The Blur of December

 I always get so excited to December 1st but then I'm beyond ready to take all the decorations down by the 26th. It is just such a mental load to manage that it almost isn't fun for me anymore. But, I do all these things to myself, and the kids absolutely love everything about the holiday season so I know it is worth it to create those magical Christmas memories. 

First off - the reindeer! He stays with us all December, and reports back to Santa on how the kids have behaved each night. Sometimes he will bring random gifts (ugly sweaters, Dollar Store toys, etc) but this year he brought new cozy PJs and Lego Advent calendars.

Next we do our letters to Santa - the USPS has a great program where you mail in the lists, and then secretly include a card "From Santa" back to the kids. It is the one time I get to use my cursive!

The second-ish week of December the kids had a HORRIBLE lingering stomach bug. It was awful, awful and I was never more relieved to see a solid poop in my life. And the reindeer was happy too because he brought antlers!

You know mom loves some good Christmas lights !

Blair had her holiday party and it was so cute. So many fun stations with really cute crafts. A great way to send us off to a long break.

A friend also had a little ugly sweater party and these were the only pics I got. Boys playing a board game and Chris arm wrestling children. 

Of course cookie baking, and the reindeer brought us a gingerbread waffle maker with gingerbread mix. That clever reindeer always knows how to bring a smile to the kids' faces!

There is a cat rescue here in town and I've been dying to take Blair - I finally made reservations for the kids and I to go and she LOVED it. Colin was more into the snacks. 

After that we headed to Cleveland for a few days to visit family. While I was sad we couldn't make it for Thanksgiving, I was sure glad to see my brother! We hadn't seen him since holidays 2019. It never feels like enough time, but the kids loved playing with their cousin Lou, baking treats and getting whipped cream worms. 

We decided we would start a new tradition, which is to finish a Christmas puzzle on Christmas Eve. We succeeded this year! It was a really cool puzzle; it had 3 different size pieces so kids and adults could work on it together. 

And then the BIG day. So many presents. I had really planned to get more experiences for the kids than presents, but not having any snow knocked out most and the rest were so expensive or had COVID uncertainties. So presents it was! 

During the "Dead week" we tried to stay as busy as possible, playing with toys and being outside. We did check out a really cool "Where's Waldo" exhibit at a nearby library - it was amazingly done. There were 8 different scenes and Waldo was hiding in each one. It was a great way to kill an hour.

Then New Year's Eve. Last day of the YEAR! I met my running (300 miles) and reading (25 books) goals, but we fell short on our outside hours - but still managed to log over 700 so I am not complaining. Chris made his delicious enchiladas and not to be outdone, I made some sopapillas and there were perfecto. A great way to end 2021.