Christmas 2012 Take 2

It snowed on Christmas Day - which was nice for those few among us who were wishing for a white Christmas - but it did cause some travel problems for getting together with family. We were not able to get together with the Drennan side of the family until Saturday, so Ryder now thinks Christmas lasts a full week.

It wasn't much, but there was a layer of ice underneath. I didn't let Ryder go out and play in it since he had a cold and a bad ear. This was only the 6th time Oklahoma has has a white Christmas. 

Dada got headphones. I don't like his taste in music.

Coop and Konner showing off their blaster guns - Zombies beware!

Ryder enjoying rough housing with the boys

Dancing to the beat of the drum

Enjoying an entire slice of pumpkin pie with papa

Christmas 2012 Take 1

Christmas was fun this year. Ryder wasn't sick like last year (well he had an ear infection, but at least he didn't throw up in my hair right before dinner) and he was more into it. He was good about leaving the trees and presents alone for the most part, but as slow as he unwraps a present, we decided to let him work in waves so gifts started being unwrapped as soon as Gramma Jill flew in and continued through Christmas Day.

The big hit was Lucky, the bouncy horse from Gramma Jill. In true only-child fashion, he would require us to sit and watch him bounce whenever he climbed on. I think he thinks she can only bounce if he pushes her ear and he talks to him, and we have all already memorized her song. He gives her hugs and kisses.

An 18 month old isn't overly patient, and whoever packages children's toys should have to spend a Christmas or two with the toddler who is screaming and crying waiting for their frazzled parents with bloody knuckles and broken fingernails trying to pry that those small tractor parts out of the plastic packaging. I don't know what they think is going to happen if a cow gets loose inside a thermally sealed container, but it would surely be chaos! Next year we open all toys and put them in shoe boxes before wrapping them. This will save so much drama in the end.

He got a recliner like the one dad sits in, and he sure thinks he is hot stuff sitting it in. I half expect to see him sitting with half his hand in his pants Al Bundy style.

He got tons of toys from Gramma Jill, we are especially thankful for those of the musical variety she helped him learn to play.

And if there were 64 things the child needed more of, it was John Deere trucks and farm animals. He was in heaven with all his new cows. I am concerned we are going to have to build on a barn for storage.

 I love this photo. The two of them working on Ryder's puzzles. I'm not sure they should be having such a hard time ... hehehe

 In my family, Santa always came after supper on Christmas Eve and brought one super great present, then we opened presents. Not much happened on Christmas Day. In Trent's family it was just the opposite. Nothing big went down on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Day when he woke up Santa had left a bunch of presents and stockings while they slept. In our melding of traditions, we have compromised so that we open presents Christmas Eve, and Santa comes in the night. He left Ryder one big present and his stockings Christmas morning.

From our family to yours this Christmas, Keep on Truckin'!

A Visit from St. Nick

Santa stopped by for a visit before Christmas. I was pretty sure that Ryder wasn't going to dig him, seeing how Ryder doesn't really dig anyone who isn't his mama or dada, but having Santa come to the house was a plan that we thought might help.

Not so much. Or maybe it would have been worse at the mall, I can't really say.

Once Santa hung out for a while, Ryder warmed up to him, and eventually the two had a nice game of catch.

By the end of the evening, Ryder had shown Santa (and Mrs. Claus) every cow in his collection and was busy giving him high-fives and knuckles. Granted there was no sitting on his lap or holding him like last year but it went better than I expected. He even fell asleep while Santa was still in the room.

Santa calling me out for being naughty

Tickles from Santa

Ryder, Santa, and a cow - of course

A quick game of catch before Santa has to get back to the sleigh

Santa and his elf

As close as we came to a family pic with Santa.

A big thanks to Santa and the Mrs. for stopping by again this year. Maybe next year will go better!!

Christmas Parade

Saturday was the Christmas parade in Blanchard - the one that had to be rescheduled because our football team made the state playoffs (they went onto win, but that isn't the point). It was a nice parade, and my little family participated fully.

The day care had a meeting for all parents who wanted to help with the float for the kiddos. Trent and I were the only two who showed up. Now I'm not going to win mother of the year, but I do dig Christmas, and I like a good parade, so I thought this was a good opportunity to get involved. And by my getting involved, I mean that I signed Trent up to pull the float (his goose-neck trailer) and find the hay bales for the kids to sit on. Getting involved is fun!

So Trent pulled the float, Ryder rode on the float with his buddies, and I took photos and caught candy.

Just a guess, but I don't think he loves his hat ...

Everyone getting on the float

Happy Elf the Room To Grow float driver

Poor Ms. Sherry with a screaming Ryder

My baby elf

Room to Grow kids

And then the batteries died in my camera. They said Ryder stopped crying when he couldn't see me anymore, but I'm not sure he had the time of his life. Luckily I got lots of candy thrown at me so I was able to get him hopped up on sugar after the parade. The daycare girls did a great job organizing and decorating and Trent even had fun in spite of the elf hat. Getting involved is fun.

The next day when we returned the trailer to the farm, Ryder was much more in his element. Maybe he is more a goat kid than a parade kid ... plus we didn't make him wear the hat.

Christmas Card Tradition

I love all things about the holidays, but one of my favorites is that you get actual mail from people.

Most of the time, the walk from the mailbox detours straight to the outside trash can, where the oodles of junk mail, catalogs, and newspapers are directly deposited without ever making it into the house let alone being opened. The holidays are the rare exception.

I look forward to the bright colored envelopes with the silly return address labels and colorful stamps with the handwritten addresses from friends and family all over the country. I love the photos of kids dressed up in dorky sweaters and hats, of families posing together in what I know took hours to capture, of dogs in Santa hats. I love the typed up letters bragging about the years accomplishments and the handwritten notes with the well-intentioned but empty promises to get together more often in the upcoming year.

I send out Christmas cards, and have every year since I have been a 'grown-up'. Some years those cards have included letters, some years those cards have included photos, and on rare years those cards include both. I have not done a letter in recent years, I guess because between this blog and Facebook I figure everyone I send cards to knows exactly what I have been doing. The same could probably be said for the photo - you all know what we look like - but it is a tradition I am not willing to give up. Or maybe it is a good excuse to get the photos done in the first place.

As I assembled the cards to be mailed this year, I sat back to consider the time and cost of this tradition. Oh time is a hot topic during the holidays. Everyone is so stinkin' busy. I am not sure I can say I am so busy - as I am really not. It isn't that I am busy, it is just that it is so hard to get anything done with a toddler attached to your neck that I tend to let things I need to get done (i.e. addressing cards) slip for the really important things like building and destroying a tower of Mega Blocks. Priorities are important.

So let's break it down:

New outfits for Photo session (Ryder and me): $75
Starch for old clothes for Photo session (Trent): $10
Photo Session: $50
Cards of Photo Session: $45
Cute address return labels: $20
Stamps: $27

Shopping for clothes: 3 hours
Time off work for photo session: 4 hours (2 me, 2 Trent)
Assembling, addressing, licking: 2 hours

I sent out 50 cards. That means, if I estimate current wages, each card costs approximately $10.

TEN DOLLARS?!?

I do not do this exercise to elicit donations or sympathy - although both are certainly welcome. I do it because I am not sure many people ever have really thought about that. I know I never had. I am certain Trent never had. And I am guessing that after he reads this, either we won't be doing Christmas cards again next year or he is going to hire cheaper help.

So with that, if you are one of the folks who receive a card from me, please enjoy the envelope, the darling address label, and the Santa stamp. Take the time to notice the handwritten address on the envelope. Pay close attention to the images on the photo - the cute clothes we are wearing and the starched crease in Trent's jeans as these are all special details we did just for you.

If that card stops off at your garbage can and doesn't make it into the house, next year you are going on the naughty list. Santa is watching ...

Oh, you have the Camera out?!

Dear Ryder - 18 Months

Dear Ryder,

You are 18 months old today. Today we start counting you in years and halves instead of in months. That is a pretty big milestone. Surely you are a big boy now!

You love driving your car at the farm. You don't care if your first car was used.

You are into sitting (and standing) on the couch next to dad. You like to copy whatever he is doing, and especially like to read his magazines with cows in them.

You LOVE dumping your Mega Blocks all over the floor. You are less enthusiastic about picking them up again or actually building anything with them.

You enjoy a good game of catch. You have almost decided to be right handed.

You are into your babies (or bebes, as you call them). You like to take them for rides, read them stories, and put them in your crib (hey, at least it is getting some use!).

You helped daddy celebrate his birthday. The candle tripped you up a little, you put your finger right on the flame before we caught you.

You are a total poser. Whenever I get the big camera out, you run in front of it, pose, and then run back to see yourself on the display. You get that from me.

I'm not sure what this was all about, but it makes mama smile. Of course you have my phone in your hand. You always have either a phone or the remote.

We got family photos taken, and these two sum up our experience very well. Either you are totally ignoring us ...

Or you are having a melt down. There is rarely middle ground.

You are my angel Ryder Dean, and I love you to the moon and back!

Mama