Highlights from the Season

Gingerbread Non-Houses

Those of you who have seen me try to do crafts will not be surprised that our gingerbread houses turned into gingerbread "non-houses." After several times of trying to get the house to stick together with the icing provided in the kit and trying REALLY hard not to blurt out any expletives in front of my children or my parents, we improvised. Each child got a side of the house to do with as they pleased. The girls decorated house-like things, and I helped Little Buddy make something that slightly resembled a car. They had fun, and since it was our first year doing it, they didn't really know it was supposed to be 3-dimensional. And they really enjoyed the slightly stale pre-packaged candy. We may have to try something different next year, like maybe hire some kind of gingerbread house professional.

Happy Birthday, Jesus

Today was kind of monumental. Not only did we celebrate our Savior's birth at church, but also our timid child stood in front of an auditorium full of people and sang. With all of her heart. There was hardly a dry eye in the place. This is only the first half of it, but I thought I'd share the sweetness with you. Grab a tissue...

Keep It Simple

I don't know about you, but I get a little overwhelmed at Christmas. I love it all--the music, the lights, the traditions. It's all the expectations that get to me. I barely have time to get a tree up every year. Forget doing anything outside. Then there's all the presents. Our extended family is huge, and even though we've scaled back to a big degree I have this deep fear that I'm going to show up somewhere without a present that I'm supposed to have for someone. I think that gift giving is one of my love languages, so it overwhelms me to feel the pressure to find the perfect gift for all the people I love all at once. What I really want to do is just hang out with my family, play games, bake cookies, decorate gingerbread houses, and talk about the true meaning of Christmas.

We "do Santa" at our house. Barely. Big Sissy knows he's not real but just can't figure out what the real deal is. I won't tell her yet because I'm scared to death she'll be THAT KID that ruins it for everyone else in kindergarten. But we always start our conversations about Santa with, "The legend goes that..." I just don't want to lie to them. But I don't want to steal the childhood magical moments either. Aaaahhhh....such conflict belies every Christmas for me.

I was refreshed--and possibly a little embarrassed--when someone asked my kids what they were hoping to get from Santa. Since we don't dwell on it, they hadn't really thought about the question before. So here's what they're hoping for. Big Sissy wants a Webkinz (even though she already has 6). Little Sissy wants Silly Bandz ($2). and Levi wants a candy cane. ($1 for a box) Whew. Thanks for taking the pressure off. Maybe they like to keep it simple too!

Kids, Kids...

I was supposed to have dinner with my long lost friend tonight. And hubby was going to keep the kids. Except hubby works for UPS, and they don't actually allow you to make plans in December. So what happened was that I had to take all 3 kids to dinner with my friend because we don't get to see each other often...and selfishly, I just wanted to see her AND not make dinner.

You would think my children have never been in a restaurant or that I hadn't already prepped them in the van about what kind of behavior I expected. Because the way the night went makes me feel COMPLETELY responsible if aforementioned friend never has children. In an hour and a half (roughly), here's what we experienced:

1. Little Buddy shoving a chip up his nose, then jamming his finger in to try to get it out, burying it further. He eventually was able to blow hard enough to get it out.

2. All 3 children fighting over the "play dough" at Chevy's, resulting in some of it getting thrown at aforementioned friend.

3. Little Buddy throwing his hat into the air, resulting in a hat covered with beans and rice (which I made him wear home because..well, it's cold out there.)

4. Keeping the waitress extra busy bringing us new forks as ours mysteriously kept ending up on the floor.

5. Little Buddy eating chips off of the floor.

6. Little Sissy crawling on the chip-covered floor, pretending to be a puppy.

They're my children and even I was feeling overwhelmed, so I'm sure we didn't make the "larger family" life seem so appealing. My heart was kind of won over at the end, at least, by the tortilla dough rings they made before we left. I better start posting some "cute kid" anecdotes quick! :)