Christmas Events

The weekend before Christmas, we took the train to Philly to see The Music Man. Here are the train lovers enjoying the view.

 

We stopped at Macy's to see the light show before our show.

Rudy finally figured out the best way to see the show.

 

 

Christmas Eve before church. I call this "Mom trying to set the timer and taking a picture instead."

A family photo.

 

We found that the best way to get Rudy to cooperate for a picture is to promise him the second one can be a silly one!

A pre-church percussion jam session. Paul on the drum. Rudy on the frog.

We had to get to church early because Rudy was singing in the choir. He ended up just watching those playing instruments practice.

The triplets practicing.

 

Bryan, the choir director/musician, took pity on Rudy and let him turn the pages for him while he accompanied the triplets. Rudy's page turning skills need some work, but Bryan said he could have the job again.

A small but very good choir- three of the members are playing drums in the front, so there were just 3 kids singing.

 

 

After church we went home to await the arrival of our guests. Once we had all eaten, we got down to present time. Here is Rudy distributing his gifts.

 



 

Then Rudy finally got some gifts. A hat with DVD from Adventure Time.

 

Paul trying out the hat (and looking very colonial and a little out of it.)

 

Some of the Spencers.

 

Everyone wanted to try out the spy glasses that Rudy got.

A new Wii game- Epic Mickey.

 

And of course, Lego sets!



 

 

A group picture- Paul, Mom, Neil Sr., Pat, Neil Jr., Laura, Dad, Kathy, Sean, Rudy.

After everyone left, we got into our Christmas pajamas and took another family picture.

 

And then a silly picture again.

 

At this point it was 11:00 and Rudy was excited and wound up and also concerned that we weren't in bed yet. I opened the front door and noticed Santa standing at a car out front, so we called down to Rudy and had him look out his window to see Santa. He was even more excited then, but looked out a few minutes later and Santa was gone, so he realized he needed to go to sleep. (I'm very thankful to the next door neighbor, who has no young kids, that had Santa visit last night- it couldn't have worked out better!)

 

Christmas morning, we actually got to sleep later than we thought (6:45, rather than 6;30- we'll take it!).

We looked in our stockings and checked to see what we got from Santa.

 

 

Rudy had wrapped several presents earlier this week for his kitten. He wrote this note on one... (I know that you wanted a pipe cleaner so I put 3 together...

 

...I hope that you have a good time with it.)



 

And here is Moonie checking out his 3 pipe cleaners.

Santa brought some small Lego sets.

 

After playing with the things from Santa for a while, Rudy was ready to open his presents from us. The favorite one was a Nabi tablet. For years he has been asking for a DS, which we don't want to get him, so this is our compromise. It has games on it, but it can be used for other things, too. I think it was a hit.

Moonie checking out the wrapping paper.

 

Grandpa came over for breakfast and Rudy showed of his Nabi.

A gift from last night- some Nerf guns- with the door as a target.

After breakfast, more presents from Grandpa were opened. More Legos, of course!

Here are a few of Rudy's recent art projects. He made this paper ornament of Moonie because we have ornaments that represent other cats, and he felt Moonie was being left out.

 

 

He made this for us in school- it is a tealight holder. It looks so pretty when it's lit.

So another Christmas, another success. Tonight we head out for our traditional Chinese food dinner.

Christmas Celebrations and Cousins

Friday night our town had a small Christmas celebration downtown. Santa arrived on a  fire truck.

 

 

If you look closely you can see the first to greet him is a boy in a green jacket with a blue skull mohawk hat on. Yep, it's Rudy.

 

 

 

 

 

We ran into Rudy's friend, I, from school.

 

 

On Saturday we drove to Bill and Renee's for the great child switch. Chris and Patti had a Christmas party to go to, so we split the kids for the weekend. Lucy and Charlie came to our house and Max stayed with Bill and Renee.

 

Lucy was very intent on playing the piano- she wanted a book to read and follow as she did it.

 

 

 

 

This costume was Charlie's (very late) birthday present. Rudy had to try it out for him, naturally.

 

 

Paul and Charlie playing and singing.

 

 

 

Before dinner the pirate and the bandit raided our house. They searched the house for treasure and took it to their hideaway (as of last night, I was still getting treasures returned to me). They were a scary pair.

 

 

After dinner we went to a living nativity at a local church.

 

 

 

 

 

I think the chocolate chip cookies we got there were the biggest hit of all.



 

After the nativity, we went to see a local house that is always very decorated for Christmas.

 



 

The kids really enjoyed it.

 

Grandpa and Charlie took a walk through the blue arches.

 

Although no longer in their costumes, the pirate and bandit had many plans for the night. I think they involved staying up until Paul and I were asleep and then going downstairs. Fortunately, it's very hard for a 5 and 7 year old to stay awake when lights are out and it's after 9. When we left the room, Lucy and Rudy were in separate beds. When I went up to tell them lights out, they were both in the top and they told me they were both going to stay there. Rudy had his head one way and Lucy was the other way. Then when I went up to check again, Lucy was asleep and Rudy was still questioning what time we were going to bed. Some time before he fell asleep, he snuggled next to Lucy. Such a sweet pirate and bandit.

 

The next morning, the pirate looked a little different, the bandit was still around, and they were joined by a skeleton (although note the skeleton hands on the pirate- all he really wanted was gloves for his costume and the mean skeleton willingly shared). (I'm not sure who the bandit is calling.)



 

It's hard work being a pirate and sometimes you just have to get your blanket and mimi and relax.

 



 

After church, which was surprisingly easy with 3 kids, we stopped for lunch and then headed back to Bill and Renee's house. Rudy and Lucy were still a bundle of energy.

 

But Charlie was wiped out.

 

Rudy and Lucy had a lot of fun, and got along even better than usual. On the way home after returning them to their parents, Rudy said he missed both of them. I'm so glad he has fun with them.