"Christmas Chaos" or "Who let the Gopher in?"

Ah, yes. Christmas, my favorite holiday/season/event of the year, is now over. For some reason, as I age, I find the ending to the Holiday Season becoming brighter and brighter. As a child, the decorations coming down before New Year's Day was depressing. As a young mother, the decorations coming down before NYD was sad. Now, as a mother who has exhausted herself into a Christmas coma, taking down the decorations by NYD is just sweet relief! Don't get me wrong --I loved Christmas this year. It was full of joy and sleep and candy and dead gophers (we'll get to that later). It's just nice to think of something else, now. :)

Onto the Events!

There were Christmas Outfits for the Sunday before:

There was Christmas Eve (spent with my Brother's wife, my nephew, a friend, Brandon's sister and mom): We decorated cookies, sang songs, acted out the Nativity, did the Jesus Stocking, opened a few presents, and left cookies and milk for Santa.


There was Christmas Morning (with Nana, Papa and Aunt Brenna!): Kids slept until 7AM! Oh, the joy! We had a nice lazy day eating tamales, playing with all the new toys and video games, putting together a jigsaw puzzle, watching movies, etc. The kids didn't get very much this year, but they didn't even notice. It's a good thing, because when Brandon goes back to school next year, I think our next few Christmas' are going to be even smaller.
P.S. This was #4's First Christmas!

There was shopping with Bren: Old Navy, Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, and the Gap had AWESOME sales, and boy, I'm a happy girl!

There was an entire day of Prep work for Family Christmas (see below) without the children!: Thanks to Nana and Papa, we (Brandon, Brenna and I) got everything ready. I even got my hair cut! Just a trim --it's not too different.

There was FAMILY CHRISTMAS!: [Explanation: Every year, Brandon's mother's family gets together for Family Christmas (Dec.) and Camping at Lake Lopez (July). We had 62 people come this year and for the first time, it was in Northern California! It was a crazy-filled day with food, games, crafts, a treasure hunt, pinatas, the talent show, Nativity, white elephant gifts, other gifts, talking, laughing, and competing. There was also a family baptism for a cousin the next day. Talk about awesome! If you go HERE, you can read more about our amazing Family Reunions. This year was different because Brandon and I actually helped host it. We provided crafts, lunch (potato bar where we labeled the Weight Watchers points for everyone to show them how we lost over 50 pounds together!) and the game tournaments. It was so fun! The only downer was that one entire family couldn't make it this year.]
Here is #1 as Mary (she was upset that #2 was Mary on Christmas Eve), #1 playing the piano for the talent show, and #2 singing for the talent show:

Here's a picture of New Year's Eve:

Yep. There is no picture. :) We didn't do anything --which is our annual tradition! No babysitters to pay, no nervousness about drunk drivers, no staying up late (although we did, but I fell asleep by 11:30PM), no dressing up nice only to come home super late and then get up super early because our children are still young enough to be in bed early and therefore get up early because they do not understand the simple concept of sleeping in because why would they do that since they aren't tired? Exactly.

Dead Gopher!?
So, are you still wondering about the Dead Gopher? Our cat (a very well-behaved, nice to the children Blue-point Siamese who's lived with us longer than #1 has) sometimes brings home mice. He's good about eating them outside --usually. Well, last week, he must have found a Gopher Nest, because he brought home what I thought was a mouse --until I saw the poor thing's teeth. Brandon's step-father caught it and took it outside, where our cat ate it. Yuck! Then, after Family Christmas, we came home to left-over parts of Baby Gopher and blood on the floor. EWW! Luckily, he hasn't brought any more home. I just feel bad for those poor things. ~sniff~
Here he is, being good!


Well, that's pretty much it. I'm sure there are a thousand more details, but that is all I feel I can bore you with for now.