Thank goodness for the little victories!

Yesterday, the majority of the members of clan Trageser gathered at Auntie Liz and Uncle Thom's place for a wonderful holiday dinner. The reason for the gathering existed in the form of Larissa and Christopher, as they would be going to Hawaii for Christmas, and would not be here to receive their gifts from the attendees on Christmas Day. This being the case, Liz and Thom offered to host an informal send-off party, and the rest of us, along with Liz and Thom, lavished our Christmas gifts upon them to enjoy on their trip.

Uncle Jeff showed up with his yellow guitar under his arm, which immediately endeared the boys to Jeff's guitar, while they merely tolerated Uncle Jeff's presence. But boy did they love that guitar! Jeff courageously allowed them to strum it, as long as an adult held it for them, and then a little later (I'm sure after a beer or two kicked in) propped them up on the window bench so that they could actually hold it themselves, and they were just in heaven. For most, playing guitar is a one person operation, but for the Hernandez boys, four hands at all times were a must. Mattea even got in on the musicality of it all when Jeff generously allowed Mattea to play Uncle Thom's white guitar (which, fortunately, Uncle Thom conceded to - if somewhat after the fact).

Everyone had a very enjoyable evening. As the annual cookie baking could not be coordinated easily with all of the requisite households, each baked their own cookies and brought them to be exchanged with others, so at least the Christmas cookie tradition continued this year, with just a slight twist to the format.

All of that guitar playing must have been very tiring. We got home just slightly later than the boys regular bedtime, but they were not happy campers at all when we tried to get them into bed. Tears, screams, demands - pretty much the entire range of delaying tactics were employed until weariness finally took over and the boys succumbed to dreamland. After they finally drifted off, I wandered downstairs to sample some of our newly acquired delectables.

Shortly after, Theresa and I headed off to bed, and I was actually able to get both boys into their cribs without any argument. When I awoke this morning, Theresa was still there! Grayson did manage to make his way into our bed at some point, but Noah slept in his own bed through the night. That is the first time that has happened in quite some time. Perhaps the boys should play guitar more often!