We had a great Christmas! We started on Christmas Eve with our traditions of getting ready for Santa - opening one present (it's always pajamas), milk and cookies, reading The Night Before Christmas and putting out reindeer food.
Kayci woke up first at 6am. Actually, Kristi and I were awake laying in bed. We heard her feet hit the floor, then we heard her quietly open her door and tiptoe into the living room. A couple of minutes later, she came into our room and "woke us up." "Santa came!," she said. We got up and let Noble sleep a little extra. She picked through her stockings and the things that Santa had left out for her while I made coffee.
After a little while, she could hardly contain her excitement anymore and asked if we could go wake up Noble. That's usually a pretty bad idea, but since it was Christmas, Kayci was confident that a "Merry Christmas, Noble. Santa brought you presents" would do the job without him having a meltdown. And she was right. He didn't want to walk out for some reason, though. He wanted me to carry him. It took him a moment when we came around the corner and saw the train table and the Thomas the Train track and playset Santa had left for him, but he quickly broke out in a huge smile. The first thing he said was "Daddy- play Thomas Train with me!" We looked at the train set for a few moments and then started digging in to the stockings and playing with other things that Santa had brought the kids.
Kayci distributed presents while Noble helped himself to some of his Christmas chocolate, and the kids started open their presents from me and Kristi. According to Kayci, it took two hours and fifteen minutes to open all of our presents. That's not because there were tone of presents - it's because when we open presents we always open them one at a time, and we frequently open them and play a little as we go. And surprisingly, Noble didn't really want to open his presents. He was very content with what he already had open. We practically had to beg him to open the next present a couple of times. Having a little kid who doesn't want is really nice. And having a big kid who seems genuinely appreciative of the things she unwrapped is something we could have only imagined. I know I wasn't that kid when I was her age.
While the kids played with their toys, Kristi and I started getting ready for the day. We had our traditional buttermilk crumbcake breakfast, played some more and started getting dressed to head to Pflugerville to see Kristi's brother and his family (which has become another of our Christmas traditions).
This Christmas was special for us because it was all about our little family. I had some vacation time left, so I was able to take the week off, so we got a lot of time to just hang around and be together. Hopefully, the kids will remember times like these when they look back on their childhood Christmases thirty years from now. I know I'll count it among my favorite Christmases.
So from the Pharaon family to yours, we hope you had a very Merry Christmas!
Now guess who used the hour pharmacy wait to kill 2 birds with 1 stone?
We're just grateful he said those 2 magic words yesterday after nap (ear hurts!) and that the clinic could get him in this morning. This time tomorrow he'll be a whole new Bubby! :)
Here's a translation: "Dear God, thank you for our muffins, thank you for our honey, thank you for our food, thank you for Backyardigans, thank you for TV, Thank you for Daddy's work, Daddy, and our family, for Reagan and Madison (?) and Grandma and Ronny and Cat and Gavin and Amy and Reagan and trampoline and Daddy's truck and Mommy's car.
Amen."
You just never know what's going to come out of that kid's mouth...
Christmas has been a blast so far--Noble is 2 1/2 (really 3/4...) and is LOVING everything about this magical season. It's fun to see it through Kayci's eyes, as well, as she explains things to him. I think she's having *almost* as much fun as we are!
This week their favorite Christmas song is "Santa Baby" (thanks, T Swift!)...but neither of the knuckleheads knows the lyrics. So they sing..."Santa Baby...sing it with me!" over and over. Or, in Noble's case..."Santa Baby...sing wiff meeeeee!"
You'd think we'd get tired of it, but not yet. I'll let you know next week. :) Kayci just pointed out that tomorrow will be 10 days 'til Christmas.
Some of you may have received several posts from the blog this morning. These were posts that were caught up in a server-side spam filter somewhere that I just found. So don't adjust your set - it's not your imagination - yes, these posts go back to Halloween. Sorry for the inconvenience and the anachronistic holiday posts.
Last night was the Brenham Lighted Christmas Parade, which has become one of our family traditions. Once again, we rode in the parade on the Germania Insurance float, and we had an awesome time. The theme of the float this year was "Polar Express," so the float was decorated to look like train cars. My truck pulled the float (because it's black like a train engine) and featured a working smokestack. And best of all, there was a snow machine mounted onto the top of the truck that made it snow onto the train and in the streets of downtown Brenham! It was a lot of fun watching the kids along the parade route excitedly enjoying the snow as the float passed. The wonder and joy on their faces was simply moving.
After the parade, we went to the Brenham Olde Town Bakery for some cookies and hot chocolate. It was a great way to cap of the night. Hope to see you here next year!
Skip Leigh passed away on Thanksgiving. His family did a great job paying tribute to his life this week--Skip would be embarrassed to be the center of attention like this, but at least he can rest assured that nobody got up there and told lies about him. :) Skip was a good guy. He was a man who lived a simple life, worked hard, loved his family, and served his God. We would all be wise--and lucky--to be a bit more like him. Please keep Kate, Melissa, Cathy and the rest of the family in your prayers.
On December 1st, we always kick off our Advent activities with a book about Jesus' birth. This morning we were reminded if the difference in our two kids: as soon as we were done talking, Nobley grabbed Baby Jesus and started flying him around.
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