Christmas... before, during and after

THE BEFORE:

Decorations were sparse this year. Because we’re still for sale, and still showing the house (though the last walk through was about 12/21 or so , but another is scheduled for tomorrow!)

The tree was up, but never decorated. How lazy are my children? I put the lights on the tree, and then enthusiastically encouraged the kids to bring the ornaments up from the basement and hang them on the tree. NO TAKERS. Then it became a *thing* with no one wanting to back down and finally decorate the stupid tree. So I stuck a birdhouse in it and called it *natural.* Dysfunctional family, who? PS: Charlie Brown called, wants his tree back.

We did get out all of the nutcrackers and the girls hung their stockings.
And my dad sent the tower of treats, which, frankly, is all anyone really needs for Christmas.

And of course, our traditional ghetto DIY family portrait. Which was turned into a Christmas card, which did not get mailed out. Christmas 2008 de ja vu times a million.

Lots of crafts were made and lots of sewing was done. Final tally was Shana: three aprons, two ponchos and four faux Snuggies. Carlie: seven magnet boards, about 40 glass magnets and approximately 3,487 chocolate covered pretzel rods, of which no photos were taken.

Faux Snuggie directions coming soon, because believe it or not, a couple of people have actually asked for them! .

And not to be forgotten, we had a pre-Christmas weekend sleepover with little cousins and made a gingerbread house

Magnet board, with glass magnets

Poncho for Lana in New Orleans

Poncho for Iris in Texas

Apron for Iris

Of course the holiday season would not be complete without some heartbreak and drama, and we had plenty of that. The week before Christmas, Carlie had to say a very sad goodbye to her dance instructor and partner, Daniel, as he will no longer be teaching at Arthur Murray. She is heartbroken, still, over him leaving. I found her a few days ago sobbing in the middle of her bed with a box of tissues and pictures of Daniel spread out in a semicircle around her. Dramatic who? Luckily she does not understand that I might be a tiny bit mocking her as I sing “The First Cut is the Deepest” to Tim every time the subject of Daniel comes up.

THE DURING:

Christmas Eve, we hosted our annual Open House. I took not a single photo. At the end of the evening, Tim and I sat down and made a list of everyone we could remember seeing through the evening. We came up with 82 people who FOR SURE were here. We may have missed some. Of the 82, 55 were adults and two were toddlers. The rest? Kids. Rowdy, crazy and in one case a Chuck Norris batshit crazy kid. Good times! Ham sammies and two tremendous vats of turkey gumbo got us through the night, and I only had to send Taylor to the grocery store once for more rice. Success! I could kick myself for not getting a picture of the abundance of delicious sweets and treats that people brought over. Today is 12/28 and I am still suffering from a bit of a sweets hangover.

The faux Snuggies were a huge hit. And do not be fooled by Taylor's unpleasant demeanor. He is all about the faux Snuggie. Believe you me.

Christmas morning was quiet and low key. The family received a Wii from Santa, and pretty much everything after that was just a matter of getting presents opened so the kids could go set up the Wii. The *kids* were crazy for the Wii, wherein *kids* = EVERYONE WENT A WII BIT INSANE.

Note: Yes, my 10-year-old is opening presents while wearing a sassy tweed swing jacket. Because? Stylish.

Resident Evil, here we come. GAME ON, zombies! Game on.

The iPod Touch caused a Wii bit of hysteria as well.

The girls played Wii sports for SIX HOURS STRAIGHT. I am not exaggerating. The adults dabbled in the Wii a bit on Christmas day, but it was pretty much Carlie and Erinna ALL DAY LONG. And they didn’t bother opening any of the other Wii games.

THE AFTER:

After all that Wii’ing, the girls could not move their arms on Boxing Day. Which? Was hilarious. They totally zombied out all day long on gameboy and iPod and laptops.

With the girls disabled for the day, Tim and I had our chance at the Wii. And we killed zombies for FOUR HOURS STRAIGHT. Again, not exaggerating. There is possibly a Wii bit of a problem in this household right now. Also? Carpal tunnel, who?

We did tear ourselves away from the zombies to attend a fabulous Boxing Day party in the evening, complete with delicious treats and a great round of Pass the Parcel.

We rounded out our zombie-filled Christmas holidays yesterday with a viewing of Shaun of the Dead, the consumption of vast amounts of pad thai and kettle chips and finishing off the homemade boozy eggnog.

Blink once and BAM it’s Carlie’s birthday. Which is in full throttle right now. Which is why I am hiding out in my room on the laptop. But probably shouldn’t be. Birthday coverage later!

Is everyone else all partied out too? I am ready to nap until New Years Day and then start fresh in 2010. But, of course, we have a realtor showing the house tomorrow, which means reality is slapping me in the face TODAY and I’m about to go all chore warrior on this house. After I shoot a few zombies.

UPDATE: It is 7:15 p.m. I am sick of little girls. And I now have to take Carlie to dance x two hours. And? I have not done ANY cleaning of ANY sort around the house. Which is being shown tomorrow. FML.