W are packing up our new van tomorrow and heading to North Carolina! So excited! Ive never been! That and the fact that I get to say "I have a new van!" Wow, how old am I? It's very evident that you are aging when you get excited about a washer that can wash fifteen to twenty pairs of jeans at a time, a stove that can boil water in two minutes and driving a minivan but you know what.., I love my age and I love my stage... of life.
Were going to NC to stay with Justin's brother and his family. Justin's parents who live in our town (about a mile from us) are driving there as well and his sister and her two boys are flying in from Road Island. Were celebrating Christmas with them early. They (his brother & Family) just bought a new house so we thought that we would break it in the right
way!
---
We have made a major decision when it comes to Christmas traditions, this year. Typically we put our Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving night. I also hand out our new Christmas ornaments. This year, however, we haven't done either, yet. I have the ornaments but our decision comes to the Christmas tree, were not going to have one! Huge, if you ask me! The thing is we're (more me than "we") are overwhelmed with the size of our house, the limited space in general let alone for a baby to crawl and cruise, let alone for a tree. Vada is SO mobile now and I am afraid that the tree will be a huge distraction and a huge inconvenience for us and especially me during the day. Plus, she could easily get hurt. Maybe its all an excuse to make my life easier but I can guarantee you that I am no scrooge and I truly love being festival but I also believe that this will be best for our bigger than (our) house sized family-- at least for this year.
With that being said, I do love having a Christmas tree and I love our family Christmas traditions. It warms my heart with the thought of how warm our house seems to get with the tree up but I am so concerned that Vada will love the tree a little bit more that I would prefer and not be able to stay away from it. This decision, while being the right one for our current situation does create a new dilemma-- What can we do to replace the tree for the sake of our family tradition?
With the trip to NC, our time is limited for crafty ideas and when we return for our pre Christmas-Christmas we have to celebrate Jasmines 12th birthday sometime before the official birthday of Jesus-- Christmas Day. Which I might mention we wont be officially celebrating Christmas together-- as a whole, on the actual "day". Nope, this year the girls' dads' have them for all holidays. Therefore, we end up doing the meal, the gifts and the whole "Santa thing" on a whole separate day. To add to this crazy mix, Justin has to work, so actually, Christmas day it'll be just little V and I. So who knows what we will come up with..., but if you have any ideas I would LOVE to hear them! Oh..., and don't get me started on our Christmas cards! I just remembered them! Maybe we do the Happy New Year version of Holiday cards...
---
Thanksgiving was nice. This year was the first year that I didn't cook-- anything. at. all! I love, love, love holiday cooking and baking but you know what, I also enjoyed not having to do it! We went to Justin's parents and had a fabulous meal and I got to relax. It was so nice.
--
Tonight I told Justin to go to a bar, spend tons of money and eat lots of taco's. Curious? Our local GiGi's Playhouse was having a Taco fundraiser night. I couldn't go because I was finishing our house and packing for the trip but I told him to go. He works so much and I was thrilled that he wanted to go. Plus how often do you think he hears me tell him to go to a bar and spend a lot of money He was thrilled too!
---
Speaking of our GiGi's Playhouse. All of the babies/toddlers in the group (that were able to make it) had a photo shoot. And the group picture turned out great! If your on Facebook and your a friend of mine or one of the other parents who had a child in the photo then chances are you have probably already seen the group photo. Its already my screen saver on all of our computers and my cell. These babies are the definition of cute! Small Wonders Photography did an amazing job and they also did a great job with Vada's photo for the window of GiGi's. I've seen the choices of photos and of course I think that its going to be hard to decision, but I am her mom.
Hopefully we will see Vada's smiling face and bright eyes looking at us from GiGi's window soon!
---
Oh...speaking of, "speaking of's", another reason the girls and I didn't make it to tonight's Taco Fundraiser for GiGi' is that both of my older girls ended up grounded. Lovely, right?
What's that word mean in our house? Grounded. It means that Mamma, that would be me, has extra sets of working hands. Also known as my maids. Okay, so maybe that sounds bad but the truth is, when my girls get grounded they clean and then they go to bed early. For my girls, especially Jasmine, grounding (like going to your room, no friends, t.v, phones, electronics...etc.... doesn't do squat! Half of the time taking those things away from them seems to do nothing at all, they don't seem to mind. This way,at the very least, I get extra help for the day. I make a list, that is age appropriate, of chores that they have to do and that have to be done by their earlier than normal bedtime. Do I know if this particular method works better over some that we have done in the past? No, I haven't the foggiest. However, what I do know is that when they get themselves grounded, our house becomes a little cleaner!
---
Well, my friends, I hope that all of you had an amazing Thanksgiving as well as the soon to be beginning of the Christmas season!
Were doing Advent night at our church tomorrow before heading out and that is always an amazing time as well as a special way for us to begin the Christmas season. I look forward to it every year.
Finally, as I finish this I realized that I kind of got my idea for the title of this post from this blog. For whatever reason, her blog's title must have been on my mind when I chose my title for this post and I had to give credit where credit was due.
Good night all
Were going to NC to stay with Justin's brother and his family. Justin's parents who live in our town (about a mile from us) are driving there as well and his sister and her two boys are flying in from Road Island. Were celebrating Christmas with them early. They (his brother & Family) just bought a new house so we thought that we would break it in the right
way!
---
We have made a major decision when it comes to Christmas traditions, this year. Typically we put our Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving night. I also hand out our new Christmas ornaments. This year, however, we haven't done either, yet. I have the ornaments but our decision comes to the Christmas tree, were not going to have one! Huge, if you ask me! The thing is we're (more me than "we") are overwhelmed with the size of our house, the limited space in general let alone for a baby to crawl and cruise, let alone for a tree. Vada is SO mobile now and I am afraid that the tree will be a huge distraction and a huge inconvenience for us and especially me during the day. Plus, she could easily get hurt. Maybe its all an excuse to make my life easier but I can guarantee you that I am no scrooge and I truly love being festival but I also believe that this will be best for our bigger than (our) house sized family-- at least for this year.
With that being said, I do love having a Christmas tree and I love our family Christmas traditions. It warms my heart with the thought of how warm our house seems to get with the tree up but I am so concerned that Vada will love the tree a little bit more that I would prefer and not be able to stay away from it. This decision, while being the right one for our current situation does create a new dilemma-- What can we do to replace the tree for the sake of our family tradition?
With the trip to NC, our time is limited for crafty ideas and when we return for our pre Christmas-Christmas we have to celebrate Jasmines 12th birthday sometime before the official birthday of Jesus-- Christmas Day. Which I might mention we wont be officially celebrating Christmas together-- as a whole, on the actual "day". Nope, this year the girls' dads' have them for all holidays. Therefore, we end up doing the meal, the gifts and the whole "Santa thing" on a whole separate day. To add to this crazy mix, Justin has to work, so actually, Christmas day it'll be just little V and I. So who knows what we will come up with..., but if you have any ideas I would LOVE to hear them! Oh..., and don't get me started on our Christmas cards! I just remembered them! Maybe we do the Happy New Year version of Holiday cards...
---
Thanksgiving was nice. This year was the first year that I didn't cook-- anything. at. all! I love, love, love holiday cooking and baking but you know what, I also enjoyed not having to do it! We went to Justin's parents and had a fabulous meal and I got to relax. It was so nice.
--
Tonight I told Justin to go to a bar, spend tons of money and eat lots of taco's. Curious? Our local GiGi's Playhouse was having a Taco fundraiser night. I couldn't go because I was finishing our house and packing for the trip but I told him to go. He works so much and I was thrilled that he wanted to go. Plus how often do you think he hears me tell him to go to a bar and spend a lot of money He was thrilled too!
---
Speaking of our GiGi's Playhouse. All of the babies/toddlers in the group (that were able to make it) had a photo shoot. And the group picture turned out great! If your on Facebook and your a friend of mine or one of the other parents who had a child in the photo then chances are you have probably already seen the group photo. Its already my screen saver on all of our computers and my cell. These babies are the definition of cute! Small Wonders Photography did an amazing job and they also did a great job with Vada's photo for the window of GiGi's. I've seen the choices of photos and of course I think that its going to be hard to decision, but I am her mom.
Hopefully we will see Vada's smiling face and bright eyes looking at us from GiGi's window soon!
---
Oh...speaking of, "speaking of's", another reason the girls and I didn't make it to tonight's Taco Fundraiser for GiGi' is that both of my older girls ended up grounded. Lovely, right?
What's that word mean in our house? Grounded. It means that Mamma, that would be me, has extra sets of working hands. Also known as my maids. Okay, so maybe that sounds bad but the truth is, when my girls get grounded they clean and then they go to bed early. For my girls, especially Jasmine, grounding (like going to your room, no friends, t.v, phones, electronics...etc.... doesn't do squat! Half of the time taking those things away from them seems to do nothing at all, they don't seem to mind. This way,at the very least, I get extra help for the day. I make a list, that is age appropriate, of chores that they have to do and that have to be done by their earlier than normal bedtime. Do I know if this particular method works better over some that we have done in the past? No, I haven't the foggiest. However, what I do know is that when they get themselves grounded, our house becomes a little cleaner!
---
Well, my friends, I hope that all of you had an amazing Thanksgiving as well as the soon to be beginning of the Christmas season!
Were doing Advent night at our church tomorrow before heading out and that is always an amazing time as well as a special way for us to begin the Christmas season. I look forward to it every year.
Finally, as I finish this I realized that I kind of got my idea for the title of this post from this blog. For whatever reason, her blog's title must have been on my mind when I chose my title for this post and I had to give credit where credit was due.
Good night all
1 comment:
What about doing one out of (construction)paper and put it flat on a wall? Like the outline of a Christmas tree and do ornaments out of paper (the kids could each draw their favorite one you have bought them). That way it is flat and will be out of the way of everyone.
Not sure I explained that right but you are creative and it would look wonderful I am sure!!
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