Cookies for Santa

For the very first time, I took the tree down the day after Christmas. I have never had a tree down in my life before January and often well into the month. As we drove home from my brother's on Christmas night I told Harvey I thought we should take the tree down earlier this year, maybe the second garbage pickup. By the next morning I was ready to start pulling ornaments. As much as I have savored every moment, well... most moments, over the last month, it has also been a crazy month of errands, parties, and all that goes along with Christmas. I have loved some of our new traditions like the advent calendar and a cake for Jesus and old ones like baking cookies for Santa. Watching the joy in Ryan's face as he pulled out each ornament with care and hung it on the tree will always be a special memory for me, as will watching Erik stare at the tree and play with all of the wrapping paper. But I am exhausted! Maybe a few more days with no errands or getting out Christmas cards on time would have helped. As I put Ryan down several nights ago he said, "We never have fun anymore." My heart sank, had I missed the whole point? Nervous to hear his complaint, I forged ahead and asked him what he meant. "We don't ever go swimming anymore," he explained. Whew! Yes, we had fun. Yes, we did keep our focus on Jesus. And yes, we need less errands and a Christmas card deadline!

Tree free!


Making cookies for Santa

So when Santa Bob came to our house he asked Ryan if he had been good. No response. Santa asked again, and again, no response. Mrs. Santa noticed and told Santa to ask again. Ryan responded, "in the middle." Well said, my honest boy!

Every year Ryan, and now Erik, get to open new jammies to wear on Christmas Eve.

Ryan sang Christmas songs for us.

The only negative reviews I could find on this car were about the assembly. Nonetheless, Harvey decided to start well after the boys went to bed. He managed to get it done in an hour and a half and without any of the cursing mentioned in the reviews.

Tomorrow is Christmas again!