Visitng Santa and Other Christmas Magic

The Christmas buildup has started, although the pretty white snow has turned into a brown Christmas and today it is currently 63 degrees.  Yeah for real.  I thought it was about 55 and I just looked at my weather app and it says 63.  Maybe we will go outside and play with sidewalk chalk when Tessa wakes up.  Or not, since it will probably be dark out already.  These temperatures don't feel very Christmas-y but I guess it's good.  The longer the dead of winter stays away, the better. 

I have been trying to do fun and festive things with the kids but, to my dismay, they only want to watch Paw Patrol and Curious George and I haven't been able to get them interested in many Christmas movies.  We have been reading Christmas books but they just want to read the same one over and over (Little Blue Truck's Christmas, if you are interested...it has a light up Christmas tree at the end!) Also, we took a trip to the mall for our annual Santa visit two nights ago.  Ben was really excited and Tessa thought she was until...

In their defense, we got there right after Santa left for his break and we had to kill time around the mall for 45 minutes.  For me on my own this would be a dream come true.  Oh, please, don't make me meander around the mall!  NO!  One summer when I was in college I was messing around the mall in the morning before work and bad weather was brewing and I ended up locked in the mall for a short time because of an imminent threat of a tornado.  There is no place I would rather be in that situation! 

 

Anyway, by the time we were able to see Santa the kids, especially Tessa, were getting out of sorts and it didn't help that the indoor play area is right next to the Santa set.  She just wanted to play and go down the slide instead of waiting in line so she was worked up into fit throwing mode.  And who do you think she was reaching for in the picture?  Me, of course.  I don't know what Ben's deal was.  He was very excited to see Santa.  I think kids get a bit intimidated sometimes when they are in his presence!  My favorite child in this photo though is Milo.  Babies are so cute. 

 

Once they were off the lap both kids managed to tell Santa what they wanted.  Tessa said "Paw Patrol presents" and Ben said a garbage truck which was not the answer he had rehearsed.  He also was planning to ask for Paw Patrol something or another but the kid in front of us in line was talking about wanting a garbage truck so I think he copied him.  We didn't get him a garbage truck so I am waiting to see if it comes up again before going and buying one.  I guess it is probably the only kind of truck and vehicle he doesn't have...

 

I forgot to share some of my Christmas décor in the previous post.  Mainly, I forgot about this cat pillow. 

 

This is a hokey 90's era homemade pillow that my grandma made for the granddaughters when we were kids.  As a typical 90's country household with several good sewers in the family and a culture of craft fairs and bazaars in the area these types of items were plentiful when I was growing up.  A few months ago when we were preparing to demolish the old place most of these items went in the bonfire or to the big fundraising rummage sale in town but I spared this one.  Of course I did...it's a pillow with cats in Santa hats!  And two of the cats look like Allan and the other one looks like Rascal, my beloved childhood pet!

 

How cute are these?  I love finding these little frames every Christmas and hanging them on the tree.  I'm the kids will like seeing their baby ornaments as they get older and help decorate.

 

What a cute assortment of babies to hang on the tree! 

 

I received this rug as a gift last year and I was pleasantly surprised to find it with the Christmas decorations this year with the tags still and on and ready to use.  I like the bold colors and it kind of makes me want to replace the faded lemon printed run that usually is in this spot. 

 

I guess Tessa likes it too! 

 

Finally, I have to share my favorite of the Elf on the Shelf antics this year.  So far, anyway.  OK, I mean ever.  I don't think I will top this one!

 

 

After the Santa adventure I was inspired to take some Christmas pajama pictures in front of the tree. Yeah, I know.  I probably could have saved that for another night but the pictures turned out cute actually.  

 

 

That ornament has Ben's handprint on it.

 

What are you worried about?

 

 

Milo at 2 Months Old

I couldn't believe it last night when we were eating supper and I realized that it had been two months since that strange night I went into labor.  As of 1:18 this morning, Milo is now two months old.  I think that means he's not a newborn anymore!  What a nostalgia inducing thought...although it's been a few weeks since they've been worn anyway it's time to accept that the newborn clothes need to be packed up and actually the three month clothes are getting small.  Sigh. 

 

People always ask if he's a "good baby" and of course no baby should be called "bad" but he really is good.  He sleeps all night and he has not yet destroyed an outfit from a diaper-splosion.  He kind of just goes with the flow through all the chaos that surrounds him. 

 

Here is a picture of him I just took before I went to get the computer. 

 

 

He has started showing lots of different facial expressions and he is getting "talkative" with the baby sounds.  It's pretty cute.  These are the days when the newborn fog lifts and the real fun starts. 

 

Here are a few recent pictures from my phone that show some of his cute faces. 

 

That Duplo creation there is what Ben and Tessa call a "cake".  They love to make cakes with the big flat pieces.  Milo didn't really care for his cake I guess! 

 

"Hello, Mother..."

 

I took the next few pictures last night.  I wanted to capture how he his starting to fill out (and lengthen out of) his clothes. 

 

 

Smiley boy!

 

These baby days sure are fleeting.  I was able to return to the gym today because he is now old enough for the drop in care.  I made it quick and he slept the whole time so I feel better about that now.  Hopefully we can make a new routine and get out of the house more now.  He has his two month appointment on Wednesday so it will be fun to see how much he has grown. 

 

 

 

 

 

Decking the Halls 2015

It took all week, but I think I completed my Christmas décor for the year this afternoon.  It was a classic example of "it has to get worse before it gets better" with boxes and packaging and junk all over the place.  And it's still pretty bad in the basement where half the contents of our crawlspace are strewn around the living room.  But we can just pretend that's not there, right? 

 

This topic has been done to death, so I won't get into many details, but decorating for Christmas with little kids around is a disaster waiting to happen. I am still finding ornaments in strange places around the house that are nowhere near the tree and I had to buy a new tube of super glue when I was shopping last night to repair the things that have been broken this week.  It was a hard decision, but after watching an ornament I thought was plastic (a cute little reindeer that said "Alaska" on it that Justin must have obtained in high school when he went there with his family, although he doesn't remember getting it) get yanked off the tree and shattered on the ground (it's antlers and leg have been glued on, so it is back on the tree!) by Tessa I decided to keep any ornaments that have any meaning to me at all off the tree this year unless they are completely unbreakable. If the thought of it being destroyed made me upset at all it is missing Christmas this year.  It's sad!  Fortunately, I have a box of assorted blue plastic ornaments from IKEA that take up a lot of space and also a lot of handmade embroidered ornaments.  And my favorite ornament ever that I took from home a few years ago is a little felt pine tree with sequins sewn on so that can't break either!  Even if it could, that is one ornament I would have kept out somewhere besides the tree... 

 

So, here is what I did this year. It probably looks just like last year. 

 

 

I'm pretty proud of that vase full of fake tree branches and pine cones.  I am not a fan of fake floral accents most of the time but this is nice.  I put the manger scene up when the kids weren't paying attention because I don't want them to notice it.  The bright colors could be tempting.  They have a "Little People" nativity set to play with and drag around the house.  

 

I am really really pleased with myself over this...

 

I bought that little tree at IKEA a few years ago and I wasn't sure if I would have a place for it this year.  Then, when I was sadly closing the box on my yearly Fiestaware ornaments that I buy on clearance every year after Christmas I was wishing there was a way to incorporate some Fiestaware into Christmas decorating in addition to the Christmas light dishes I have and I remembered the large crock I have displayed in the kitchen.  The tree fit perfectly!  Then I had those little star ornaments which were purchased on clearance last year.  I forgot I had them and I wasn't sure what I would do with them since they are quite tiny for a full size tree.  The kids opened the box and spread them all over the house and as I was gathering them up  I realized they matched the green crock!  Perfect!

 

 

Here we have the miscellaneous clutter table...I put some of the Christmas books with adult themes (also referred to as the ones I can't read without crying) in the book ends and the rest are in the living room for the kids. 

 

This is the Christmas tree collection my sister and I gave to my Grandma over the years which she has now returned to us.  A few items are additions of my own.  The little Santa boots are from Justin's grandma.  It was a tradition that she gave everyone in the family one and that means I have one too now! 

 

 

Here are our stockings with the Elf hanging out in them! 

 

 

His hands are sewn together like that.  That's how he always looks so proper.

 

Justin wound this old string of lights around the railing and I like the look of it.  It's hard to see but I added the old green and red beads I used on the tree before I purchased the current blue ones. 

 

Now, the following display might seem to contradict what I just said about keeping things that could break and that I care about put away this year.  I set up a few buildings from my quite large Christmas village.  However, Ben saw one at a store recently and he has been talking about it ever since.  I almost didn't put it up because it was buried (BURIED!) in the farthest corner of the crawlspace.  I had to move a barricade of crap to get to it and even then I still kind of just grabbed the ones that were on top of the stack.  On Tuesday night I brought the boxes upstairs and he wanted to put up the "tiny buildings" that minute.  He went to bed crying and wailing about it.  So I couldn't deny him.  We put it up when Tessa was sleeping the next day and I drilled it into his head that he couldn't break anything.  Every time I asked what he was doing or came near him he would say, "I didn't break it Mama!" And, of course, later that afternoon he was paying with the little people that go with it and I heard the telltale clinking sound of glass breaking and he suddenly burst into tears and said "I sorrrrrrryyy Mamaaaaaaa!".  He broke a little boy carrying a present.  It was a clean break and easily glued.  He was so sad I let that be the consequence.  He really loves this village. 

 

My favorite building on display this year is this little store with a Christmas tree lot on the side.  It has a little battery pack that turns on the street light and the tiny string of lights on the building.  It's hard to see but it even has a street light garland decoration like you can find on the light poles in so many cities of all sizes.  Even the tiny towns of my childhood always had the light poles decorated for Christmas. 

 

 

So...nostalgic...

 

And of course, Ben is not the one I am really worried about...

 

 She found it!  The stool that Ben was using (which is also my closet stool that I use to reach the clothes piled on the high shelves and I want it back in there!) got left out.  Oh no, what was I thinking setting this village up?!  I chose the church and attached school (I got that for a Confirmation present in 9th grade!), the John Deere shop (mostly for Ben's benefit...he loves the "tractor house!"), the tree lot and a corner store with a Coca Cola theme.  I didn't set up so many others that I like, including a few residential houses, a pub, a Ford dealership (yeah, for real, there is a Ford dealership) and a few other stores.  The whole thing would take up the whole dining room and the cord situation would be a disaster. 

 

So that's it for this year!  I was truly wondering if it was all worth it when I was in the middle of it and trying to stash the clutter that I had to move to make room for the decorations but now, of course, I am delighted by all of it!  SO worth it!

First Snow

Snow sure is pretty but we all know it makes everything harder, messier and more dangerous.  That is why  was very surprised that I, upon seeing a weak snowstorm circulating on the radar, was actually really excited.  Only the edge was coming toward our area and I waited all afternoon yesterday for it to start as my Weather Channel app kept pushing the start of the snowfall back on hour.  Snow in the month of December is lovely as long as it's not ruining Christmas travel plans. Once January comes I completely change my position and by March or April I loathe it...but...Christmas!  I love a white Christmas!

 

 It started accumulating last night so before I went to bed I dug out the kids' snow pants and the little blue (sorry, Tessa, you are not getting new girly snowboots in your size!) boots and other gear to prepare for the inevitable requests to go outside and play in the snow.  It snowed lightly all night and all morning so now we have around three inches.  It will probably be melting in the next few days so I sent them out while it was still there to enjoy.  

 

 

Mmmm...delicious.  I love eating fresh snow.  The first five minutes outside were spent shoveling snow into their mouths.  I should note that I was watching most of this from inside.  I had to step out to take the pictures but Milo gave me the perfect excuse to stay in and avoid any destined to fail snowman building attempts. 

 

Tessa was having a great time until she decided to take her mittens off for some reason. Then her hands got all wet along with the cuffs of her coat and she got mad about that but also didn't want to go inside.  I finally carried her in when her hands were turning red and looked freezing cold.  Ben stayed out for quite awhile. 

 

I had big plans to decorate the house for Christmas last night and it was going to be a perfect evening with the snow falling outside.  I should have known...between the kids all screaming and destroying things and Monday Night Football blaring in the background and Allan losing his mind over the tree it was actually pretty stressful.  I don't know why that cat loves artificial tree branches so much.

 

He chews on them!  It's so weird!  I let him go to town for awhile during the evening pajama routine before putting up the lights and he did tire of it eventually and hasn't bothered it today.  Let's just say that his stomach eventually rejected the plastic pine needles that he consumed.  He's such a treat.

 

Ben has been very excited about decorating.  I feel bad because it's been total chaos.  And I'm not even close to done yet and the house looks just horrible.  I started the Elf on the Shelf last night and I could barely find a clear spot to place it. 

 

 

I finally just put it on the table with the Santa photos from previous years that I found.  And, sure enough, no one really cared about it at all and the behavior around here is not any better.  Also, kids are not supposed to touch it and I caught Tessa swinging it around by the leg.  Sigh.   I know she s too young to really get it and maybe Ben is too. 

 

I have fallen behind on things I want to share the last few weeks.  Tessa was sick the weekend before Thanksgiving.  She had what I think was a sore throat for a few days.  She said she had "Owies in my mouth!" and said everything she ate was "spicy".  Then she developed a middle of the night fever, which conveniently was the night before I had arranged a babysitter and had plans to go to the NDSU football game.  She got better by Sunday but was still very disagreeable for a few days and between her and Milo's usual baby demands it has been hard to do much beyond the basic household functions.  So here are a few of those things that I've missed!

 

As I mentioned before, Tessa has moved to a twin bed.  Ben moved to one two years ago and had never put a bed skirt on to cover his box spring.  I think box springs are the trashiest looking things and daily I thought about how I hated the sight of it in his room.  Then Tessa's bed came along and two visible box springs were more than I could handle so I ordered some bed skirts from Amazon. 

Not only do they hide the box springs but they hide the clutter bombs that develop under the beds!  See?  Before...

 

After!

 

Tessa got a ruffled one and Ben's is streamlined with pleats at the corners.  After this picture was taken Tessa received a quilt from my grandma for her birthday.  I was going to photograph it but regardless of my efforts it is impossible to be left alone in that room to straighten up so I decided trying to fake a neat room was a waste of time.  Here is a picture of her with the quilt though!

 

 

Ben got a quilt too...She just threw that one together for fun with a big piece of race car fabric we found when we were cleaning out the old farmhouse.   

 

Now I am going to attempt to set up some buildings from my Christmas Village because Ben has been excited about it.  Getting these out of the crawlspace is not going to be fun or easy and will entail moving about 20 boxes of stored baby clothes out of the way.  Then I have to clear off several surfaces so I can set up the nativity scene and some other Christmas stuff and what I am going to do with the stuff that is already cluttering those surfaces remains to be seen...Oh, why can't I just wake up in a catalogue room that is perfectly decorated and free of toys for the whole month of December? 



Thanksgiving 2015

Ahhh, Thanksgiving.  It's always been a favorite holiday of mine.  As I have become a "woman" and a mom instead of a "kid" (these classifications have nothing to do with age but more with a person's stage in life) my enjoyment of the day has diminished a bit.  During my childhood Thanksgiving always meant a gathering with family and antics with the cousins.  There were exceptions, but many of these gatherings were at our house on the farm and there was often snow and there would be outdoor fun, which usually included sledding behind some sort of ATV or our old snowmobile and ended with kids of various ages strewn across the yard as we were tossed from the sled. We would make our Christmas lists for my grandma and when we were in elementary school this included circling toys in the JC Penney catalogue.

 

 

Isn't that a nostalgic image?  Those two inch thick fall and spring catalogues were so fun to look at. The girl's section generally showed me what I would be wearing for school or summer that season because good old JCP was one of the only stores that had a good selection of kid's clothes in the 90's in Grand Forks.  Target had clothes but they were not as fashionable as they are now and Dayton's was an option but for selection, style and affordability JCP was it.  Kids don't know how good they have it with Old Navy, Kohl's, updated Target, Children's Place and the Internet.  And, although those catalogues were full of fun nothing could beat the Christmas edition with it's fabulous toy section.  And yes, that says $4.  I always remember ours came in the mail so I can't imagine my mom paid for them but maybe you just got on a mailing list when you shopped there regularly. 

 

 Back to Thanksgiving...wherever we were we would make a Christmas ornament or craft (the last one we made when I was in grad school might have been charms for wine glasses!) and if we were with my dad's side (and we usually were if I remember correctly) my grandma always gave all of the grandkids a new Christmas ornament.  We kids always managed to entertain ourselves by putting together little skits and performances or playing games in my grandparent's basement or upstairs at the farm.  As we got older the antics transitioned into hanging around and gossiping and drinking wine but the holiday was always enjoyable because I wasn't really doing any work.  Of course, my sister and I (I seem to remember my brother being exempt) would help with cleaning and dusting before the family gathering and made sure our rooms were in order but on the day of I don't remember doing much beyond driving to the gas station in town to buy ice or doing some light food preparation like buttering lefse or slicing buns.  And there was plenty of time to get my yearly fix...

 

 

It's not Thanksgiving until you zone out to the Macy's parade! 

 

Now, there is no more holiday slacking because I have a kid demanding my attention nonstop.  I barely had a moment to sit and watch the parade or do anything else festive and the commentary and show tunes were drowned out by screaming and whining.  The extended family has all branched out further with marriages and kids so now it's just us again and our kids are the next generation of cousins but they are all too young to amuse themselves while the adults work in the kitchen or be sent to play outside.  Also, now that I'm an adult I feel like I should be doing more work to contribute to the production of the meal but because of the kids I really can't.  I never get anything done ever.  I started many tasks on Thanksgiving only to be distracted and not finish them. It's all quite infuriating.  Oh, and since I am about 20 lbs overweight and none of my jeans fit except one oversized and stretched out pair I didn't feel very good about stuffing my face with abandon and eating five different desserts so that aspect of Thanksgiving was not indulged either. 

 

Before you dismiss me as an ungrateful complainer who shouldn't have kids if all I am going to do is whine about them please understand that I know these years will pass and soon the holidays will be more enjoyable again.  The toddler years really are a time to just keep moving and not be dismayed that almost everything you do is not going to be fun. At least not in the same way it was before. But it shall pay off in the long run when they can understand how holidays are fun and special occasions. 

 

Due to the previously mentioned constant distraction and inability to get things done I took very few pictures of the weekend.  We had two dinners on Thanksgiving with each side of our family.  The gatherings were small.  At my parents' house it was us and my brother's family and my grandma and uncle and at Justin's parents' house we were the only guests. 

 

 

Here is Milo hanging out with my grandma.  I caught him giving a "side eye"!

 

Here is Tessa having her Thanksgiving dinner!  She and my brother's one year old had dinner early so they could have their naps.  She really loves stuffing. 

 

Milo spent some time watching the NFL and I noticed that he and Justin had coordinating shirts on. Gray plaid is always a good choice!

 

My family is really bad about taking pictures and I always regret not taking more so I insisted that my parents take a picture with the kids before we left.  The kids decided that it was a good time to shove their hands in their mouths. 

 

After we got to Grand Forks that evening Tessa was in a tantrum-y mood because we woke her up from her car ride induced nap at 6 p.m.  Holy hell, never again will we do that.  She cried and whined for the rest of the evening.  Justin's mom had birthday presents for her and she cried because she wanted to open them and then she cried while opening them.  She does love her new baby now that she has recovered from her little meltdown. 

 

On Black Friday Ben and Justin's mom went to a movie and the rest of us ventured out to the stores.  We tried to go to Sears but there were no shopping carts left and we didn't have a stroller so that didn't work.  Then we walked around the mall where I saw a kitten that looked just like Allan at the pet store.  I hope the right home finds him.  I don't approve of pet stores but I hope the right person chooses that cat!

 

On Saturday we went back to the farm because my sister and niece were there.  She was trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to take a Christmas card photo of her own disagreeable toddler so I had her take a picture of Tessa and I in front of those very nice pine tree arrangements my mom bought from our town's florist but Tessa wasn't really interested.  I still like the picture!  It makes me smile and roll my eyes. Of course she planked her body and cried!

Now it is time to get ready for Christmas.  We will see when we actually get the tree or any other decorations set up.  Ben asked about the tree all evening because my mom put theirs up this weekend.  This could get challenging. 

Well, I Did It...

Out in the world, Christmas is already everywhere.  The stores are festooned with decorations, the malls are setting up the Santa Clause habitat and I saw some decorations on the city street lights today.  I happen to really enjoy this even though I do also love Thanksgiving and don't overlook it.  There is even a cornucopia in our house!  Yes, a horn of plenty!  And it will be on full display with gourds and pumpkins and my turkey Beanie Babies from the 90's until after next week.  Of course, people are irritated that it's "too early" for Christmas but hey, it's five weeks away (yes, I have overheard people in stores saying this within the last week) and I don't think that is too early to start anticipating such a fun time of the year. 

In this spirit, and also because I have the Amazon Prime trial that I previously mentioned, I found myself looking at some "Holiday (of course they wouldn't dare say Christmas) Hot List" and the recently popular "Elf on the Shelf" was on the list. 

If you use social media and have any friends who have small children, which is almost all of my friends on social media, you have seen the Elf on the Shelf show up around Christmas the last few years.  I don't know who came up with this idea but I wish it were me because now I would be rich.  I also don't know when it started but I remember imploring my co-workers with kids to explain it to me back when I had a job in 2011 after seeing it all over Facebook. 



It comes with an elf doll and the story, which apparently tells of how the Elf on the Shelf is sent by Santa and each family has their own.  I'm not sure when he or she arrives but it is either right after Thanksgiving or on December 1st.  They give it a name and it becomes a tradition that returns year after year.  He sits in the house and moves to a new location every night so the children know he is watching and reporting to Santa about if they are naughty or nice.  I think this is why it is so popular.  It is a way to invoke Santa to get good behavior from your kids. 

Of course, parents started having a bit too much fun as they repositioned their elf every night and soon social media was filled with daily documentation of elf antics.  Here are a few examples I found on Pinterest (not from people I actually know). 

Some are cute ways to go above and beyond setting it on shelves or in the Christmas tree branches like this one where the elf is reading to other toys:



Or hiding in the fridge wrapped in a blanky...that's very cute!



But then there are these types of ideas, where you make a huge mess in your own house. And I'm sure the kids are cleaning that up...not!





No thanks.

And then there are these types of scenarios, which look labor intensive and like kind of a waste of time:



But anyway, the weeks to come will hold lots of people showing off their superior elf positioning abilities and also lots of people complaining about how annoying those other people are and people who hate the whole tradition because it takes the focus away from the true meaning of Christmas.  Remember the years before the Internet when you could just do something because you felt like it and never had to know what everyone else thought?  This is the new world of parenting!  Lucky us!

I decided impulsively to order this thing because I always imagined I would be a mom who tried to make Christmas a special time of year.  I loved advent calendars and green and red paper chains with a star or a cross at the end and church and school parties and holiday basketball tournaments when I was a child almost as much as the big day itself and this is kind of the same idea. Also, I like the idea of my kids believing in the magic and goodness of Santa for the few short years we have before they develop the logic to figure things out. 

Oh, and of course I want the easy way to encourage good behavior!  So this package should be arriving today.  I promise I will not do daily updates about what I come up with for the Elf every night but I might do a few!  And one might be this:



Get EXCITED!!!!