Monday, December 26, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
presents & presents
or this girl... just some crayons will do
Finn and Schuyler ponder their photographic equipment
... until Charlie gets a hold of it
Christmas
So we had a bad start to the vacation with Schuyler's hospitalisation and all that but we arrived safely in Montpelier and were soon sipping wine and eating good food on Merrill Terrace. Christmas morning, Schuyler woke up excitedly and led me downstairs. Her first stop: Santa's cookies and milk ("Why didn't he eat it all up?" she asked upon finding the crumbs on the plate). I didn't think she'd remember in some ways but she was pretty excited. We had breakfast and waited for the rest of the family to bubble into the kitchen at a more reasonable hour.
SCHUYLER (Schuyler is sitting on my lap and we practiced making her name letter by letter so she wouldn't delete this entire post)
After our tummies were full, we turned our attention to stockings (Santa had stuffed three stockings for the children in the household: Schuyler, Charlie, and Gramps). Schuyler's stocking struck gold with such highlight items as a bunch of her very own Post It's, some stickers, coloured pencils, and lip balm. Charlie received a cache of Animal Crackers, a new cup, and big fat crayons for little hands. Gramps got coal shaped candy. Bad Gramps!
Santa also brought Schuyler a game where she can trace shapes of animals and other things that are projected onto paper by a little plastic light. I'm not 100% sure she realised that Santa had actually brought it. I think the concept may have been a little too large for her brain (i.e. she could believe he ate the cookies, but the idea that he was responsible for the rest was too incredible).
Christmas kids is a double edged sword for us: On the one hand, it is wonderful to see the joy in their eyes as they tear open each gift. On the other other hand, the "what else is for me!?" materialism and egocentricity of it depresses us a little (even though it is understandable given the age).
Aunt Greta, Uncle Scott, and cousins Finn and Reis came over for more present opening and playtime and it was great to have the family all together. Dinner time rolled around and Nan had produced an esquisite feast and laid a table fit for royalty. Unfortunately, our eldest cub decided that her version of royalty would be to be a royal pain in the....
Kids make you remember the magic of Christmas but they are unfortunately ill-suited to a lot of the non-gift parts of Christmas e.g. getting dressed in the clothes you want them to wear, sitting still and eating a normal meal, etc.
SCHUYLER (Schuyler is sitting on my lap and we practiced making her name letter by letter so she wouldn't delete this entire post)
After our tummies were full, we turned our attention to stockings (Santa had stuffed three stockings for the children in the household: Schuyler, Charlie, and Gramps). Schuyler's stocking struck gold with such highlight items as a bunch of her very own Post It's, some stickers, coloured pencils, and lip balm. Charlie received a cache of Animal Crackers, a new cup, and big fat crayons for little hands. Gramps got coal shaped candy. Bad Gramps!
Santa also brought Schuyler a game where she can trace shapes of animals and other things that are projected onto paper by a little plastic light. I'm not 100% sure she realised that Santa had actually brought it. I think the concept may have been a little too large for her brain (i.e. she could believe he ate the cookies, but the idea that he was responsible for the rest was too incredible).
Christmas kids is a double edged sword for us: On the one hand, it is wonderful to see the joy in their eyes as they tear open each gift. On the other other hand, the "what else is for me!?" materialism and egocentricity of it depresses us a little (even though it is understandable given the age).
Aunt Greta, Uncle Scott, and cousins Finn and Reis came over for more present opening and playtime and it was great to have the family all together. Dinner time rolled around and Nan had produced an esquisite feast and laid a table fit for royalty. Unfortunately, our eldest cub decided that her version of royalty would be to be a royal pain in the....
Kids make you remember the magic of Christmas but they are unfortunately ill-suited to a lot of the non-gift parts of Christmas e.g. getting dressed in the clothes you want them to wear, sitting still and eating a normal meal, etc.
All in all, a beautiful Christmas Day.
merry christmas!
"Dis is for ME!?"
even Gramps has a stocking!
digging into their stockings
Above: stocking stuffers from Santa
We have had a great time so far. Mother Nature was kind enough to supply a coating of snow for the white Christmas we had all hankered after and we'd prepared the house, wrapped the presents, and downed our dark and stormies. we woke up to the sound of a creaking door and streaming light silhouetting a tiny person who was ready for Christmas. This, of course, woke up Charlie who snuggled in with mama for his morning snack while Schuyler and I went downstairs. Her first stop was the plate of cookies and glass of milk set out for Santa. She was thrilled that he had eaten the cookies but couldn't understand why he had left some crumbs behind instead of demolishing the whole thing and she set about correcting the matter, pinching the remaining cookies into her mouth. As it was just past six am, I took her to the basement where we a watched television (a rare treat but, hey, it's Christmas) while we waited for the hour to become a little more civilized. So began Christmas.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
the night before christmas
A quintessential night-before-Christmas scene.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
