We last saw the family gathered round the noble fir (okay the plasticky flame resistant fakey tree) decorating and adorning with abandon. (Okay, maybe not the whole family... we purposely leave the twins out of a lot of things. Its amazing what gets done around here at nap time!)
I am mostly disappointed with how these photographs turned out. But I have to blame half of that on the fact that I STILL hate flash photography and its unnatural look, and so I tend to go without. So my pics either come out garish or yellow and blurry.The other problem is I have recently upgraded to the ultimo pinnacle of Photoshoppy goodness, Photoshop CS3!!! And I have since downloaded a plethora of brushes and actions. What are actions, you ask? Let me tell you! It seems you can record some of the steps you take to "shop" your photos to make them look a certain way, and if you seem to take the same steps over and over, you can record the steps as an action, open a photo, press one button and a dozen or so steps can play out right before your eyes!
Of course, I downloaded nearly every free action I can find, so I have been playing with them all, and all my pics now look WAY over processed, and likely will for awhile until the fun of new actions wears off and I go back to a more natural look.
So, anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, the night before Christmas. Christmas Eve! We tried to gather the three kids beneath the tree right before bed, just after baths. We even plied them with ginger snaps and sugar plums. This was the best picture out of 4,237. And it shows why I hate flash photography.Then we
So, we got Santa a few cookies, picked out a green plate for Santa and a red bowl for reindeer carrots, because they were Christmas colors, and Noah poured the milk by himself down there on the floor and placed them all on the hearth. Then, we moved the out-of-reach stockings and hung them by the chimney with care.Lastly, we cleaned the living room of toys, so that Santa wouldn't be appalled with how we sometimes live, and we headed upstairs for a long winter's nap.
I read Noah the Night Before Christmas story, and stopped repeatedly to explain things like kerchiefs, and sashes, "stirring", and "wondering eyes". Kinda ruined the flow, but what can you do?
Then Daddy and I drifted off in bed for a little while before waking and heading downstairs to place our presents to the kids under the tree, but would you believe Santa had come and gone already?? There were only crumbs left on the cookie plate, and there were a few toys scattered around the tree.Santa had even left Noah an unwrapped Razor scooter and six little Nutcracker soldiers. Noah has been so taken with nutcrackers the last two Christmases, we knew he would love having a few of his own. Santa is so smart.
The stockings were stuffed, too (some much more than others) and all was well.
Michael and I sat ourselves under the tree around midnight and set up the camera to take a couple pictures of ourselves in our rarely quiet home.It was so much fun, seeing the magic through a child's eyes who was finally old enough to really understand what magical things were about to happen in his very own home that night, and really believe. Its going to be triply fun in a couple more years, I believe.
And probably triply expensive.
But what the hell? It was so worth it!
Everyone has been bitchin' and moanin' about "where are your Christmas pictures!!??" and "don't you have a blog to update??". Okay, maybe those are the voices of guilt in my head. But either way, I have a bajillion photos that I have taken of the Christmas season, only most of them are crappy because I absolutely refuse to use flash indoors, so all my pics are yellow and blurry. But the few that are not blurry look a bajillion times better than those with flash.
You just know, we waited until the twins went down for their nap before opening the boxes of decorations. I am a "real pine tree girl" but with the chaos and the 2-year-oldness that abounds in my house, we just opted to put up the tree and be done with it, no watering, no mess.
We also went with the all-plastic ornaments, which proved wise what with Ethan's penchant for yanking balls off the tree, screaming "OH NO!!!!!!" and throwing them across the room.
We did add in the special ornaments that were made by the NICU nurses the day after the twins were born, to celebrate their first Christmas in this world. They put their wee footprints and their names on them, and hung them on their isolettes.
It turned out to be a really awesome Christmas for us. Noah is five now, and was fully immersed in the Santa story, was trying to be good for Santa, kept worrying that he was going to get a "rock of coal" in his stocking.
He asked all the tricky questions about how Santa gets down the chimney and all. He didn't believe in Rudolph, though, because there is no way reindeer's noses can light up. That's where the whole story lost credibility, you know.
Of course, that all turned around when we watched Santa's progress on NORAD's satellites, and he actually SAW Rudolph out there in front of the sleigh. "Whoa... there really IS a Rudolph! THERE REALLY IS A RUDOLPH!!"
I was really dreading the season, what with the whole Halloween slide into Thanksgiving with Noah's birthday the very next day, twin birthdays just before Christmas, and don't forget we do Hanukkah, too! 
But it wasn't the complete insanity I expected! It was rather enjoyable, and while I didn't exactly have time to reflect much, I did get a few chances to sit back and see how good I have it, and to give thanks.
I have to tell you it went WAY better than their first party, which happened outside past sunset because we couldn't "get it together" as it were. Then, neither boy wanted to sit at the decorated table, and when presented with the cakes, they burst into tears.
Yes, this year was much better. Mima and Papa came down (Michael's parents) and Aunt Terri, Uncle Jim and cousin Katie swung by, too. 
Noah brought along his new bike with training wheels, that he got from my parents for his birthday. He looked pretty rockin' since his outfit matched the bike so well! 
Mama made a big potful of yummy pasta, and when everyone got home, Daddy opened a bottle of wine, and we had at it.
A while back I bought myself a revolving cake plate to make decorating easier. Noah thought that was pretty darn cool.
Noah, with SO much practice lighting the Hanukkah candles, was allowed to go ahead and light up the birthday candles.
They had been practicing their blowing a lot lately (and couldn't figure out WHY they weren't allowed to blow out the Hanukkah candles), so they were thrilled when each cake was pushed up towards them, all flaming and hot!
Luka did pretty well! Ethan needed a little help from Noah. His blowing aim was not quite up to par yet.
Then, of course it was present time, and the kids just ditched the cakes in favor of ripping open their packages.
They received some cool little toys and clothes from Mima's recent trip to Portugal, some gingerbread cookie decorating kits, a shopping spree at Old Navy ("Babies need a new pair of shoes!"), some new toys, and a nice little investment in their college fund.
My babies aren't babies anymore!
Michael was a resident doctor at that hospital, and as with Noah, he delivered the twins, with our OB standing just over his shoulder. When Ethan broke free, he was handed off to the nurse who whisked him quickly to a table for his apgar score, and then off through the double doors to the NICU! I didn't even get to have him held near my face so I could get a good look at him before our separation. But I knew that time was of the essence and that he could be in trouble, and his safety was my first priority, so I didn't complain.
I thought I would see them soon, but one thing lead to another and it was a full two and a half hours before I found myself wheelchaired up to their isolettes. They had been bathed, and tubed, and wired and pricked and held by strangers. Would I just be another set of hands? How would they know me as anyone more special than all these other hands?
And now they are two.
Once upon a time, there was a little fir tree that lived in the forest. It was a small tree and it wished it was a big grand tree like the other trees around it. "Oh, to grow and be old! That is the only fine thing in the world!!" it said.
At Christmastime every year, the big grand trees would get chopped down and carried away. The little tree asked the sparrows where those trees were going. "Oh", said the sparrows, "those trees are planted in warm rooms and decorated with beautiful things and songs are sung and stories told around them!! We have seen this through the windows of their houses!"
I mean, then one Christmas, after the tree had grown to a respectable size, a family did come and cut down the tree, and carried it off to their home. It was put in a bright corner of a warm room, decorated with beautiful things, and a glorious star was put up on top like a crown! At last, the doors were thrown open and a number of kids raced in and practically knocked it down trying to get to their presents.
When the mayhem calmed down, the grandpa of the family told a wonderful story to the children about Klumpey Dumpey (that's what it said!) who fell down the stairs and married a princess. (???) The tree just LOVED the story and as all the kids were ushered off to bed, the little tree thought...
He stayed there in the dark for many days, bewildered. Then it realized, "OH! Of course! It's winter outside! The ground is frozen! There is no way they could go and plant me again outside NOW! They must be waiting for spring!" He was terribly lonely in the dark. Until some mice came around.
The mice asked questions about where the tree had come from and so he told them the story about his life in the forest, and then the living room, and about Klumpey Dumpey. The mice ate it up, and brought back some friends the next night asking the tree to tell the story again and again. The tree was so pleased to finally have friends who really cared about him.
After a few nights, the mice asked if that Klumpey-Dumpey story was the ONLY story the tree knew? It was. They stopped coming back and the tree was alone again.
The servents tossed the tree off the porch into a corner amoung the weeds. The tree was brown and withered by now but the tinsel star still clung to the top and shown in the sunshine. At least the tree had that. 
The tree looked at itself and wished it had stayed in the attic.
And then the servant came out with an ax and chopped the tree into little pieces. 
As it burned and burned, the little boy played nearby with the golden star that the tree had worn on its happiest evening.
I worked for seven years at 
It's a bit of a drive up the coast, an hour and twenty minutes. We got there with enough time to visit with the actors and musicians backstage before it began. I had told Noah about the 
After giving and getting many hugs all around and squealing with delight way too many times, we headed into the theater. Our (free!) tickets were in the back, so I waited until the lights were about to go down, and moved down to some empty seats in the second row. No balcony seats for my little guy's first play! It's not allowed but I pulled out my point-and-shoot and snapped of a picture of the musicos playing the opening number.
The show was awesome! There were so many new wonderful bits and set pieces they had added or updated. A few things had been dropped as well, and some of those disappointed me, but what can you do? Things change. Noah stayed awake even though it was right in the middle of his nap time, sitting on my lap wide-eyed. He didn't seem to think it was the most awesome thing he had ever seen, but he did really seem to enjoy himself.
After the show, we went backstage and up to the greenroom to get Noah his lunch. Jamie, the stage manager, came in for his lunch too, so we got to do a lot of catching up on all the news and intrigue at the theater. Noah decided he would like to be a stage manager someday. He doesn't want to be an actor because he is worried he might be too afraid to stand up in front of an audience.
After lunch, it was time to hit the road again. Noah was asleep before we got out of the parking lot. We parked across the street at the largest mall in California a week before Christmas, so that's not really saying a lot. It was slow going. I have to say, too, that with him asleep, I actually enjoyed the long drive, listening to weekend NPR with no interuptions from children. 
Now that we live so close (relatively speaking) to the theater, I might get up there a lot more often, keeping in better touch with the old crowd. Now that SCR has built their new second stage, the old second stage is now the third, and it seems they are using it for lots of good quality theater for kids! So, we may make this journey again soon.