Christmas Eve

I have an awesome husband. He does a lot of 'stuff' with the boys. They go places, make things, hang out, watch movies, wrestle, and more. He'll even take all three boys out to breakfast--just the four of them. For some reason, though, my husband stays out of the kitchen. Maybe it is because I'm a control freak, I don't know. What I do know is that my husband has not cooked or baked anything, really, since we moved into this house a year ago.

However, this morning he woke up and decided (my husband is famously spontaneous) to make peanut butter cookies with the boys. The poor guy never gets peanut butter cookies because someone (the control freak in charge of the kitchen) likes chocolate chip. So this poor guy decided to make peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies with three pint-sized helpers. He had no idea what he was getting himself into.

I tried to stay out of the way. I only helped once or twice--maybe three times. Once, I steered him in the direction of the vanilla extract. He would have found it eventually, but the project would have taken more than all day if he had to search for everything. Another time I reassured him that adding two teaspoons of vanilla instead of one wouldn't be a big deal. (If it had been salt, or something, well...) The last time I stepped in after a few exasperated "Leif!'s" involving a camera and a carton of eggs (not at the same time, luckily). The little guy was then removed, washed up, and read to in his room.

I'm happy to say that the finished products were delicious. (Actually, I can only vouch for the chocolate chip version.) And I think Russ was immensely proud of himself as he headed out of the house with a plate of cookies for the client he is helping out today.




We have spent the last month celebrating, but Christmas Eve is a pretty low-key day day for us. While Russ is out working this afternoon, I'll be finishing up the wrapping (yes, it's a bit last minute), doing laundry, getting some food ready for tomorrow, and all the little things that moms have on their to-do lists so that holidays will go smoothly.
Leif is napping, the other boys are watching Christmas movies, and I had better get to work. Later we'll have (oh, wait... DINNER! I knew I was forgetting something!) to order pizza, the boys will get baths, we'll read a few Christmas picture books, and we'll settle in for the night.

I'll Be Home for Christmas

Littlejim's Gift

Christmas in the Country