Kids' Christmas party and the train table fiasco!

Yesterday Holden and I were invited to a Christmas get-together for kids and Mommies at the Polletts' house. We were excited to have somebody to play with/people to talk to on another day full of freezing rain and frigid temperatures. Jay still had to drive us down the street because you could literally ice skate on our street and sidewalks right now! The kids played, the Mommies enjoyed each other's company, and we had a yummy lunch and of course, desserts. Thanks for having us over, Kam!

Mommy and Holden posing in front of our tree before we left for our party. (As you can see, he's getting a lot of use out of his cute little Christmas outfit. He's wearing it again tonight for Christmas Eve service/dinner at my parents' house. It has been through the wash quite a few times this month!) =o)

We got some group shots of all the kiddos and chose the best one to print out and put in little snowglobes that Kam got each of the kids. What a cute idea! I didn't think we'd ever get all of them to sit still and look at us, but we pulled it off! What a cute group! The back row is Holden, Bella, Brady, and Addy. The front row is Kylie and Ellie (Addy's sister.)

Some random shots from the day. Holden is quite enamored with Bella at the moment. Her mom and I joke that they could be twins...both came a month early, are blondies, picky eaters, and even weigh almost the same exact amount. He kept giving her kisses, and my camera wasn't quick enough to catch them! In the one in the collage, you can see him moving in on her. =o) Don't worry, Natalie, you're still his favorite though! I was excited to see him so into Brady's new Home Depot tool bench because I have a feeling Santa might be bringing him the same one. ;o)

Okay, so the train table story in the title: Santa brought Holden the Imaginarium train table. He brought it to our house a little early since he knows it has a lot of parts and might take Daddy and me awhile to put together. (He explained that the elves have had to start commissioning out some of their work since there are so many children in the world now.) During Holden's nap yesterday, we brought it up from the basement and started working on it. Let me just say as a side note-neither Jay or I were blessed with building skills. In fact, when we put together Holden's nursery furniture, it's a wonder that a) it got done and b) we didn't separate over it! Not our forte. So I was pleasantly surprised at how well it was going. We were using teamwork, and the frame was almost finished. When I commented on it to Jay, he grinned and said, "Better knock on wood!" Literally a few seconds after that, we went to put the final back portion on and discovered that the two boards that we needed to attach were missing the holes they were supposed to have! We double checked every piece and since they are labeled with numbers, we knew we had the right pieces. Now what?? This is Holden's biggest gift, and two days before Christmas here we sat with it two thirds of the way finished and no way to complete it. When I called the hot line, the automated voice said all helpers were busy, but I could leave a message and they'd respond in two to three business days. Ummm....no. So I called Toys R' Us and they said they had no tables left. Then they put me on hold for 20 minutes. When I finally got another person, they said they actually did have one, and they'd hold it if I came right out. I asked if instead of taking apart the whole thing, I could just bring back the two faulty pieces with my receipt and trade them out. They very politely said, "NO." So my dad came and picked me up and we loaded the partially finished product into his back seat. We were not about to waste time taking the whole thing apart again! Jay did confiscate a few of the screws in case we were short in the next box. =o) The Toys R' Us customer service counter is a nightmare two days before Christmas. One man had brought his own screwdriver and was standing there taking batteries out of a broken toy. Another was yelling about his duplicate DVD's that he couldn't return without a receipt. I did feel sympathy for the workers. Until they told me they didn't have a new train table, and why did I think that???? Fortunately they were just misinformed, and a manager came out carrying my box like it was the holy grail. I made him open it and let me check the boards before I took it home. When I returned, Holden had woken up, so Memaw graciously let us drop him off at her house while we worked. 5 hours after the ordeal started, we have a completed train table hidden in the basement. Tonight we have to put it upstairs and put together the million and one tracks and buildings. And the Home Depot workbench and the toy grill that Santa also dropped off. I'm a little scared. I think next year I need to hire these jobs out to someone. Any takers????