Christmas Time 2009

We had a lovely holiday that went by in a blur, what with a newborn who cries way more than his fair share, and two very excited little boys anticipating the arrival of Santa. It was a no-muss, no-fuss kind of Christmas around here and we all enjoyed it immensely. (Except maybe Grant, who just is having a bad day all the time--poor guy.) Below are some photos from Christmas day for the Nagy family. Calem was very serious about leaving cookies and milk for Santa, and took great consideration in which cookies to choose and exactly how many. Santa really liked them, and ate them all.

A Christmas tradition that stems from my childhood, Santa left Christmas Crunch cereal on the fireplace hearth. A treat for the boys, for sure--but not as much of a treat as it was for me as a kid living in a home where sugared cereals were forbidden!

Isaac is excited about checking out all the fun packages in his stocking.

After the morning spent in the quiet (except for Grant's wailing) of our own home, sharing our own family holiday, we made the trek to Gramma and Grampa Nagy's house. And, yes, I take responsibility for forcing the boys to wear the silly Christmas vests. But don't they look cute?? It's only so few years I can force them to dress like this, and I do it so seldom. Hopefully they won't hold it against me later in life.

This was the "year of the Tonka truck" for the Nagy boys, and nothing could have made them happier. They recieved two large cranes and one giant dump truck! In the interest of my walls, cupboards and wood floors, I have decided they will be outdoor trucks.

But the best Christmas present of all was that we got to share the holiday (albeit briefly) with my mom and dad, and that they got to meet Grant for the first time. (Have I mentioned he cried pretty much the entire day!?) We were all very glad that my parents were able to come for a short visit and share Christmas day with us. Despite a terribly fussy newborn, we couldn't have asked for a happier Christmas altogether.

Christmas Cookies

Newborn or not, the season must go on, and that means Christmas cookies must get made. And since Grant cries about 23 hours a day, I have learned to do many things with one hand. Let's just add baking cut-out cookies to that list. Hey, look on the bright side--the little guy has very early partcipation in this tradition under his belt already! And it kept him from screaming for hours on end. But have you ever tried to roll cookie dough with one hand???

However, I did have a couple of eager helpers at the ready. Check out Calem's very cool apron that Gramma Martin made for him, complete with Thomas pockets and buttons. Isaac also has a matching one, his in red. They love the aprons and feel very important, indeed. Calem has always enjoyed helping me in the kitchen and is passionate about stirring, cutting, measuring and pouring. His job this day was to unwrap the sticks of butter, cut them into squares and scrape the sides of the mixer. He did an excellent job!

Then came the fun part. The rolling, cutting and decorating. Both boys had their own rolling pins and did a surprisingly good job rolling gently and evenly. I guess all that play-doh has paid off!
Would you trust a 4 year old and an almost-3 year old with open bowls of colored sugar? Everything in me didn't want to, but I took a deep breath and had my vacuum at the ready.

Long after Isaac's attention was diverted from cookies to choo-choos, Calem remained and meticulously decorated tray after tray of snowmen with scarves, christmas trees with garland, multicolored stars and striped candy-canes.

I could not have done it without Calem. And the pride he took as each tray went into the oven and came out again was evident. What a difference a year makes in attitude and capability. We had a lot of fun making Christmas cookies this year, and despite Grant and his surly disposition, we can at least drown our weariness in milk and heavily-sugared cookies for weeks to come. YUM!