Oh, the noise! Oh, the NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

No white Christmas this year, but on a gorgeous morning the kids' awoke to Santa's offerings: the old man outdid himself. Eve scored a trellis swing for her American Girls' sitting pleasure...
Ty and Shane were left a note telling them to head to the basement, where an air hockey table awaited them; off-the-charts excitement! The hours discussing the amount of magic one must possess to transport an air hockey table to a sleigh, off of a roof, down a chimney, down a flight of stairs to the basement...whoo-ey!

Gracie received the gorgeous Barbie Diamond Castle playset you see here pictured...they all bought each other thoughtful and budget-conscious gifts, which is mom's favorite part of the day. The big challenge was keeping Zeke out of the gift room, and for the entire month of December, away from the tree, which, as you notice, has no ornaments Zeke-level or lower.

Take cover, or be Nerfed! No Crawfords were harmed in the filming of this holiday.

Christmas Afternoon (an officially sanctioned portion of the day, requiring capitals like any other proper noun) was spent dining and playing at Grandma and Grandpa Crawford's (moving here from SoCal this last spring has been a real luxury for the kids)...the left-brained, scientific leanings Ty so often displays were rewarded amply, as were Shane's, with gifts of an experiemental nature, requiring lots of adult guidance and supervision, which, of course, is why God invented grandparents.

Eve scored one of Grandpa's specialty wooden treasure boxes, for all of her private goodies.

Christmas evening we're back at the manor, hosting everyone for fabulous desserts bought from a great local bakery, to the relief of all. The Mattel company owes (and owns?) our family, big time; we keep their franchise afloat.

Star Wars transformers? Holy cow! Boy heaven! This shot taken seconds before Shane fainted dead away from the sheer joy.

Evie, Hanna Montana purse and all.

More Star Wars transformers? Ay, carumba!

Yes, Christmas day is in our grasp, as long as we have hands to clasp.

Love to you all, hope your holidays were merry, your days bright...

Tomorrow is Christmas! It's Practically Here!

In a fit of what can only be described as pure madness, mama dragged her babes to Cherry Creek Mall in Denver to see Santa, ONE MORE TIME. And the sobering voice of reason, once we were in the 1 1/2 hour-long line was (drum roll, please): the babes! Let's just get Cinnabon and check out the Snow Globe display, and go the heck home. So we did. Every year, the mall puts on a stellar snow-globe walk-through tour, and this year was Polar Express, a hit all-around. Shane's favorite part: the falling fake snow, which he still insists on eating.
Have a holly, jolly Christmas, Gracie Lou...on Christmas Eve, we gather at Aunt Diane's to open all our stocking stuffers from Gramma K, which are always plentiful and joyful, from the Pez dispensers and packs of character underwear to the lip balm and action figures (and a subscription to Oprah the magazine for mom and an REI gift card for dad). Our gluttonous dinner is followed by a lot of laughter and confusion and flashes, and our littlest Who crumbles under the pressure.

Shane, though, is all good. Pretty sure dad is bending over picking up some valuable thing that Shane's managed to knock off the end table (with his cranium) directly behind him.

All the Kulwicki cousins with the matriarch of the family. Back row, from left: Collin Prusse (19, going on a mission go Puebla, Mexico); Roman Kulwicki, 13; Grandma K; Richard Kulwicki, 13. Front-ish row, from left: Camille Prusse, 14. Front row: Ty, Shane, Eve, Grace, and Colette Prusse, 12. Don't wanna mess with that posse...

Back at the Crawford homestead, we each opened a Christmas Eve gift. The big reveal: Ty's Nerf gun! I almost hate to even say it, the looks of shock and disgust some moms throw at the mere mention, but we've got a strict rule in our home: boys are allowed to be boys, as long as no one's in actual danger. Which they often are. But, still, the rule stands! And it's Nerf, for cryin' out loud...

All of Evie's begging paid off: an Ipod shuffle! Which she promptly loaded with U2, Disney, Hannah Montana, High School Musical...you get the picture. Our other strict rule: no one listens to music mom and dad can't approve. Which clearly means no light rock, no smooth jazz, no hip hop, no rap, no anything not U2-Zeppelin-Floyd-Beatles related. Still sensoring the Stones for 'em...

All of our Christmas baking done and parceled out to neighbors, all we had left for the Big Man was store-bought, but we figured he'd manage. Love that sign Eve left for him before we all scurried out to scatter Reindeer dust on the front lawn: "Dear Santa: Is it true that you have a child? Wright yes or no in this box."

You Gotta Fight for Your Right to PAAAAAARTAY!

In a psychotic whirlwind of merriment, all four knuckleheads celebrated Christmas or the solstice or whatever...the project of choice was a graham cracker cottage, at least amongst 1/2 of the kids' and their classrooms...I walk into a classroom and Eve dissolves into a complete goofball, it's not like I bring it out or anything.
Ty's masterpiece: check out the gingerbread Jedi in front wielding the peppermint stick light saber. Must have gunplay at all times, it puts the teachers at ease.

Gracie's...candle...I think.

Shane snackin' on cheese and crackers at his mouse party...props to the kindergarten room moms who came up with this one, and even more props to me for saying NO just this once to planning all the kids' parties. My biggest gift to myself this year: just showing up with a hug and a camera.

Dance of the Crawford Girl Cuties

Nope, the girls didn't dance in the Nutcracker, but did put on a Holiday Revue that was the talk of Castle Rock, lemme tell ya what...Gracie, holding her prize from the post-recital gift exchange: does it get any better than a miniature tarted-up Barbie in an oversized plastic locket? Hot diggedy!
Knockout, graceful Eve, giving her swimming skills an even match in dancing ability...that blue package? A High School Musical white board. Dreams do come true.

Prima Ballerina and her best friend, Ella, tearin' it up in a dainty, cough-ridden way. Loved that bow, it flopped over her left eye all night long.

The gorgeousness just hurts my heart. Yours?

Step back and feel the magic. NOW!

Why, this sound sounded merry!

The boys, from their earliest days, have loved the big man in the red suit (crown of holly is, of course, optional). They'll visit his stout helpers a good 4 or 5 times per season, this time at the Grange family celebration. Couldn't resist asking for Lego Star Wars, even armed with the knowledge that Santa knows our family rules and probably wouldn't disappoint their parents by giving them a video game that the boys themselves had not purchased. You gotta admire their pluck.
More useless Christmas crafts! Ah, guys, ya shouldn't have!

Grace, visiting the big man in the red suit. What do you do with all the coal your kids collect on the morning of the 25th? Can Santa switch to a greener alternative?

The highlight of Grace's Santa visit. She's an amazing artiste, very deliberate and patient...must use every ounce of it on the creative process.

AND they'd SING! SING! SING! SING!

Didn't sing in the Sunday Christmas program, but the crew was featured at the ward Christmas party, which is obviously better, not the least for the photo ops provided.
The lighting sucks, couldn't be helped without blinding all of those little angels.

Eve's had a spectacular time in her school choir, and treated us all to a "selection of holiday favorites," delightful in every way, and just rife with "religious overtones," even without Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Eat that, North Carolina!

And they'd feast, and they'd feast, and they'd FEAST, FEAST, FEAST, FEAST!

No Who-pudding or rare Who-roast-beast, but cookies galore in the Crawford hacienda this yuletide season!

Mama considers sugar cookie cut-outs to be a colossal pain, but you can't deny the tykes this kind of joy...even if you have to spread the festivities over a few days, or more. A theme we've noticed: heavy on the marshmallows. Very rarely are these cookies actually eaten...they're too heavy on the neon frosting, red hots, coconut and who knows what all else to be edible. Best cookie cutter in the world; also makes the worst cookies. Can't figure it out.

Shane's hundredth sugar-gingerbread man/woman/child. We're equal opportunity here.

Look, ma, both hands! And all the flour in the free world!

Every Who Down in Who-ville Liked Christmas a Lot...

The Devourer comes with a beard this time of year...Zeke is having an Exodus experience: every morning, he gets up, pads to the door, and lo! Frozen drink, strewn along the entire length of the deck! He's learned the trick: if you take more than you need at any one time, it disappears. We're thinking Moses would be proud of how quick he is on the uptake.
Just another day of keeping the Sabbath day holy; we take it seriously in this house, you betcha.

Eve, Ty and Gracie were treated to the 70-whatever-th Annual Castle Rock Star Lighting Celebration (Shane was partying elsewhere); gorgeous, coat-free weather while we joined every other citizen of Castle Rock downtown for hot chocolate, Santa, carriage rides, fireworks, and the lighting of that beautiful star, beacon to all weary travelers that yes, you have reached the community with not one, but two McDonald's franchises. No playlands, but crappy food to be had all the same.

We love this place, but it is pretty heavily family-populated; most days, that's the great perk. At Starlighting, not so much. We waited one hour for the horse-drawn carriage ride through the throngs on Perry and 5th Streets, and what are these poor knuckleheads to do but wrestle the time away? We lead a charmed life: once again, no bones broken, no skulls fractured. We know we're tempting fate...

The moment of truth: on the carriage: 4:56 p.m. I was just aggro enough that I actually feared for the driver's life if she cut off the line before we were firmly planted on the hay bales.

Our view of the fireworks: love that white church, so small-town and picturesque, boasting a live nativity. I don't know what it is with Crawfords, we can't get enough donkeys.

Map is to scale.

The YW put on a Santa's Workshop to babysit the ward's young'uns while their parents attempted to Christmas shop...a raging success: no one went missing, and no structural damage was recorded. My kids, though...not a granule of sugar in the entire town escaped those precious lips. Bedtime? Just as easy as you'd expect...

Did anyone think for even one second that Shane wouldn't ingest cookie sprinkles directly from the bottle?

Evie, showing off this year's Hallmark ornament from Grandma K: this is from Barbie Diamond Castle, Eve and Grace's sole reason for living. The ornaments are a long-running Kulwicki tradition: my sainted mother raids all metro area Hallmark stores, BEGINNING IN JULY, to procure at least two ornaments per child/granchild, per year. We've got a tree full, in various states of repair, and this year will actually have to break down and buy a tree just to hold the Barbie collection. We're inches away from needing a separate Star Wars tree as well...