Happy New Year!

It's been a while since I posted, and there sure has been a lot going on. Of course there was Christmas, which was chaotic, lovely, crazy, and sweet. We celebrated with the Wafer clan on the Saturday before Christmas with an insanely huge pile of gifts to unwrap in the afternoon. Briana and Rob brought Liam and Kieran, Ben and Renee were there, Grandma and Granddad of course, the four of us and our cousin Annwen. After present-ripping was done, we took the four boys to the Stanley Park train and the Bright Nights light display. It was great, and the boys loved the lights and the train. We returned to my parents' place after for a fantastic dinner and drove home, full and happy.
Sunday, Mike and I did some last-minute shopping for the boys while they played at Grandma Sugar's. It was a bit of a zoo at the mall and at Costco (surprised?) but somehow we finished what we needed. After the boys went to bed that night, I wrapped for hours. Mike claimed he couldn't help in an amazing display of ineptitude ("How do you wrap? Do you fold it over like this?") that made my blood boil. I wasn't feeling very Christmassy at that point, let me tell you, even after a Bailey's or five. He wrapped a grand total of four stocking stuffers to my hundred or so.
By the time Christmas Eve dawned, I was almost ready to look at Mike again without throwing things. Luckily he spent the morning out with Ethan shopping for me which appeased me somewhat. We visited Jen and Laurence so the boys could exchange presents with Hannah, and then went to visit Mike's Gram. We had a nice visit although she got quite cranky as we waited for Barry and Connie to meet us there. She kept saying things like "Why is he screaming" as Jack ran by screeching, or "What is he doing" as Ethan tore around the TV room pushing her walker. Patience stretches thin at age 90-something...
Finally we got home although our lateness made my nice Christmas Eve dinner impossible - we settled for rummaging through the fridge for sandwich stuff. Ethan wrote a letter to Santa and they laid out cookies and carrots, and a nice glass of milk. The kids were very excited but wound down nicely when threatened with a Santa no-show.
Christmas morning started at 6:30 - Mike got up to use the bathroom and we hear this little Ethan voice - "Is it time Daddy?" He decided to watch us open our stockings, and then couldn't stand it any longer and woke Jack up so they could open theirs. I think the big hit of the stockings was a Canucks puck each. Their faces when they got downstairs were priceless. The picture I tried to take of Jack is actually just a blurry streak racing past the lens. Rip rip rip and we're done stockings and tree presents all by 7:40. Then the building begins - lego, playmobil, board games... they are spoiled rotten but they loved it. I managed to escape upstairs and relaxed in bed with a magazine, then had a bath before the boys discovered me again. We didn't head over to Grandma Sugar's until 3 pm, so the day was a nice mix of chaos and sweet down time too. We had a great feast and another ton of presents at Susan's, and Barry joined us for dinner. Laden with doggy bags and boxes of presents, we made our exhausted way home at 10. The boys were in high gear from 6:30 am to 10:00 pm, and when they crashed, they crashed hard!
Mike had to work the rest of the week, and I spent the few days preparing for our trip to Belize and the boys' vacation at the grandparents. We were just waking up on the morning of our departure when I got some bad news from Daddy. My Gran in England passed away. She was 99 years old, and the loveliest lady you could ever meet. I will miss her dearly and I will cherish the times we spent together through the years. Daddy told me to go to Belize anyway, and they would have the funeral after I got home. Susan had the boys from the 29th to New Year's Day, then they were to go to M&D's for 4 nights before returning here with Susan to await our return. In the end, that all still worked ok, and Daddy made our travel arrangements for England while I was gone. The boys were mostly good for their little holiday, but Jack the Terror raised a little hell for poor Grandma Kittycat. It was great to come home to those little adorable boys and get all the hugs and kisses I'd been missing for a week!
Belize is a blog all to itself (coming soon) but let me sum it up a little - it was so much fun to travel by ourselves (as grown-ups!) with our amazing friends. We have memories that we will treasure forever. To the Palapa Party Crew: Limbo Limbo Limbo! Love you guys.
I am off in an hour or so, heading to England for Gran's funeral. I'll only be gone 4 nights; the boys have already designated it "Party time". Look out for them!