Days Like This: Catch up

I am a bad blogger. Its practically Valentine's Day and I haven't talked about Elizabeth's birthday celebration, Christmas, etc. Considering I just sent over a year's worth of pictures to be printed, my slack on the blog shouldn't surprise anyone.

We are planning on doing Disney this year so no big parties for the kids birthdays. We had the family over to celebrate Elizabeth's big day - but with 7 kids in total, it was a wild time with just us. I made a chocolate cake with pink and purple icing by request. Elizabeth loved having her loved ones to sing her happy birthday. This was the first year she was excited about opening presents, giving each one an enthusiastic "ooooo ... I love it!" I have to edit those pictures so expect them sometime in 2014.

And Christmas. Birthday warmed Elizabeth up for opening presents, so she could keep up with Andy on Christmas morning. Andy came running into our room to wake us up. I wish I could remember what he said, but I don't. I'm a bad mom. OK, maybe just so sleep deprived I can barely string two thoughts together. Let alone remember something said to me when I was in a dead sleep. But Andy was super excited to see Santa had brought him a new bike. As he opened each present, he wanted to take it out of the packaging and play with it. So I think next year, we are going to take everything out of the original packaging, put in batteries and then wrap it up. In the end, it will save time and a lot of frustration. As much as the kids anticipated Santa's arrival, so did we. It's a lot of work and its over quickly - leaving a giant pile of trash in its wake - but there's something special about starting our own family traditions. Knowing that we are doing things our kids will remember as they become adults. Knowing that they will forget what Santa put in their stockings (socks and underwear. Duh. Doesn't everyone get that in their stocking?), but they will remember that Dad always made poliksinky. Which is just Czech or Polish or something for crepes. They will remember being with Nana and Papaw and their cousins. They will remember making cookies for Santa and leaving carrots for the reindeer. They will remember driving around looking at lights. They will remember reading the story of Jesus' birth. And so will we. I know these are the best days. The sweet memories of life with small children, of Christmases we will relive many years down the road. So its hard to capture what it feels to be Santa, of seeing the joy and wonder on their faces as we look at Christmas lights.