Preparations for Christmas are well underway at our house. We put up the tree a few weeks ago (it is heavily decorated on the bottom 3 feet, not so much on the top or the back!), baked some cookies, bought some presents and saw Santa.
I tend not to do too much holiday baking until the last minute because it is just too tempting for all of us. So far, I only made gingerbread cookies for our neighborhood cookie exchange. The kids and I will be making the rest this week - more gingerbread, sugar roll-outs, peanut butter blossoms, russian tea cakes and scotcheroos. I've decided that, while I enjoy cooking, I really hate baking. I'm terrible at it! And it is soooo messy. No matter how hard I try, my cakes are dense, my cookies are flat and my pie crusts are burned. And I find the whole thing stressful, so it isn't very much fun. Still, I torture myself every year, thinking this year it will be FUN! We'll see how this year's adventure goes!
Jeff and I took the kids to see the Santa at the Mall of America last week. We've never gone to that one before, and I had high hopes. You have to make an appointment to see him, and it is supposed to be the BEST santa experience. You don't pay for anything except the pictures you choose to purchase. Well, even though we had an appointment, there was a line out the door (they overbooked that time slot, I guess), and we had to wait about 30 minutes in a hot, crowded hallway with a naughty little boy in line behind us. By the time it was our turn, my nerves were pretty shot. Oh, and I forgot my camera, so we only got the one 5x7. I took a picture of it below (too much work to scan it right now). The good news is that the kids really did enjoy the experience. Santa got down on the floor and talked with them for about 5 minutes. They each got to tell him what they wanted for Christmas, and he told them what behavior they needed to change (Christian needs to clean his room, they all need to eat their veggies). We did have a few surprises - Christian has been begging for a Nintendo 3DS (which we told him was too expensive, but in reality we bought). When it was his turn with Santa, he asked for a nutcracker. WHAT?! That's the first I've heard of it, but now his heart is set on it. Samantha asked us for a cell phone, a laptop and a camera (HAHAHA - she's getting the camera), but she asked Santa for a barbie computer. Ummm...mom? Are you reading this? Are you going to rescue us here? Sweet little Alex asked for a teddy bear and some crayons. Santa already has that one taken care of. We also chose to purchase the DVD, which we thought would hold the still pictures of the session. Nope - it is just a video of the kids with Santa. Cute, but not worth $20. If you're coming to our house on Christmas, expect to see it!
The kids only have one more day of school this year. After tomorrow, they're off until January 9! Two and a half weeks of Christmas vacation. Whatever will we do with them? I have the week between Christmas and New Year's off, so we'll get some good family fun in then. I'm not sure what Jeff is planning for the week after. And that's the week that he starts school, so it will be interesting!
With my track record and the amount of work I have left to do before this weekend, I don't expect I'll be posting again before Christmas, so I wish all of you a very merry and joyful holiday. I hope you can spend it in the company of those you love.
Alex really thought that every branch needed at least 2 ornaments
Yes, my boy likes wife beater shirts and Samantha declared the day pajama day. We're relaxed around here!
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