Once again, I did a Christmas advent. I'm a big fan. In each stocking there is a candy for each kid, a magnet for our magnetic (secular) Christmas scene, a magnet for our magnetic (Biblical) nativity, an ornament for our (ceramic) gingerbread house, and an activity. Next year I'll also have a Jesus ornament; I did a crafts project a few Saturdays ago where I made 28 wooden ornaments with different names for the Savior. I need myself a "Jesus tree" or something, haha.
Anyway.... the advent is always so fun.
Activities included making/taking treats for our neighbors...
Going to the Warm Beach lights for Laurel's birthday (and I'm so very grateful for a family in our ward who had free passes and gave their passes to us)...
Making gingerbread houses with friends...
Making packages for the missionaries (I ended up sending three, and the most fun was decorating the cards, haha)...
Attending the ward Christmas party (Laurel didn't want to sit on Santa's lap!! She was tired, cranky, and hungry)...
And of course, putting up the tree...
I didn't fit in the downtown Christmas adventure with the kids this year, bummer. I'll try again next year. I love the gingerbread houses though and I went to see them with some friends. It was a Star Wars theme which was just so fun!
My favorite advent activity is the Nativity Festival at the Bellevue Stake Center. I love it! More than 550 nativities on display! This year I persuaded another family in our ward to go with us, a single dad and his awesome kids. I'm kind of crazy about all of them! Highlights were the rubber ducky nativity and Lego nativity, among others. My favorite was the beaded one. I just wanted to touch it! I didn't though. I had to be good. They also had a dress up room and I loved that we all did it! Laurel is the sweet angel and Wesley had the horn.
My first Christmas spirit activity was wrapping 32 Pinewood Derby cars for the Cub Scouts in the ward. I was behind schedule and stressed, but instead of begging Laurel to leave me alone I let her help. She loved it. She handed me scotch tape and then she lined them up. I'm glad I calmed down and included her. It was a sweet experience, and we got done in enough time!
The other wild and crazy part of Christmas that I must mention is that we had a Secret Santa this year. One morning, Wesley opened the door to run to the school bus and there were five wrapped gifts on our doorstep. They were each tagged, "Day 1" through "Day 5." We opened them a day at a time. At first I thought, "oh, someone must know the kids are going to Shane's house so they only gave us five gifts," but then on Day 4 five more presents showed up, "Day 6" through "Day 10." The gifts were great... a game we could play, a gingerbread cookie kit, Christmas socks for all of us, a tub of cookies, toys for the kids and jewelry for me, Martinelli's, all sorts of stuff. They were all nice, thoughtful gifts, and I'm completely overwhelmed with love. I mean, wow. A family must have sat down for an FHE and decided they wanted to Secret Santa someone this year and they picked us. Of course Day 11 and Day 12 were also miraculously dropped off, with no people in sight. The last gift was a nativity figurine. With no note, no name. I may never know who did this for my family. The kids loved it, I loved it. I'm suspicious of everyone. I'm so grateful and humbled and overwhelmed with love. If I think about it too much I'll cry.
In the midst of all the chaos and surprises, I have been busy planning Christmas. I've been shopping online, making a budget and Excel spreadsheet, and hoping it all turns out perfect.
Shane had the kids from Dec 18 until Christmas morning. I spent a lot of time with friends, taking one to the airport, having Christmas Eve dinner, plus attending THREE white elephant Christmas events! (1 - I took a Super Dooper Reindeer Pooper and came home with a boxful of Avon perfumes; 2 - I took a Beanboozled Jelly Belly game and came home with a Blue Angels airplane that I wrapped up for Laurel, and 3 - I took a Chia pet and garden gloves and came home with a reindeer serving plate and Subway gift card!) I also got some work and house projects done, and some shopping and wrapping. Oh and I went and changed my name at the Social Security office. My divorce has only been final for 6 months :-) It was good to have the time to myself, although I did miss my sweet little people.
Santa brought me a desk chair and a new phone(!!!!), and brought the kids scooters, plus a shark kit for Laurel (books, stickers, 3D models, figurines) and a camcorder for Wesley (he's obsessed with taking videos these days).
Christmas morning was great.
Wesley's favorite gift was a kitchen timer from the Dollar Store that Santa bought at the last minute because there was one less thing in his stocking than in Laurel's stocking. Of course it's basically dead by now, the screen isn't working right. I should have known he'd beat it to death. (He also got two pedometers, here he is holding his timer and a pedometer.)
The aftermath. I call it, "Christmas threw up in my living room."
Shane bought them HUGE stuffed animals. Wesley's caterpillar was a HUGE hit. So it had to come to my house. The matching pajamas were from me (well, they were stuffed in their stockings), and the kids love them! I thought they'd completely flip to match. It's adorable.
I'm going to say that Laurel's favorite gift is this crochet kit from Uncle Kurt and Aunt Melani. She begs at least three times a day to open it and do it. Frankly, I am terrified. Someone help?
Christmas selfie!!!!!! My phone has a better forward facing camera so I don't hate selfies nearly as much as I used to. So did I always look good but my old phone made me look terrible? Or, do I merely look OK and the new camera makes me look better? Who knows. It's a Samsung S6. I like it but I'm terrified I'll break it (since I dropped and/or threw my last phone all the time), so I have it encased in an Otterbox with a tempered glass screen cover and basically there are parts of the touch screen that stop working sometimes because it's safer than the President. Sigh. #whitepeopleproblems
Overall, it was a lovely day.
Christmas definitely felt different this year. It was hard to be away from my family, and it's hard to see pictures on Facebook of everyone else's perfect families and to realize mine isn't exactly perfect. But, I still have a family and we're just not like everyone else and that's OK. I'm trying to be OK with it. Oddly enough, Shane came to church for the Christmas program, and sat with us, which was kind of weird but nice I guess. The kids enjoyed having him there. He came over this morning to give me some mail that ended up at his place and transfer some pictures from his phone to my computer of the kids. It was taking awhile so we all played a card game. Laurel asked if he could move back in. It's been a year now since he moved out. I know we are all happier, but it's just different.
Now we're at the strange part of year where we recover from Christmas but continue to enjoy the break. We're not sure if we should start our diets now or quickly eat all the chocolate in the house to get ready for January 1. I am giving up carbs and sugar. It's going to be BRUTAL but it absolutely must be done and I am feeling very determined. I have men to impress! I have myself to conquer! I have life to live and adventures to go on. And clothes I want to wear.
I'm grateful for my children. I'm grateful for their love and excitement. I'm grateful for another year on this planet. I'm grateful for the Savior, and I really hope He continues to heal me, my heart and my soul and my hurts. Let's see what happens in 2016! Merry Christmas.
PS -- one last piece of Christmas hilarity. We watch it maybe 10 times a day. The kids LOVE it.
