They Grow Up So Fast: The Fourth Week of December (Through Christmas)

Today is December 26th. I was up by 7 o'clock, but the next person up after me was Carter at 8:30. Yep, the Vales family is suffering from post-Christmas.

These past few days have been nice.

On Sunday we went to church. The kids were all dressed up and let me take a few photos. Well, I took a bunch of photos (in about 1 minute) and these were the best of them.

This is closer to what most of the photos were like.

Carter wore a crazy wig and elf ears around the house that afternoon. He was pretty amused by himself.

Yes, that is toilet paper on our tree. Rudy, our Elf on the Shelf, had TPed our tree the night before.

That afternoon, the boys got invited by a family friend, Jonathan, to the Clipper game. It was Carter's first NBA game, so they couldn't pass up the opportunity. It turns out the seats were pretty great. Bonus!

Jonathan bought a chocolate chip cookie for Carter that Eric described as being the size of Carter's head. Apparently he enjoyed it!

Looks like he suffered from cookie coma

and cookie crazies.

Ashlynn and I took the boys being away as an opportunity to go out too. We went to Red Lobster for a seafood feast. It was Ashlynn's first trip to Red Lobster. She loved many things about it, except the tank of live lobsters in the lobby. Those lobsters made her sad. She is so my child.

I ordered snow crab legs, just so my tactile girl could have the experience of cracking them open, finding the meat using the little fork, and enjoying the crab after a long drip in the melted butter (my mouth is watering as I type this).

Tuesday was Christmas Eve. Carter was super excited!

In the afternoon, we headed over to my parents' house to open presents with them and my brother.

My parents love giving all sorts of crazy (my dad) and practical (my mom) gifts. Remember these from the 80s? The kids got one from my dad.

This didn't seem safe, but they survived.

Carter insisted that we buy Papa a hammer. We went with it.

The kids presented us with the gifts they had bought on their shopping trip with Papa. Carter picked Superman jammies for Eric.

Mid-afternoon, we went to church to get ready for the Christmas Eve service the kids and Eric participated in this year.

Here's Carter and the other 5-year-old wise man, Justin.

Sheep and shepherd

The prophet, Isaiah (the sheep's dad, Tim)

The shepherds hearing the news of Jesus's birth.

Even the sheep seemed interested in the good news.

The wise men came from the East. (Aren't I luck to live with two wise men?)

Carter was quite the actor. Here he is being amazed by the news. Seriously, he cracked me up.

Gifts for the king.

Worshiping baby Jesus (also known as 7-week-old Noah). So sweet! His parents also made a great Mary and Joseph.

At the end of the service we went outside to light candles and sing "Silent Night". This is always one of my favorite Christmas memories.

After the service, we took a few photos (of course!).

Love those girls!

You can't have a shepherd's staff and not try to hook your brother, right?

Looks like more of a "wise guy" than a "wise man".

We went back to my parents' house for dinner.

Family of the puppy kind were together too.

Eric and I were up bright and early on Christmas morning. Carter was the first kid to wake up, at about 7:45. He was delighted by the cat stuffed animal that he had asked for and Santa delivered.

A little breakfast and stockings by the fire.

Santa brought the kids the Nerf Blasters they wanted. Not sure if I can forgive Santa for that.

Carter was excited about so many of his gifts.

Pippa got some new balls.

This year we got a family photo in front of the tree (this didn't happen last year). I am still hoping for a non-jammie version of the shot, but this will do.

Carter wrote "like" on my tag because he likes me. Okay!

The first gift Ashlynn opened was a book. She started reading right away. Classic Ashlynn!

Carter got a ream of paper. He is so excited to have his own pack to use as he pleases and declared this his second favorite Christmas gift this year (#1 was the cat).

Ashlynn got her first Bible.

Eric got a new lunchbox.

Ashlynn received a fairy crown from my Aunt Corinne. She loved it and wore it most of the day.

This was a Lego Christmas at the Vales house.

After opening our presents at home, we went over to Eric's dad's house to open with his dad, Aunt Laurie, Brian, and Brian's girlfriend, Anna.

Here I am with my fairy girl:

In the evening, we had dinner with Eric' family, Eric's aunt's friend, Linda, my mom and dad, and the Dunn family. The Vales family and the Dunn family have been friends for over 40 years, so it was perfect that we share Christmas with them, less than a week after they lost Stu. I think many of us are hoping to make it a tradition.

It was a full house and dining table, and we had a nice time.

The kids had fun. They especially loved pushing adults so they would do dramatic falls. There were endless giggles (it's funny how that stuff doesn't get old for them). Carter and Maiya had a great time together. Maiya thought Carter was hilarious, and Carter loved the attention.