Going Through Life One Blog Post at a Time
We went to see one of the absolute best parts of Christmastime in Columbia today – The Magic Tree. There are simply no words to describe this tree. Every part of the tree is wrapped with lights. It’s beautiful. The kids were so excited and just in awe of the tree. Watching their faces as they looked at all the different colors is so fun. John’s favorite color this year was the purple. Laura said she just loved it all.
Upon checking the mail this evening, I saw an envelope and thought, “We got our first Christmas card!” Turns out that the envelope actually held an invitation to a Christmas Craft Night from one of Laura’s school friends. Laura was SO very excited…to the point where she was talking at such a high pitch you almost couldn’t understand her. We will be attending Christmas Craft Night at Sophie’s house on December 13 for sure.
This is our Christmas Card holder for photo cards. During the holiday season, I remove the previous photo card and replace it with the new one. Seeing the changes from year to year in our family and friends is one of the things that I truly love about this time of year. Reconnection with family and friends with even something as small as a photo card is important. That person(s) took the time to think enough of us to send us a card. We appreciate it very much.
Whenever John is frustrated these days, he says, “Oh Bompers.” I have been trying to figure out where it came from. The first time Andy and I heard him say it, we both looked at each other in confusion. We weren’t sure that we had heard John correctly. We are still at a loss as to where it came from, but it’s ridiculously cute. It’s one of those fun things that kids say when they are little. So, we’ll just stop trying to figure out where it came from and just enjoy while we can.
Today, Laura and I put together a foam craft “Santa’s Toy Shoppe” (John helped for about two minutes, but he sat at the table and talked to us while we put it together.) I try to buy one of these every year. This year’s variety was $8 from Michaels and, for the first time, Laura helped me pick it out. It took about thirty minutes total and was worth every minute! Laura was so proud afterwards. $8 for thirty minutes of just me and the kids. Priceless.
We put up our big Christmas Tree today in our family room. It was BOTH a challenge and a great time with the kids. They were so very excited to help and to see all the ornaments. It hit me today that I’m so glad that I have these special moments with the kids. Watching them look at *their* ornaments along with all the others was just so fun. Who knew that ornaments made entirely of wine corks could be so much fun?
Each year, I buy the kids a new ornament that they pick out. This year, Laura chose a unicorn and John chose a train. Some day, these ornaments will be theirs to put on their own Christmas Trees. While putting up the ornaments today, I came across my baby ornament and an ornament that I got from my third grade teacher, Mrs. Stambaugh. Laura was so excited and it made me think that someday I hope her child is as excited as she was today.
Despite the challenges with the kids wanting to touch everything and not being as careful as we would have liked, I wouldn’t change a minute of today. These memories are priceless.
I spent all day today putting up Christmas decorations inside the house. Andy managed to get all the lights up on the outside of the house despite it being a fairly windy day. The only thing left is our main Christmas Tree, which is a time-consuming endeavor as I wrap the lights from the inside out on every branch. We’ll do that tomorrow because I’m exhausted! We did manage to get most of the non-tree related boxes back into the crawl space. In case you were wondering, this is only about 1/2 of the Christmas Decoration boxes for the inside of the house. Yes, I’m aware….it’s a lot. 🙂 I love Christmas decorations!
