Froeliche Weinachten!

I hope y'all/ynz/you guys had a great Christmas. I can say that without any pangs of liberal guilt because I would guess that most of my readers celebrate some form of Christmas, even if it is just the secular commercial end of it :-).
I'll get some requisite cute children pictures up later this week when I get the chance. We've just been that busy this week. One of the main motivators of this blog, for those of you happening over here from The Parish or still lingering from my brief flirtation with Catholic Blog fame as Bad Mother of Note, is to record daily happenings and random thoughts for my husband, with whom I haven't really lived with for a year and a half. We aren't estranged, just victims of our own circumstances, and we do get together every other month or so. For the last four months he has been living in China. He has been home for Christmas, so the impulse to blog so that he might be able to share in our life in the US hasn't been so strong. Not that I don't feel something of a commitment to you, especially my friends with whom I have an "I'll read your blog if you read mine" pact. In addition, I forgot how much attention husbands need. How do married women with children who live normal lives have time to blog?
Christmas was really special this year. Randy was home and we got to share the whole thing with my sister and nephew, too. It was great to have two very excited boys running downstairs to see what was under the tree. As he was going to sleep on Christmas Eve, Myles told me that Santa was coming to bring toys for him, and also "for the other kids. I will share the toys. Share the toys with the kids. I am a good boy. Good boy in church." I think that last part was more for Santa's benefit, to remind him that he was a Good Boy when it absolutely counted.
When my nephew was this age, he tore through all the presents with the appropriate enthusiasm of a two-year-old. I thought Myles would do that, too, especially since for the weeks approaching Christmas he wanted to open the presents he saw everywhere--under the Giving Tree at church, in the mall, other people's houses. However, Santa left one present artfully unwrapped and setup: a car garage with a few matchbox cars. He played with this for a full hour, barely noticing his other presents AND the Thomas Christmas train under the tree. Eventually he opened everything else, and was surprised and delighted with everything. The sidebar has been updated to reflect Myles' trains, by the way.
Santa also left one present for Crispian unwrapped and assembled-a millennium Falcon. His response was completely priceless. He does have a little theatrical streak, so when he said, "I think I am going to cry," and then nearly fainted, I knew Santa had chosen wisely.
And what fun would Christmas be if your whole family weren't wearing matching PJs? At first we were just going to have the boys match, but then Randy half-jokingly suggested that maybe we should all match. This idea was taken seriously by my sister and me, both of us clapping at teh very idea of it. so the last minute shopping we had to do was hunt down matching PJs that would fit all ages and sizes in our house. It wasn't easy, but....
Merry Christmas from the house of Different Last Names

Next Christmas, we will buy the PJ's ahead of time!