A Visit From Santa

Mikayla arranged to have Santa come and visit the DeMartini family. We gathered at Christopher and Tysen's house for a visit from the man in red, to play games, and to have fun snacks and hot chocolate. I was in charge of games, or activities. I'd seen several fun games on Instagram and chose a couple for us to play. I got lots of treats and small gifts that I put under large red Solo cups, rested them upside down on a piece of paper to which I attached a long string. I put all of the strings in the middle of one big Solo cup and had every person choose a string and pull. They got whatever was underneath the cup. Everybody really liked it. We started with the youngest child, Thea, and worked our way up. We then made small ornaments out of plastic cups. In much the way that a Shrinky Dink works, we used sharpies to draw on the cups, then melted them in the oven under the broiler. Roundish shapes with wonky designs were the result. We attached ribbon to all of them and sent them home to put on the tree. I also brought snowman bingo. It was a fun evening being together.

Christmas Lights and Santa Claus

This evening, in company with practically all the DeMartinis, we went to the Riverwoods to see the lights and chat at a distance with Santa. Because of Covid, you had to stand six feet from Santa, wear a mask, and yell at him what you want for Christmas. Because my children are both big, neither of them did this. But they did run around with or after cousins, and were happy to be together. I hoped for a family picture in front of a faux fireplace, but Blythe went off with Makenna and Brandt raced to the car well before me and Kent, so I must be content with the picture of us in front of Christmas lights. After wandering for a bit in the cold, we all met at Waffle Love for a treat. It was a fun and tasty family night activity.

Lyla is often unwilling to walk, so Tysen wisely brought a large stroller.

Here is Thea in the owl hat.

I got that hat for Brandt when he was about Thea's age.

Numerous family children have worn it and all have looked absolutely darling.

Is it the hat or just the super cute kids?

And speaking of super cute kids . . . 

Oh look! More!

Super cute bigger people.

Bestest husband standing next to bestest mother.

Cuzzies!

Christmas Day

We're out of focus.

We had a lovely Christmas day.  The children let us sleep until 7:00am, which I know was hard for them, but nice for us.  They were impatient with excitement.  I can't blame them.  I remember what it was like when I was their age.  Although money has been tight, we were able to get the kids both MP3 players, an item they have both been requesting for months.  

I made crepes for breakfast, figured out how to download songs to the MP3 players, and let the kids have at the downloading.  We lounged around a bit, then headed over to Grandma Sue's house to be with family, play games, and eat a lot of food.  It was fun to be together, again, and laugh and play (and scream).  It was so great to have Bryan and his kids again.  All the cousins had a marvelous time together, and I was so happy that Donovan, Vica, Mila, and Nico were able to enjoy good fun with their cousins.  We have missed them.  While the children ran around (literally), the adults played cards and talked and connected.  We always miss Grandpa De, on Christmas especially, but feel so blessed to live near enough to each other that we can be together regularly.  It was a happy Christmas!

While I didn't take any pictures at my mom's house, Kal did, on my phone.  I discovered 44 photos taken at Kal's eye level of all sorts of things--the floor, doors, feet, other small children.  Almost none of them are in focus.  But just for silliness, I'll include those that are actually are in focus.

While not exactly in focus, I love Kal's little feet in the bottom of this shot.

Neither of these are in focus, but I love that Kal thought to take pictures of people.

Nico is clearly engaged in a bit of mischief!

DeMartini Family Christmas Party

We held our annual DeMartini family Christmas party this evening.  Santa (Mr. Nielson) came, we had tasty treats, and giggled together as we took pictures with silly things on our heads.  Brandt, who knows that Santa is Mr. Nielson, still sat on the other side of the room, behind the island, down where he couldn't be seen.  I thought that was a bit overkill, but he doesn't like people in costume, so I shouldn't be surprised.  He was willing to stand nearer to Santa with all of us there insulating him, but there was no way he would sit on his lap. Still.  There we all are with Santa, ho ho ho!

DeMartini Family Christmas Party

This evening we held our annual DeMartini Family Christmas Party.  We love to get together, we love Christmas, and we love to find any excuse for a party, so gathering today was a perfect combination.  We met at Grandma Sue's house and did some decorating.  Mikayla and I had gone over earlier in the day to get out all the Christmas decorations, open all the boxes, set up the tree wtih lights, and have everything ready to go so that when everyone else came, including all the children, that we could decorate quickly and efficiently.  We were also able to put boxes away so we weren't dealing with packaging, just the actual decorations to put on shelves. 

Just as we finished up decorating, Santa arrived!  He sang, he chatted with each of the children, and he handed out treats.  For the first time ever, Brandt actually sat on Santa's lap.  It's only taken twelve years for him to feel comfortable enough, even though he's known for several years that Santa is Mr. Neilson, his elementary school principal. 

Luke was Santa's helper, handing out treats from Santa's bag.

 Blythe asked Santa for makeup.

 Brandt asked Santa for a drone.

After Santa's visit, we took silly Christmas pictures.  They were very silly.  It was a fun evening and a delight to be together.

 We've got an extra little person!