Now that I think about it I have been way from my blog for almost a month! That's awful! I left for Colorado on December 4th and returned on December 12th. As many people say, you need a vacation from the vacation. So the week following our vacation I was busy doing laundry, cleaning the mess of a house that my pet sitter left me and doing the regular routine of taking Miss K to school and going to work. It was a very exhausting week cut short when the school week was only four days. Winter Break started December 18th which meant mommy was going to have two kiddos in the house while trying to decorate for Christmas. Since we left right at the beginning of December and spent the week before preparing and packing for our trip, we neglected to set up our tree.
I love to decorate for the holidays but I wasn't "feeling it" this year since we were closing in on Christmas Eve. By Sunday the 20th we finally set up the tree and got the house looking like it was Christmas ready. That same weekend I finished my shopping, something I haven't done in years! I have always been an early shopper and finding myself wandering the mall and local department stores to find last minute gifts was not my idea of fun. Especially since my hubby watched the kids for me so I could have a kid free day. I can say it was a relief to not have them with me when I witnessed many crying children in strollers and parents with sour faces. I relished in the quiet an not having to hear "mommy can I get something", "mommy I'm hungry".
Before I knew it Christmas Eve was here and I was pretty exhausted from late gift wrapping nights. Finding time during the day with both kids to wrap gifts is nearly impossible.
Again I was forced to head into the crowds to shop for snack foods for the Christmas Eve buffet we were going to at my brother in laws house. I thought I would hit Sam's Wholesale and get all the items on my list. I'm not sure what I was thinking about buying for eight people in a bulk food store.
Who needs five boxes of crackers for 8 people? I only needed a tsp of Cayenne Pepper for my crab dip recipe and they sell a 64oz container of Cayenne. So after grabbing a few items at Sams I had to stop at Walmart to get the rest of my list. Unless you were one the those last minute evening shoppers like myself on the eve of Christmas Eve you have no idea. It is nuts! The traffic alone makes you crazy, it's like they all come out and then the people in the stores have lost all of their manners, as if they had any to begin with.
So I survived the week before Christmas and made it to Christmas Eve. It was a low key Friday for us with the hubby working half day. Except for the fact that my dogs escaped the backyard fence and I had to drive around in my pj's in my neighborhood looking for them.
We attended the Kid Interactive Christmas Eve service at our church before heading to my brother in laws. The service was amazing! When we entered the church each child was given a sealed box to open when that part of the service was announced. Each box contained items to be used during song and story so the children could participate. It was so cute to watch the kids ring their bells that was contained in their boxes and place nativity characters on the paper scene .
We left my brother in laws house later than I wanted to and got the kids to bed as soon as we got home. It took Miss K forever to fall asleep so Santa could come. We had the best time laughing at our dogs who found the carrots left out for the reindeer and ate them all. At least we didn't have to eat the raw carrots ourselves this year. Blech!
We were pretty tired by the time we got to bed around midnight and expected to get up around 6:30 am. Boy were we wrong! Our children decided that they would get up at 3:30am and bang on our door! After my hubby opened the door they yell " Santa was here!!!".
What?!! I couldn't believe they actually had the nerve to knock on my door at this hour like it was an emergency! I told them to march back to bed. That was mistake #2. ( Mistake #1 was allowing Santa to not wrap his gifts) Of course I should have walked them to bed because after I passe back out they came out the tree again. They hovered on the unwrapped gifts and Little E kept coming into to my room and asking me to open his airplanes. By 6:45am I gave up and told the hubby that we should just go out there and do Christmas morning.
It was as if a tornado came through! They had opened at least five wrapped gifts, a few were just half torn paper and the stockings were gone through. I couldn't believe it! Delirious I just laughed and laughed. What was I going to do? I got mad at first and they both started crying and I didn't want to ruin their Christmas morning.
As I think about it now, I didn't take one photo that morning. I'm not sure if I wanted to document that madness or I was just so tired from the kids not letting me sleep. But not one single morning photo. I was glad that we didn't have to be to my father in laws house until noon so I was able to take a nap before leaving the house. The rest of the day was like any other major holiday around here, spend a few hours at one house, load up drive around and go to the next house.
So here I am again, recovering from a long weekend of family, gifts, too much food and overload of laundry not washed. I spent the day today washing laundry and laying on my bed. It was pretty depressing. I am still getting through reorganizing the kids rooms and removing old clothes and old toys to make room for the new stuff. Next task, my computer room. It has become the almighty catch all room. I can't wait to remove my Christmas totes from it and get started on the blueprints on the new drop down bookcase to hold my Cricut and my sewing machine. I got a sewing machine from my mother in law for Christmas! I can't wait to get started!
So here's a little catching up for now. A few more new stories about our trip, the pet sitter and my recent sadness here on the homefront coming soon.......
