Christmas is a wrap (pun intended). I stuck with my tradition of taking almost no photos on the day itself. But don’t fear, we have plenty of advent activities from the past week or so to catch up on and I took one photo of my prime rib masterpiece.

On to the photo dump.

Not family-related but worth noting that we did see a little snowfall the week before Christmas. This is the view from my office where I watched the flakes fall from the fourth floor before they melted as soon as they hit the ground. It’s important to note that my kids were at an outdoor wilderness-type camp during the “snowstorm”.

I took a couple of days off before Christmas weekend. The boys and I used this time to catch up on some advent calendar activities like roasting marshmallows over an open fire flame. When Samuel saw this photo he asked if I took one when he burned his hand. And, no, I did not. (note: he burned it on the skewer as he tried to get the marshmallow off. Not as bad as it sounds but we may go a different route with marshmallow roasting next year).

Then it was gingerbread cookie time! A festive mixture of snowmen, Christmas trees and ninjas. I found some good old fashioned Golden Syrup which made them taste delicious, even if they were as hard as a rock. I had to mix everything by hand because I don’t own a mixer and apparently that makes a difference. Still, fun was had by all and my biceps got a good workout.

On Friday I braved the indoor playground where the kids played for three whole hours and I read a book (!).

Saturday was kid’s choice so we went bowling at our local, low budget bowling alley.

I didn’t notice the stains on the ceiling until I downloaded the photos. Still, I’ll sacrifice fancy for $1 games.

And, when you bowl with a four year old, you definitely get your money’s worth. It took many minutes for his ball to reach the pins.

Sunday saw us gather with friends for the annual Christmas sing-a-long where my children refused to sing.

Through it all, Hapi the Elf hung around the house and kept an eye on things. I may have used him as a threat once or twice (Hapi will tell Santa!) and I may have even threatened to cancel christmas. What can I say? Being a shut-in parent in rainy Portland can sometimes make you resort to the unthinkable.

Christmas Eve brought a break from the rain and, with it, a chance to get out of the house. We decided on a stroll through a nature park.

That evening, we got things ready for Santa and the reindeer.

Some reindeer food which we left in the backyard.

And, of course, gingerbread cookies and a nice cold beer for Santa.

The boys woke up at 5:30 (!) on Christmas morning. Our rule was no getting up before 6am so they (im)patiently paced the floor of their bedrooms until the clock ticked over. And then the fun began. Every single present was opened before the first sign of daylight.

And then we spent the rest of the day playing, reading and napping (for Kei and Samuel) before I cooked the most magnificent prime rib you have ever seen (or tasted) in your life. Think I’m joking?

Yup.

 

After we put the kids to bed, I lay down on the couch to watch some TV and… fell asleep by 9:30pm, feeling incredibly happy and blessed. The perfect end to a pretty perfect day.

Today, I am officially back at work. Sure, it’s an anticlimax after the events of the past few weeks, but I do have a girl’s trip to see Les Miserables and an evening of Karaoke to look forward to before the New Year so it’s not all bad. I also have about 8 new photo books to read thanks to some very generous family members. That should keep me busy between the two work emails that I expect to receive all day.

Let the post-Christmas fun continue…