This is the first post written from my NEW computer that Ryan surprised me with for Christmas! Hooray!
I just realized that I have not written anything since November. Sorry, I have been busy. This is also why you did not receive a Christmas card from us this year. Sorry about that too. Please don't be offended, I just didn't make it that far down my to do list.
We have had a house full of monkeys for the past few weeks. My parents, uncle, sister, and her husband and three kids all came to New Hampshire for Christmas this year. Christian and I just got back from the airport to take the last load of family to the airport. The poor Syphus crew had a delayed departure when they found out that their flight through Chicago to Sacramento (that was supposed to leave last Thursday morning) had been cancelled due to fog in Chicago. Southwest rescheduled them on the next available flight which wasn't until the following Monday. Unfortunately, Drew had to get back to work sooner, so he took Trevor Monkey on a flight with one available seat out of Boston on Saturday. Southwest charged them $262 for changing the departure airport. Not cool, Southwest. Not cool. Anyway, everyone is on their way home now. This house is very quiet once again.
We had a mostly fabulous time, with the exception of just about everyone coming down with either a stomach bug and/or cold. We had no snow for the first few days after everyone had arrived. Normally I would be ok with this, but since we had some kids (and adults) that were SO excited for a white Christmas, we were all hoping for enough white stuff to at least make a snowman. We were not disappointed when we had a dusting of maybe a 1/4 inch. Scott, Charlotte, and Mom ran outside to catch snow flakes. Here is the winter wonderland that awaited them.
I know it's not much, but Californians are easily excited. We were able to scrape enough snow off of our driveway and a few neighbors driveways to make a sweet snowman. I had to reassure everyone that our neighbors would not mind if we shoveled their driveways to use for our snowman.
A few days after Christmas were got some real snow when a NorEaster left us about 8 inches to play in. We went sledding and has a massive snow battle. Hopefully Stacey took some sledding pictures since I stayed home to take care of a sick Christian and a Trevor Monkey.
We did a bunch of other fun things, like take a sleigh ride (which was actually a wagon ride due to lack of snow pack,) a trip to Chuck E Cheese where both Scott and I won bonuses on a game to get a bunch of tickets, bowling at Merrimack Bowl, after Christmas shopping at Toys R Us, and ate. Ate a lot. Some of you may not be aware of the annual Evers family Christmas tradition of the Costco trip. This was Ryan's first year he was able to participate and he was so excited! Basically, all of the boys pile in the car and head to Costco. There they are allowed to put any food item in the carts that looks interesting to them. My dad picks up the tab and we snack on their purchases for the remainder of vacation. Here is this year's haul.
I was a little concerned about our lack of freezer space, but then realized that we live in New Hampshire. The world is our freezer. We put a cooler out on the deck to store the loot. We feasted on bagel dogs, bacon wrapped scallops, Mike n Ikes, Laffy Taffy, quesadillas, bagel bites and much, much more.
Oh yes, another little highlight. Christmas. Christmas is SO fun when there are kids around. Scott could barely contain himself and had a very hard time going to sleep. He reminded me of Jeff, who was always incredibly pumped on Christmas Eve and insisted that all three of us kids sleep in the same room. We did this up until Stacey got married at age 26. For some of us, the kid inside never dies. Here is a picture of the mayhem post present opening.
Overall I had a great Christmas, despite the fact the Christian was awful for much of the two weeks my family was here. I mean AWFUL. He brought me to tears on more than one occasion. Granted, he was sick and maybe a little overwhelmed,, but man. This was a tough time for me. He seems to be in better spirits now and I am relieved to have my sweet, happy, cheerful little boy back. I think he gave Ryan and I a little preview of what life will be like for awhile when we bring baby #2 home this spring. Christian's little world will change forever!
Thank you, family, for coming to New Hampster for Christmas. I know it isn't easy to get here and even more difficult to get home for some of you, but we loved having you here. I look forward to hosting Christmas again, maybe after we finish the basement! Love you all!
