In order to keep the babies distracted from the lack of Christmas getting here already, we continued our frenetic pace.

We tried an advent calendar, but that led to tantrums. The last thing we need around here is more tantrums, so we decided to head in another direction.

We made crafty things. We stuck crafty things onto other crafty things.

We made a mess, but we had fun.

These little kits were from Target and were less than $5. It kept both children busy for hours. Of course, now there are random foam letters, earmuffs and sparkles all over the house, but it is kind of festive to find a sparkle-covered foam carrot nose stuck on the bottom of your slipper.

I was ordered, by this little teacake, to stay out of the room because they were making something extremely secret that was not for my eyes.

She was VERY VERY SERIOUS about it.

I think the shoes made her even more bossy, which I did not think was possible.

Baby C held her own daily fashion show, which is ALWAYS entertaining.

There were Cinnamon Rolls to make for H's wonderful and generous teachers.

There were Christmas Eve Cookies to be made to leave for the big guy. Let's be honest, they were actually to keep my poor son awake. Grand Master H was so over-excited that he developed the NASTY habit of getting me up at 3:15 for several days before the big day.

By the time Christmas Eve arrived, I was ready to just call the whole damn thing off, return everything, and sleep for about 10 days. Believe me, after getting up at 3:15 all week, I probably could have.

I was ready tell Santa to skip our house.

Baby C ended up mixing all the colored sugars into the frosting. She ended up with a heap of frosting/colored sugar that looked remarkably like the slush I remember from Pittsburgh winters.

Grand Master H lost interest/focus very early on and ended up sitting down and eating the chicken flavor packet from Ramen noodles. Don't ask, believe me, you don't want to know.

Can't you just feel the fatigue?

Things were getting kind of stabby by the time night fell. Tempers were short, tears were flowing, not terribly festive for sure.

And then, like he had for several mornings, Grand Master H woke us up at 3:15. Mr. Smith was able, bless his heart, to hold him off until about 4:15.

Grand Master H was extremely happy to find Batman Legos under the tree.

This is the face of lunacy, sleep deprivation, a sugar/adrenaline high, you name it.

I am choosing to see it as joy.

And a little later we were joined by Baby C.

I know the photos are not the greatest. It was 4 am and I was not interested in taking perfect photos. Also, I just don't have the patience to edit them right now.

As the day wore on, the crushing fatigue really started to take hold.