Christmas Chaos

I always have this idea that Christmas means relaxing in front of a crackling fire with a mug of hot cocoa and the whipped cream slowly melting into it while I contemplate presents under a glowing tree, cuddled up with Craig on the love sac.

Ahhh... So cozy!

And there definitely were a few minutes of that this season. But I think more than half of them didn't feel nearly as relaxing because I was trying to not spill that hot cocoa as I was jumped on by Bentley and Kendra. I love my kids, but they definitely take the "relaxing" part out of Christmas.

But this year, at least, if Christmas was less than relaxing, they are not the ones to blame. I'd have to say that the bulk of the blame rests solely on my own shoulders.

To kick it all off, I am the one who decided that we just had to have another baby. And while that was definitely the right thing to do and while I absolutely adore my little Ryder, new babies certainly push things into the "less relaxing" category. Especially when their arrival sends big sister into a dramatic phase of crying over everything. And more especially when they arrive right after Thanksgiving and just as the weather turns icy, thus ushering in the cold and flu season. Kendra is now on her second cold and deals with her illness by moaning 24 hours a day. You might think I'm exaggerating, but I'm actually not. At all. She sounds like a very small and lonely wolf all day and, more to the point: all. night. long.

I thought midnight feedings were exhausting, but this is ten times worse. And has definitely added to the chaos factor for this Christmas.

Sorry, I just love pictures of sleeping babies (maybe because they don't look so cross-eyed then...?).
Be prepared for a lot of these throughout this post...

So between the new baby and the cold (both weather and illness), things were going to be chaotic no matter what. But then we also spent the Saturday before Christmas completely busy first with the ward Christmas party and then with driving straight from the party up to Frederick, Maryland to exchange presents with two of my sisters. Unfortunately, it turns out that there aren't many places to meet up in Frederick, so we decided it would be easiest to meet at the mall. We didn't think about the fact that it was the last Saturday before Christmas! That poor mall was jam-packed full of people! Oh, well. It was still really great to see my sisters, so it was definitely worth it!

Meeting Santa at the ward Christmas party. Ryder slept through the entire thing!

Natalie and Tracy (holding Caleb and Ryder) at the Frederick McDonald's!

Looking very maternal as I try juggling two babies!

Again with the sleeping baby pictures...

Also "less relaxing" was me insisting that we could put Craig's grandmother's old furniture to good use. I'm a sucker for beautiful wood furniture, and so when Craig's Aunt Lynda said we could have whatever we wanted of Grandmere's, I started making lists of the things we wanted. Unfortunately, none of it was available until this month. This month! Can you hear the panic in my typing? This month! Craig's parents did most of the work, and graciously drove down to South Carolina to retrieve said furniture for us. How they fit this into their own busy schedules is something of a mystery to me. But it meant that they arrived, beautiful bedroom set and dining room table in tow, on Wednesday. And we frantically crammed it all into our little house and decided we'd just have to figure out how to arrange things so that they actually "fit" later. That has still not happened yet. Maybe today? Or tomorrow? Definitely some time this week. In the meantime, our box spring is now on the floor and there are several rooms that you can barely squeeze through in our house. And I am not someone who deals with messes like that without a fair amount of stressing out. Chaos!

This has nothing to do with the furniture, but I'm trying to break up the monotony of having too much text with a few pictures. These are capturing a rare moment when I can convince my kids to abandon their usual shorts and t-shirts for some weather-appropriate clothing. And I wonder why Kendra keeps getting sick...

The obvious solution would have been to work on rearranging furniture on Thursday. Then everything would have been ready before family showed up on Friday. But Thursday was the day that the Kennedy Center has their free sing-along Messiah. And having missed it last year (Disney World, and all that), I was bound and determined to not miss it again. So, once again, I made my life way more complicated than it needed to be. But I did have a marvelous time, so I think it was worth it. Craig's parents (again, very graciously) were willing to watch Bentley and Kendra for us while we took Ryder with us and waited in line for a few hours to make sure we got tickets. I guess we got there earlier than necessary, because we ended up sitting in the front row. No kidding. Ryder's ticket (because the Kennedy Center insists that anyone who is breathing have a ticket) was A-1 in the Orchestra section. Craig took pictures:

Ryder and I in the Hall of Nations

Ryder shows off his awesome seat!

My good friend Sarah also came. I highly recommend sitting next to a vocal performance major for occasions like this!

I've already blogged about how much I love the Messiah Sing-Along. If you're in the area, you should come with me next year! It really is such a wonderfully happy event! I think it's impossible to fully appreciate the joy of the "Hallelujah Chorus" until you've sung it at full voice along with 2,000 other people! This is what Christmas is all about, after all.

(Ryder, for the record, was great. There is no easier way to make friends with strangers than to carry a tiny baby around with you. Kids loved him. The ushers loved him. The security guard moved a couch so I could sit while in line. And then the people in line with me offered to save my place so I could continue to sit while the line moved forward. Even the violinists smiled down on him! So kind! So in keeping with the spirit of Christmas!)

So, yes, Messiah was wonderful. But. It meant that my house was still a wreck on Christmas Eve. And then we were too busy with Christmas and family to do anything about it.

We did, however, find time to make cookies. Kendra enjoyed helping Daddy with this endeavor.

My sister and her husband and two children came Friday (Christmas Eve) morning. I wish I could say that they spent Christmas with us, but alas, they were only using us for our handy airport! They flew out to spend Christmas with her in-laws wicked early on Christmas morning (I actually was awake, feeding Ryder when they left, but I didn't get up to see them off). But it was still fun to have them with us for Christmas Eve! A couple highlights included having my sister play her violin to accompany us with the traditional singing of Christmas carols and dressing all the cousins in matching pajamas! So fun!

Chaos! And this isn't even one of the rooms where we added furniture!

Cousins in matching pajamas! So fun!

Reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas with Daddy/Uncle Craig

Now that Ryder's awake, we needed to take another cousin picture

Note: it's really hard to get five children all under the age of 4 to hold still, let alone smile!

It's the back of these p.j.'s that really make them adorable!

Also arriving on Christmas Eve were my in-laws (who, you may recall, had already been here to deliver furniture and then to watch Bentley & Kendra while I was busy singing some Handel). They totally out-did themselves this year, and the bar had already been set pretty high by them! My mother-in-law, bless her heart, decided that she didn't want to leave any mess behind at all when they left. So they brought everything with them: linens, towels, and everything for Christmas dinner (including two rolls of paper towels for cleaning up the kitchen). Everything we might have needed, my mother-in-law brought, cooked, and then cleaned up when we were done. I'm so spoiled. Thank you, Donna. Really. Thank you so much. If all the chaos I've been describing didn't cause me to have a nervous breakdown, it's definitely because of all your efforts.

They also brought approximately eight thousand presents for everyone. Including the rest of the first season of Glee for me. Woo hoooo!

Before the kids can open anything...

Kendra tries on her Buzz Lightyear costume

More chaos!

Enjoying some snuggly time!

Kendra, post-cupcake

Ryder tries out a little thumb-sucking

So how do I even begin to sum up our Christmas? It was a lot of insanity. I have to admit that I am anxious to get my life and my house and my children's health back in order. But Christmas was also happy and wonderful and everything Christmas should be. I guess the week before New Year's is for getting organized again, right?

But next year I'm going to schedule more hot cocoa-in-front-of-the-fire time!