Christmas Eve, 2013

As I mentioned, we did Christmas Eve at Nana's a few days before so this year we were snuggled in our house on Christmas Eve. And with all those presents under the tree from Grandma and Grandpa and from all of us in our family to each other, we decided to open those gifts on Christmas Eve and then Santa's on Christmas morning.

So first on the list - mostly because he was past his bedtime - was Pax. This was his first Christmas gift ever!!! (don't mind the snot and droopy eyes, Pax was still really not feeling well)

And... he got a new dog stuffed animal from Grandma and Grandpa. AND... all he wanted to do was eat the wrapping paper... okay, Pax, time for bed.

Now it was time for Mae and I to open our gifts to each other. First we exchanged these little buggers, which we actually picked out for each other while we were at the toy store with Mom a couple weeks ago.

Here's the thing - Mae wanted a pillow pet so badly so I picked one out for her and it was so awesome and then I realized I really wanted a pillow pet but how was I ever going to get one because...

Yeah, Mae! Great gift - you got me the Panda Pillow Pet that I wanted so badly. So that kind of reminded me of Ernie and Bert on Christmas Eve on Sesame St. when they both traded away their favorite things to get the other one what he wanted... okay, I'll be Ernie (Bert's weird and Mae is really weird a lot of times, too).

Then it was on to Dad's gifts. First up was Pax's gift to dad, drum roll please. Wait, Pax is still up?

Tank Tops/Wife Beaters!! Nice, Pax, solid gift. Next up was Mae...

Underwear!! Okay, my turn, I bet you think it's gonna be socks, right?...

WHITE T-SHIRTS!!! Gosh, Dad basically netted the "Dad Christmas Hat Trick." In all fairness, mom rocked him a new pair of tennies and a sweet backpack so he actually did score better than what you've just seen.

Then it was on to Mom. I wish I could do these next set of photos as an animation, like old school cartoon style. Anyway, here goes. Got mom a...

Dinner bell!!! This way, when we're upstairs or downstairs and it's time for dinner, Mom can ring it up total "on the farm" style and we'll come-a-runnin'.

Mae was up next. Got mom a really great teapot.  Well played, Mae.

Then, before we hit the hay, we put a note on our Christmas morning donuts, which we had picked out from West Town Bakery that morning. Since we left him some orange and apple slices we wanted to make sure he kept his hands off the goods.

Here, take a closer look.

Concerto

Had my piano recital a couple weeks ago. I was dog sick the 2-3 days heading into it so I stayed home that day in order to have enough mustard to get through my recital.

My bestie Nadia was there with me again this year performing.

And I had quite the crowd there to see me perform, including Natalie, Mae, Mom and Dad, Nana and Pax.

And then the curtain was raised. A little bow and then my rendition of "Angels We Have Heard on High" followed by a little bit o' "Rudolph."

VIDEO ALERT
No, the photos do not do it justice, so TAKE A LISTEN

And lastly, a shot of Miss Victoria - my piano teacher - and moms. Ahhh, all smiles.

God Bless Us, Every One

This is a crazy crew. We thought we were nutty before and then Pax came along, recently started crawling, and now the house is really out of control.

The people in this photo drive me literally insane sometimes (especially that tall glass of water in the black) but at the end of the day, there's not a crew from here to Kingdom Come I would rather call my own.

Christmas Eve (well, kind of) at Nana's

Well, this year for the first time ever we did not celebrate Christmas Eve on Christmas Eve itself. Uncle Brian (the State trooper) had to work on Christmas Eve so we celebrated it Sunday night, on the 22nd.

There were lots of activities...

Some of our favorite cousins (Hannah)

and some gift opening

Side note: Check out the dog in the background to your right in the photo. Doesn't it look like a real dog? Nana probably wishes... that's just a pillow.

And then it was time to tickle the ivory and play some Christmas carols. I rocked my Christmas piano recital songs - Angels We Have Heard on High and Rudolph -

and then Isaiah hit the keys and that boy can play.

And since I had my seat warm there on the bench I hung while Dad and Mom did their thing.

And then Nana did her thing! She's been taking piano lessons, too.

And not to be outdone, next came Uncle Brian. Wasn't a Christmas song, mind you, but he still has one song committed to memory from 30 years ago. Well played, Uncle B.

And while we did our thing, Mae did hers with Buddy.

All in all it was another wonderful Christmas Eve (well, kind of) at Nana's.

Sled Bed Head Fred

No idea what that title means except that yesterday we went sledding, bigtime. Went back over to where we used to live in the South Loop to the secret sledding hill that not very many people know about. Pax even took a few runs down the hill (and absolutely loved it).

With the city in the backdrop it was, as Mom put it, "totally one of those I Heart Chicago days."

And as you'll see in this video, it was getting serious.

Rudolph for You-dolph

It's that time of year again - school Christmas programs...

 and decorating the tree.

And then it came time for the angel on the top, and I pretty much completed the trifecta by not only making the angel but getting it to the top of the tree (with a little help from my friends, and by "my friends" I mean my mom).

VIDEO ALERT!!
And last but certainly not least, here's a little Christmas diddy from my house to yours. (Hint: click on the blue text to your left)