Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas!

It was a miracle the boys waited until 6 am to start jumping on the bed. I am grateful for a husband who intuitively knows that the first thing he should do is get the coffee started before the unwrapping madness begins.

We held off the boys until we got settled and a-racing down the stairs they came, eager to see what Santa had left behind.














Santa left nerf guns and legos and movies and books. Santa also left a drum set for Brennan (with an headphone jack! Hurray!) and Aidan's second favorite gifts - a harry potter pen and metal bookmarks in a glass case. Griffin loved anything and everything, but especially his guitar and playmobil spy guys.

We also had a special treat for Aidan. Aidan has been saving for an iPad for almost a year, diligently putting away any dollar that comes his way. He was a little over half way there and our gift to him was paying off that last half and giving him his beloved and much wanted iPad.

He was in shock when he opened it, screamed and yelled, "You didn't! You didn't!" But we did and it was a joy for me to see the happiness on his face.

We spent Christmas as we always do, in our pjs, building legos, reading books and watching movies. Griffin found the movie A Princess Bride in his stocking. The boys had never seen it and the humor was right up Griffin's alley. He spent the day giggling and repeating "Does anyone want a peanut?" It was still funny hours later.

At one point, we had three different lego sets being built, scattered across the living room floor while the boys (and Daddy) built to their hearts content. Aidan also got in some serious iPad time, while Brennan played with one of my old iphones to keep him in the angry bird loop. (Brennan was surprised to discover the next day that Chris's parents had bought him an iPod touch for his Christmas gift. He hasn't let it leave his side since.)

We stayed in our pjs until it was time for dinner at my Aunt Nancy and Uncle David's house. They live literally one block from our house, which is perfect for a night when we want to enjoy our family, but the boys are ready for an early bed to recover from all the excitement. (And the parents need an early bed to recover too. Oh, do they ever.)

The excitement didn't end with Christmas. We hosted Chris's family at our house bright and early the next morning to open gifts. Chris's parents came first to visit and open and then his aunts and uncles joined us for a few hours.

As with most holidays, Christmas is really a string of days, held together by family, food and fun. We are truly blessed.

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve - my favorite night of the year!

Every year on Christmas Eve day, I call to check in on my grandmother and ask what time she would like us at her house. This year, she told me 4:30 pm. We managed to get out of the house at approximately 4:40 pm after corralling three hyped-up, crazed little boys into the car. (It was not an easy task. My boys were so excited I thought they were going to spontaneously combust.)

We were not the happiest holiday family as we set off for my Nana's and we got even less happy as we realized the Bills game had just let out and we were going to get stuck in massive traffic gridlock. The police had streets closed off, wouldn't let us turn, traffic was at a standstill and the boys were not at their best in the back seat. So I do what I do best, I started to cry, certain we were going to miss ALL the holiday fun because we were lost in a quagmire of football fans, damn it.

My crying got the boys to calm down. It also spurred Chris to very nicely ask the police officer to let us just drive for all of ten seconds on the street that they had closed for traffic. The police officer agreed. We got to my Nana's street after about a half hour in the car and found... We Were the First Ones There.

Not a soul was at my grandparent's house yet. We walked in to my grandparents very enthusiastically greeting us and then my grandmother admitting that she forgot she told everyone else 6 pm for arrival.

That will teach me, won't it?

The early arrival worked to our advantage though. It gave us some time alone with my grandparents. My Nana even gave me a job in the kitchen and an apron to wear to boot! (gold lame apron baby. And I rocked that bad boy! ) We laughed and giggled as we made sausage and stirred sauce. My grandfather set my boys on a chase around the house to count up my grandmother's Santa figurines she has scattered about. And Chris opened up a bottle of wine for all of us to enjoy. It may have been one of my favorite parts of the whole night.

The rest of my family started arriving about an hour into our stay, all decked out in their holiday best, ready for wine and cosmos and lots of food. My boys were in the glory chasing their cousins around the house and begging to open presents. We finally settled down to dinner where my grandfather began his annual tradition of welcoming everyone to dinner and selecting someone to say grace and to give the pre-dinner toast.

He picked Chris for the toast. Sixteen years ago to the day, Chris asked me to marry him, he raised his glass and toasted our family - for their love and their support over the years. I love how much a part of my family he is so naturally. At some point over the years, they stopped being mine and became ours. I couldn't ask for anything more.

We left way past the boys bedtime and our G fell asleep the minute he got in the car. He woke up when we pulled into the driveway, remembering we still had to put out our reindeer food on the front lawn. Chris opened the door and Aidan yelled, "What if Santa has already been here?". The boys quickly ran into the living room to check and were disappointed to discover Santa had not, yet been to our home. I loved that Aidan asked if Santa had arrived because it meant he still believed. I want to hold onto that magic of believing as long as we can. I am grateful he still gets to enjoy Christmas as a child.

We put the reindeer food across the front lawn (oatmeal and glitter), set out cookies and carrots on a plate, and got the boys all asleep in their beds.

I love Christmas Eve, the promise of magic and all the expectation of what tomorrow will bring. It is the best of the holiday.

Merry Christmas to Me!

To my astonishment, I realized that I had a few vacation days left to enjoy for 2011. While some employees chose not to use all of their vacation days (ha ha ha), I am not one of those employees. Not at all.

Instead, I indulged in a day of baking. Me, christmas music at full volume and a whole lot of flour, butter and sugar. (Note to self: even when distracted and belting out All I Want for Christmas Is You - always make sure that your mixer is fully locked in place before you turn it on. 'Cause that sucker has some range. Who knew confectioners sugar could fly so far? And so quickly? I will be cleaning sugar out of my kitchen for the next year or two.)

In addition to a day of baking, I found time for tennis and a movie. This left me nice and relaxed for a day of wrapping, wrapping and even more wrapping. My mom graciously took the boys out of the house to dinner and a movie to give me a solid chunk of time to get it all done. I must have wrapped for a solid five hours before Chris got home from work, saw my slightly grumpy face and asked, "Why do you look so cranky?"

Yes, why indeed?

Joseph!

It is a tradition at the boys' school for the first grade class to perform the Christmas nativity scene for the school. It is quite the event, with the whole school coming out to see the little ones acting and singing around the manger. The preparations in Brennan's class began the beginning of December and Brennan was ecstatic to announce his big news.

He was picked to be Joseph. Joseph!

There is a catch though. Joseph has to hold Mary's hand. And in first grade, that's a fairly big deal. The girl selected as Mary, Caitlin, is a good friend of Brennan's and after talking it through, Brennan agreed that its okay to hold a friend's hand, even if that friend just happens to be a girl.

(Frankly, Chris and I were surprised that Brennan's biggest fan Ciara allowed the casting of Mary to go to anyone else but her once Brennan was picked as Joseph. I was also convinced Ciara may try and tackle Caitlin on the way to the manger during the play.)

Brennan took his Joseph responsibility seriously and practiced his songs day in and day out. (If there is anything cuter than a little boy singing Away in a Manger to himself in his bed, I am not sure what it is.)

My cousin Nikki volunteered to assist the teachers with the play and texted me during rehearsals that she gave me approximately ten seconds into the play before I started crying.

I gave myself five.






The play was wonderful. Brennan remembered all his songs, all his moves and was the cutest little Joseph I have even seen. I managed to keep the tears to a minimum (really!), right up until the kids sang Silent Night. And then, watching my sweet boy, so seriously walking to the stage, holding his friend Caitlin's hand, I just lost it. I was the mom crying the Ugly Cry. It was simply too beautiful, too overwhelming. It was holiday perfection.

Celebrating the 7th Birthday!

When we realized a few months ago that Brennan's birthday fell on a night of a home game for the Sabres, we realized that it would be the perfect birthday surprise. We had the tickets for weeks, but waited to surprise him on the morning of his birthday. Brennan was thrilled with the tickets and the chance for a night out alone with his Daddy, but he was even more excited when he found out that he would probably be up way past his bedtime, while his brothers would be home asleep. He also immediately started planning his hockey menu - popcorn, nachos and some ice cream too!

In addition to all the hockey fun, Chris arranged for the Sabres’ mascot, Sabretooth to visit them at their seats. It’s good to be seven.

The birthday fun continued the next day, with a party for Brennan’s class – a Cake Boss themed event! Every child got to decorate a small cake. Frosting and gummies and sprinkles, oh my! After all the decorating was complete (holy frosting!), Brennan picked his favorite cakes to win a prize. (Well, in theory Brennan was supposed to pick the best decorated cakes, but the adults in the room have a sneaking suspicion that Brennan simply picked his favorite girls so he could give them a prize. If you saw their cakes, you’d understand.)

Brennan's first place selection was the cake made by his friend Ciara. Ciara has remained one of Brennan's favorites of his classmates and I am fairly sure she feels the same. She was glued to his side for all of the birthday festivities and wouldn't let any of the other girls even get close.

All in all, it was a successful celebration of seven. (And I breathed a huge sigh of relief to have all the birthdays done and celebrated.)

Our B is Seven!

Brennan, today you are seven. It is so hard for me to believe the boy you are is the baby I once snuggled and nuzzled to death, but you are now a boy. Such a boy.

You are a joyful boy. Our happy go lucky guy who always seems to be living in his own world. The little things don’t seem to matter to you. I will constantly catch you wearing only one sock or no underwear or even two pairs of underwear, but you are always surprised when I point it out. You will shrug, laugh and go about your business, without caring all that much about why you have only been wearing one sock all the live long day.

Your smile and sweetness (and those big brown eyes) attracts people to you, especially the girls. Oh, the girls. If I had a nickel for every mom who takes me aside to confide that her daughter has a crush on you, I would be a millionaire. They ALL have crushes on you. They follow you here, there and everywhere, aspiring to get just a smidgen of your attention. You are kind to each and every one of your loyal followers, but even now, at only seven, you have your favorites. (And they know it too.)

You love the attention, almost all the time, but sometimes it confuses you too. You were upset about the girl in your class who made up a song about how she was going to marry you someday because it embarrassed you. But then the next week, you told me that out of the eleven girls in your class, ten had decided to marry you. (It made your chest puff up with pride.)

You are a snuggler. You like soft blankets and cozy clothes. You love to hug and give kisses. You are always the first to jump in my lap the moment I sit down and have been known to put up quite a ruckus if someone else gets there first. Sometimes, when I take a nap on the couch, I feel you lean over and give me quick, gentle kisses while I sleep. It breaks my heart into a million pieces every single time you do it.

You love to play with your action figure guys, build lego sets, or play the Wii. You adore dogs and have saved up quite a menagerie of stuffed animals to live in your bed. You like to sleep with them surrounding you so that your bed often resembles a stuffed zoo. Your favorite tv shows are Arthur, Cake Boss and Endurance. Your favorite movies are Spy Kids and Home Alone. Your favorite books are anything you can read yourself.

Your favorite foods are chicken wings and ice cream. I have never seen a child who loves a dish of ice cream the way you do. (Even more so if the ice cream has whipped cream and some gummie bears on top.) You are our hot sauce guy who believes that anything and everything tastes better covered in hot sauce.

You are playing your second season of basketball this year. You had a hard time adjusting, because it was the first time you played a sport without one of your brothers by your side. But after a few tears, you have decided you really love it. I like that it is giving you a chance to shine, all on your own. You rocked swim team this summer, winning an award for Most Improved Boy. You love to snowboard and mountain bike. You finished your first kids tri this summer with all of us cheering you on. You have told me you would like to try lacrosse and start tennis team too.

You love to play nerf battles with your brothers, go for bike rides with mom (or make me play wii so you can beat me soundly) and snowboard or bike with your dad. You love nothing more than a good family movie night, all of us cuddled up under a blanket together.

You are a loving, happy soul who has brought such love into our family. We love you very much our B, our Beezer, our Brennan. Happy 7.