Christmas

This Christmas has been hectic. It is of course a wonderful time of year, but my favorite by far is Thanksgiving. We have had family dinners and get togethers and have opened our home to family and entertaining mostly the entire month. We have attended and planned special school events. (Amanda Lily's preschool program, and Stevens International Luncheon) Then there was ensemble at church. I decided this year that I was ready to take on the commitment of taking part in our Christmas Eve Service which require hours of rehearsal. The service was pretty good, but I was so sad for Melinda who had put so much planning and effort into it, and there were many glitches. We even managed to squeeze a trip to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party in the mix, and we spent the night! It has been a memorable Christmas, but I am ready for a break. I am blogging all of it in this one blog, because I am just ready to move on!

Each of the following paragraphs really deserve there own private blog, so if you get tired of reading, just stop and come back to the next paragraph another day!

Lets see, we'll start with Stevens International Luncheon at school. For those of you who do not know, Steven is in the Dual Language Program at his school, where he is taught the same lessons in English as well as Spanish during the day. When Mrs Keyes called me with the idea of an International Luncheon, I thought it was a great! And, boy did it end up GREAT! We had over 17 mothers make different foods from their country of origin. I of course made Greek food. Baklava and Adaka with Feta which are two of Stevens favorites. We had Spanish Pork, Swedish Meatballs, German Pie, Plantains, Vietnamese Rice, we even had Sushi, and much more. It was all sooo good. We had one of the moms bring in chicken nuggets from chic fil a, because we weren't sure how the kids would take to such a variety of foods, but they actually were more than willing to try everything. We had over 25 parents attend, as well as the Principle, Assistant Principle, and office staff. The day was topped off with Pinatas for the kids to swing at. It was a blast for them.

The Annual Green Family Dinner was at my house this year. I was so happy to have my extended family in my home. Everyone brought a side dish, and we had ham. All the food was really yummy, but the company was even better. I did miss Scott and his family, though. I got to see Jennifer, and let me tell you all....she doesn't look a day pregnant. Will is such a sweet boy. He was ready for some present opening. I think it's so strange that he has the same blood in his veins as I do, and he is my best friends kid. Even after all these years, Jen is not my cousin....she is my best friend. I was also very happy to see my little cousin Michaela bonding with my little girl. The two of them really seemed to hit it off. The night was a huge success, very laid back and relaxed.

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party was a BLAST. So worth the money. We had arranged a room at the Contemporary Resort so that Steven could watch the monorails go through. In all our Disney travels, the one thing we hadn't done is spend the night. This seemed like the right time because the actual party started at 7pm and didn't end until midnight. Upon arrival we were told that we had been "upgraded" in honor of Disney's Year of A Million Dreams. The woman handed me a key to insert into a slot in the elevator to get us to the "all suite floor"

I almost dropped my teeth when she told us we had a butler/concierge. If you all remember, the last time we went to Disney, we had gotten VIP service that was very uncommon. This was over the top. Our concierge had Uncrustable PB and J's with juice boxes and milk for the kids along with all kinds of fruit, cheese, croissants, beer, champagne, wine, and espresso for George and me when we got to the room. I kid you not.....our view was unbelievable. We had a birds eye view of Cinderella Castle and all the Monorails and The Grand Floridian, from our balcony. I took photos, so check them out! Once we got to the park, we had lots of fun. For the first time in years, we didn't have to wait in line at all. When I bought the tickets, they told me that they were only selling a "limited amount" I thought yeah, what they consider limited and I consider limited are definitely different. Not so....it seemed as if there was no one in the park. Steven even got down at a Character Dance Party. I laughed so hard as he did the YMCA and danced to Vanilla Ice.....Ice Ice Baby. He actually did pretty good and kept with the performer on stage teaching the kids the steps. George and I enjoyed it so much that we've decided not to renew our annual passes, and to just go to the Christmas Party every year and spend the night. (We may also go in May in honor of both kids birthdays being that they are only a week apart.) I highly recommend it.

Let's see...we opened presents from Mom and Dad the night before Christmas Eve. Mom outdid herself once again. My favorite was one of her gifts to Amanda Lily, a sewing machine. She is so excited about making clothes for her dolls. Christmas Eve service was at 6pm, then we headed up to the restaurant to have dinner with George.

Christmas morning, Steven, Amanda Lily, and Tre' were soooooo excited. I mean bouncing off the walls! This is such a good age for "Santa" they are 4 5 and 6. Steven was most excited about his Amtrak Train Set, Amanda Lily was thrilled with her pink kitchen, and Tre' freaked over his four wheeler! Good times. Mom made her famous omelet's, and I made my famous pancake puffs for breakfast.

Christmas night we all packed up and went over to Amanda's (mom in laws) for dinner and gift exchange. The kids and I made cupcakes for "Baby Jesus' Birthday" The food was prime rib and lots of Greek dishes. It was really unbelievably good.....I mean Stavro (dad in law) really has a gift in the kitchen. Steven got an awesome CSX train engine from Uncle Pete Aunt Heather and Jimmy. His reaction was priceless. He literally could not come up with words to say. He was like "this thing........" Then he passed around the huge thank you hugs. Amanda Lily got kitchen stuff from Pottery Barn Kids, little Cupcakes and a cake, and the cutest apron ever with cherries on it.Baby Sophie was laughing really hard at Steven as he danced around all silly to entertain her. She is getting so big. Heather had to remind me that she is almost 8 months old! I keep thinking she is 6 months. I just don't want her to grow up!

The kids also received a Christmas package from Greece. Our cousin ViVi aka Girly Girl, is AWESOME. She sent them glow in the dark stars that are already on their bedroom walls and beds. As well as all kinds of stickers and chocolates and candies and goodies. She spoils them so much. It is very special to get things like that all the way from Greece. It keeps them connected. I love that the kids are so loved and doted on by our family.

I got a Cricut cutter for my craft room, a new camera, and a yellow diamond ring! My husband is so good to me. He surprised me thoroughly.....and I LOVE to be honestly surprised.

Sorry to have put all of my Christmas adventures into this one blog. I am just really ready to move forward a pull out of the Holidays. I may keep my blog colors though....they will do through Valentine's Day at least! Oh and I took so many photos that I am putting them in seperate slide shows. I'll title them so everyone can see the different goings on. Also, I'll put a couple of my favorites on the blog page. I hope you all had as blessed a Christmas as we did.