Christmas started early for the Crowley’s this year and came in phases.  Back in November mom Thatcher graciously bought new beds and blankets from L.L. Bean for both Gus and Clover.  They got to open them at Thanksgiving and after a long day of begging for food and being told ‘no’ I think they enjoyed the reward; But I’ll let you be the judge.

Next came Christmas for me and Dustin.  My mom (like many moms probably) really enjoys the experience of gift giving and finding the perfect gifts for her kids and grandkids.  Since this year was going to be spent with the Crowley’s, mom Thatcher took us shopping.  Dustin got a very nice purple ensemble (shirt, tie and sweater) from Express and I got a lovely green mock turtleneck shirt and tan sweater from The Limited.  We loved our new clothes so much that we both probably wore our new duds at least half a dozen times before Christmas day rolled around.  Here we are with our new clothes on December 20 at our church’s Christmas Dinner (thanks Chels for the photo!):

At the last minute we decided to do a substitute Christmas on December 23 with my parents, my brother Aaron and his kids.   Obviously we had already received our gifts from my parents but this was more about the kids.  The highlights of the night were the Zhu Zhu Pets Hamsters “Deluxe GIANT Hamster City”, the Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome, and for the older boys (Aaron and Dustin) even though it was a gift for Hayden a Lego Helicopter Transporter.  It was a different kind of Christmas for the Thatcher’s this year but I’m so glad we were able to do something together.

After a mere 6 hours of sleep Dustin and I dropped the dogs off at boarding/day care at Dog’s World of Fun - a very special gift from mom Crowley - and drove to Michigan on December 24.  We arrived in time to eat, settle in and get ready for the 11 pm Christmas Eve service where Dustin and I were to play the prelude.  On Christmas day we slept in until almost 10 am and I was AMAZED at the restraint Cadence, 4 had shown.  Not a single present had been opened.  She was patiently waiting for everyone to wake up AND eat breakfast before she opened a single gift and all without a single complaint.

This year’s Crowley Christmas has produced one of my new favorite Christmas memories.  On our list this year was the Wii Fit Plus and one of the first presents I opened was a balance board protective sleeve and mom Crowley asks “that’s what you wanted right?” and I said “well, no I wanted the actual board - but that’s ok.”

A little later on mom Crowley opens a Wii remote and she exclaimes “ooohh a remote!” and dad Crowley says “Oh, you mean that’s not a Wii?”  All of the kids looked at each other and burst into laughter at the same time.  It appeared to be the funniest gift giving mishap I’d ever experienced but the last two gifts mom Crowley opened were a Wii and Wii Fit Plus from dad Crowley so I really think Mel was just playing to the moment.  But it doesn’t really matter because it was still funny.

One of Dustin’s last presents was 4 tickets to an MSU basketball game in East Lansing.  I’ve known about it for weeks and have been so paranoid that he’d figure it out.  I thought for sure he would be able to put some clues together but he was completely surprised on Christmas morning.  Apparently he has given up trying to guess gifts because it’s more fun to be surprised - I think mom Crowley and I are grateful for that because it’s actually quite hard to pull one over on Dustin!  Here’s a reenactment of D opening the tickets and a few pictures of the game.

Dustin and Joe not happy that I’m interrupting the game with a picture.

Ben is excited to be at the game, can’t you tell?

We won!

Group shot in front of the court