christmas

it has been so long since i've written a blog post that i half expected blogger not to recognize my password when i signed in just now. what can i say? blogging is something i want to continue, yet it has taken a backseat to so many other priorities in my life at this time....namely my kids. i have 3 crazy kids and am not only a fulltime mother, but have found myself taking on the roll of kindergarten teacher as well. life is so busy (mostly the good kind of busy) and if it weren't for the nostalgic side of me, i may have called it quits on this blog long ago. yet i know how quickly the little things are forgotten as time speeds on by, and christmas is more of a big thing that i really REALLY don't want to forget, and so i will blog about it.

ahhh, christmas. i loved christmas this year. it was the first year in i don't know how long that i actually was able to truly enjoy all the season had to offer and have a blast on christmas day. this was also the first year that i decided to get a little crafty with the decorations. i allowed myself to join pinterest a few months ago after holding out for so long. i didn't want another time suck in my life and i was also worried that seeing everyone else's fabulous ideas would make me feel like i wasn't doing a good enough job as a mom. but you know, i have found pinterest amazingly helpful! i'm only a tiny bit addicted to it and have found SO many tips and tricks that have worked for us (specifically in the homeschooling department) that i think it makes the teensy addiction part worth it. and when it comes to christmas, pinterest is a pandora's box of loveliness. i'm not a terribly creative person, but if i see something that i like, sometimes i can replicate it well. thanks to pinterest, i was knocking on neighbor's doors, asking if they minded me picking up the pinecones in their front yard, scavenging twigs and branches, and even collecting evergreen boughs leftover at our local christmas tree farm.

i went a little crazy with the free christmas printables, and had to make a couple of trips to the thrift store for more frames.

my favorite pinterest idea, however, was the simple plan of wrapping 24 children's christmas books at the beginning of the month and then having the kids take turns opening one each day. i am a book collector (children's books have always been my weakness) so i had more than 24 christmas books tucked away, mostly found at garage sales and thrift shops as well as some that my mom has specially picked out. it was fun wrapping them and numbering them and the kids continued to be excited to open a book each day, even though many of them were books that we had read before.

we made a couple of trips around town to look at christmas lights, which was fun. one evening, however, ava wasn't feeling well and i really wanted to take the boys to a house that i'd heard had a small train that kids could ride on. i left ava home with josh and took the boys with me out into the dark night into an unfamiliar area. i was so diligently following the directions i had written down that i didn't seem to notice that the unpaved street i had turned onto had become a mud pit with the recent rains. i drove right on into that mud pit and could not drive myself back out. we ended up getting the car towed out of the mud! oops. and we never did find the house with the train.

tristan grew up a lot this december. he has such sincere faith in God and angels and all of these things that we cannot see. with christmas approaching, he began asking me questions about santa and elves and flying reindeer with the same curiosity and belief that he was asking me questions about spiritual things. as fun as it has been to pretend about santa with him over the years, i knew that i could not continue to lie to him for fear that once he learned the truth, he would think that God was another imaginary person. so i told him very simply a little bit about the real saint nicholas and how we like to remember him and pretend about santa claus. he took it rather well, even getting the giggles when i told him that his daddy and i are the ones who eat the cookies and drink the milk on christmas eve. we decided together that we'd continue to pretend about santa for ava and sam's sake. and then we chose to do a unit study on saint nicholas for school.

samuel had his heart set on a "choo choo train, red, JAMES!" this year (which he got from his uncle james & auntie jacelyn) and tristan, who has become extremely intersted in star wars lately, wanted a light saber very badly. he got a lego star wars watch instead with a minifigure of luke skywalker and he still doesn't know that he is going to get the light saber for his birthday in a few days. ava got a baby doll from her sweet friends next door and a shopping cart from my folks, amongst other fun girly things. both of her grandma's sewed her pillowcases for christmas! so tonight she is sleeping with a pillow for the first time.

josh spoiled me with a mantle before december even started so i'd have somewhere to get all pinteresty and finally hang our stockings from! i also got some amazing boots, a digital photo frame, and the softest brown blanket ever. christmas in temecula was a blast with overflowing stockings, the surprise of a new bike for tristan from gramps, more trains for samuel, costco sized diapers and wipes for ava (love those kind of presents!) and so much food and love and laughter. seriously, i'm not one for cheesyness, but it was THAT good!

with the new year fast approaching, and my birthday right around the corner, i am reminded again how quickly life passes by and to make the most of what we've been given. i'm trying very hard not to freak out over the grey hairs that i'm finding more and more of on my head, and instead to embrace the changes that i cannot control. i am, however, choosing to regain control over certain areas of my life that i haven't been so succesful in, namely healthy eating and exercise. its such a typical new year's resolution, but i mean it. i need to make some changes not just for me, but for the sake of my entire family and be the right kind of example in that area.

happy new year, everyone!