Christmas 2014 & December Recap

Fair warning, this post is a doozie.  Then again, it was a doozie of month!  Just be sure you're not late to any meetings because you get caught up in the awesomeness.  

December was...well, it was December.  Slammed busy at some points, peaceful at others, full of family and friends and food, and covered in glitter.  This year, as with most other years, I attempted to block off a bunch of white space in our calendar.  That meant turning down more than one invitation, which I did with a sense of half-pride and half-guilt, but don't regret a bit.  I feel like right now is the "golden age" with the kids both still believing in Santa and I want so badly to soak up every bit of the holidays.  It's not like I won't want to when they're older, it's just that, well, there's something very magical and innocent about it all right now.  You know, before the requests for the i-whatever start rolling in and then they have to leave after lunch to go to their boyfriend's or girlfriend's houses.  I better move on before I get all emotional about it right now...

So, in an effort to make the most of the season/month/break, we created a "bucket list" of sorts.  I did the same for summer and it was great.  I know that most people would find this practice to be a bit...much...but I have discovered that it helps our family tremendously. We all brainstorm ideas to put on there and we aim to keep things very feasible.  If they don't all get checked off (they didn't on summer's, but did here), I don't freak out.  I don't feel like a failure or guilty.  I just keep that in mind for next time.  And then, and this has proven to be the best part for me personally, when the time has passed and I think, "Oh! I should've done this and that!  We didn't soak it up enough!  We didn't seize the moment/day/opportunity",  I look back at this list and tell myself to calm down.  In it lies proof that we did some incredibly fun things and lived it up to the max.   

So now that you have an overview of some of the cool stuff we did this month, let me break it down in a little more detail:

Way back at the end of October, we were asked by our church to do the shopping for a local family in need.  Through no fault of their own, they weren't able to get us a wish list from the family and a budget until the beginning of December.  Now, most people would have a field day with this.  Me?  Hi, my name is Heather Sinyard and I have OCD.  It is very stressful to have a tight budget, seven people to shop for that you know nothing about except age and gender, and  a very limited time frame.  I started hunting down donations for some of the bigger ticket items and then David and I had a date night and tried to knock out a big chunk of it together.  I dragged Luke out to do the clothes and shoes shopping on the first Friday and he was a complete trooper.  

To reward his patience and take a break, that evening we headed over to the Suwanee Town Center Christmas Celebration.  Unfortunately, they didn't have it hosted by a local church as they've done in the past and the new event didn't have nearly the same level of activities.  Nonetheless, the kids had a good time roasting marshmallows and hearing a school chorus sing a few songs before we headed home early because of the drizzle.  

That first weekend was full of wrapping all the gifts we'd bought the adopted family and finishing up decorating around the house.  That Sunday afternoon, we went to Cookies and Cocoa with Santa, which is an incredible event that our neighborhood puts on at the clubhouse.  The kids were a little nervous, but Luke pushed it down and courageously started walking right up to the jolly ol' elf.  As soon as AJ saw that, she couldn't let her baby brother show her up and joined him.  They sat and Audrey read Santa their letters and they chatted for a minute while I got some great pictures.  Afterward, they ate cookies and colored a picture while their hot chocolate cooled off.  We took some more pictures outside and then headed home.  (By the way, in case you're wondering and/or for my own memory later, AJ asked for an Aurora dress, a Belle doll, and some surprises.  Luke asked for a Jake and the Neverland Pirates DVD, a dinosaur toy, and some surprises.)

That Monday, I picked Audrey up early from school and took her to lunch, Christmas shopping for her dad and brother, and her eye doctor appointment.  Unfortunately she had not improved enough to be finished with patching, which frankly, well...it just sucks.  No nicer way to say it (though I can think of a few uglier ways.)  Plus, the doc wanted us to continue and come back in twelve weeks instead of six, so UGG.  Three more months of remembering and nagging, nagging, nagging.  On an unrelated but related note: the toe walking has improved a bit, but we haven't been keeping up the stretching very well and no, I can't even think about putting physical therapy appointments on my plate right now.  We'll cross that bridge in February. May I just take a moment to praise the Lord that this is all we have to deal with?  I cannot fathom how mamas with more serious medical issues or of more than two kids do it.  

That week we hosted a dinner with our campus pastor and his family and our co-small group leaders.  I kept it simple with a taco bar, rice, and beans (had to be kid-and allergy-friendly) It was a lot of fun getting to know them a little better and a lot of crazy with six kids six and under running around.  On Wednesday I spent three hours volunteering at Audrey's school and eating lunch with her.  The kids were so cute telling me what they wanted for Christmas.  Well, except the three that said "iPads".  Puh-lease.  (But hey, bring them in for Bring Your Own Device Day, because my kindergartener sure isn't going to take ours in!) Most of the rest just said they were asking for surprises.  That evening, we met up with our old "Cobb County Crew" friends for dinner and had an awesome time catching up and laughing.  I've said it 1,000 times before, but man there is something so special about having "knew you when..." friends.  

That week also happened to hold two surgeries for ones very dear to my heart.  A precious friend having serious knee surgery a state away and my niece having to come up to Atlanta to have a plate put in her broken arm that refused to heal right.  Both amazing ladies came out on top of course.  That Sunday afternoon, Audrey and I went to go visit Annelise where she was recovering at her maternal grandparents' house.  The girls had a great time catching up and playing for awhile.  After we left, I drove Audrey around some of my old stomping ground and took her by the church I was baptized in and, years and a few churches in between later, married in.  We also stopped by my first house that I lived in from birth to second grade.  It was surreal having her stand in those places I once stood at her age, but very special.  

The third week was a bit of a blur, as we delivered the gifts to the family we'd shopped for, hosted my Dad and stepmom for dinner for my Dad's birthday, and then finished the final preparations for Audrey's class party and gifts for her teachers.  My co-room mom's husband had surgery the day before the party, so she was unable to come up to the school the day before and help me set up.  Fortunately, I have an amazing husband who had worked his butt off measuring and cutting out things to make the gingerbread door decor - my pièce de résistance.  I worked most of the day that Wednesday putting it up along with the inside classroom decor and it turned out really well.  

The party kicked off at 8:30am and was a huge hit.  We had five stations for groups of 3-4 kids to rotate through every ten minutes:  making reindeer food, "catching" the gingerbread man with a fishing pole, Christmas bingo, decorating a gingerbread man cookie, and painting a gingerbread boy or girl ornament.  The one thing that could've been better was the rotation of the centers.  It got a little chaotic because so many parents jumped in and tried to "help."  Oh, well.  Live and learn.  Next time I'll take one minute at the start of the party and explain what the process will be.  Everyone still had a great time doing each of the activities and that's what matters.  After they finished, the teacher took them out of the class while we did a few minutes of cleaning up and fixing their plates for them.  Handling it that way was per the teacher's request and it worked out great.  It's like she's done this before...  They came back in and ate a huge feast that we'd all brought in.  Donut holes, fruit, chicken minis, cookies, crackers - they were stuffed!  The teacher gathered them around to listen to the Gingerbread Boy book while we wiped off tables and pulled down some of the decorations.  Audrey was sad to see us go when it was all over (that's right, David came too because he ROCKS).  I know she had a blast, which makes every hour and dollar spent worth it.  One day it won't be so cool for Mommy to throw the parties, so I'll take it while I can.  

I'd purposely planned a date that night for David and I to celebrate the end of the hard work of the season.  I ended up having to do some stuff for my job, so I headed to the restaurant early and got it done while I was waiting on him.  He joined me around 5 and we ate then went...drumroll, please...ice skating!  We hadn't done it in years and it was a lot of fun.  He used to play ice hockey, so he has way more skill than I do.  And by "way more", I mean I stand very close to the wall and use one foot to push myself around and will myself not to fall every two seconds while he's doing skating backwards and doing zig zags.  I kept asking him if he thought I was ready for a triple axle jump, but he kept refusing.  Not a risk taker, that one.  We enjoyed ourselves tremendously, though, and talked about a lot as little kids zoomed past me.  Show-offs.  

That Friday, the three of us took little gifts in to Audrey's specials' teachers (PE, music, art, theather arts, guidance, media center) and administrators and then Luke and I left AJ to finish up her last day and headed home to have a big baking fest.  We made 8-10 dozen cookies to give away to various neighbors and people.  When Audrey got off the bus, we rushed to Hobby Lobby to pick up a couple more tins for them and something else to squeeze in a package for my grandfather, who was in a rehab facility after a bad fall at Thanksgiving broke his sternum.  I kept checking my watch in a panic, trying to make it to the post office before it closed at 5:00pm.  I berated myself for not doing it earlier in the day, but I'd just run out of time.  All I could focus on was wanting to get him fresh, homemade cookies as close to Christmas as possible.  

We pulled in the post office parking lot at 4:44 and I breathed a sigh of relief...until I noticed the sign on the door had their hours listed as 9:00am - 4:45pm.  What ensued next was ugly, y'all.  I grabbed the children, rushed inside, and pitched a holy fit (though completely clean-mouthed, miraculously) about the stupidity of closing at 4:45.  I mean, really.  4:30?  Sure.  But who the heck closes on the quarter of an hour?!  Obviously the root of my issue was much deeper as I stood there thinking about my grandfather with tears stinging in my eyes.  The clerk ultimately refused to help me, but thankfully told me about the post office down the street that stayed open until 6pm.  I walked outside, calmed down, apologized to the kids for losing my cool (I thought for days about going back to the clerk and saying I was sorry - it wasn't her fault.  I still haven't done it yet.)  We went to the other post office, got the packages mailed off, dropped off a tin of cookies at the fire station, and got home in time to eat a late McDonald's dinner that my dear husband had thrown me a lifeline and picked up for us.  

We caught our breath for a minute with the Frosty the Snowman movie and tried to switch gears from preparation to celebration.  The next day was Christmas #1 with David's Mom's side of the family in Alabama.  The kids kicked things off by opening a few gifts and then we dragged out the big tables and ate a feast that never ceases to amaze or stuff me.  Gift opening commenced after lunch and the adults got to join in, too.  We paused only long enough to go get another plate of dessert.  Luke went down for a nap and Audrey dug into some of her crafty presents.  She disappeared into the back room for a little while to escape the crowd, but made sure she had a grandparent with her so she'd have a little bit of an audience.  She's my introverted girl and I'm really trying to recognize when she needs her space and let her have it.  We finished opening gifts and hung out chatting, snoozing, and playing for the rest of the afternoon.  We loaded up the van, headed back across the Georgia state line, and made it home just in time for dinner and bed. 

The next morning we got up and got ready for church.  David's parents joined us for the special Christmas service and then we went to brunch afterward.  The next couple of days were spent cleaning house, finishing final details/wrapping, and being lazy.  On Monday night, David took Audrey out for dinner and to go shopping for me while Luke and I hung out and cleaned.  On Tuesday, I wrote some ideas of stuff to do on strips of paper and let the kids draw them from a jar.  They'd do each thing for ten minutes and I'd take a "play break" and join in with them on the third thing (or after twenty minutes of them playing by themselves.)  It worked amazingly well and I've already migrated the items onto colorful popsicle sticks because I can tell this will come in handy for a long, long time.  Everything was done and clean and it was time for Christmas #2 and #3.  David and I put the kids to bed that night and took a moment to savor the peace.  We slow danced to The Christmas Song with just the tree lights on and went to bed feeling grateful.  

David's parents came over early Christmas Eve morning.  We let the kids stay in their pajamas as they tore through gift after gift.  The adults squeezed in our exchanges here and there between assembling toys and cleaning up.  David's mom brought over a yummy casserole and we paused for lunch and then more playtime before they headed out and the kids went down for nap/rest.  While they slept, I started cooking a few dishes for the next day's meals and when they woke up, we baked and decorated Christmas cookies for Santa...and ourselves.  For dinner, we ate our usual Christmas Eve tacos.  The kids changed from pajamas to pajamas (life is so rough, isn't it?!) and opened their ornaments.  Luke got a Where the Wild Things Are one because he loves that book and this was the year he really began to fall in love with hearing stories.  Audrey got a personalized "First Day of Kindergarten" bus ornament.  The kids put out the cookies they'd made along with a glass of milk and carrot and a bag of magic food for the reindeer.  Audrey was panicking about getting to bed so Santa could come and Luke, well-aware that he was supposed to be, kept running around yelling, "I'm tired!  I'm tired!"  We calmed them down long enough to read the Christmas story out of the Bible and The Night Before Christmas before tucking them in.  Audrey didn't even want her little bedside tree turned on because she wanted to fall right to sleep.  When we were sure the stirring had stopped, we signaled Santa.  

The next morning, I woke up, showered, and got the sausage balls and cinnamon rolls ready to bake.  Finally around 7:15, I begged David to let me get the sleepyhead kids up.  We made them wait at the top of the stairs and then I walked down with them to see what Santa had brought.  Luke began stacking his stuff on the couch like he was ready to put it away to make sure he didn't have to give it back!  Audrey immediately wanted to put on her Aurora dress and she lit up when she looked at her beautiful self in the bathroom mirror.  

We played for a few minutes and then took a break to eat a tasty breakfast, complete with Santa cokes in glass bottles for David and I.  We got back to work opening gifts and stockings and spent the morning until lunch playing and laying around.  The kids watched a minute of Jake and the Neverland Pirates DVD that Santa brought Luke while we fixed lunch.  We ate and then played the gift the kids got David - a Xbox Kinect and sports game.  They looked so cute "skiing" and attempting golf, though golf was very frustrating and probably won't be repeated again soon.  

We put them down for rest/naps and did our traditional date gift exchange.  For mine, David got us tickets to go see John Heffron, a comedian that won last comic standing a few years ago, and I got him a gift certificate to Top Golf, a fancy driving range "experience" in Alpharetta.  The kids woke up and we let them play some more while we started putting together dinner.  I shooed everyone out of the kitchen to go play Kinect while I finished up and then we sat in the dining room in our pajamas/lounge clothes and ate ham, macaroni, rolls, deviled eggs, green beans, corn pudding, and potato salad.  It was no Alabama Grandma feast, but it ate. :)  We cleaned up and then prepared to give the kids their last gift (they only get three each from us, we'd just managed to stretch it out all day.)  With the video camera rolling and bated breath, we let them unwrap the thing we'd been waiting to give them for months:  a box of Disney items to reveal our plan to take them to Disney World in January.

Me:  "Audrey, what do those things all have in common?"
AJ:  "Princesses?"
(after more prodding...)
Me:  "Do you want to go to Disney World?"
AJ:  "No."

Huh.  Well, crap.  

Here's what I know about my kid: You will rarely, if ever, get a jump-up-and-down reaction out of her for anything.  She just doesn't do that.  Luke does, but she does not.  And she doesn't like big surprises like that, which I totally understand.  However, I still was not expecting a NO, for pete's sake!

Now in her defense, a conversation had gone down a few days earlier in which she said she wished we could go there sometime.  I seized that opportunity to make a big deal out of how special a trip like that is, how much money it costs, etc.  SO, I think when I asked her, she didn't want to make me feel bad because she thought there was no way we were going.  
At least, that's what I'm sticking with.  

So, after I showed her some videos on Youtube about WHAT exactly it was and how amazing it would be, she began to warm up to the idea.  By the end of the night, she was singing a little about it.  Progress.  We ended the day by me giving David a set of Samsonite suitcases I was really pumped about surprising him with and his reaction was a little more in line with what I'd expected.  Everyone curled up in their beds happy and content from an incredible Christmas day.

I woke up early the next morning to squeeze in a little post-Christmas shopping before our next celebration.  Leaving the kids and David nestled in their beds, I drove through Starbucks and got treated by the customer in front of me, which has never happened before and was such a sweet surprise.  I pulled into the Target parking lot just before they opened and waited.  As the manager unlocked the doors, a line of people rushed to the Christmas section.  I made my way there to join them, but didn't see much I couldn't live without.  I grabbed a couple of things here and there and then went to Kohl's and did the same.  I headed to Hobby Lobby and got there at 9:05am (five minutes after they opened) and could barely move in the wrapping paper aisle.  Again, I grabbed a few things, but didn't get a ton and then went to Parson's, a local upscale gift and home decor boutique.  It wasn't as crazy as it had been last year, and I found an adorable miniature Radio Flyer wagon for decoration under one of our trees and then met David and the kids in the parking lot.  We headed to Christmas #4 at my Dad and Stepmom's house.  The kids watched their new Mr. Rogers DVD (old school!) as we wound through country backroads and enjoyed the scenery.  

We were the first to arrive and caught up with my Dad and Stepmom and all they'd done to their new place.  My dad had set up one of his trains around a tree in the front living room and Audrey and Luke loved watching it and pressing the sound buttons on the control. After the others got there, we fixed lunch and ate.  The kids were ready to jump into present opening, but I used that as motivation to make everyone pose for family pictures first.  They humored me and then got permission to dive into the gifts from Grandpa and Grandma.  It was so fun to have all five opening gifts at the same time and dodge the paper flying everywhere.  The girls got huge craft kits and immediately wanted to color together.  Carson got Nerf guns, so the boys immediately wanted to color with the girls.  No wait.  That's not at all what happened.  :)  The adults tried to carry on conversations amidst the Nerf fights, car races on the giant mat Luke got, Frozen and Shrinky Dinks coloring sessions, and begging for cookies.  It was Christmas with little kids - the very best kind of Christmas there is.  We left a few hours later with our bellies full of food and our minds full of some great new memories.  

We drove back home and the kids watched more Mr. Rogers while David and I talked about financial plans for the next year.  Nothing rounds out a fun day of family like a business meeting.  (I'm actually not being sarcastic.  I love a good business meeting.)  We went home and cleaned up the house a little for Christmas #5.  

Around 10am the next morning, our sweet friends the Taylors arrived.  They now live in South Carolina, but were in town visiting Kara's family for the holidays.  Having just had knee surgery, I was worried about Kara getting around, but should've known better.  Like the Superwoman that she is, she was able to do just about everything as normal.  We let the older kids play while steering Reid away from the tree.  He is in full-on mobile and curiosity mode, which is not at all foreign to me having had two kids, but it's amazing how quickly you forget the energy that takes!  We ordered pizza (because I'm an amazing hostess.  No, actually because I needed something easy and our friends love us enough to get that and not care.)  We ate and caught up on each other's upcoming house projects, trips, and happenings.  In the middle of the conversation, my heart began to ache with the wish that they still lived close, but I tried to pull my head back into enjoying the moment.  As the boys began fading, we knew our visit was coming to an end and we rounded up the kids for goodbye hugs.  It was such a wonderful time and I love being able to pick up right where we left off with them. 

That afternoon, I set out dishes and tidied up in preparation for our sixth and final Christmas the next day.  My brothers, their families, and my mom came over around 10am that Sunday morning.  I set out some spicy corn dip and buffalo chicken dip and we grazed before the usual pictures-before-presents routine.  The kids were experts by this point and gladly obliged before opening gifts from each other and my mom.  We were able to coerce them into a break for lunch and corralled everyone into the kitchen.  My mom brought some delicious chowder for lunch and we ate salad, corn muffins, and chowder until we were really full and then stuffed ourselves with the variety of cookies, brownies, and cupcakes everyone had brought.  (I have NO idea where all this extra weight came from, by the way!)  The kids got their second wind and a sugar high, so I sent everyone down to the basement to run some of it off for a little bit while the adults attempted to talk without interruption for a few minutes.  I mused at how crazy it was that the five of them could go play by themselves for awhile without direct supervision.  We've come a long way, baby.  

Around 2pm, everyone started fading and began to gather up their gifts, food, and respective children to head out.  We said our goodbyes and put our feet up for a few minutes.  It was all over.  6 celebrations in 9 days, 30+ different loved ones (several seen multiple times!), 3 locations (4 events at our place), tons of delicious food, many wonderful gifts, and a partridge in a pear tree.  We were tired, but man, were we grateful.  

The very next day, having the assurance that we celebrated the heck out of the holidays, we dragged down all of the decoration boxes from the attic and started packing stuff away.  It was earlier than we usually do it, but I knew both David and I were going to start back to work that Wednesday and Friday.  I wanted to begin to creep our way back to reality instead of waiting and getting smacked upside the head with it.  We kept the tree up, but over the next several days everything else began to come down.  By Friday when we sent the kids to his parents' house, only the tree remained and we sat around and wrapped ornaments while watching episode after episode of the West Wing that we'd borrowed from friends.

I skipped over my birthday and New Year's, so let me back up for a minute.  My birthday was a very low-key, but fun day.  I got up and went for a run and then we got ready and went to a bookstore.  Audrey and I could've sat there all day and read, but after about an hour (they had toys and a train table too) the boys were getting a little antsy, so we went across the street and looked around in a store or two before hitting Chick-fil-A for lunch.  We went home and all took naps, got up and opened my presents (a spa robe/rap and necklace set from the kids, D had given me a video camera before Christmas), and then made a couple of Christmas gift returns on the way to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant.  We got home and had Great American Cookie Company cake (YUM...and again, what's with all this weight?!)  For the most part, the kids treated me like I was the special birthday girl all day long.  And if they forgot and began to fight or whine, I was unashamedly quick to throw that at them.  It's SO nice that they're getting to the age where they get that!  It was a fantastic day full of my three favorite people and many of my favorite things (running, shopping, spending time with my family, and good food!)

David and I both worked on New Year's Eve and Audrey went to her grandparents' house for a few hours by herself to soak up a little one on two time.  Luke and I went to the grocery store and did some more undecorating.  That evening we ate dinner and David watched GT in the Orange Bowl while I edited pictures.  Around 11:30pm we decided to open some champagne and get ready to ring in 2015.  The older I get, the less about pop culture I know or appreciate, so we didn't stay tuned much past midnight.  We toasted to 2015, finished watching some post-game highlights (Go Jackets!), and turned out the lights.  It was a simple way to send out December and 2014, but, again, the older I get, the more I realize that simple is where it's at.  We were together and we were healthy...little else matters. 

So that was December with ALL of its festivities.  It was a great month full of loved ones and busy with creating new memories.  I hope your Christmas was as merry and that your year was as full.  To 2014:  Thanks.  To 2015:  Ready or not, here we come!

December/Christmas pictures can be viewed here.