I am so grateful I decided to attack that Christmas to-do list early. I kept up the momentum from Monday, and completed the Cinnamon rolls, and that hand print craft project before the girls had off from School, which meant I could go to bed early and get plenty of rest. Or at least that was the theory. You know what they say about the difference between theory and practice: in theory there is no difference, in practice there always is. As long as the kids are small, getting as much done early as possible will be a necessity.

But what we’re lacking in sleep, we’re making up for in good memories.

We did a Mommy, Daughter bake-a-thon! Nicole has been taking a cooking class at school, and was eager to help me with both the cinnamon rolls and the cookies. She brushed the melted butter on the rolls, sprinkled on the cinnamon sugar mixture, and cracked the eggs. She was my very eager little sous chef.

We visited Santa! The last two years Nicole has been a bit wary of the bearded guy in the red suit. She was excited to meet the big guy last year, up until the moment came to sit on his lap. Nicole was a mix of nervous and excited again this year, but this time it was the excitement that won out. She asked Santa for a “purple present” and a “blue present”. We never did get a smile out of Alexis, but she didn’t cry either. I think having Nicole near by was the only thing that kept the tears at bay.

We did Photos! Well, we tried at least, and we have funny out takes. Maybe taking our family photo after Christmas like last year will become our tradition.

Hope you all have a wonderful Holiday & Happy New Year!

Playing with angles

After finishing the Christmas cards just last Wednesday, I decided to power through the rest of my to-do list. I stayed up late finishing the rest of our (online) shopping, and have been carving out little blocks of time to wrap presents. For the first time in a long time I am actually d.o.n.e with our Christmas preparations well in advance of the actual day. Getting things done actually helped with my feeling of being burned out, which is a bit ironic given that when I’m feeling burnt out I don’t really want to do anything. I’m evening having fun picking up my camera again.

There’s still a few photos I want to take. I know, I know, I am hopeless. The highest priority photo for me is a family photo by the tree. Last year it was taken a few days after Christmas, and we can certainty do that again, but it’d be nice to have the presents in the background. I also want to do another round of Cookies by the tree. We did some by the white light tree this morning, but my camera settings weren’t quite right. Something tells me I’ll have two willing participants to retake those any time I choose. *grin*

I decided to push back the non-Christmas crafts & photos until the new year. After all, The girls footprints will likely be the same size in January as they are now. I say likely because a little miss is now in size 3 shoes.

Now I can sit back and relax in the evenings (or, more realistically, work on my start-up) and go to bed at a reasonable hour so I can actually enjoy the big day with my family. I may even have enough time bake a batch of Grandma’s Cinnamon Rolls. I haven’t made them in years.

The first two of our Christmas trees went up Thanksgiving night. With my parents staying in the playroom, we thought it best to wait for this weekend before putting the kid’s tree up.

So proud of tree

I’m so glad we decided to go the three tree route. Daycare’s been strongly encouraging independence lately, and she was so excited to get to decorate her tree all by herself. She picked the placement of all the ornaments herself, and put all but one on the tree herself. Cookie Monster ended up being a little heavier than the rest and with a shorter string, so she supervised Mommy’s placement of him.

She had 12 ornaments, which ended up being a fine amount. She could have kept going, but wasn’t upset that there were no more ornaments to put up.

As for the tree itself, well, we ended up purchasing it at half price and I can’t say it was worth much more than that. The construction of the tree is fine, it was the perfect height, but the light placement is very odd. It’s a pre-lit tree. Usually with pre-lit trees the light strand runs along each branch, and goes between branches near the “trunk” so the cord isn’t visible. For whatever reason the lights on this tree goes between branches towards at the tip of some of the branches. Not only is the cord visible, but it makes fluffing out the tree impossible because the tips of neighboring branches are practically tied together. It’s not a big deal. I was able to remove the cord from the branches and re-string it, but I really shouldn’t have to.

I’ve already promised to take her to the craft store tomorrow so we can make some ornaments for her tree. I definitely have a little mini me on my hands!

Alexis may be a bit young to help decorate the trees, but she sure does seem to enjoy them too!