Twas the Weekend before Christmas

We are extraordinarily lucky to live close enough to a gaggle of family members on both sides to see essentially all of them in a whirlwind few days of holiday extravaganza. Part of me thinks it might be nice to travel to the quintessential grandmother's house (picture long drive through perfectly falling snow) only to be greeted with a freshly brewed cup of coffee and long-anticipated hugs from enthusiastic relatives. Oh wait, maybe that's just the Folger's commercial running through my head. Pregnancy hormones or not, that thing makes me tear up every time...
Indeed, it can be hectic.And I sometimes fear that we are so rushed to get to the next location or prepare for the next influx of family members that we may not really take time to relish the moment, to absorb the magnamity of the season and the treasure of spending time with family. Maybe it would seem more "special" if we spent several days with family we rarely saw otherwise throughout the year. But despite the emotional waterworks that the Folger's soundtrack may trigger, I have realized more and more how blessed we are to be surrounded by our loved ones and how nice it is to be able to see them all at Christmas. Every Christmas.

This year's whirlwind was kicked off with the Peds Radiology Christmas party we hosted again this year. Elle continued the tradition of spending the night with her best friend Grace, while Elise stayed behind to entertain guests. Charming as always, I think she was the hit of the party. 

Life of the party, little E

On Christmas Eve Eve Eve we were invited to Grampa and Mimi's house for a fantastic dinner and present opening gala. The girls were beyond excited to kick off the festivities. 

Love that we are close enough for the girls to spend time with Grampa and Mimi! And so grateful for the help they are to us with sick days, date nights, and everything in between.

Christmas Eve Eve entailed a brunch with some of my high school friends and their sweet little ones. The kids managed to entertain themselves beautifully for the most part, allowing the adults to catch up. I was reminded yet again the volume of food my kids consume relative to their peers... guess they get that honest! 

Christmas Eve started off as all Christmas Eve's should... with cookie baking. Elle and I have made gingerbread cookies for Santa the past several years, and we continued the tradition this year with the help of an eager albeit little-concept-of-keeping-ingredients-in-the-bowl E2. 

I am far too obsessive-compulsive to bake with small children. Working through that. Hopefully they aren't too scarred from the repetitive outbursts of "Don't stir so hard!", "The flour stays IN the bowl!", "Use the cookie cutters along the edges so as to maximize available surface area of the dough!", and "That's not where his mouth goes!"

Tyrannical Mom notwithstanding, they turned out well . The girls were proud of their work, and Elle reluctantly agreed to partition a few out for Santa.

Tasting the fruits of their labor.

After some festive wrapping and holiday preparations, we got ready for the Christmas Eve service at our church. The 4pm service is labelled "family-friendly" and it was great. Lots of kid involvement, including having all the children on stage for a good portion of the service. All the children and one rather pregnant woman scooting around amidst the service trying to corral an inquisitive and extremely mobile almost 2 year old. Entertaining for the audience, apparently.

My kids are notorious for nonmatching beyond tacky and seasonally inappropriate attire. Long ago I gave Elle the independence to dress herself, which I suppose has been good for her independence but disastrous from a not-looking-like-a-hobo standpoint. Parenting is all about picking your battles, and for better or worse, this is one I chose not to pick. That being said, I did manage to achieve some degree of wardrobe normalcy for this occasion. Not without a struggle (apparently tights are "as bad as mayonnaise"), but the end result was acceptable.

Sorry for the crotch shot Elise. 

I'm not above cookie bribery for tolerating photo opportunities. 

After church we headed back home to greet my mom's side of the family for Christmas Eve dinner. I didn't get many photos, but it was nice to see everyone, share some good food (including a requested repeat appearance of the "chargrilled artichokes" aka roasted brussels sprouts we made at Thanksgiving), and open presents with Nana and her family. 

After dinner (and amazingly before presents), Elle gathered everyone in the living room and asked who wanted to hear a story about Baby Jesus. She then proceeded to tell the Christmas story in perfect 5-year-old paraphrase that absolutely melted my heart. Proud Mom and Technical Misfit are currently at odds since I can't figure out how to upload the video properly... but perhaps I'll figure it out before you're grown and looking back at the digital archive of your life, E.

Food consumed, family bade adieu, cookies and milk left out for Santa. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, and our sweet little ones were tucked snugly in their beds. All the anticipation of the season was thick in the air as Elle thought she heard jingle bells before falling asleep.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas!
Without a doubt, this is my favorite time of year. I love the lights, the decorations, the music, the excitement, the memories/nostalgia, the anticipation, the traditions, the generosity, and the spirit of this season celebrating Jesus' birthday. Experiencing it with my girls is quite possibly the best thing ever. 

We started early this year, decorating before the leftover turkey had even been consumed. 

We searched for the perfect singing/dancing holiday creatures. Which of course required testing the singing and dancing capabilities of each and every one simultaneously much to the chagrin of Lowe's employees and customers. In full disclosure, we didn't actually buy one (insert shameful face here). I'm not THAT crazy.

We made hot chocolate on chilly days, a first for some of us. 

"Leese like ha chalat!"

We visited Santa and enjoyed time with the best of friends. 

We protested coats continuously, a theme not just reserved for the holiday season.

No coat. Not cold, Mommy!

We incorporated Christmas into our homework assignments. When asked at school to draw an event from beginning, middle, and end, Elle produced this masterpiece. In case you can't tell, she has depicted with amazing (to unbiased Mom eyes) accuracy our family assembling and decorating our tree. I only briefly felt publicly shamed for depriving my children of a real tree. My favorite is the last panel showing a beaming Mom and Dad watching with pride as Elle and Elise hang the final ornaments in place. In reality, there should have been an angry Mom and Dad sighing in exasperation as the Taller Child picked up and promptly dropped the largest, fanciest, most ornate ornament in the box. After repeatedly being asked to wait for parental assistance. Oh well. Sometimes life is prettier in pictures. 

For the record, our 12ft artificial tree is now on Craigslist. Vowed to go real next year.

In a similar theme of life appearing rosier in pictures, this photo's caption could say something sweet about adorable sisters playing reverently with the nativity. 

More accurately, it should include a voiceover from Fed-Up Mom, "If you two can't share baby Jesus, I'm going to have to take him away!" Go go gadget Christmas spirit. 

There were attempts at creative holiday-themed breakfasts.

Green egg tree, canadian bacon ornaments, turkey sausage trunk, and gouda star

We celebrated with Elle's Kindergarten class at their party... including Gnam Gnam Bistro boxed lunches, gelato, and 90% of stay-at-home moms (and an equally disproportionate number of dads present). You know your kid goes to a yuppie public elementary school when the party dessert is gelato. 

Adorable songs performed by the class

I can't compete with gelato. But I can still exert a low-level degree of control over Elise's sugar consumption at daycare by sneakily signing up for juice boxes and showing up with these alternatives. 2 year olds can't stage a coup over these cuties, can they? Surely the red noses and googly eyes are enough to distract from the lack of high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors? One can hope.

Our elf was very calm this year (i.e. Mom was very lazy and uncreative), and didn't get into too many wacky situations. But he did generously bring the girls pajamas a few days before his return to the North Pole.

Letters to Santa were written. In Kindergarten handwriting and spelling "Der Santa, I wut evrethig", which really alleviates the trouble of individually listing all the items circled in the myriad of toy magazines Elle perused. Her mainstay requests were Magnatiles, Schleich animals, and a Snoopy sno-cone maker. 

We were thus armed and ready for the holiday festivities to begin. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, indeed.

Much to be thankful for

I didn't take many pictures at Thanksgiving this year-- just tried to be in the moment with family, and focus on being... Thankful. 

For sweet sisters. 

For Nanny kisses. 

For shared laughs.

For snuggles. Furry ones included.

For really really good food. 

For being blessed beyond measure. 

It doesn't get much better than that.

They're creepy and they're kooky...

They're creepy and they're kooky

Mysterious and spooky

They're altogether ooky

The Golding Fam-i-ly

We Halloweened with the best of 'em this year...

Complete with pre-holiday festive wear

A few spooky lunches

And a fun night of trick-or-treating with neighborhood friends

For weeks, Elle had adamantly requested to be a sheet ghost. Completely baffling to me, as I really pegged her for more of the sparkly sequined or otherwise over-the-top something type. But nope, every plea I made to get her to traverse the aisles of Target looking for a suitable (i.e. pre-made) alternative was met with dramatic resistance, so Sheet Ghost it was. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, unless you're a sewing misfit like me. My talents lie in creative food art, clearly not any sort of fabric manipulation. I started with a sheet, measured out length, arm holes, and facial orifice holes. Not sure what went wrong with the latter, but the ghost ended up with just enough hypertelorism to significantly limit her peripheral vision. Any slight movement of the unsecured costume on her head led to complete vision loss, and the subsequent disaster you might think would result from a blindfolded child running through the neighborhood with an unevenly cut sheet entangling her feet. She was a trooper though, and took full responsibility for the costume decision. She steadfastly adjusted it and perservered until the last couple of houses when she relented and went as a white turtleneck and tighted.... marshmallow? At this point she sheepishly said, "Mommy, you were right. Being a ghost is hard. Next year, I think I'll be something else". 

Elise chose agreed to be a butterfly, reusing a costume her sister donned in a Halloween of yore. She was adorable, and LOVED the concept of running up to the houses and filling her bucket. She even said her version of "Thank you" and "Happy Hawoweeee!" 

Da-da-da-dum. Da-da-da-dum.
The Golding Fam-i-leeeeeeee

E3

The littlest E has been overshadowed by her big sisters of late (I'm afraid you may have to get used to that, oh third offspring of mine), but I thought she deserved a short post of her very own. These ultrasound pictures are from about 18 weeks (now 27), and were taken with my iphone so quality is  marginal. Nonetheless, I think she's pretty perfect.

And yes, upon Jay's request I have looked again to confirm that she is, in fact, still a girl. 

We'll see you soon, little one.

Last beach trip of the summer

I'm rather delinquent with these pictures, but now that the arctic temperatures and dark-at-5pm times are upon us, I thought I'd relive a few moments from our last trip to the beach of the summer.

Next year, there Will Be Three. 

Soccer

This fall, I officially became a soccer mom. First the minivan and now this. 

Elle wanted to play soccer in the YMCA league with her friend Grace, so we obliged and she tackled her first season of competitive sports. Ok, sports of any kind. It's hard to say whether she'll turn out to be the athletic type, but I think she had fun and she clearly enjoyed basking in the Dragons' undefeated status. Regardless of how much actual input she had in the team's success.

It sounds ludicrous to say, but I think she was at a significant disadvantage starting so late (yes, apparently 5 is late in the soccer prodigy world), as most of the other players had a year or two of experience, and at least understood the rules. Some appeared to be middle schoolers masquerading as 5-6 year olds, both in size and athletic prowess, and at the very least the rest had grasped concepts like which way to kick the ball and the difference between offense and defense. So it took most of the season for E to get it, and even at the end I'm not sure she fully understands that, when on defense, she doesn't necessarily have to stay planted in the spot Coach placed her in. Let me tell you though, she guarded that 6 x 6 inch square of grass with her life.

My job for most of the early practices and games was to make sure E was not sitting in the grass analyzing flowers or chasing butterflies on the field. I never played soccer, so my coaching advice was often met with skeptical glances or chuckles from the more experienced parents. Apparently my understanding of the term "off-sides" is a bit distorted. 

Elise loved eating snacks cheering on her big sister, and tried to rush the field whenever possible. During practice, the coach would ask the team, "Everywhere we go, we what?", and little E always responded enthusiastically, "RUN!"

Then there was the fateful day when Elle got chosen to play goalie for the final quarter of one of the last games of the season. My heart dropped into my duodenum when I saw it happening. She doesn't have a clue what to do! They're going to kill her! I envisioned an onslaught of rapid-fire shots pummeling my melodramatic sensitive firstborn, and the impassioned meltdown that would surely ensue. But, largely thanks to a 6-foot-tall 6-year-old beast of a stopper, no goals were scored on her watch. She even made one fantastic sliding save, with only the minor caveat that the ball was headed way out of bounds and she had to run about 20 feet out of the goal to "save" it behind the sidelines. Still, the crowd cheered. With some creative editing, that could make the SportsCenter highlights reel. 

So far, she says she wants to do it again next year... although when asked what her favorite thing about soccer was, the answer is unfailingly "the snacks".