pre Christmas

There is always a lot of prep and pre-Christmas activity.  This year was not too much different.  But, maybe a little.  I've slowed things down and simplified considerably over the last number of years.  And I think it has brought nothing but joy - at least to me.  To Eric, definitely.  I even think the kids have a little more joy.  They don't miss the extra stuff and certainly don't miss the extra crazy mom.  Simple has been a progressive theme for me for several years now.  It is a fantastic way of life and sure to only increase in simplicity (is that an oxymoron?)  Simple=bliss

This photo really has nothing to do with preChristmas, other than it took place in December.  I just love it though.

Most of December has been very mild (other than right now - it is crazy cold currently…. good alliteration, hey?)  So mild that we have had more rain than snow and what snow there has been has melted away.  But it has been good for being outside - especially when there was still snow to play with.  These were during the snowman-melting-distruction phase.

This year for the cousin ticket pull, we decided (okay, I decided and worked on convincing the others) to do either homemade, thrift-store purchased or personally-owned-but-know-the-other-person-would-love-it gifts.  My thought was to bring more meaning and less "stuff" to this Christmas, as after all, they need almost nothing.  It is kind of a half-way to no gift giving in light of all the excess we have but still with the fun of gift giving.  Plus the ownership - I love the ownership of them making something…. so we went for that.  Mia and Lucy made pajama pants for Timaya and Riley.  Maddy made an infinity scarf for Alex.   Alex also got in on this business and made pj pants for Shandy as well.

Mia pretty much did the pants all by her self.  She didn't need any assistance from me, other than showing her how to wind the bobbin.  Sewing diva!

It took a lot to motivate Maddy to embrace the sewing.  It was a sheer act of love for her darling Alex.  You can tell from the disgusted look that she had no love for the task, however.

A proud little moment when she was sewing "fast".

What I didn't do was take pictures of Cade making a marshmallow gun for Cole.  Or take pictures of him trying it out (to make sure it worked, of course).  Well, it worked.  Fabulously.  Eric cut the pvc pipe and Cade fit it all together.  We also made a protective mask out of a soda bottle.  Although really the protection should be given to his target!

While I absolutely adore wrapping presents all cute and fancy, I just didn't have it in me a whole lot this year.  So instead of forcing it, I just didn't.  Other than these - for two of Lucy's teachers, who also happen to be my friends.  Well, one in a loose sense of the word since I don't know her well.

Lucy was rather loaded down with gifts on the last day of school.  Since she is the only left in elementary ("early years", here), she is the only one to do the give-every-stinking-teacher-a-gift still.  And I insisted that the librarian needed a gift.  Because, after all, librarians are extremely important.

Decorating sugar cookies sort of happened - more spontaneously.  I had made cookies and frosting for the gingerbread house day but it didn't happen, which is completely fine.  So the kids - Mia and Lucy first - just kind of started doing it the next day.  Fabulous.

Cade made the above creepy bug-eyed man whose head was too heavy for his neck.  Mia made next-to-perfect angles, trees, gingerbread people and so on.  Lucy made sugar-laden anything - the more toppings the merrier.  And Maddy made a hula girl.  With a lovely skirt and a wonky mouth.

We weren't sure if the local outdoor rink would still be good to go with all of the mild, melty weather, but we tried it out the other day anyway.  It was great!  They must have just flooded it because it was glassy!  The first time out for the season proved to be a bit of a relearning time.

There was a small patch in the backyard that hadn't melted so Cade, Lucy and Shandy had at it in the great mild weather.

Another day the kids were helping to fold the laundry - underwear included.  Cade felt that oven mitts, and Lucy - tongs, were in order so that they didn't have to actually touch the underwear.  Needless to say, the underwear wasn't well folded.  At least it was entertaining.

Early December we watched Elf (when don't we watch Elf?) and had spaghetti - with syrup.  Okay, well, we didn't really have syrup on the spaghetti, but I did serve it.  We needed one of the four main food groups, after all!

Lucy was on a milkshake kick for a little while - particularly peanut butter and banana ones.  She felt that since it was so balmy outside, we should drink them on the patio and served them with banana halves as garnish.  I had mine in the hot tub, thank you very much!

One of the local greenhouses has a lovely cafe/restaurant and store.  The Giesbrechts invited us to join them for a pre-Christmas cocoa and latte evening.  It was splendid.

Something spurred an impromptu Rudolf.  We don't ask questions.  We just smile and nod.  And laugh.  What a goof.

After I saw this one morning, I was finally fully motivated to take the greenery down from the light fixture. 

On the 14th we had a small gathering at dad and Rose's for the Giesbrecht side.  It was a little bit small since only one of my cousins was able to come.  They also came last year and I must say it has been delightful to get reacquainted with her (and her family).  We used to be close when we were little, little, then hadn't seen her for YEARS - I don't even know how many, and now have connected with them these two times.  They are a great family and we love hanging out with them.

I'm not exactly sure what the girls were all doing here, but they remind me of Dufflepuds, from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  I think they were just seeing how flexible they were, now that I think about it.  I remember commenting to Lauren how I was pretty sure I never had the ability to fold in half like she was - so then all of the girls were trying to do it.

Glenda brought a little disco fever to the party as well.  Sadly only her and Lucy participated.  Perhaps it wasn't so sad after all.

A few days after we put up and decorated our Christmas tree, we went downstairs to discover this:

It fits in well with the long litany of Christmas tree foul-ups from Christmases past.  It was meant to be. I simply picked it up, leaned it up in the corner of the basement and called it a day.  No fixing or fluffing of garlands and ornaments.  No readjusting the stand or re-centering.  Just get the thing upright and call it good!

Mia had a friend stop by a few nights before school was out and brought her a gift.

It is the cutest little pink elephant teapot ever in the whole wide world.  So sweet and so thoughtful.

Whew.  That was a lot of stuff.  Can you tell I am trying to get this post off my to-do list?