Much Merriment was Had

Having children this age makes Christmas so magical.  They love every bit of it.  So do we!

This was our first Christmas with stairs.  I loved having them come down and see that Santa had come.

Proof that Santa had come.  Traditional cookies were left.  Jackson also felt that we should, "Offer Santa some pasta."

So we did.  He apparently liked it.

First we did stockings.  Santa is known for his contradictory nature.

Peanuts

Chocolate

 Trains

Toothbrushes

Nana browsing her magazine that Santa brought her.

Uncle Mark was pleased that Santa included some Bahamian currency in his stocking.

Papa giving Jackson MORE chocolate.

Then it was time to eat breakfast.

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon rolls.  They are sinfully delicious!

 Anticipation. 
Can I open this one?  No.  Can I open this one?  No.  How about this one?  Nope.  Not until after breakfast. 

 It's almost time!

Butterbean liked stacking the gifts up.  Everything can be turned into blocks!

 J sporting some new shades.

I totally fell down on the job as photographer.  I was too busy enjoying it all.  Imagine this about 20 times more.  They got some wonderful gifts.

Also there are no pictures of any adults opening gifts.  Because that would be boring, right?

Except that I got one not so boring gift.  It satrs with i and ends with pad.  Thanks Michele.  I promise to blog every day with it.  Or at least twice a month!

Allen and I gave each other some cruisers.  Can't wait to take them for a spin around the hood!

OOps!  Some of the boys presents fell off the sleigh and were on the front steps.

 Hola amigos, yo soy hablar español Buzz Lightyear!

 

Cranky the Crane

They boys got dressed and drove their Morphibians on our beach.  Didn't end up that great.  They were fun while they lasted!

It was about 80 degrees that day.  Don't hate me, but it was H-O-T!

We had a wonderful Christmas in our new home.



Better Late than Never!

Apparently I am on Bahamas Local time and I do everything a little late.  Either that or I have been cooking too much to do much blogging.  Maybe a little of both.

Merry Christmas!

We are back in business with our trusty laptop and have the ability to post pictures.  Now I just need to go through the 673 pictures that I have taken in December.

Before I get to Christmas, I need to recall what we did before the big day.

We did the Junior Junkanoo.  It is hard to describe other than  that it is like a Bahamian Mardi Gras.  There is music, costumes, dancing and revelry of all sorts. Most of my pictures are blurry, but that is fitting since it is a little dizzying to be there! The boys got to stay up until 10:00 p.m.  Didn't make them sleep any later, though!

Allen and I were honored to attend a really special Christmas party.  We met Sean Connery there.  My sweetie is way better looking, though!

Jackson did a great job at his Christmas Concert.

Here in the Bahamas, they really know how to do a school event!  They had it in the evening and as a fundraiser they were serving serving adult refreshments before the concert.

The Bug and the Butterbean wore hats at every possible opportunity!  Butterbean even added a (yogurt) beard to complete the look.

Somewhere in there we ended up hosting Allen's work Christmas party.  We had about 30 minutes notice.  It all worked out fine, but next year, I'll leave it to the pros!

Our house was decorated.

The tree sure does look crooked and I can assure you it probably was!  This was our first artificial tree and it may be a long time before we go back to having a real tree.  So easy!!  Somehow our angel didn't make the voyage.  She must be enjoying her time in storage.

 I was inspired by Anna's hats on her silhouettes and even made one for ours!  It was meant to be since I had the collection of Santas on the console table and the silhouette at the other end.  I think it is perfection!

A few days before Christmas Allen's family came to celebrate with us.  The boys got so much attention, that they'll never be the same!  we hit five beaches while they were here and did downtown Nassau.  If you've ever done downtown Nassau once, I'm sure that was enough.  I think I'm set for the next 821 months.

I am being seized by the need to organize the entire house, so it may take me a few days to get to our Christmas pictures, but they are coming!  Oh, and before I organize the entire house, I need to organize my pictures.  Or maybe I will go with my other desire to finish off all the chocolate in the house, you never know.

Dear Santa

Our computer is still feeling under the weather.  It looks like we will have to erase everything and try to start over.

On the other hand Jackson's foot is almost completely healed and he rarely comments on it anymore.

The boys have been enjoying all the Christmas spirit and fun surrounding the season.  We have an ELF on the Shelf that they named something else last year, then when it came time this year, none of us could remember his name, so they were fine renaming him.  This year his name is Happy and he is so fun to have around.  You can see Jackson look over his shoulder as he does something he shouldn't.

Shortly after Thanksgiving J decided that he wanted a Spanish talking Buzz Lightyear from Santa.  Well we already have 2 talking Buzz Lightyears.  Both of them are could be labeled broke down and just plain broken.  There was no way I was asking Santa to get him a new Buzz.  I mean, we all know Santa also asks the moms if that is what SHE wants him to give the kids!  Anyway, he never changed his mind, it was always a Spanish talking Buzz Lightyear.

I think you'll agree that the LAST thing he needs is a Spanish talking Buzz Lightyear.  We don't speak much Spanish at home, and Buzz Lightyear toys are obviously not durable enough for our kind of play.  I kept telling him that since Santa doesn't speak Spanish, he couldn't make a Spanish talking Buzz Lightyear.  Do you know what?  He didn't listen to me!  The nerve.

The thing was that he never changed his mind.  It was all he was talking about.  Then about a week or so ago his teacher pulled me aside and said he REALLY wanted a Spanish talking Buzz Lightyear.  I was feeling a little down that day and called Santa at work and gave him the news.  We were in need of a Spanish talking Buzz Lightyear, and fast.  Santa agreed and ordered his elves at Amazon to get to work on it.

How many more years will the magic last?  Not that long.  Why not?  I was happy that we were going to make his dream come true!

That night I was feeling a little smug and asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him.  So he says, "A Spanish talking Buzz Lightyear with floaties so he can swim with me, and a remote control so he can pick the apples off the top of the apple tree at Papa's."

Huh?  Where did that come from?

So I gather myself and say, "Honey I don't know if Santa knows how to make all that extra stuff."  While laughing and running away, my baby says to me, "No Mama, his elves will make it."

I've been known to get my craft on, but let's hope that the professionals at the North Pole are much craftier than I am!