Merry Christmas 2007

Just a quick post to comment on our Christmas festivities...

Yesterday we went to Luke's parents to exchange gifts with his family and then last night after 4:00 Mass, his entire family (or a lot of them anyway) gathered at Joan's house for their annual dinner and gift swap. The boys looked so cute yesterday. Adam and Kendall gave them matching John Deere hoodies--which they put on immediately, wore again today and will probably wear again tomorrow! The only reason they took them off was to change into their church clothes...and my, did they look handsome!

Patrick was psyched because he got to hang out with Rebeckah at Joan's house. She looked beautiful. We really do not see her enough anymore. He was so happy to see her! He also got in his Caleb time, although from the looks of these two with their heads together like that, does anyone else think we ought to be worried?

My boys lookin' so smoooooth...especially Ben with his Rico Suave chocolate milk mustache!

When we got home, we put out our milk and cookies (and oats for the reindeer), read The Night Before Christmas, sang a Christmas lullaby, and then nestled our sleepy heads snug in our beds. It was a late night, so the boys slept in this morning. I hated to wake them, but Luke had to be at work at 11:00 (we were lucky to get that--his shift usually starts at 8:00), so we went up to drag them out of bed. We needn't have fretted. Patrick shot out of bed like a cannon and ran downstairs. He was not disappointed! I won't bore you with details, but it was a fun morning and the boys were thrilled with Santa's goodies. Patrick's favorite gift was two truck sticker books. It was all he asked for this year. We were glad Santa could deliver.

One of Patrick's presents was a scooter, but since it was raining outside, he and Ben took it for a spin around the kitchen. Ben had a ball opening gifts...this is year has been the first time that he's even begun to grasp the idea of presents, so that made it all the merrier. Altogether, it was a really sweet and cozy Christmas morning with just the fam.

Merry Christmas to everyone out there in Bloggerland, as well as to any random readers. We have had a truly blessed year. I was listening to The Christmas Waltz by Frank Sinatra the other day, and the chorus ends with "Merry Christmas, may your New Years dreams come true..." and it struck me that in 2007, ours did. Last year at this time, Luke was getting ready to tackle full-time school plus full-time job--which left me full-time alone--and we didn't know how things would turn out, or if there would even be a payoff. I'm glad to say there was, and now we're happier than ever. I hope for all of you that your New Years dreams come true. Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Jesus, Delmos and Joe

Patrick's first "real school" Christmas program was this week, and boy was it just darling. I was a very proud momma because he did so well and was sooooo handsome while he did his thang. The Pre-k and kindergarten classes did the "pre-show" (because they are just not cooperative enough to actually be in the program) but it was cool, since theirs was the best part anyway. They sang Rudolph and then a sweet song called Happy Birthday Jesus. It was actually a completely cheesy song, but when sung by 4-year-olds it was transformed into a tearjerker-and-a-half. It went something like this:

Happy Birthday Jesus
I'm so glad it's Christmas
All the twinkling lights
And the presents are nice
But the real gift is yoooooouuuuuuuuu....

And Patrick sang his little heart out.

After that the program took a turn for the worse, especially when Joseph appeared on the scene sporting a beard so heinous that I was sure they'd stolen it off a Hasidic SNL skit. I swear I expected him to bust out in a Yiddish tap number at any point. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture, so you'll have to use your imagination. Joseph--who was lucky enough to be Brennan, my boss son--later told us that the loud whoops and guffaws coming from our row were just the icing on the cake for him. Whatever. We had a great time.

So tonight Delmos came over to play X-box with Luke, but he always eats dinner with us too. And polite Southern boy that he is, he always offers to bring something. Tonight I told him to bring dessert and make it chocolate, so he showed up with a German chocolate cake--yum! Then we found out that tomorrow is his birthday, so it turned into a birthday cake, and of course Patrick was more than happy to help with the candles and such.

And tomorrow is also another little guy's birthday...sweet little Joe, who I think is the cutest thing ever, is turning the big FOUR tomorrow! And this is huge, as any of you who have survived a three-year-old will know. And if you haven't yet experienced the age of three...consider yourself warned. Two is just a warm-up, okay? So Katie, I raise my glass of skim milk to you--you have made it girl, and it's all uphill from here! Happy birthdays to D-to-the-elmos and the one and only Joe!

The First 48

Luke pulled his first 48-hour shift this weekend...ugh. He called me at 7:15 this morning and asked if I cared if he stayed on for another shift--with overtime pay. What's a girl who's hard-up for some Christmas cash supposed to say? It's probably been great for him, since on Saturdays they're required to do absolutely nothing unless there's a call, but for me...well, today was less than thrilling. However, it is 24 full hours of time-and-a-half pay, and Christmas is but a few short days away, so...whatever. He'll be home in the morning and I'll make him watch the kids all day while I sleep off the past two days.

But we did get to see him tonight, since it was the annual Fire Department Christmas dinner. Nothing exciting, but the boys were on cloud nine amidst the throngs of firefighters. The highlight of the night was when Santa came around to hand out goodies and Patrick told him we'd be leaving him a beer and some cookies on Christmas Eve. Gee, I wonder who put him up to that??? They also had a really great slideshow, with lots of pics of the guys doing cool things and looking very sexy in their gear, but in true Luke fashion, he managed to avoid being in every picture but one:

As you can see, there was nothing he could do to avoid being snapped here, so I guess he just decided to embrace it for once. And look what a cool picture it turned out to be! My favorite part is all the other guys' heads peeking out over the platform above. In the grand scheme of things, they are just boys being boys...and they're lucky enough to get paid for it.

I have no idea if this is Luke or not (probably not), but we'll pretend it is, because I know that this was taken during the physical test that all the applicants had to pass before they were accepted into rookie school. Among a slew of other things, they had to slam this tire with the sledge hammer until it moved quite a good distance. I can't recall how far, but I know I wouldn't have moved it an inch, so I guess I'll never be a firefighter. Too bad. I remember Luke saying this day kicked his butt, but he got through, and the rest is history.

I'm not sure when this picture was taken--I'd have to guess at the opening of their newest station--but I just think it is really cool.

So that's it. Thanks for reading--I'll catch you all later!