Christmas Recap

We are back from our Christmas getaway. We had a fabulous time. I so wanted to cut back to something that was more about family and less about stuff, and I think that we succeeded.
We drove over Saturday morning to Sunriver - it was snowing pretty well on the pass but the 4runner (which was literally stuffed to the brim with stuff) did fine. Got there and luckily the place was ready early so we moved in. There was about 4" on the ground, and the kids were simply thrilled. We spent our days playing in the snow and the evenings we did different things - Saturday night we did crafts and made all our own Christmas decorations for the tree. Sunday night we made sugar cookies and decorated them. Then we decorated the tree. Monday night the kids put on their new PJs and we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and ran out in the snow in our bare feet (a P family tradition according to dh, who knows) It rained a little on Monday afternoon, but then we got more and more snow and so there was plenty for the kids to play in.
I went to the gym over there each day, boy do I love that gym. It feels so decadent. The locker room is really beautiful - lots of gorgeous stone and the spa room has a waterfall, rocks and a ceiling with 'stars' on it. The showers are individual rooms and everything just smells so good. It was so relaxing each day to go work out and then get ready in their room like a spa.
We had brunch with Santa, Mrs. Santa, Rudolf, a teddy bear and some elves on Christmas Eve. It was terrific. They had it at the great hall. It was so great DeNel, as Emma has really changed. She was SO EXCITED this year - just bursting. She was hugging the critters and smiling and jumping up and down. The elves remembered us from last year and were marveling at how much the kids had changed. It just was so great to have them so excited and happy.
We had dinner delivered on Tuesday and it was great. It felt really weird not to cook much of anything, although I did do the breakfast casserole I always do. The kitchen there wasn't really equiped well so it was a good decision, but still a little strange.
Exercise equipment was the theme this year for me - dh got me a dumbbell set I've been wanting and an exercise ball for the house. He also got me some pampering (facial, massage, etc) I'm excited. I'm going to space it out a little. I have a goal of loosing 45 pounds by 1/1, and so I'll reward myself when I reach that one. Then maybe another one at 50 pounds. We'll see.
Christmas Eve was pretty funny - I have to tell you a story. So we were trying to get the kids to bed, and they were resisting. The house had an open floor plan with a loft upstairs with 3 queen beds where the kids slept. It looked out on the living room (and tree) I went up since they weren't settling, and Jakey was laying with his glasses on still looking downstairs. I turned him around, took his glasses off and told him that Santa wouldn't come if he was awake. We set the alarm for 1am and went to bed.
We crawled out at 1am and had a terrible time finding the presents we had wrapped to hide them and unwrap them for the 'from santa' gifts. I stuffed the stockings in the laundry room and we set them all out on the long bench in the dining room, which was on the far side of the tree.
So in the morning I get up at 6am, not a sound from upstairs. I go back to bed. At 7 I get back up. A little whispering but no one comes out. So I go upstairs and they are awake and looking pretty glum. "Hey guys, do you want to go see what Santa brought?" Jakey very solemnly says, "He didn't come" It seems he had been checking over the railing nad saw nothing changed down by the tree, so they had decided that Santa had skipped us. They became dramatically more animated and happy after I said that I had seen he had and they raced downstairs to see what they got. They were thrilled.