Chrsitmas Hits and Misses

Certain toys are always a favorite with Jack. I wonder how many more years he will be thrilled to get Legos. He got a mini helicopter that he was slightly interested in after he had put together the Lego set. He didn't realize it actually flies. Michael couldn't wait to play with some of Jack's toys...Jack was VERY good about sharing.
Emma was a tough one to shop for this year. She wanted everything...and yet nothing "big". I asked if she got everything she wanted, she replied; " I need to find my Christmas list to check off what I got." She did mention that she did not get the video camera that she had asked for. I'm thinking that will be a missed present for years to come.
Lily got to ride her new bike inside. At first she could barely make the pedals turn, but then she started making laps around the house. When she started to get confident enough to leave skid marks on the floor, we decided that it was time to put it outside.
For Christmas dinner we had planned on making homemade meatballs and having sausages with spaghetti. Michael and his parents went out to get the meat from a butcher shop up the street. The first shop didn't have Italian sausage so they had to find another shop.

Well, they found a carnercia that had Italian sausage. When Michael ordered the meat he asked for 16 sausages. Well, the guy came back with 16 pounds of sausage. Michael had the good sense to cut the order in half, but we still have ALOT of sauage!

Merry Christmas

Whew. May everyone have a calm and relaxing day.

Live Nativity

We didn't quite have enough kids to round out the full nativity, but they acted with gusto. Emma was pleased as punch the she was able to be Mary. Lily was somewhat disappointed with the "Wiseman" roll, but she at least put on most of the costume. There was a fleece turban that went with her outfit...I couldn't convince her.

Christmas Spirit

We got invited to spend Christmas Eve with some friends. They have four kids and they needed more to round out the Nativity. As it turns out, they have costumes all ready sewn (recycled from another family member), so I don't need to scrounge up last minute robes for kiddos.

For some reason...on the way to church I told the kids what we are going to do. IMMEDIATELY, Emma volunteers to be Mary. Which means that Lily wants to be Mary. I inform Emma that there are three other girls and she might not get to be Mary. Doesn't the Wiseman sound nice?

Emma and Lily nearly came to blows during church as they "discussed" who was to be Mary. Lily does NOT want to be baby Jesus. She is NOT a baby!! Thankfully Jack is being very diplomatic and wants to be the cow.

No Soup For You

My week is a little off with the kids having their last day of school on a Thursday. I kinda thought yesterday was Friday all day. I knew it wasn't because I had invited a few neighbors over for a Friday night Christmas get together. They didn't show up yesterday.

The good thing about having people over is how "clean" my house gets. It's mostly clean most of the time. (insert Princess Bride "mostly dead" reference) My house was looking pretty good by the time neighbors showed up thanks to child labor.

My part of the evening was the soups. Everyone else volunteered the rest of dinner, I figured that it would be easier to focus on just one part of the meal. I nearly caved and started making more food, but I restrained. Boy am I glad I didn't make more, I think we had enough food for an army. I was going to make two soups, but threw in a third at the last minute. Ironically that was the one I had never made before, took the most time, but was the crowd favorite. But then again, who doesn't like a good baked potato soup? (I don't think I'll ever be able to make it the same again, I was adding things left and right)

I had some forethought earlier in the week and had bought some crafty things for the kids to play with. The favorite things was the Crayola Air-Dry Clay. I had bought red and white thinking that the kids could roll out candy cane ornaments. The kids had other ideas.
Emma wants to give this to Santa. I'm trying really hard to buy it off her. I don't want this to have to "disappear" because Santa took it. I'm sure that Santa needs the candy cane reindeer, right?!

Last day

Yup, it's the last day of school and then the kids are out for TWO WHOLE weeks. I'm not ready for this. I've been trying to get as much done before I have all three kids bouncing off the walls. I think that I'm done Christmas shopping. We'll see what I have forgotten.

I did manage to get the house a little more organized. I put up a ribbon for cards. (I think that I need more, where's all the cards?!) Then I started painting again, so everything went out the window.

To start painting, I borrowed a ladder from a neighbor and was able to reach the second story ceiling in the entry way. I'm not too shaky on the ladder, but it is a looooong way down. I think at the rate that I'm painting, I'll have the entire house painted by Spring Break. I might have to buy more paint before then, I've actually made quite a dent in the 5 gallon container.

Shopping

I know I shouldn't feel stressed out when I'm Christmas shopping, but I do. I let December mosey by, but then I looked at the date and realized that I REALLY needed to get busy and make sure packages got in the mail. Nothing like opening Christmas presents on New Year's Day.

The good news is that I got all of the presents purchased. Then I needed to wrap, package, and get it to the post office. As we all know, it's a crap shoot whether or not the post office has a Disneyland like line.

Thankfully the post office was not too busy and the packages will arrive on time. As for the Christmas cards...well, there's no guarantee this year.

Scary Santa

We had a dinner at church and there was a "special" visitor. Yup, Santa came to visit the kids and ask them what they wanted for Christmas. Jack worked on his level of enthusiasm for the sake of his younger sisters. Emma wanted to ask Santa for a video camera to catch him in the act. Lily was somewhat disappointed. She kept saying; "Santa is not white."

What?! Apparently the outfit that Santa was wearing did not match the same outfit she had seen him wearing in a book or movie. When it came time for our turn to sit on his lap, Lily FREAKED out. She would have nothing to do with the scary guy. Lily was able to abscond with a candy cane and a coloring book.

Fillers

The tree was looking a little empty, on the advice of sisters, I added the ribbon and paper chain. A little child labor goes a long way.

I was unprepared and didn't cut enough paper strips before the project was called due to bedtime constraints. Thank goodness for a good paper cutter and staples, I shudder to think of doing this project with scissors and glue.

The string we made barely makes it around the bottom of the tree. How much would it take to do the rest of the tree? I think I'll have Emma busy for another couple days.