Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Christmas Wrap Up I

















Even though I tried to keep it simple, the holiday season was still pretty crazy.  Lots of parties, special seasonal things we couldn't pass up, preparation for three Christmases and a 900 mile trip.

We did do almost all the wrapping in one night. 





















The girls wanted to help with it this year, but it was terribly tedious to include them.  They helped me for awhile and then we put them to bed.  Since we had all the supplies out we finished up while enjoying a bit of this:




















We always do the zoo lights


















with these guys:



Doesn't the Political Grandpa look thrilled to be holding my purse?
and PK2 rode the carousel for the first time in over a year.  She developed a terrible fear of it a couple summers ago.  She would always want to go and then when it started would leap off the horse into my arms, dig her fingernails into my neck and make me hold her while I tried to keep my balance as we whirled around to circus music until it was over. Anyway, she was "back on her horse."

Then the day before I was hosting Christmas Eve at our house, I decided that it would be a good idea to make four kinds of Christmas cookies.  It wasn't procrastination, I actually did this on purpose thinking I would only be getting the kitchen messy once and that all the cookies would be "fresh."  Big mistake.  It was so much more work than I thought.

Here is a little before:
















and after:
at least they had fun:


I did let them watch a couple videos after one batch of toffee went up in smoke (literally).

I hope to get better at this being a mom at Christmas time thing.  But as with a lot of things, just when I figure it out, it will be time for the next stage of life.

1 comment:

MA mom said...

You'll be glad in the long run that you included the kids, even with the mess. Wish I had done more. Kitchens clean up, little girls grow up.