Prolonging Christmas

There's a lot of people out there who can't wait to yank down all the Christmas decorations and let their normal lives resume. Then there's people like me who wish it were Christmas all year! I will not even THINK of pulling anything down until after Epiphany. With my Mexican heritage, I have an excuse! The three wise men will visit our house and leave something in our shoes on the morning of January 6th. I have to keep it Christmasy for their visit!

Here are a few festive snapshots to keep the Christmas spirit going a little longer!

Gift tags

Every year, my husband and I overindulge our children with numerous gifts. It's not that we spend a lot, we just like to see them open presents! In the past, we've had enough for them to open one every hour all day on Christmas Eve. This year, the presents aren't quite as numerous and that tradition will end (no matter how many tears my seven year old shed this evening). With so many gifts, it just seems too boring to make them all from mom & dad so, each year, we get creative about who they come from. It's influenced by whatever is important to them at the time. We've had gifts from ghosts of our dead cats (macabre, I know), Bernard the elf (pictured right) from The Santa Clause, superheroes, and beloved stuffed animals.


My favorites this year are one from a dead mouse that my daughter found in a glue trap on the driveway last week. It says, "To Katie from the ghost of the dead mouse on the driveway." Another one is from the deer that frequents our back yard with a bad leg who we've named "Gimpy." The kids love getting these gifts from the most unlikely of givers and my husband and I amuse ourselves with what we make up! We're such nerds! It's definitely a win-win!

Thoughts on prayer

I came to the conclusion recently that I don't believe in the power of prayer. My thought process went something like this: A. God is omnipotent. B. Good things happen to bad people. C. Bad things happen to good people. D. Both B & C seem to happen randomly. Therefore, if prayer had any impact, wouldn't good things happen to good people more and bad things happen to bad people more? Also, wouldn't it be safe to assume that millions are praying for starving Africans yet they keep starving. If God is omnipotent, and prayer worked, wouldn't starving Africans be seeing some kind of relief by now?

Here's the problem, though. I've been praying all my life. I can't just stop. I can't just quit saying bedtime prayers with my kids. My husband is currently out west in all that crazy weather. I can't not pray for his safe return. I know it's crazy to be so ambivalent about prayer but I don't know how to move on to the next step and be at peace.

I wish everyone but do not pray for everyone to have peace this holiday season!

Small tokens

I've been very busy today with getting gifts wrapped and out for shipping as well as putting together teacher gifts to send with the kids tomorrow - their last day. My inspiration was "A Christmas Story." Do you remember when Ralphie put that HUGE basket on his teacher's desk in hopes that his theme would get a good grade?

Well, I bought two baskets - one for each of my kid's teachers - and filled them with assorted goodies. In them, I put some citrus from a ginormous crate I bought from the HS band fundraiser, a lottery ticket (an idea I got from Kindness Girl) , a cracker, a bag of popcorn, a miniature Kahlua that I got from buying the gift box that included a mug and 3 minis for only $2 more, and a homemade card from my children. I bought plain baskets at Walmart and hot glued the ribbon on. Tomorrow, I'm going to add some fresh cuttings from the yard to fill it out and I think it'll look really nice.


In a smaller version, I bought a funky snowglobey kind of cup and put in another lottery ticket and a clementine in tissue paper for the janitor of the school. He's our secret pal for the year and is diabetic so I didn't want to put in candy.


Hopefully it'll make them all smile!

UPDATE: Adding cuttings from the yard when your husband is off on a ski trip and you have to shower, dress, fix breakfast, pack lunches, put a crockpot on the front porch for someone to borrow, throw toddler furniture in the trunk for someone who is willing to take them off your hands, pop a bag of popcorn for your daughter to have at school when she watches her Christmas movie, and get the kids to school by 8:15am is not a realistic expectation......

Rick is spending Christmas with me!

Finally! My Christmas is complete! Rick Springfield has recorded a Christmas CD. Is it good, you ask? How could it NOT be? Its got Rick in it, doesn't it? He could be singing with a bagpipe and a banjo (he didn't) and it would sound awesome! All proceeds from the recording of "Christmas With You" are donated to support the US Military Veterans Organization American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. Rick is so cool!

Decorating!

I made these pretty orange and clove ornaments to hang outside. The Crafty Crow gave me the idea. They were fun to do and the kids loved decorating them with the cloves! I'm thinking it'll be an annual tradition.

April Fools!

How often, when driving home from picking up the kids at school do you see Batman and Spiderman in your fair city? If you live in the vicinity of Mark Cline, you do on April Fool's Day! As I was picking up my daughter from dance, I asked him if he was responsible and he wouldn't admit it but I can't think of who else has such an awesome sense of humor around here!

Other practical jokes I played today were setting my daughters clock ahead one hour and waking her in a panic because she was late for school. I loaded a cabinet with balloons so when my husband opened it they all fell out at him. A block before we reached our house, I pretended we ran out of gas and made the kids get out and walk. Then I started the car and drove by yelling "April Fools!" It was fun being the prankster and not the prankee! I bet I'm in for it next year!

Valentines

Last year I spent entirely too much time making my kids' Valentines. In my mind, it was supposed to be me gathering all the pieces/parts and them putting them all together but, of course it never plays out like what I imagine in the perfect little world inside my head. The kids lost interest after two or three and I was happy that they did because they weren't doing it right anyway (translation: the way I wanted them done). The little bugs said "I don't mean to 'bug' you, but will you be my Valentine?" Check out the squadron we amassed!

The bubblegum men had mouths made of Smarties and said, "Stick with me!" Very corny humor only appreciated by elementary aged children. We had a battalion of these guys too but they were hard to stand up and get a picture of. Did their classmates appreciate getting them? I have no idea. I hope that they at least took them home for their mothers to admire!

The lesson learned? Keep it simple, right? So why can't I just go to the local drug store and buy a silly box of Spongebob valentines and be done with it?! There's something inside me that won't let it happen. Plan B? Buy silicone heart shaped molds and peel about 100 crayons and break them up to melt in the heart molds. My fingernails are wrecked! I still have to print out the card stock that will say, "You color my world" or alternately "Be my Valentine for 'crayon' out loud!" Then my angelic children will assemble them and address them, right? We'll see. I'll post pics soon! :)

Happy New Year!

I'm back! I missed you, my little blog!

Visiting the family is always an adventure and this trip fulfilled those expectations. As I promised, though, I will not be posting any stories about it here. See my previous post "Secrets."

I must share with you pics of my in-laws house, though! Hopefully this doesn't break the promise. It won first place in their neighborhood. I hear it wasn't the first time either. They have the lighting down to a science with wood frames built for each window that are screw mounted on and off! Congratulations on a beautiful job!

I spent the entire day on January 1st making this cupcake. Seriously! Why, you ask? I honestly can't tell you. All I know is it started when my mom pulled out all her felt and a book I gave her for Christmas. It finished when I declared myself the victor in a battle of wills between me and whoever wrote this evil craft book and labeled this an "easy" project! At least I have more to show for the day than my husband, who spend New Year's Day watching lame bowl games....