'Tis the Season.

I love everything about Christmas. The smells, the music, the movies, the shopping, the baking, the decorating and of course the traditions of Christmas. As I get older I seem to appreciate what the true meaning of Christmas is. Getting together with family means the most to me, as well as seeing the expressions on the faces of two of my favorite little boys! I have so many memories as a child of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and I want my children to have the same traditions and memories.
Although it is a stressful time of year, when it comes to the day of Christmas it is all worth it. The preparation takes months for one single day!

Jase is getting more in to Christmas as he gets older. He is so funny because I think he is a bit confused between Christmas and Birthday. Since we just celebrated Tyce's birthday with presents and singing, he thinks that the presents under the tree and the singing of Christmas songs are for a Birthday. I guess in a way he is right. We are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ! His favorite thing to do right now is to listen to his Christmas CD in his room and DANCE! Every morning he will grab my hand and take me into his room so I will turn the Birthday CD on. We sing and dance to his favorite songs "Here We Go A Caroling," and "Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho" which is to the tune of B-I-N-G-O. Tyce also gets up and shakes his booty along with the song, so I can't say it is all for Jase! Jase loves to talk about Christmas and watch his favorite Christmas T.V. shows such as America's Funniest Home Videos (the Christmas episode) as well as Curious George Christmas. He is also becoming a big fan of Home Alone I and II (two of my favorites). Jase has been a big help in the kitchen with me. We helped Dad make his famous peanut butter cookies along with our traditional chex mix and puppy chow. We also attempted to make a Gingerbread house this year but we didn't do so hot as you can see in the pictures below. I had one child that wanted my attention, while the other one was eating the candies! It also didn't help that the Gingerbread house was dropped in the parking lot of the store, so the roof was already broken :(. Poor little Jase has been feeling a bit under the weather as well. Yesterday he woke up and didn't really feel like eating breakfast. That should have been my sign that he didn't feel the best since breakfast is his favorite meal and he never has problems eating it. A few hours later he was playing in the basement and threw up all over. This continued throughout most of the day. Luckily, my sister is on winter break from school and was going to come visit us for a couple of days anyway so she was here to help me out! Jase is feeling much better now and back to his old self again! We just hope that everyone else stays healthy. Especially over the next couple of days.

Tyce on the other hand has been his crazy self throughout the entire preparation of the holiday season. He in fact is nuts over the Christmas goodies and the music. I know by the way he acts around Christmas, and the fact that he LOVES it, he is as Jeff would say "his mother's son!" Tyce has been very involved with ripping all the presents open under the tree. He is pretty much walking now, so his favorite thing to do is walk over to the tree, look at me, smile, shake his head NO, and grab for whatever present is there! He is such a stinker. He really gets a kick out of me telling him "no no" and moving him away from the tree. This is something he continues to do most of the day. He was not a big fan of Santa (as you can see in the pictures) but I don't think I was either at this age.

Now that Christmas Day is quickly approaching, I am glad the wrapping is finished and the baking is done and I am able to read Christmas stories with my little guys and share the traditions and make many memories with them!

~MERRY CHRISTMAS