Week 2

We crossed a few things off of our "must do" list during the second week of December. Unfortunately, we encountered a few things I would like to put on my "never do" list as well.

The MUST DO list:

* Make cookies

Lots and lots of cookies. 16 dozen snickerdooles with cinnamon chips to be exact. I balled them, rolled them in cinnamon and sugar and froze them so I'd be all ready for the cookie exchange the following week. My feet hurt by the time I was done.

* Family Christmas party at the Simpson's

 The week started out strong with a get together with friends.

 

We ate lots of cookies that Meredith made (and this time they weren't the rejects from cookie client orders) and the kids had a candy exchange.

The highlight of the evening, however, was the LIVE performance of the Sound of Music. I can only say that it was about a million times better than whatever was on TV the other night, but that wasn't hard to achieve. Nate's costume kills me!

Spend a day at home doing nothing

I actually felt guilty, but I was seriously burnt out from running around, so I planned a morning at home. And then I invited my very good friend over to spend the morning with me because I knew she wouldn't care if there were dishes in my sink and laundry to be put away. Luke and I adored Allie and we just sat and chatted. I think we should have had a masseuse come in too.

* Temple lights

 

We usually go up with friends, but this year I wanted it to be just our family. It was so fun walking around together and having the kids hold my hand. When we were done with the Christus statue, Luke whispered, "I love you." And as we walked off of the ground back to our car, he said, "Thank you for taking me to the temple, Mommy and Daddy."

 

For dinner we hit up Cafe Rio and ran into my friend Kristin, whose husband was working late, with her kids, so it was like we got the best of both worlds -- temple with family and night with friends.

* Lunch with friends

 

I feel like everyone gets so busy in December and you never get to catch up and just talk. Friday my girlfriends and I spent the morning at the park and then went out to lunch. I really needed to get out of my house because I had been going crazy with the great lice scare of 2013 (see below).

* Gingerbread House making

Usually I buy the kit at Costco and call it good, but this year I decided to try and make them myself. And guess what? Not that hard. I feel so crunchy now. Should I get a cow and pasteurize my own milk now?

 

It did take some time since you have to let the houses set up at first (unless you use a glue gun which I really wanted to do, but Dustin insisted everything be edible), but after that it was smooth sailing. We used all of our leftover Halloween candy that we had saved up. It was actually a lot of fun.

The Christensen's came over to decorate with us and Luke refused to wear clothes. I am grateful for friends who think "underwear only" is a perfectly acceptable dress code.

* Ward Party

The theme this year was a Who-Ville Christmas. It was amazing. I am always in awe of people that can take a ghastly cultural hall and transform it into a magical Christmas village. Ellie dressed Luke and Sadie up like characters from the Grinch. Poor Luke, no one "got" that he was Max. But he looked adorable.

None of my kids wanted to sit on Santa's lap either. I pretty much forced Luke and Sadie to do it.

The play was adorable, but Luke was petrified of the Grinch and spent the  entire thing with his antlers covering his eyes.

* Church

I love Church so much this time of year. I love singing the Christmas carols. I love it when the Primary sings (even when Luke continues to sing "Hosanna" while on the toilet). And I absolutely love my new calling.
* Christmas Lights

So, confession time. Dustin has not put up lights on our house and I don't think he's going to either. Luke asked me the other day why we had to wait so close to Christmas to put up our Christmas decorations on our house. Ummmm, that's never happening.

 

Instead we drive around and look at all the other house's lights. My girlfriend invited us all over for dessert and a trip to a really cool Christmas village. It took her 38 years to collect everything!! My favorite part had to be the picture she took of us. I about died laughing when Maren sent it to me.

OK, maybe it's not as funny now that I've lightened it a little bit. It was literally a big black blob of people. Not that you can tell who anyone is still.


The "I could have lived without" list:

*Shopping

I aim to finish all of my shopping by December 1st. And whatever is left gets done courtesy of Amazon.

I swear everyone gets so crazy this time of year. Every worker just glowers at you. I try and hit everything the second it opens. One day I hit the Post Office, Costco and IKEA one right after the other. I needed a nap that day. But the guest bedroom is ready for the arrival of my parents in just a few more days and the packages are mailed!

* Running kids everywhere

If it were up to me, the kids would stay home every night in December and we'd drink hot chocolate in our PJs and watch Christmas movies. And no homework. I spent all day shopping for a centerpiece and cute table decor for our "red and green" dinner only to realize that Ellie had to be somewhere from 4:45-5:45, Nate from 6-7 and Dustin had to be gone by 7. We had chili instead.

* Having a lice scare

My poor poor girlfriend is going through this right now and had to text all of us after they found some bugs in her son's hair after our boys had all been playing together the day before. I went a little crazy. It may have been 9 pm, but I still crawled into Luke's bed with a flashlight to check and then spent all night researching on the interent. Over the next two days, I washed every single set of bedding in the house. All the towels, pillows, stuffed animals too. Every single item of Luke's clothing. I shaved his head down with a 1 on the razor. I shampooed his head with lice shampoo. I put leave in conditioner meant for  African American hair in his hair. I checked for nits three times a day. I vacuumed every room, couch, and the car. I'm still not 100% relaxed, but so far so good. My house has never been cleaner.

And Luke looks so handsome with no hair.