Feeling Festive

So.  We finally got the tree decorated, the house decorated and all the decoration boxes back in their original places. Phew. What a giant mess Christmas decorating makes.  And it only took about four days.

It was pretty fun though.  I was in charge of putting on the tree lights and decoration supervision.  Dad was in charge of festive tunes, lighting the fireplace and warm beverages.  The kids were in charge of running around like mad munchkins, screaming and yelling and generally being loud and obnoxious...plus pulling out all of the treasures in the most haphazard and random and chaotic way possible.  They were most successful.  I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't all jingle bells and merriment.  There were some toes stepped on by over-excited brothers.  There may have been a few scuffles over who got to hang what and where.  Some of the kiddies who were completely out of control with excitement, may have had a quick time-out to calm down and evaluate their priorities.  A few ornaments were broken, but we busted out the hot glue gun and they're good as new.  One of the Nativity members lost some limbs...but the super glue came to the rescue.  Only 1/3 of the last strand of lights on the tree would light up.  But it's good enough.   And twinkly enough.   I still haven't made the last two stockings for the two youngest members of our family.  We still just have the four originals.  It's not a huge deal because we use wooden shoes instead of stockings (and we do have six pairs of those), but seriously.  I've been needing to make more for six years now.  I'll just add that to my big list of things to do.  Maybe I can squeeze that in somewhere between Christmas parties, cookies for neighbors, activities with the kids and hot cocoa nights.  If I try hard.

I've had this advent calendar for years.  I LOVE it.  And it was a labor of love.  I saw one that my friend had made and wanted my own, so she showed me where to buy the tree paper and how she added glitter glue to the branches for some pizzazz.  Then I made all of the ornaments...well I found the clip art, colored, glittered and laminated (oh and cut them out twice).  Next I found a magnetic frame and added magnets to all of my ornaments. It's so fun.  And I had grand plans for a cool new advent this year ( I love them).  I was going to wrap 24 small gifts full of candy, trinkets and festive activities and string them up so one gift could be cut off each day...however, the stringing together didn't work out so great.  So it's just a pile of little wrapped boxes, not as pleasing to look at...but the main idea is still there and it functions just the same.  They've unwrapped cookie mix, tiny Lego guys, chocolate coins, etc.

And here are some photos from our big tree-hunting adventure.  The kids were hilarious.  They were so excited about the snow.  Q ran off to play before I could get his gloves on and jacket zipped up...so I snagged a few photos before I finished bundling him up.  He quickly learned that it doesn't feel good to grab snow with your bare hands.  Hence the crying picture.

Also, we had a picnic of Thanksgiving leftovers right there on the side of the road.  We are so very fancy.  And it was freeeeezing.  At least for this wimpy desert girl.  I thought my hands were going to fall right off.  And my nose too.  Brrr.  But it was worth it for some of my favorite pasta salads and dips.  Even if I got frostbite.

One more story.  I promise.  I brought thermals to change into once we got on the mountain, so I headed to the van to put them on under my jeans before we started out on the big hunt.  I forgot how difficult that is.  I ended up being ultra frustrated trying to pull my jeans over the thermals...and was left with thermal legs that crept up to my knees when I pulled my jeans on, and tons of extra bunch at my waist that I just sort of tucked into my jeans as best as possible.  That is as soon as I could get my zipper zipped around all that extra fabric with little room to jump and maneuver.  Gosh.  I think I lost 2 lbs just from the strange little dance I did trying to finagle all those fabrics and the zipper.  I won in the end.  But I was extra heavy around the middle all day.

And they strapped nicely to the top of the vans.