The Beginning of our Holiday Season

I had a crazy amount of Christmas Spirit before Thanksgiving. We have our Christmas shopping pretty much done. I made sure to have the house de cluttered, laundry caught up, and rooms cleaned before Thanksgiving. My goal was to spend Friday to decorate. God had different plans. Ari was sick beginning Wednesday evening. I was hopeful we would wake up Thanksgiving and be able to head North for dinner. That was not the case. I did 3 loads of sick laundry alone that night. We stayed home and made the best of it. I felt bad sending Anthony to the store for Pedialyte, but he needed some and so Anthony picked up stuff to make a small Thanksgiving dinner. It was ok....it just was not the same and lacking the family conversation. Eli was also not with us as he was up North. 

Eli came home and I woke up to him being sick Thursday night. There went the decorating plans. We spent the day watching movies and seeing this.......

Both were feeling better Saturday so we finally decorated. Larry our Elf sent them a Letter on friday telling them he hoped they felt better. They were really disappointed. Eli even said, "I don't care. It is just a stuffed thing mom and dad move around." Really, he was just disappointed as a few weeks earlier he was asking when Larry was going to return.

I did a bit better job of planning with the decorating this time. Instead of a free for all which usually happens I had everything out and in piles and ready to go as now we have 3 crazy kids to keep under control. It helped a lot! It also meant we were done a lot quicker. 

On a complete side note, I have now discovered the problem with pre-lit fake Christmas trees. Half of our tree had no lights. I was not about to go through and find that light that was burned out so I just added some to it. This tree is probably having its last year up as we talked about getting a real tree next year. 

Sunday Larry arrived with a new friend and some ornaments. He arrived on the front door step. He brought along a girl elf and some special ornaments. Lilliana named her Penelope. Lilliana doesn't really like them actually. Yesterday they played hungry hippos (kid's favorite game) on the table with the Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. She told me, "Daddy put them their." Then she said, "They took my dolls and played with them! I don't like that!" Last night they painted the kids noses red. Lilliana was mad this morning and insisted they did not do that. When we talk about it she said it was mean and they were MEAN!! I don't think she likes them. 

Eli told us he hopes Larry brings a new elf every year and ornaments. This morning I was teasing him about his nose and he just had this heart to heart with me. "Mom, if you just tell me the truth Ill believe you. Are they just stuffed or are they real?" I asked him what he thought. He said, "They can't fly!" I said well they do it when everybody is sleeping so nobody knows how they do it. He went to the entertainment center where they were sitting and pondered this thought for a bit and just stared at them. I have a feeling this gig will be up by next year with him. I asked him if he wanted me to send them home and he is adamant they stay. Last year was so much more fun when they believed in the magic of it all. 

We also are trying to stick with doing something Christmas related for 25 days. Monday we read the Candy Cane story and The Christmas Story. 

Yesterday we watched Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Today we will go to the Library and read Christmas stories or pick more out. They are not as excited this year about Christmas and I am not sure why. I wonder if it was from the weird start to it, or just a couple off days. I hope I can get them excited in the coming days because watching their excitement is what makes my day. 

We had a couple days off from School due to Thanksgiving break and a sick day. I am actually a month ahead in our lesson plans. I had planned more breaks, but we have not needed them. This means we will have a longer summer, or I will take more breaks this next semester. I hope to get back to it. I told them they could decorate the school room, so I know they are excited about that! I am excited to do some Christmas crafts with them too. Finally it is beginning to feel like Christmas Time.