Never before (never ever before) in the history of my motherhood has my family ever looked forward to a break as much as they are looking forward to this Christmas break.
We are tired. We are burnt out. We have all gone crazy.
The local Elementary School is currently over run with a bad strain of the flu with 150 kids absent per day, and they are also battling stubborn cases of ringworm and head lice. Ew!!!! So far Nate has managed to avoid all of the above, but I feel a sense of urgency to get him and my whole family home isolated for a long stretch of time. My kids and I wake up each morning and longingly dream of having a a break. We don't want to leave the house, see anyone, or have to do anything.
Is this normal?
I am sure it is not normal, but I certainly can certainly empathize with their longing for some quiet family time, and I intend to deliver. In four short days my family is going into hibernation.
We are determined to carve out some family time and spend Christmas break doing only what we want to do. We are planning on spending two days with John's two siblings and two days with my siblings, which will be fun. Then - (oooh I'm so excited) THEN we are whisking our kids away for a little getaway. A bit of a "staycation" because we can't afford to go far, but we completely realize we have to get away from responsibilities here if we are really going to all get to unwind.
It is going to be dreamy. (Well- as dreamy as our secret location two mere hours away can be;)
Okay- so aside from our plotting to revolt and turn into a bunch of hermits, we have also been trying to eek some Christmas spirit from any spare minute possible.
We went skating down at the local rink. We really should do this more often. Nate is getting more and more confident, venturing further from the boards every time he skates. John manages to skate rings around everyone. Jess and Abby danced and flitted around together. Sam filled the "I'm the kid who is too cool for this" role and sat out in the lobby watching everyone. That's how he rolls;)
We set up our Christmas tree back in November and it has become a place that we all gravitate to every evening. The warm light draws us in. We are planning on having a slumber party this weekend to celebrate being finished school. All 6 of us sleeping under the tree.
So long as nobody gets the flu, or ringworm or head lice - it is going to be so dreamy. haha
I am convinced that whoever invented the whole "Elf on a Shelf" phenomenon has absolutely ruined Christmas. Seriously - how stressful! Most days our Buddykins sits around doing nothing like the lame Elf he is, but every now and then Nate finds him getting into trouble:
We are pretty sure that Nate no longer believes in Santa Clause, but Nate doesn't want to tell us that and I certainly don't want to tell him so...so we continue to play along. In addition to a whole whack of Christmas baking, Nate also wrote his annual Christmas letter to Santa.
Sigh.... looks like a gooder. #siblingrivalry #punchingthebrointheface
We had our ward Christmas party last week and Nathan played the part of the very attentive Joseph.
I think it is safe to say that he magnified that role perfectly!!!! #payattentionjoseph
This weekend we got together with a few of the kids and made chocolates. We were all torn in different directions, but managed to find a two hour window where we could throw a few chocolates together. It's never Christmas without the chocolates!!!
Homemade pillowcases from the kid's best Great Auntie EVER!!! (My Aunt Karen)
Every year my kids are each given a large bag of 12 gifts to kick off their 12 days to Christmas.
The word SPOILED comes to mind.
Last week we all decided that we were too tired to go watch Sam play basketball. (We're all a little lame right now, remember?) While he was at his tournament, we took a little drive out to Waterton.
Winter Wonderland x 10!!!
After several years of observation, I can say with 100% certainty that November and December brings us the most beautiful sunsets of the year. The past two months haven't brought us any SNOW, but the sunsets have been on point!
I love this photo. This little house is only going to be our home for another 6 months and so I want to make sure we remember what Christmas looked like while we lived here.
Pretty much spending our evenings deep breathing around the tree.
Christmas break is almost here!!!!
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