally relaxed critter)
playing with his race car.

The highlight for Rhett (and us as well) was Grandma and Grandpa Droubay's gift. Around Christmas time, he was letting us know in his own special way that he was sick of his toys and anxious for the next challenge of childhood. However, he had made NO efforts to sit up or change his environment in any way. Therefore, we were perplexed. But no longer, he loves sitting in his chair and playing!

Cute Cute Cute!

The day after Christmas, we met up with Aunt Gretchen at Chuck-E-Cheese to hang out. She and Uncle Jeremy had flown out from New York to spend the holidays with Jeremy's family in Logan. Turns out, this was the perfect choice for that day. The kids absolutely loved it and got to see their aunt and uncle.

Here are Annie and Gretchen playing
what was MY favorite Chuck-E-Cheese game.
I totally rocked.

I don't know what game this was,
but I do know it was too hard for me!
Hand-eye coordination has never been my strong-suit. . .

During the week following Christmas, there were several moments that caught my attention as well as the lens of my camera:


First of all, this shot reminded me of the early Christmas present that Carson gave me: I had decided that my project for the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas would be to potty-train Carson. It took a day or two. SERIOUSLY. Best gift ever.

I kept trying to get pictures of all three kids. . .

And all three kids in Santa hats. Best I could do was this one!

The week between Christmas and New Years is one for relaxing.
Annie and Jack had this one down pat!

Rhett was going through this
ADORABLE
sticking-his-tongue-out phase.

Words are not necessary. But I DO know I'm biased. . .

Wonder if Santa is missing an elf?
Those "shoes" were actually Santa hats.
The creativity of this girl astounds me daily!

Another of our favorite holiday traditions includes dinner out on New Year's Eve with the Droubay family and then the par-tay at Oma and Opa's afterward. Here is Oma with the great-grandkids del Rico.



On New Year's Day, we go to Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Cox's for the Annual Cox Family Christmas Party. What a blast! We have a CraZy White Elephant gift exchange (complete with a white elephant, thank you very much) and the kids get to do a pinata. Awesome.

Swing, Carsie, swing!

Well, I sure hope you all enjoyed your holiday. We definitely made the most of ours. Best wishes for a happy new year (and I hope I get the next holiday/main event posted in less time than it took me to post this one. . . . )