On Being Santa

The first 4 years of being Santa for the kids were easy because as smart as they are, they just weren't that with it.

It's starting to get tricky now.  They're smart, and curious, and really beginning to grasp abstract concepts.

We teach them that we believe in Jesus as the Son of God and our savior. The seem to understand that He lives both in Heaven and in our hearts even though we can't see him with our eyes.

And now we have Santa...who is NOT real, but can be seen everywhere.  It's easy to explain the "real" Santa we saw in Bronner's last weekend, but how do I explain the guy dressed in a costume waving a sale sign outside of the tire store?  And they ask how does he get in since we don't have a fireplace like we did in our old house?

And how in the WORLD am I going to explain to them someday that Jesus IS real, even though you can't see him, and Santa IS NOT real, even though you see him everywhere?  How long do you keep this up? 

Then the practical things like, WHERE do I hide the gifts?  These guys notice everything - where did the new cardboard box come from?  What's in that brown bag in your closet?  Hubs took some stuff out to the garage to keep it from little eyes but now not even I can find it...not that I'm going out there in this snow! But I'll have to wrap them soon...And WHEN will I find time to do that? I literally cannot even go to the bathroom without an audience, or at least a "Mom!! Where are you going?!"   And in a different "Santa" wrap?  Good grief!  Ain't nobody got time for that!  No lie I've spent time every night at 9:00 doing Christmas stuff....because it's not like I can wrap other people's presents in front of them, either.  Secrets are not secrets if they know.

The last time Scout was updated Dec 2012

I spent ALL MORNING opening up the Leapster Explorer GS's, installing batteries, installing the applications to my computer and uploading the games onto them.  Thank goodness C can't talk well enough to tell his brothers what was going on while they were at preschool. It took so long that I was caught in the act of updating C's Scout toy (because I might as well since now I have a new USB cord that works for it because who KNOWS where the original one went?!) when they came  home.  And that is just TWO toys!

Not to mention we still have to rectify the whole incident where the twins told Santa the things they wanted (Lego City Police Station and a "medium sized tow truck that goes grrrr").  It's been a week and they are not giving up.  Those are the only things they are asking for.   Looks like we'll be making a trip to Toys R Us after all to figure out appropriate responses to those requests.

Dec 2012...Santa was easy to explain at age 3

Online Shopping

Two weeks ago I mused I might do my Christmas shopping online this year. 

Those who know me well know how I feel about shopping, but I do it because it is just not economically wise (in my humble opinion) to pay SHIPPING for something that adds significantly to the cost...and I don't like to pay full price for anything.  (Except Spatz bread.  It doesn't go on sale and one just CANNOT make overnight baked french toast well without it!)

Then I discovered that Kohl's has FREE SHIPPING!  Yes, there are conditions, but when you've got a list a mile long they are easy to meet.  And, I discovered that we had a LOT of credit card perks to use up so last month I redeemed some in the form of gift cards.

NEXT, I discovered Kohl's Black Friday sales started Tuesday night online...

WHAT?!  You mean I can use these gift cards I just got in the mail to buy stuff online and then you mail it to me for free?  And I can get the black Friday deals too?  Without actually going into the store? 

Eureka, that's my kind of shopping!

So that's what I did. Then I earned a bunch of Kohl's cash that could also be used online during "cyber week" which also had free shipping, so I bought more stuff...things that we need but not badly enough for me to actually arrange for childcare to go out and search for...with Kohl's cash...real money that can only be redeemed at Kohl's.  So sort of like Monopoly money.  I got:

a fitted waterproof mattress pad cover for one of my twins

flannel sheets for the twins' beds this winter

exchange gifts for the family Christmas gift exchange

and a bunch of other stuff I can't really tell you about.

But there is more...

You see, the first shipment, ordered the Tuesday before Thanksgiving (Black Tuesday?  Fat Tuesday?) arrived a few days ago.  In two relatively large boxes.

The best thing in the world to give a couple of bored preschoolers in the weeks before Christmas is a big box, markers, and stickers.

I just cut a "window" in the side of each one......and voila!! Play houses!

The fun lasted for hours, literally. 

I hardly have the words to tell you how much I love doing my Christmas shopping online.  I love Kohl's.  (As long as I get the rest of the stuff!!)  If shipping were always free...I might never step foot in a store again.

Which brings me to tell you that I also love Sam's Club.  I've mentioned it to you before, and I like to joke with my MIL that I love things in bulk...including kids!  Her theory is that the membership keeps out the "riff raff" which is likely true because I've never had a creeper experience there like my poor bloggy friend recently did at her local Wal Mart.  So if you come over to my house and see that I have 2 gallons of handsoap and a dozen paper towels stashed away, just know it's for two reasons:
I have a lot of messy kids
I hate shopping

Hence, my love for buying stuff online and buying stuff in bulk.  So...instead of fighting the crowds shopping for gifts this chilly gloomy Sunday afternoon, I am baking massive amounts Chex Mix (yes, I bought the ingredients at Sam's Club) which makes the house smell AWESOME, hanging with my football watching fellas and writing to you.  Win-win. 

O Tannenbaum

M and N have been begging to set up the tree since Halloween, so the day after Thanksgiving, we did, after sleeping in.  To nearly 8:00!  That's some kind of record here.  And NO, I did not go shopping on Black Friday.  There will likely be another blog post where I tell all about how I love online shopping (You are all pros at it but I'm light years behind the times - I just figured out how to work Spotify on the desktop dino so I can listen to Christmas music....instead of cleaning off the old CD's and changing them every 45 minutes!)

So setting up the tree went like this: get the Christmas music going (on Spotify of course) and Hubs lugs in all the boxes from the garage. The kids start going bananas unwrapping everything while he's setting it up and getting the darn pre-lit lights to actually light and I'm trying to keep them away from the fragile box and get them interested in the shatterproof ornaments box.

Once I found it, AAAGGGHHH!!!! Mater's broken!  So we had to stop everything and Gorilla Glue Flying Mater's parts back on...they were "in the shop" for the rest of the night drying.

C dives in for more decorations

M hangs something as high as he can to keep it from baby brother

 

 

 

N helps me with the garland

N reaches for the top

C got closest - I bet because he's the lightest!

When I was packing to move last January, I boxed up almost all of our fancy glass ornaments (except the most special ones) and donated them to a local charity.  We hadn't hung them in years, so they were just accidents waiting to happen and taking up precious moving truck space.  When we opened the boxes, I was surprised to see I'd done a pretty good job of only keeping shatterproof decorations.  Of course, that means our tree looks like plastic balls, a bunch of yarn and handmade decorations made in my  '80's Girl Scout troop, and the cute little Hallmark ornaments my mom gets for the kids every year.  And enough plastic garland for the top half. And now our new Bronner's owls and snowmen ornaments from last Sunday.  And a bunch of bows from my sister's wedding decorations.

Occasionally, I'll dream about having a "beautiful" tree - one that looks like it could stand in a Macy's display, but since I don't get out much or look at Pinterest anymore, I don't think about it. In fact, my mostly-lit, colorful, mismatched tree is more beautiful to me now than ever before.  With the exception of the plastic balls, every ornament is a memory of our lives, some even from 1977!  And now that I think of it, the plastic balls were purchased by my newlywed husband and I one year from Lowe's Christmas clearance...a memory of when we used to shop together...awe.

I just made the twins pose in front of the finished product so you can kind of see what I'm talking about. Here's the best of 3 takes:

So there you have it! Our eclectic, vintage, shatterproof, homemade, unique, owly, mostly lit Christmas Tree. It gets more beautiful every year.

Old St. Nick

We had a special family day on Sunday afternoon with the extended A family.  Grandpa A treated us all to Zehnder's!  If you are not from around here, just know that it's a pretty awesome little German tourist town right here in Michigan, and Zehnder's serves out of this world traditional chicken dinners. 

I didn't take any pictures of the meal because no one likes to look at pictures of people eating and because we were busy trying to feed the fellas.  But it was SO delicious and fun!

Then most of us bundled up and headed to Bronner's, which is also located in the fun town of Frankenmuth.  Bronner's is the LARGEST Christmas store in the world - if it's a Christmas decoration, it can be found there.  (It's sort of like the Walt Disney World of Christmas stores.) 

And SANTA was there!  Hubs and I decided, we're here, let's do it!  Because is there ever a good time for it?  (No, the answer is no.)  Best part was that we were allowed to take our own photos!  Sweet! 

So we registered and were assigned to the "present" group - we were to go shopping and listen for our group to be called to see Santa.

(Skip the part where I tell you it took forever and the whole place is filled with a ZILLION MILLION BILLION glass ornaments.)  We found an adorable (plastic) owl family ornament with two owl parents and 3 owlets and there was no charge for personalization, so we did that, too..because how could we go there and not buy ANYTHING?  And who doesn't love owl ornaments?  It will fit right in on our tree...stay tuned for that update!

Finally, FINALLY, FINALLY the "present" group was called and we raced, well, shuffled, pushed and fidgeted in line for awhile longer...here we are waiting in line:

I LOVE Santa!

Aunt L's hair is a great plaything when you're out of snacks

Then it was our turn!!!!  WOOOO HOOOO!  C was all smiles till he actually met Ol St. Nick! He clammed right up when he saw him, but did not cry, thank goodness!  M cooperated, he really got what was going on...and told Santa he wants the Lego City Police station.  Thank goodness he's a great Santa and asked the boys if they like surprises, too...because the real Santa is all like, um, NOT going to be building that...she's going to give them each a big box of Lego pieces and SURPRISE!  you get to build it yourself! (Lego City Police station is one of the most expensive kits I see online, by the way.) Then N told him he wants "another" tow truck...huh?  He's got a little toy truck that's about 5 inches long, but he wants a "medium" truck...that "lights up and goes  grrrrrrrrrr" 

 So who has one of those trucks?  Where have you seen one?  "I don't know,"

 Do you play with one at school?  At church? "No," Um....okay.  Santa will have to look into that.  Does this item exist in real life? 

So here's the whole owly family visiting Santa!  It went well...no crying or running away!

 Here Santa gives them each a snowman ornament, which was so cute.  I wrote their names in Sharpie on the back and they hung them up as soon as we got home.

Hugs!  He was a pretty awesome Santa.

There are some things you just do because you're always glad you did it.
I guess it's part of being a good parent.
Thanks, mom, for always making Christmas awesome. 
I had no idea how much work it was!

Gingerbread House Contest

Remember awhile back I said I was organizing a gingerbread house decorating contest?  It happened!  Once the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes (which my brother-in-law approved, whew!), sweet potatoes, gravy, corn casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, applesauce and the kitchen sink! were finished, the game was (almost) over, cards were being played, I was given the okay to make the announcement:

First Annual Gingerbread House Decorating Contest to Commence!

(Full Disclosure: I borrowed all my ideas straight from this really cute blog: Six Sisters Stuff.)

I divided the 7 little boys (aged 5 and under) and the 22 adults into 7 teams by randomly drawing the adults' names out of a bag.  Sadly, we lost a few contestants to work, shopping, and a boyfriend's family Thanksgiving, so we condensed to 6.

I set the timer for 20 minutes and the teams went to work!

N's team created a church

C's team created a freestyle structure

V and M's team created a winter wonderland

L's team created...a house with a chimney

A's team created a manger scene

M's team lost two members to a boyfriend's family Thanksgiving dinner, then suffered a collapse at the 15 minute mark, so we are just proud that the finished product was standing when the bell rang!

Here are the rest of the close-ups:

Freestyle

Manger

Our church, hands down the best.  Just sayin"

Winning Winter Wonderland

The chimney

One thing I may have overlooked was the voting process....there may have been some shady undertakings happening there....because the winner just so happened to be the combined team, who had Uncle T on it (and he's not exactly known for playing fair:)

But it all worked out - it was also D's 18th birthday, so he accepted the prize: a bottle of sparkling apple cider.  Although his little nephews may have run off with it in the end.

Happy Thanksgiving!  More holiday weekend antics to come later!

Congratulations and Happy Birthday, D!

N"s Funny

If it seems that I post more funnies that come out of M's mouth, it's true - he says more crazy stuff!  So for posterity's sake, Hubs relayed this to me after dropping the twins off at preschool this morning, although N said this with absolute certainty so I don't think he was trying to be funny:

N was sitting on the floor of the hallway, changing out of his boots and into his shoes.  Hubs bend down to help him and N asked,

"Are you taking us to swimming tonight?"

"Yes," Hubs replied.

"This is the most important-ness part: Don't leave us there!" He said, looking up at Hubs with his big round eyes.

(I have NO IDEA why he's thinking about us leaving him at swimming lessons!  Perhaps something happened last week while we were gone, that no one's telling us?)

Of course, Hubs assured him that he will not leave him at swimming lessons. 

Holiday Prep Thoughts

* Seriously contemplating doing my Christmas shopping online for the first time.  I mean, Legos never go on sale, so why bother driving to pay full price?  And why are they so expensive?  I know, though, from my sister's experience with my nephew, you just have to buy the real deal.  No fake blocks. 

*I'm trying to be all domestic-goddess and bake some holiday treats ahead of time now that I have a new freezer chest (thanks, M!) and master the art of pressed cookies since I got a press this year and HATE (HAAAAAATE) cutting cut out cookies.  It sounds so easy, just press, sprinkle the cookies with sugar, and bake....well.....they TASTE awesome, I mean, what wouldn't with two sticks of butter per recipe?  The first two test batches turned out good enough, meaning, with practice, my third and Real Christmas Cookie batch should be just right.

Haha!  I dyed it green to make trees.  Somehow, the dough was too tough to go through the press and no matter how I tried, I couldn't get anything to shape.  Then I cracked the tree shape.  So I wound up making green little balls and letting N put mini M&M's on top.  They look nothing like trees and just like green blobs. 

About the press, M said, "We should give this back to Grandma K!  Write a note! Dear Grandma, we don't want this anymore!!!" I haven't laughed so hard!  Made the whole cookie baking afternoon worth it.  And now M has a gift for Grandma...

* I'm also about to make 20 lbs of mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving.  Yikes!  I know, it's crazy, right?  But since I want to make sure my poor husband and son have something dairy-free to eat that day, and it wouldn't make sense for me to make just ONE batch of potatoes, I'm doing them all.  Heaven help me!  (The other 3 batches will be FULL of butter and milk, family.  I promise!)

*Also, (here's where I think I'm crazy) I'm planning a gingerbread-house decorating contest for the Thanksgiving party.  I need to make a practice batch of the royal icing, hope it works.  I'm beginning to wonder if this is too much...there will be about 30 people there!  In fact, Hubs' family is so large we don't fit into a house and need to rent a room for the first time!  This should be interesting...but I'll have you know, we're using graham crackers.  Not baking gingerbread.

*And why do my kids not have school the day before Thanksgiving?  Really?  I'm pretty sure I did not get that day off until college...so for my pre-schoolers, that means an entire week of no school, followed by 3 weeks of school, then 2 more weeks of no school.  Not sure what to think of that...

*Discussed placing the twins in Kindergarten with another 4 year old twin mom today.  I'm glad to know that I'm not the only feeling both elation and dread about the impending day...even if it is still 10 months away.  She was TOURING schools 3 nights this week!  THIS WEEK!  It raises my kindergarten anxiety up a notch, just thinking about having to tour in November. 

*Placed my Christmas card order and typed my first draft of the annual Christmas Letter (where's my strikethrough?) Quiz.  EEEK.  I cannot believe it's Christmas time.  REally.  The kids are begging to put up the tree and I'm ordering cards and baking stuff.  EEEK! 

*A squirrel the size of a cat is on the roof outside my window, watching me, looking in as if to say, it's really starting to get cold out here, and I'm hungry so please feed me!  He's kind of distracting me, making me think I ought to finish this and go check on the kids, the laundry, and make that test batch of royal icing...