25 Days of Christmas update

I really was hoping to post each day about our activity in our string of cards each day but it hasn't worked out that way. I guess we're just too busy getting all Christmasified. However, inspired by Lynn, I decided to do a catch-up.

Last I wrote about this, we were about to watch Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown! and eat popcorn. That went really well, not suprisingly and gave me time to do some tidying and cooking while the kids did that with Aunt Beth. I realize the idea is for me to do these activities with them, but I needed a break at that time and the activity gave me just what I needed.

Day 9 was my easiest so far: go to Leah's birthday party. I didn't have to do one thing but buy a small gift and I even had the store wrap it. And then I got to visit with parents at the party (all close friends of mine) while the kids played and John made his way home on the Air Transitway van from Hamilton Airport. I am so glad I insisted he hire a ride home because after my morning that day, I didn't want to head to another airport at the end of the day.

Day 10 was another easy one for me: read a Christmas story. And to be honest, only Hope benefitted from that one. Emily chose Arthur's Chicken Pox as her story. It's her activity so it didn't matter to me.

Day 11, yesterday, was "Have breakfast at Cora's". That was a huge hit, as usual.

Until Emily threw up in Cora's bathroom.

There's always something with Cora's and our kids. Either one (and by one I mean Hope) is terribly behaved or one doesn't like the food (and by one I mean Hope). Now I'll add "or one throws up." That would always be Emily. She has the gag reflex of a cow. Although I first thought she'd eaten herself sick, it turns out to be a stomach bug that is still plaguing her a bit. Poor kid.

She perked up though for the cutting of our Christmas tree right after breakfast yesterday (our brilliant idea to avoid the weekend crowds - another advantage of having a husband on sabbatical). It was bitterly cold at the farm but quiet and snowy and rather lovely if you were dressed for it as Emily, Hope and I were. John... not so much but that's John's technique for denying the existence of winter. We chose a great tree - narrowish at the bottom but tall. We can actually have a tall tree this year since we have 9 foot ceilings in this old house we're in. We rearranged the furniture to make it more Christmas-tree friendly. I love the new arrangement; it makes it so much home-ier. We plan to keep it this way after the tree is gone.


This morning, we decorated the tree and had a great time doing it. John and I have developed a great method of putting the tree in the stand now that works really well for us, no arguing, little sap in the hair and no falling Christmas trees... it's all about the team work. The kids and I loved decorating it as usual, John put on the Christmas music and took photos and video.

You realize of course that neither cutting or decorating the tree was on my cards. Originally they were on for last week but I had to change things around and they just became things we did. The kids don't care though. Not one bit.

This morning's card, Day 12, is "bake our gingerbread house". I did this for the first time last year (surprisingly since I was also in my first year of a baking business) and it is so much better than the store-bought ones. You can actually tolerate eating it. Also, the pattern/recipe makes little trees and people too. If I have agreement from Tamara who is owner of the recipe and pattern pieces, I'll post the recipe here... I won't be able to put the pattern pieces up though. Maybe I'll save that for next year when I have my scanner back out of storage.

And that's where we're at. It's going really well so far but I also realize this is the last year it will be so easy since Emily will be in full-day school next year with Grade 1. I'm really enjoying the freedom we have this year and appreciating it. Next year will require a lot more organization and thinking ahead, especially with a baby in the mix.