I'm reflecting on this December so far. I'm not going to lie, this month has been hard. I'm not going to address all the issues right now, but let's just say that I'm not feeling entirely festive this Christmas. That's not to say we haven't had our fair share of Christmas fun. I did do an Advent for the kids; we love the Advent. I think it's worth it but I'm not sure. Basically I have a string of 24 mini stockings and each has candy for both kids, an ornament for a baby tree, and a Christmas activity. I put a lot of energy into it, but we didn't end up doing all of the activities. Some nights we'd go to bed not having done the activity for the day, and no one was the wiser or cared. I suppose we could have fit them all in but we just didn't? Anyway, some of our activities this past month were:
1. Downtown Adventure....
We saw the gingerbread houses, rode the monorail, visited the Space Needle. It was insane. Laurel was in a TERRIBLE mood because she was somewhat sick slash sleep deprived. I decided to drive and not take the bus (which the kids usually love) because we had something at home that afternoon and I didn't want to be stressed about getting back. Turns out parking was AWFUL and I went to three garages that were full. I found a spot on the street but it was a 2-hours zone. Which made me stressed out somewhat, having a 2-hour time limit. Ugh.
The line for gingerbread houses was long; they estimated 45 minutes. I thought, what the heck, we got in line and ate our lunch while waiting. Of course, the line was longer than lunch and once they were done they were antsy. We ended up skipping out of the line, seeing the gingerbread houses from afar, and moving on with our day. Was it 40 minutes wasted? I don't know. We got to eat lunch, right?
Laurel was in a foul mood but this picture of her on the monorail was her only smiling moment. She really enjoyed it. Yay! We didn't even stay long at Seattle Center. They weren't interested in the trains, they whined at the Space Needle gift shop (I wanted to get a surprise gift for Wesley so I had to hide it in a bag and distract him while the cashier rang it up, then we ran out of there), and we basically just high-tailed it back to the car. We got there 10 minutes shy of the 2-hour limit and I was toast. It was alright, but not "fun." I think we all weren't in the mood. The only reason I went was to get Wesley his surprise gift from the Space Needle shop. We didn't even stick around and admire the Space Needle or run around or sit and enjoy it. Bust.
2. Gingerbread House Party....
We hosted a group of friends again this year to build gingerbread houses. I bought one $7 kit instead of making my own like I did last year. Next year I'll buy two $7 kits, haha. It was fine, but Wesley was getting on my nerves just wanting to eat the candy, lick the frosting, and smudge the decorations, sigh. Some of my friends were good examples to me of "letting go" and I think I need to be better about that. I love the kid. When I try really hard my attitude is better, it is.
Overall it was a fun morning. They're cute and they had fun.
3. Ward Christmas Brunch...
Adorable pictures of the kids in their PJs with Santa at the ward party. Loved it. Ate a ton. It wasn't as awesomely organized as last year (I'll never forget the food distribution system last year and if they ever put me in charge it WILL be that way again, it was so wonderful), but it was nice.
4. Lake Serene Fire Station Christmas Party....
The local fire station had Santa come in on a fire truck and they had a party for the neighborhood kids. I was thrilled with what a quaint group it was. Parents were supposed to drop off a gift ahead of time for each kid, and Santa pulled them out of a bag and read off the names. Laurel was a DOLL! He called her name and she ran up to the front squealing with delight. Everyone laughed. Oh man she is just so cute.
HUGE smiles.
Of course they got to sit in a fire truck after. It was a fun little morning.
5. Nativity Festival...
The Bellevue Stake Center hosted a two-weekend Nativity festival. We're talking like HUNDREDS of nativities. It was uh-mazing. Of course I was terrified the entire time that Wesley would knock them over, but instead he was just a little jittery but excited to read the little signs, "Please do not touch," "Please do not touch." He's learning to read and gets a kick out of when he can actually read something. Yes, I reiterated, please do not touch.
I asked the kids their favorites. Laurel liked the pretty glass ones (above), and Wesley liked the carousel ones with candles (my Mom has one she said she lit today!!). I liked several... the smooth wooden one, the Lego one in the kids' room. a frosted glass one, a hanging ornament one. There were so many. There was one made from shredded soda pop cans, one made of beads, hand puppets, Peanuts characters, on and on and on. It was truly amazing and so beautiful. I'll definitely go again.
6. Treats to Our Neighbors...
We love doing this every year. We had some leftover birthday treats and had just enough fun things around the house to make a nice assortment for the neighbors. I also invited them to our ward Christmas program. I don't think anyone came, and if I was a super good missionary I would have followed up and asked them to commit to come. Maybe next year. We did six plates to six neighbors, all of which we knew except for one family, but I know she just had a baby so I WANT to get to know her. Hopefully this breaks the ice. She did wave at me the other day!
Some of our advent activities were to check out Christmas books from the library and build a fort to read them (fun), get out the (Little People) Nativity and read the Christmas story for Family Home Evening, "adopt a sock" as a service project (we filled stockings for a local Boys & Girls Club with dollar store items), color Christmas pictures and send treats for missionaries/servicemen (the postage was SO HIGH and thankfully some people pitched in, sheesh, I'll think twice about doing that next year), and of course, set up the tree.
It was a fun month. I should be better about reading Christ scriptures with the kids and telling meaningful Christmas stories. My heart is just in another place right now. It's been a tough year and a tough month. I hope I'll have it together more next year.
I'm grateful it was a nice day, and the kids are in bed fed, healthy, and happy. They had wonderful surprises and I hope they felt love. I got to talk to both my brothers and my Mom, and that was just so wonderful.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
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