Christmas and New Years

I said I'd post about Christmas, so I should probably get around to it! We had a nice holiday. We went to a friend's house for dinner on Christmas Eve, then to my parents house for Christmas morning, then Ed's mom's house for the early afternoon, then back to my parents house for dinner. Can we say BUSY? It was a nice day, though. The kids made out like little bandits and we happy with all of their new toys, my parents got a Wii for Christmas and we played that until Ed had to be a party pooper and make us go home, no one ended up in an emergency room... Successful Christmas in my opinion! My sister in law gave the boys this slime stuff that they both LOVED, until Henry decided he should put his in his hair. Fortunately Aunt Mary was there to help get it out.


For New Years we went to a party at my friend Beth's house. We had a blast - wine, martinis, fireworks, you name it. The only bad thing was that ALL of the kids (and I do mean all) stayed up until we left around 2am, and then Henry promptly got up for the day at 7am. THAT didn't make for a happy Henry, let me tell you. So he went to bed around 3pm on the first and slept until 7am the next morning. And 3pm wasn't early enough in my opinion.
And, speaking of New Years, I don't do resolutions. I find that if I do, I always end up breaking them, usually before February. However, I was reading Carrie's blog, and I think I'm going to stick with the resolution of "swim in the water and not drown." Kind of covers everything, wouldn't you say? So, what about you? Resolutions? Yes or no??

Decorating the Christmas Tree

So yesterday we put the Christmas trees up. Yes, I have two. One is in the living room and one is in the dining room. I have two big windows in the front of the house, and they just needed two trees. So yesterday was the day. We got them up, got the lights on, and decorated. Decorating with Henry is an experience. Keith was so excited - he did most of the decorating...

And Henry "helped"...

See the bowling pin in the tree? The one right above the child picking his nose? That was Henry's contribution.

Henry's other contribution was to try to eat the lights. The child thinks EVERYTHING is food.

Caroline thought all the decorating and eating of lights was great fun...

Henry did not like other people decorating the tree though. I wish I had a video camera - this picture was taken during one of his famous "NO NO NO" rants complete with fingers. As parents we're trying to nip this "no" crap in the bud, but the little exorcist child is kind of funny.

And to finish off our day of holiday decorating was the perfect ending... snow!

Santa's in town!

Last Sunday was the annual Kennett Square Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting. However, it was a MISERABLE day, so the good powers in charge rescheduled for last night. So I got the kids dressed, piled them in the van, and set out to Kennett. On one of the coldest nights this winter. We met Ed out there at Adam's house, and then walked up town to get a bite to eat before the big parade. While I was driving into town I was thinking that it didn't LOOK like they were going to have a parade. There were no signs, no road closures... While we walked to town from Adam's house, half an hour before the parade was supposed to START, I was REALLY thinking it wasn't looking like there was going to be a parade. So I called my mom, who said to call one of her friends who was a local merchant. Instead we ran into someone who used to work with my dad, and she said there was no parade. Santa and tree lighting, yes, but parade, no. Oh well. It was cold, and the kids (read: Keith) just wanted to see Santa. So we went and grabbed some dinner, and got back to the town Christmas tree about 2 minutes after they lit it. Oh well, the kids (Keith) really just wanted to see Santa. Screw the festivities. Besides, as anyone in Kennett knows, the best part about tree lighting is seeing what happens when they try to light the tree. Will nothing work? Will only half of the tree light? Will it fall over? Will it spontaneously combust? And this year, it lit. On the first try. COME ON PEOPLE!! Kennett has a TRADITION! Don't ruin it!!! So we hightailed it to where Santa was going to be. The rule in Kennett is as soon as the tree is lit/parade is over you should run like hell to see Santa so you're one of the first in line. And we were! Well, in the top twenty. So we got all of the coats off, bribed Henry to sit on the big man's lap (I promised him a candy cane), gave Mrs. Claus Caroline, and got the family picture.

It is REALLY difficult to get three kids on Santa's lap to all look at the camera at the same time to take a picture. ESPECIALLY when one is 3 months old, one is two and only wants his candy cane, and one is six and has a grocery list of toys he has to ask for in less than a minute. REALLY hard.

I have NO idea how Heather got all six of her munchkins to look so cute. I swear, she's supermom. But, I got a pretty good picture, considering. And I got the one that I have of both of the boys of Caroline...

So Keith got to tell Santa everything he wanted in 30 seconds or less, Henry got his candy cane (which he ate half of, and then tried to give to dad. Unfortunately, not HIS dad. Just a random dad he found.), and Caroline got, well, to be held. Which is all a 3 month old really wants for Christmas, anyways.

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!!!

So, after stuffing ourselves yesterday at the first annual make-Thanksgiving-dinner-and-then-pack-it-into-the-Sequoia-and-take-it-to-Adam's-house-because-Adam-wants-to-host-Thanksgiving-but-doesn't-cook Thanksgiving dinner, the Borrelli family was SO EXCITED that Santa was coming to town! Tonight was Kennett Square's Christmas parade, which is the start of the Christmas season here in Kennett. For the kids it means Santa is coming to town, for the grown ups it means FREE PARKING until Christmas. Such joy! So anyways, we went to the parade. It was pretty darn cold. According to my trusty weather doohickey, it's currently 33 degrees. Of course, it couldn't be the 60+ degrees it was yesterday, huh?? So, of course, we got ourselves bundled up...


Went and watched the parade (yes, it consists of tow trucks, fire trucks, and pickup trucks)...


And then got to go see the big man himself (and his 'old lady' as Ed put it... the Mrs.), SANTA CLAUS...


And yes, my son was the one who had to take the Walmart Toy Book to show Santa EXACTLY what he wanted...


I overheard Santa whisper to Mrs. Claus "My goodness, he has everything circled and he assured me it's all on sale!" Well, the boy is organized, I'll give him that much. So, be sure to check out Thursday's edition of The Kennett Paper, because Keith's picture will probably be in it as "the boy who gets down to business with Santa Claus"

Oh, and how could I forget... the most important part.... the candy cane coma!