- Lights and garland and ornaments...OH MY! -

Disclaimer:  We never ever ever put up the Christmas tree until Thanksgiving has passed; in fact, it's TRADITION at our house to put it up on Black Friday!  But womp wompppp.........this year I got roped into working Black Friday [which was a v. v. unexpected plot twist], and as a result, a very small soft spot in my heart gave the kids permission to put the tiny tree up in their bedroom the weekend before Thanksgiving!  Their box of purple decorations has just the right amount of balls to keep everyone's attention to span the entire decorating process and just the right amount of glitter to make the continuous month-long mess that every mom dreads!

But! It's up, and it's beautiful!  Trimming the tree with happy hearts...THAT'S THE WAY OUR HOLIDAY STARTS!  

In no time at all, it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and all five of us got to work decorating the house for Christmas!  It's the most wonderful time of the year!

 

^^ Twinkle Toes always returns the day we decorate our tree, and the girls are allowed to play with him THAT DAY ONLY since he doesn't have his magic yet!  It's tradition to read the Elf on the Shelf book that night, and then he flies to the North Pole each night thereafter to give Santa the 4-1-1 of what he sees inside our humble abode.  So far, everyone has been on extra good behavior this holiday season, most definitely cautious of what T.T. might be telling his white-bearded boss! ;) :)

After a full day of decorating, we took a break to visit Santa at the local children's museum!  Unlike both of our other children at age 1, Juliette didn't scream her head off at the mere sight of Santa, but was also not jumping at the chance to sit on his lap...  She preferred to give him the stare-down from afar and stayed cozied in on Harper's hip for the duration!  Scarlett told Santa she wanted model magic clay for Christmas while the other two sisters just stared at him like mutes [although, later Harper said she knew he wasn't THE REAL Santa and was instead just a helper since Santa can't be all around the world for sightings while he's prepping all the toys for good girls and boys, and THAT.IS.WHY she did not want to waste her time rambling on about her list. Meh, I'll give it to her.].

After visiting Santa, we stayed around at the museum to play in their "Into the Arctic" exhibit.  I absolutely loved watching the girls build an igloo, go ice fishing, and take care of the dog sled team.  This is such a fun little place to play and I love how it encourages imagination and wonder!

Later that night, I read Harper's diary entry and realized that both older girls thought "decorating day" was Christmas Day... This also explains why Scarlett was begging to open the one lowly gift that I put under the tree! L to the O to the L.

After hot chocolates for everyone and a family Christmas movie night, the kids were nestled all snug in their beds...

...while visions of Twinkle Toes danced in their heads!  Because what whattttt?! On Sunday morning, he had made his grand return and was found hanging from the living room chandelier with a marker in each hand and a blank Santa's workshop to color down below!  Juliette FaceTimed all of her grammies to squeal at the screen in delight and point to the weird-@$$ elf hanging from the ceiling. GIRL, welcome to crazy: the fun times of this holiday season are just beginning!

Whether you are far or near, we're sending you cheer... May you revel in all the magic and blessings of this wonderful Christmas season that is upon us! 

xoxo

- Trim Trim TRIMMING -

Welllllllll it's January 5 and we're taking down the Christmas tree tonight...

 ...so I guess it's a perfect time to post away about our Black Friday tradition of decorating the house for Christmas!

Trimming 'da tree with happy hearts:  THAT'S THE WAY OUR HOLIDAY STARTS!

 

 Harper nabbed the phone halfway through the decorating and snapped these beautiful gems...

...and severalllll hours later, all was calm, ALL WAS BRIGHT!  The kids had twinkling Christmas lights, LED headboard/bed lights, LED essential oil diffusers, dresser lamps, and flashlights on strobe mode and GOING STRONG until they were nestled all snug in their beds with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads [.....at which point Brian and I cut the power/batteries to everything immediately because hooooly stimulation]!

But Black Friday wasn't the end of our family's Christmas traditions! We jam-packed the rest of the weekend fulllll of holiday happiness by decorating gingerbread houses...

...keeping Cecilia Clare & Co. hard at work with designing/selling stocking tags...

 ...annnnnd starting on the kids' annual Christmas tree ornaments!  We decided to make button snowflakes this year, and they turned out so cute! Harper mastered the hot glue gun while Scarlett stuck to good ole' Elmers.

After the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, Twinkle Toes made his grand debut back into our home! The kids were SO EXCITED to wake up one morning and see him again...

  ...and they were alllllmost more excited than they were to see Santa and Comet!  Scarlett was not a fan of the jolly old man and made sure to cling tightly to Daddy.

By the end of the weekend, it was beginning to look/feel a lot like Christmas!  We pressed on the following week by deckkkkking the table with hundreds of Christmas cards, fa-la-la-la-laaaaaaaaaa...

...la-la...

...la-LA! After mailing our Christmas cards, we kept right in the holiday spirit by decorating our second round of gingerbread houses [#2020...desperate times call for desperate measures!].  We don't quite possess the patience to construct the houses and let the foundation icing set up before coating them with candies, and therefore the abodes usually end up in a collapsed clump followed by a meltdown from one or both kids.  BUT! On round #2, we quickly turned those frowns upside down by letting the kids decorate the boxes that the gingerbread cookies were in, LOL... Thank goodness for Brian's quick thinking as he was able to whip out a couple cardboard box roofs; immediately, ALL WAS SWELL IN THE WORLD AGAIN...

...and the houses turned out pretty cute! :) 

Throughout the rest of December, we had lots of family Christmas movie nights; Harper liked Home Alone best and Scarlett liked The Santa Clause!

We adopted a family again this year, and it was all thanks to everyone who purchased Santa sacks from Cecilia Clare & Co.! We took all Santa sack proceeds to Target and were able to purchase, wrap, and deliver a large box of gifts to a very appreciative mom! 

Very lastly! On the last day of school before Christmas break, Harper brought home this gift that she made for Brian and me, and I love it so much!!!

While the holidays certainly felt a lot different this year, I'm proud of my family for the ways we made the most of it and always remembered to focus on the REAL reason for the season!  Harper is learning so much about Advent and Jesus/the nativity in kindergarten this year, and it was so beautiful to see the whole Christmas season unfold through her eyes! :)

 

- Ready the Way! -

^^ God will smite me down [and probably grow my laundry pile exponentially overnight], but I couldn't.even.help.myself!!! Don't know who @amydillon is, but girl, WORD to the nth degree.

Advent:  a season of preparation and expectant waiting and all things holy. No lies here, though -- it definitely feels like we chomped off a bigger bite than we can chew this month, and half of the time I'm just living minute by minute and not even able to look ahead to the following days or weeks to come.  Christmas who?  Brian is at the new house a lot [AKA all the time] and the kids are at a busy, busy, busy, verrrrry busy age [even confirmed by an OB I was chatting with at work last weekend who insisted with bulging eyes that "ohhhhh, Sis, you are in a DARK HOLE! A very dark hole!" I think that's quite a bit of an exaggeration, but I couldn't disagree completely hahah!]. There's work and Christmas shopping/wrapping and appointments here and obligations there and messes EVERYWHERE....... Most importantly in this equation: I'm most definitely an introvert who requires a daily dose of alone/quiet time to thrive, and that just issssssssn't in the cards at all these days. But! Although I'm usually just one straw away from losing my frickin' mind, we are still -- somehow -- readying the way. Turns out it's not that hard at all to dial it back a few notches and find big joys in the small things!  <-- And for that and for the love that runs deep through our little family, I am so humbled.  Somewhere amidst the chaos is a beautiful mess, and I'm growing to love our new normal.  We are truly blessed, and I do not ever ever take that for granted.  AMEN!

And so! The decorating kicked off our "preparation" for Christmas, and following that is a slew of other things that reminds us why we love this very special season!  Our elf [coined "Twinkle Toes" by Harper] is enjoying his inaugural Advent under our roof...

He has moved to a new spot every night and has only caused trouble in the house a couple of times. He tragically lost his magic one time when Daddy's head accidentally bumped into him as he was dangling from the living room chandelier [cue 7 very long minutes of threenager wailing], but we eventually called Santa's personal hotline and Harper left a voicemail begging him to return Twinkle Toes's magic. ...Which, of course, Santa did! And Twinkle Toes was miraculously/magically healed and was spotted in a brand new hiding place the next morning. Phew.

Gingerbread house timeeee!  Harper thought she was sticking the candy on with Elmer's glue in a decorating bag and only realized 3/4 of the way through the project that the "glue" was edible...

...at which time there was absolutely no turning back.

Christmas Card University! One sister was the stamper and the other was the shredder... They were working great together until Scarlett slung/scattered the "finished pile" all over the floor and then proceeded to eat the stamps. Kids these days.....

Then! One of my favorite traditions: mass-crafting the annual Christmas ornament that we hand out to family and friends!  It required a couple mugs of hot cocoa for motivation...

Each girl made a Rudolph this year [and I didn't even realize it as I was painting Scarlett's handprints, but I LOVE how it compliments Harper's footprint Rudolph from 2015!]... Apparently we love reindeer around here?

Papa Ron pulled through with his awesome train tradition, which Scarlett seemed to enjoy as much as Harper always does/has...

Christmas lights, anyone?! Scarlett snoozed without budging in the back seat and Brian prayed without ceasing that we didn't get pulled over... Poor dude wouldn't be caught dead in public matching his wife and offspring in holiday fleecies. ;) :)

Next up: Christmas tree sugar cookies! Woot woot!

We heard Santa likes sprinkles...

All was calm and bright for a few nights, and there was ample time for a couple Christmas shows on TV and lots of Christmas books...

...then the days exploded with Christmas parties here, there and everywhere!  ^^ L&D Christmas breakfast followed by office Christmas lunch...

...and daycare Christmas parties, too!  I've said it before, but I'll say again how much I LOVE watching my girls visit their teachers and friends at school.  It's so obvious how much the teachers care about the kids, and I love that they have this safe environment to learn and grow in.  Strong work, you four fearless leaders! Brian and I appreciate you, and Harper and Scarlett adore you!

Last night, Fr. Jeff blessed all the infant Jesus figurines during Mass. Harper was very excited about this and proudly marched the star character of her Little People nativity set to the front of the sanctuary. :) 

And FINALLY: some of us [or all of us!?] be soooo ready for a sugarplum-visioned siiiiilent night! Zzzzz.

Holy whoa. It's soooo true what they say:  the days are long, but the years are short!  Even as I upload these photos and type these words today, I recognize that these moments are so fleeting -- and honestly I'm already a little sad about it! There will come a time when I will look back and miss the messes that top off the already-busy-hustle-and-bustle, so today I choose to cherish it and continue to READY THE WAY!  Because, what's that you say?...

Yes! Yes! Yessssss, we are! *party emoji* 

Merry Christmas, dear family and friends! May the birth of sweet Baby Jesus bring love and peace and joy to your homes!  Oh come, let us adore Him!