Pictures (at least the ones we share with people) often do make things look perfect don’t they? Our Christmas definitely wasn’t perfect since it involved more projectile vomit than we would have liked, but truthfully it was good.

The day before Christmas I took Cooper to the doctor because he’d had a few barfing incidences and I wanted to make sure I got him checked out before the doctor’s office closed for a full day. The prognosis was that he either had a virus or his stomach was irritated by excessive mucus draining into his stomach from a lingering cold. Since there wasn’t really anything we could do that we weren’t already doing, we just continued on with our plans and kept the throw-up bowl handy. (Yes, we have a designated vomit bowl.) Everyone, including Cooper, had a good appetite for our Christmas Eve dinner of ham, creamy shredded potatoes (recipe coming soon to our food blog), croissants, and dijon braised brussels sprouts.

Growing up, my family always went for a walk Christmas Eve to see the holiday display at the library and the nativity at the tabernacle and Noel and I decided to try and do something similar. We weren’t able to find a life size nativity with a recording that recited the Biblical story of Christ’s birth, but Golden has some pretty lights in their downtown, so we decided that would do.

We suited up Christmas Story style to brave the cold. Before we left, Cooper fell and literally couldn’t get back up without help, so I think everyone was sufficiently bundled.

The lights were beautiful and almost everyone we ran into was full of good cheer.

When we couldn’t feel our fingers anymore we got back into the car and headed home.

We tried to have a spiritual moment where we talked about Christ’s birth, but it unfortunately devolved into Cooper and Ellen having a tug-of-war over the baby Jesus from our Nativity set. To put an end to that, we brought out a present for each of them to open. Not exactly the message we wanted to convey, but at least we’re trying, right?

The kids were actually excited about their pajamas, but still managed to irritate each other. (See how Cooper is sitting on Ellen’s jammies?)

We finished up the evening with molten chocolate cakes topped with homemade ice cream and hot baths for the kids.

Everyone slept all night which was the best Christmas gift we got. They were so zonked that we actually had to wake Ellen up in the morning.

Both kids were pretty excited about finding all the presents in the living room. We purposefully put their piles on opposite sides of the room to decrease contention. Presents from all sorts of family members had been arriving in the mail for weeks, so the kids were pretty well spoiled.

The gift we were most excited for them to open was a pair of “Buddha Boards” we’d made. Even though it looks like the kids are making a huge mess they’re really painting with water, plus the the “paint” disappears as the water evaporates so you can use it over and over again.  I got the idea from my friend Emilie’s blog where she posts ideas for doing art with kids. (And she really knows what she’s talking about since she used to work as an art educator at the Denver Art Museum.) The magic water painting was a big hit.

The rest of the day was filled with lounging, skyping, more painting, a phone call with my brother who’s on a mission, and unfortunately a few more vomiting episodes from Cooper all of which he quickly bounced back from.

Perhaps it’s because by this point in our parenting we aren’t really phased by dealing with other people’s bodily fluids anymore, but we actually did have a pretty good time. And you’re welcome for not sharing any pictures of people puking. It seemed best to keep this holiday picture perfect.