perfect christmas

christmas - part one (the harmers' house on Christmas Eve)

Sloane's big gift to us is
learning to crawl. She's
mastered laying to sitting and
is just minutes away from the
full crawl. Watch out people!

Santa Baby...hurry down the chimney tonight! Sloane had two cute Santa outfits for Christmas. I bought one (obviously) but so did Scott! So this is the one she wore to Christmas Eve festivities at his parents' house. Tagg and his cousin Ashley dove into a few presents on Christmas Eve after the traditional ham and potatoes dinner, then they put reindeer food out (oatmeal with sparkles) and lured Rudolph into the back yard. Tagg totally knows all the words to Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer, his favorite Christmas carol, but he wouldn't sing louder than a whisper so we don't have any good video...bummer!

Tagg got a bunch of Lightning McQueen stuff including a car that he got to race with Ashley. He gave Ashley a princess outfit and a Purplicious book (her favorite color) and he and Sloane gave photo books to Auntie Leese and Grama and Bompa.

christmas - part two (our house, Christmas Day)

Tagg woke up late on Christmas...8:30 and we had to wake him up! Scott and I went to bed at 1 and woke up at 7:30 mind you. I suspect that will change as he gets older! Nana and Papa and Aunt Tiff came over at 8, packing cameras and mimosa fixin's. He was a little grumpy at first but then realized that Santa had come and ran downstairs. I wish I had a real picture of the awe on his face, but I'll keep the mental picture forever.

The basketball hoop was a huge hit. He was working on dunks and long shots from the get go, with a little help from Papa. Not bad for a kid wearing Lightning McQueen jammies that were about 4 inches too long! Tagg's baby family sent so many darling things for Tagg - clothes, a Cars Etch-a-Sketch that he adores and a new WVU jersey. They also sent Sloane a cute outfit. How awesome is that? I'm always so amazed by the love and generosity that these families share with us.

Sloane seems to have acquired my penchant for clothes and shoes...with a little help from her birth mom! She sent a cute pair of Ugg boots that Sloane may be able to wear in a few months and a gift certificate for Tagg. Again...how adorable! Even her grandma sent some artsy stuffed animals. It's a great reminder of how incredible these relationships are. We hope the kids cherish it as much as we do.

christmas - part three (the harmers' house)

We headed off to the Harmer homestead around 11 for Bompa's famous breakfast - monkey bread, french toast, bacon, eggs, sausage and veggie sausage which he accidentally bought because he didn't have his glasses on. Not bad tasting but the texture was...ick. It's kind of funny but Bompa's breakfast tastes a little different at a real table with real silverware. I'm not gonna lie, it was awesome but I think I like it better at Lake Powell!

The Girls.
Kayla (5 mo), Ashley (4 yrs), Sloane (7 mo).
All smiling in one photo!

I am trying to keep the "let's wear Xmas jammies all day" tradition alive and cooking but I am meeting with some resistance. Apparently I need to buy Scott some less gay pajamas and not go anywhere public all day to make this work. Come on! I think it's cute...and comfortable! Of course, neither baby was interested in performing for the camera at all but at least it's captured in pictures - squirming, screaming, the works! And, for the record, Scott cut about 4 inches off the bottom of his pajamas when we got to his mom's...no worry about how jagged or crooked or wrecked they were. That should probably tell me something!

The Girls. All smiling again...and Tagg.
Refusing to be part of the moment.

The kids all got treated royally (again!) at Grama and Bompa's Christmas. My favorite gift? The calendar Sandy made of the whole family - complete with all the birthdays and a Lake Powell trip countdown! Very cool! Tagg's favorite gift? Cars Band-aids. Sloane's favorite gift? Wrapping paper, and anything Tagg had.


christmas - part...ah, who's counting (the comptons' house)

We got to Mom, Dad and Tiff's about 2pm with 2 snoozing kids in the back of the car. Of course, our kids don't "transfer" at all so they promptly woke up and it was off to the Christmas races! The house smelled like turkey (mmmm!) and there was a Wii tournament in progress.

Sloane and Harper were dressed in identical outfits. It was so funny - totally unplanned, swear! But they looked so cute in their little twinner outfits! They even puked on them the same! At one point, Sloane was officially Christmas and pictured out. Done! So done!

Marc, Dad and Scott entertained the kids with Jingle Bears while we finished up a lovely dinner. We had a fabulous time opening presents - more stuff than those kids will ever appreciate! Mom and Dad got the kids a very, very generous donation to their college savings accounts in addition to some fun things and Marc & Becky went overboard as usual. Some day, I aspire to be that good at gift giving. The skull Xmas pj's for Scott? The Blindside replacement DVD for me? The princess scooter toy for Sloane? All perfect and awesome.

In the spirit of our family tradition, we got ornaments for the kids - one for every year - but mom and dad got them, and so did we. I like the eclectic Christmas tree where every ornament has a story. Makes me feel like I'm home!

So Christmas...it's a lot of work, and a lot of money, and a lot of stress but it's more than made up for by the the joy and the memories and the sharing of love between family and friends. It's so worth every little bit of everything. As you can tell by the length of this blog post...too many great moments to leave out a single one! I'm a little sorry it's over but still basking in the glow!