Holidays 2012

Our Christmas holiday season was tainted by the flu this year. :(  Luke was down his entire last week of school before break, which meant we had to cancel a few sets of plans for various activities. He got the flu before all the crazy news coverage about it and so we didn't know what he had was anything more than a quick bug until it was too late for Tamiflu, so poor kid had to ride it out. Eight days of yuck with a fever that climbed up to 105 a couple of times. Poor kid. Lacey came down with it on Christmas Eve day. Since our Ped had seen Luke, they called in Tamiflu for Lacey without asking us to bring her in. Unfortunately, $100 later, I gave it to her twice and she immediately threw up both times. No more Tamiflu. Bye-bye $100. She only really had 4ish days of high fever and then was just saddled with that bad cold/sinus infection that seems to come afterward. Amazingly, I only got the sinus infection and Allen really did not get much of anything. I'll add that he was the only one of the 4 of us who also did NOT get a flu shot. Hmm....

Despite the illness at our house, we did still manage to do a couple fun holiday things before Luke got sick and we did enjoy having a quiet family celebration at home. Thank goodness we took the kids to see Santa at Bass Pro because I had planned for us to have a special breakfast with Santa downtown the weekend before Christmas, but we had to cancel due to illness.

The CA girl in me was quite skeptical about Santa at Bass Pro. I mean, really? Seemed a bit redneck. But it was seriously the best thing ever for a little boy: remote control trains and remote control monster trucks over "snowy" rocky terrain, bow and arrow practice, shooting practice...Luke had an absolute ball. And it was all free! And, oh, Santa was pretty great, too. :)

Luke really got into decorating the kids' playroom tree this year. 

Lacey snooping for Christmas presents in Mommy's purse.  ;) 

Our pretty girl!

We searched for the "perfect" family Christmas tree and settled on this little guy. Really, it was a race against the clock because I wanted it done by a certain weekend, so our "perfect" tree was really more of a "good enough" tree,

Is this not precious?!

Grammie and her crazy grandkids.

 Check this out. My mom MADE it. I wanted the advent tree in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and my mom goes, "I can make that." So she did! There are 24 pockets and Luke called it his Pocket Tree. Each night he got a little something small. Next year both kids will share it, but Lacey really couldn't have cared less about it this year.

Christmas Eve Day, my little sickie snuggling with her daddy.

The kids got to open a couple gifts on Christmas Eve.

Cookies and milk out for Santa!

 Santa came! 

He left Lacey a few great things...

 And he fixed Luke up with just what he wanted: a Batman cave and a police/fire station, among a few other things.

He was SO excited!

I don't think Lacey paid any attention to her new things...

 I can't recall if it snowed a few days before or a few days after Christmas, but the kids loved the snow, even if it was just a little bit.

We had a great and very peaceful, fancy New Year's Eve dinner out with a couple friends, sans kiddos. Plus we made it home early enough to watch the ball drop on the East Coast and go to bed. My kind of New Year's Eve. :) Here's to 2013!