The Puddles

“I’m telling Fuzzy!” yells Madie to her sister Ainsley after Ainsley won’t do what Madie told her to do.

Ainsley replies, “NOOOOO!” with fear and trepidation in her voice.  The fear of the power of Fuzzy (who reports to Santa every night where the kids have been bad or good) is enough to keep the children behaved.

I will be sad to loose Fuzzy because then all (and I mean ALL) of the tattling will come directly to me.  That saddens me!  But today I am happy because I don’t have to hear it.  So until tomorrow . . . I will enjoy it all.

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My children are a mixed bag of emotions today.  They are super excited about tomorrow but sad that Fuzzy will be leaving us for the year.  We have already been to the NORAD Santa tracker today only to find out that Santa has started his journey!!!! He is already in China.  That put a fire in their bellies to get things done.

This is my favorite time of year.  They are all true believers.  Sometimes they don’t quite get the connection between the Christ side of Christmas and the Santa side of Christmas.  But right now . . . I don’t care.  To see the joy on my children’s faces is delightful and fills my heart with joy.

I can’t wait for tomorrow. But even if tomorrow was a bust, today is a day I’ll remember always.

Now it’s time to make some cookies.  You know that Santa is coming and he needs some (and apparently he needs chocolate milk this year instead of white).   So onto our Christmas Eve activities!

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I had this brilliant idea last night. The kids are bored and I need to work.  SO . . .I’ll get the kids to wrap the Christmas presents.  The kids were so excited last night.  They cleaned the playroom, did all of their chores, and even got their scissors out in preparation for today’s events. So this morning they picked out the wrapping paper to be used and I showed them all of the presents that needed wrapping . . . and then the drama began.  Arguments over who gets what wrapping paper, what presents, how to do it, whose in charge, etc.  The morning was sprinkled with these words from me,

“Every one take a time out from wrapping!”

“Respect each other’s ideas!”

“Seriously you three!”

“What is going on in there?”

“It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just do your best.”

My idea did not work out so well.  But at the end of the day, the kids brought down all of their presents and are quite proud of their creations.  And I am sure that Megan, Gordon, and other family members will be thrilled to rip open all of those presents!

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That boy.  He just came to me and said, “Mom.  I was looking for tissue paper under your bed and I saw . . . ”  Giggle. Giggle. “I saw . . . you know. You aren’t very good at hiding, Mom. Seriously!”  He has this big ol’ cheshire grin (see picture in post below) on his face.

He is the only kid out of three who manages to find presents every year.  I swear.  What am I going to do with him?  I guess all I can do is giggle right along with him and then try to find a better hiding place for presents.  We might have to try hiding stuff at other people’s houses.  It’s the only way I’ll manage to keep presents from him.

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Don’t you just love them!  Ben is running around with a pot on his head. And Ainsley is standing on a stool, looking at her reflection in the oven, and singing her heart out.

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My Madie is 9.  My sister saved the day and watched Ben and Ainsley so that Madie and I could have our date.  We went to the mall and went shopping for clothes.  Then we went out to lunch (Madie’s choice) and then as a surprise  . . . I took her to a spa to have a pedicure and manicure.  She had the time of her life.  I think that I beat her expectations all the way around.  She was so excited about the day and she and I had a great time.  We got home after the date and opened presents.  It was a great day!  Now the other two are planning their dates with mom.  We might have to limit this to once a year. I am exhausted.

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So this was a busy day for the kids. They all got to wear pajamas to school.  They watched Polar Express that morning as a class while drinking hot chocolate and Santa delivered a bell to each one of them.  That’s when I got to come to school to start with the first of three parties that day.  Started with Ainsley’s and got hers setup.  Once her party was over (don’t you love how Ainsley licks the knife!  And some of the moms didn’t understand why we did individual plates for decorating the cookies.  Please we did not need to share germs).  Then I went to Ben’s party.  His class has a ton of moms who help and help and help, so I just come to hang with Ben and help where I can. Ben’s class did a craft that required a piece to be hot glued!  Seriously.  Who made the craft? Mostly the moms.  I ran one of the hot glue guns and I was scared with every step that the kids would get burned.  Luckily only Ben was burned slightly when he got his fingers too close to the glue.

I took Ainsley home after that to go hang with Daddy while I went back to school to be with Madie in her class.  I brought several games along to play.  We played a pass the bow games that was a riot!  The kids had a ton of fun and wanted to keep playing it.  We played it several times.  Then it was time to take the children home.  We grabbed Ben and headed home.  It was a long day and my lovely kids brought out my foot soak machine and gave a foot massage.  God bless them. It was a great way to end the day.

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Debra and I really like to make jelly at Christmas.  We weren’t able to do it last year, but it is fun and tasty way to make gifts for others.  Of course, our date to get together to do this had to be rescheduled three times, but we finally got together and got it done.  It was fun.  We made 45 jars of jelly.  I still have about 10 more jars to go, but at least we have a good start.  I wish I could have learned to can when I had a garden, but I didn’t.  Of course, the idea of canning with babies around scares me, so it is good that I saved this opportunity to do it with my sister.

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So Chris, Ben, and Madie were on the Tree of Life float for the parade.  They had so much fun!  Ainsley and I went to sit on the parade route so that we could catch a glimpse of them.  We were at the end of the parade route, so when they came by Daddy scooped Ainsley up and let her finish the parade with the float.  She had been so sick for that whole week that it was a wonderful treat to be in at least part of the parade.

The other picture is some truly dedicated people who (while others were having fun in the parade) were reviewing the financials of the church to make sure that everything was good. An unglamorous job but one that must be done.  Done by anyone but me!  I wouldn’t even know where to begin!  Thankfully someone else does.

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Santa woke Ainsley up on Saturday morning.  She heard the fire engine coming through the neighborhood and there was Santa!!!

She had been sick for so long, that we just had to go see him at the gazebo in the neighborhood.  So Madie and Ben met us there and got to see Santa! Thankfully Ainsley had been on the mend for a day and was able to see Santa.  She didn’t get to enjoy the treats offered at the end.  But they all had a good time.  It was a wonderful visit.

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