Merry Christmas!

Another Christmas has come and gone. 
Our first in Oklahoma. 
We were all a bit lonely, missing family and Our People, but we were able to have some friends from Jim's work that we knew from Maryland over for dinner and we made a nice day out of it. 
Presents helped, too.  ;)

I was able to get the Christmas pajamas finished in the nick of time.  I made the mistake of having them try them on before we went to Mass at 9pm.  We had to almost wrestle them to get back into regular clothes.  Benjamin ended up wearing a button down shirt, nice pants, a bow tie and sandals.  I didn't have the energy to ask him to change shoes.  

Benjamin really wanted a "boy doll".  He named his doll "Hamilton". 
Huh.  

Keeping with the name theme...the penguin's first name was "Pecker".  Thankfully, it was changed to "Macaroni". 
Phew.  

The stuffies were a big hit.  

As were the quilts.  The kids were astounded that each of them had one in their favorite color.  What an amazing gift.  

"I got a work shirt!"

Wonder who gets to put together all those Lego sets? 
Jim doesn't mind. 
Not.  At.  All.  

I took advantage of the quiet, mending jeans and finishing a dress for Caroline.  I can't remember the last day I spent in pajamas.  

At Sam's suggestion, as a birthday present to Jesus, we spent an hour at Adoration in the middle of the day.  Benjamin was tired from being up since 5 (!) and curled up in a ball in the back of the chapel, promptly falling asleep.  I had printed out coloring pages of the Joyful Mysteries for the kids to color and, surprisingly, the hour went very quickly.  It was lovely to spend time in prayer and in an packed chapel.  I love me some Eucharistic Adoration. 

We'll start up with school again tomorrow. 
I've already warned the kids to be prepared.  The past 4 weeks have been a struggle of getting into a routine, then being pushed out of it by a holiday.  That's really my fault for choosing to start homeschooling before Thanksgiving.  At this rate, even if we go straight through, without any breaks, we won't be finished with the school year before September.  Not sure why there is that self imposed summer deadline, when in reality, our lives will probably be much easier with summer school. 
Stay Tuned...