Christmas in Review 2011

Merry Christmas a little late!



This is always one of the longer posts of the year so I'm going to try to break it down so it's not so overwhelming for you the reader and me the writer!

Thursday December 22nd
Santa received the memo that he was to arrive a few days early to the Hodens. He did not disappoint. He brought Max and Mya desks and all the accessories to go with it to help support their paper/tape/glue/staple/marker addiction. Mya got a doll house and Max got a mini basketball hoop along with a regular sized basketball. Santa must know we're getting Max an outdoor hoop for his birthday! Santa brought Ivy a stroller and he brought me gift certificates for 3 date nights and a massage! Chris got a coat.






Friday December 23rd
We were in Decorah to celebrate Christmas with my family. It was so awesome to see Tara and get to spend more than 3 hours with her boyfriend Tony. Once again we did not see our kids for the day as Olivia and Grace were around and they pretty much go hide in the basement and play or are in my parents room watching movies! Presents were again a success for the kids. The big hit for Max was a shiny, red remote control car from my parents and walkie-talkies from Tony:) Mya and Ivy got baby doll sisters and I'm pretty sure Ivy will never lay her hands on either one of them. Chris got new luggage and I got some really fun clothes and a cool chalkboard for my kitchen! We did not exchange gifts between the siblings this year so no toilet paper/deodorant/soap/shaving cream for my brother. Maybe I can get him that for his birthday:)

The 4 big cousins:) Notice the cute tree way in the background? My mom and dad got a kid sized tree at the tree farm and they let the kids decorate it with all of our old ornaments. Such a cute idea!




Saturday December 24th
This was a pretty lazy day complete with a 2-hour afternoon nap for me. I was so tired that Chris brought me Ivy at one point to feed her and I just rolled over and said "give her a bottle!" We hit up Christmas Eve church and once again the donation for the front row was worth every penny. The best part of church was the end when the St. Ben's Children's choir teacher invited all St. Ben's preschool kids up to the front to sing a song. Olivia goes to preschool there but she didn't want to go up front by herself so Max and Mya went up there too! When they were singing "Away in a Manger" Max even knew the actions! The Kruses were in church laughing hysterically at my kids up front.

I wanted Amanda to take a family picture of us in our Christmas clothes. I had this planned so I coordinated the kids and my clothes and then forgot to tell Chris I did that! Oh well..I can just turn it black and white:)


Sunday December 25th
This day did not go as planned. I woke up at 3:00a.m. and felt sick. I went to the bathroom and threw up my dinner. I felt a lot better afterwards and chalked it up to eating really crappy for 3 days straight. Ivy woke up to eat so I fed her, laid her back down and immediately got sick again. This time it didn't stop. In fact it didn't stop for several hours! I laid on the bathroom floor until noon only to lift my head to throw up. I attempted to pump and ended up throwing up at the same time.

I told Chris to go ahead to Minnesota without me. I kept Ivy back in Decorah. I found out later that morning that my brother didn't go to Northfield with his family either because he was home with the same thing. My mom may have missed her calling to be a nurse because she took great care of me (and Ivy) all day and by the time I went to bed I was feeling much better. I didn't even hold Ivy until 9pm because I felt so awful. Ivy took a 5 hour afternoon nap so I think she was happy to be in the care of her grandparents:) Right before bed I called Chris, but didn't get good news. They had a wonderful day with Grandpa Bill and the rest of the family in Bloomington only to get home to Maple Grove and Mya throwing up. It was a long night for Chris...he saw every single hour.

Presents in Minnesota were another huge hit for the kids. Grandpa Bill found a little wood shop bench in Grandma Bev's sewing room when he was cleaning it out. Bev must have bought it last summer when she was still feeling good. Max told Chris later that day that God must have sent that present down from Grandma Bev. It definitely brought some tears to the eyes especially since it was the first Christmas without Bev.

I got a food processor so now I don't have to go next door to my neighbor's house and borrow hers every time I want to use it! Some highlights for the kids: Max got some really neat magnetic blocks and Mya got a purple knit sweater that I love:) I already asked Chris's mom to make me one for next Christmas! Figured she needed some advanced notice because it will take some time to knit!

You can see the wood bench in the background of this picture. Will always make me think of Bev when I see it.



Monday December 26th
Middle of the night I heard someone in my parents house getting sick. It was my dad. This was a total nightmare. Who would be next??? That day was spent just being lazy, trying to decide what to do. Around 5pm I ended up getting a ride from my mom back home to Dubuque because I was worried that if Chris got sick up in Minnesota, he'd be stuck up there for a few days so I wanted to get home when I could. Got home to a chilly house and a broken furnace. So, the night was spent cuddled up next to the gas fireplace and sleeping with Ivy in our room with the space heater. It wasn't fixed until 1:30 the next day, but luckily it wasn't 20 below outside!

All in all...a pretty strange Christmas. I missed going up to Minnesota and seeing Chris's family. So far Chris's mom, my cousin Kylie and Tara's boyfriend Tony are the others who have gotten sick. Chris has dodged it so far so we're keeping our fingers crossed! I hope everyone else had a wonderful, happy, healthy Christmas with your loved ones!

FYI...if your kids got these "washable bathtub crayons" for Christmas...they're actually NOT washable:)