This Christmas was a little bittersweet for me....we did all the regular holiday "stuff", but I knew the whole time this was probably the last year of having all three of my babies really believe in it all. Hayden has already been asking shady questions about Chimmy (the elf) since last year so this has been coming for sure. The other two have their heads in the clouds, and it might be a willful decision. When Chimmy finally showed up from the north pole, you have never seen someone more excited than Livi. She could hardly contain herself. I love how every morning she wandered the house looking for him.....and how she writes him notes all the time, and leaves him stuff. This year she left him a pair of green tinkerbell boots that she thought he might want to wear. (He did, and they were fabulous). She leaves so many notes and treats it's like he's a Buddha statue in a nail salon.
Both the first grades and the third grades put on the cutest little holiday concerts. We loved watching them sing with their classmates....and this pic of Cale invading his friends' personal space is just beyond.
Every year we make Christmas cookies, and then everyone asks for one all day, every day for three straight weeks until I don't care anymore. It's way too much sugar but whatever. I can't do all the things.
I love how excited they still get about getting the Christmas boxes down from the attic. Everyone wants to help decorate our Christmas trees, but typically the girls help for a little while and then move on after an hour or so. The last few years it ends up just being me and Cale finishing the tree by ourselves, which is kind of sweet. I love that he still gets excited and wants to help me. Daddy helps too, but he's more of a "walk around and drink coffee and sporadically carry heavy things" guy.
The kiddos were very excited that this year we did colored lights outside instead of white ones. Momma likes white, but they love these so there you have it.
This year I am the room mom in Livi's first grade class, and after their holiday party I had a bunch of left over ornament making supplies. These supplies entertained us for a good three days.
(A typical scene from our kitchen table. Mess, kids...and a kitty cat in the middle of it all with an Aussie under the table.)
They managed to make it just past sun up on Christmas morning. I love how excited they get to see their gifts. This year we were lucky to have Uncle Cupcake with us on Christmas morning so that was super fun.
We always end up gifting them with too much, despite our promises to ourselves every year that we are going to take it easy. It's easy to give them things because they are always so sweet and grateful.
One of the special gifts Cale wanted this year was a giant teddy bear like the ones they have in Costco. He put it on his list, but was a little embarrassed because I guess he thought a nine year old boy shouldn't want one. Mimi and Popo ordered him one, and he was so excited to get it.
Their big gift this year was a ride on toy. Hayden got a moped, Livi got a go kart, and Cale got a motorcycle which (to his momma) looks like it goes 400 mph. A few weeks after Christmas and I can safely say he can absolutely handle this thing, but the day of Christmas I might have stood out on the curb all morning in my pajamas screaming "SLOW DOWN!" While I was on the verge of a breakdown, his Daddy stood next to me and said "Man. That one is too little. We should've gotten the big one." For the love. This is why kids need a daddy. If it were just me, I'd still have them inside watching Micky Mouse Clubhouse and wearing a onesie.
I love these sweet times with them, and it doesn't go without notice that these are the best days. We are smack dab in the middle of them, and I am fully aware. I know these are the days we will talk about someday. One day during the holidays we were heading out for lunch and I burst into tears thinking about it. Shawn had to remind me all the years will be fun, and we have so much to look forward to....and he's right. I just know this are good days we will miss someday.
0 comments:
Post a Comment