The Seidel Family: Our Christmas in College Station

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Our Christmas in College Station

Christmas was on Thursday, but Vic had to work Monday, Tuesday and Friday. So, the kids and I did regular stuff on Monday and Tuesday. On Christmas Eve, Vic took Atticus out for a boys day to pick up last minute items, make a stop to the pet store, and eat at Wings N More.
I let the kids skip naps that day because I didn't want to wake them early and put them in bad moods for the Christmas Eve Service at 4pm.
The Christmas Eve service was very nice, but Vic or I were out most of it with a kid. It's just hard to concentrate on sitting still and being quiet this time of year!
The no naps idea came back to haunt me as Grace fell asleep on the way home and while we let her nap for an hour in the car, she was a terror for the next two hours when we woke her up to come inside. Atticus was just as ornery.
Last year's Christmas Eve was so fun! but, my plans to make and ice cookies with the kid, watch Christmas movies happily and enjoy our evening didn't happen - too much crying, consoling, and whining by the kiddos. This is why sometimes the events with the most hype are better at our house where we can handle likely meltdowns and not let it ruin everyone else's day.
The one highlight of the evening when we went outside to spread the reindeer food of oats and glitter. Atticus and Vic made little piles all over the concrete for the reindeer.
Once kids were in bed, Vic and I relaxed by finishing up some wrapping, drinking a glass of wine and watching the end of Home Alone 2.
Christmas morning started with Atticus coming into our room to wake us and tell us he wasn't sure if Santa came (he was still sleepy). A few minutes later, he goes back to look and comes RUNNING back holding 3 brand new dromedaries in his arms.
Santa brought Atticus those dromedaries, a stuffed dromedary he named Humphrey (after the book), puzzles, books, and a stocking full of little treasures.
Santa brought Grace a Doc McStuffins doll, a dinosaur toy, books, some Paw Patrol cars, a teddy bear and more stocking treasures.
Together, Santa left at the front door (and the kids did not see it for about the first 30 minutes), a kitchen!
Other than that, Grace received a Frozen doll that lights up and sings - by far my favorite gift to give her this year! She loves Frozen and the music so much! She also got Frozen pajamas, some more Doc McStuffins squishy toys, a toddler family photo album, and more books. We gave Atticus a castle and flying lion, ABC robot transformers, books, and Grace gave him about 20 new animals that he opened one by one, as they were wrapped individually. You all know his love for animals - he got everything from a tapir to an okapi to a macaw to a lynx to an ibex.
Vic and I shopped for each other for some fun new house items we've been needing - but Vic's big gift was a nutribullet and mine....a maroon leather purse by Dooney & Burke! It is beautiful and almost too nice to carry!
The cute thing was what Atticus bought Vic and myself. Since before Christmas, if I asked Vic what we should buy Daddy for Christmas, he would tell me a coffee cup. I have no idea why he thought that, but it was cute and always the same answer. On another note, he would always tell me we needed to buy Grace a new baby doll. But, we looked on amazon one day and picked out a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coffee cup to order for Vic. He loved it! For myself, Atticus bought me new glue and a new scrapbook binder to put my pages in. He picked them out himself! I thought it was pretty cute!
It took half the day to open presents and then we snacked for lunch and ate turkey and dressing for dinner.
The kids were probably overwhelmed, but they had off and on moments of being tired and cranky and then being fun and playful. It was a really fun Christmas to celebrate though!