getting ready

the tree is decorated. i don't think i've taken a photo of that yet. it will get done. eventually.

i still need to bake cookies. at this point any kind will do! i heard Santa likes chocolate chip....hope that is not a myth. the butter is softening on my counter as i speak. it is on the to-do list for today. i'm sure we'll do sugar cookies. i may be accused of ruining Christmas if my kids don't get to lick decorate icing and then feast on their hard efforts after. 

but.

the cards are DONE. yes, i'm sure you could hear my screams of delight at your house. that was me. 

almost all our presents are wrapped. i am a little worried. it seemed to get done quickly this year. i even added ribbons and tags at the same time. {honestly, the last time i did that had to have been before Aidan was walking} i'm not worried that i'm nearly done and enjoyed the process. i am worried that i missed something. a horrible mistake to make with young kids.

we had our staff Christmas party last week. so fun! yummy food and drinks. i think i should have not eaten that day....it was brutal to see and smell all the yummy treats and be totally full. i ate what i could! making a mental note for next year... we always have a lot of fun and laughs together. it was fun to have ALL of us together. so rare. often it is just a few of us, and we are passing one another on shifts and such. i was completely and utterly surprised to see what gift was wrapped for me. oh. help. {scream!} the Vagabond.....

several of us got one and it was fun to open them together! i know all of us would have been excited to get this gift from our families....but it was soooo much more fun to be excited together and have all of us know exactly how exciting it was. on the heels of the 12 Tags of Christmas where we all got to watch and drool over each new tag. so fun! 

we made our traditional trip to see Santa at the mall this week. a great Santa!! he asked the kids if they had been good this year. they joyfully reply that "they had been very good." to which Santa says, "most of the time." ha!! is that not the best?! i wish i could have taken pictures of their faces. 

they were very patient as i drove all over the city too. it helped that they had movies, games and colouring books to occupy them. but we finished! 

i do like to wear photo family friendly pajamas for Christmas day. just something fun about having a special day to stay in your pjs for nearly the entire day. however my current set is OLD. i did resort to begging the kids to "help" me choose new ones. Kiara didn't think i needed any. "just sew the holes, mom!" we should all be glad that i don't always listen to the four year old. although it is always good to know that she likes them! ha!!

i had to FedEx a parcel. and learned that not all self-service drop offs will take ground deliveries. also i was reminded to not believe everything i read on their website when it comes to addresses. besides that, i will still prefer to use their courier services over Canada Post any day! so far i have found them MUCH cheaper and FASTER and very RELIABLE up to this point. except their website "address finder" part. 

i was reminded by a friend about this mug:

he found it on his doorstep one day, saying "Merry Christmas!" the wild part is that it totally DOES look like a camera lens. 

you can order them from Photojojo. 

as i was browsing, they also had this link:

using old lenses and cameras as a flower pots. apparently they are not designed to hold water. {insert laugh} but they have suggestions on how to get around that problem.

as cute as they are.....i just don't think i have it in me to do this one. not that i have or even hope to have an expensive flower pot such as these. however, it is just one of those "huh. wow. never would have thought of that one." kind of things. 

off to make our cookies. then look at photos on iPhoto...must choose a print a few for some projects. work and gift related. also, laundry mountain. 

i may visit this site today and arrange for some North Pole correspondence for the kids. i've heard there are some cool iPhone apps too. 

i found some neat bells at Pier1imports last week. they were $1 each and i knew the kids would love them. they totally reminded me of the bells on the Polar Express. with all the new tech gadgets available to track Santa, i think it will never be out of date to have jingle bells like these. tech is fun. but these are more magical. in my opinion. 

i haven't snapped a photo of it yet....but Jan gave me the cutest little decoration. it is actually a little capsule where the kids can write a note to Santa! Aidan is excited about that part. {Kiara is the vocal one, but with Aidan he often shows his excitement by getting quiet. later we discover his true feelings.} he was one step ahead of me....he made a wish list at home and at school. then he wanted to type them up on the computer. well....he printed it out, then cut it smaller. why? so that it can fit on the already enclosed Santa letter sheet!

okay, the butter is soft and the kids are ready to get baking! i'll stop procrastinating.

wish me luck. 

and the news this week...

where is time going?! i am still needing to finish my Christmas shopping...but finding it tough this year to do without the kids. it was so easy to do when they were small and had no idea what i was buying....or i could even hide it from them. these days its tough to buy a pack of gum without them discovering it! the time passes so quickly when they are both in school and i don't have much time in the evenings to do it. online shopping looks very appealing right now. if i knew it would be delivered in time...



Kristian and Kiara bought a pet Beta fish earlier this year. he became known as Princess Purple. whether or not he knew the meaning of the word 'princess', he never let on. neither did the fact that he was purple. anyways it ended up being my job to clean the tank. and it sure got dirty with just one fish in it! last week i thought of putting him in a smaller tank that might be easier to clean. after doing that i realized that his castle did not fit inside it, and he loved the castle. so i moved him back to the original tank. too many moves or too much temperature change....the shock killed him in 24 hours. great. Kiara is having a tough time getting over this death.



even with Prince Blue in the picture. she was definite about wanting a blue fish. part of me wishes i had just gone to the store on my own and came back with a replacement fish. but then, she would have noticed a detail absent that i would have missed. when Princess Purple died, he turned gold. the kids noticed his colour was changing before he even became fully dead. so odd!

Prince Blue was purchased along with a new smaller tank. he is pretty active and outgoing. i can't believe i just described the personality of a fish. really. but it is true!

by the way, Prince Blue has a middle name. oh, i am not kidding. it is Frosty the Snowman. we are in for some treats. Kiara has quite the imagination.





last night was her preschool Christmas concert. she has been excited for weeks about this! it was also the first concert our kids have participated in that Kristian was able to attend. it was a very big night.



she sang with all her might!

they had yummy snacks and fun Christmas crafts after the program.

we came home and Kiara commented that we should leave out some cookies for Santa. what?! she apparently knew that Santa would come after the concert....and took that to mean immediately! this next week and a half will be a long one for her. and Aidan. so, essentially, it will also be a long one for me. unless i don't get my list completed by Monday!

here we are

funny how far away December looks on November 20. suddenly we are here! never mind the list Santa has been making....i have my own these days.

amazing how life grinds to a sudden halt when someone gets sick. my life has been based at home for the past week and a bit. plans got changed. as friends and neighbours caught that horrid stomach bug, we watched them get beat by it. hoping that we could be lucky and avoid it. yet wondering if we can. if we will. you know the kind of vain hoping i'm talking about.

so lil' miss K got it first. she usually does. the last time she had the stomach flu she was sick for weeks, with Christmas right in the middle of it. i've never seen a person so ill before. thankfully this was much more normal. her recovery was just a matter of a few days. but it is still hard to see her sick and her little body praying that it will end. she missed only one morning of playschool and two mornings of playing with friends. a big deal to her, but nothing really. then Aidan. then me. when i'm sick, just let me watch tv and give me space. after 2 days of tv, i am so sick of it! i was grateful that we decided to install cable again. even though it was just basic.

in the middle of all this we had a healthy-ish day here and there.



the lights got put up. yay!



Aidan put together the car set he got from Santa a few weeks ago. he had been anxious to do this for a few weeks.



Kiara asked to paint as well. this was the most interesting project i've seen her do. she had 2 pictures going at the same time. apparently the one on the tablet was her practice one, and the other was the real deal. we thought it was a snowman. however she explained that it was a skeleton. okay... regardless i was amazed at her precision with the paint and brushes.



i am so curious what she will be doing in a few years' time.

i bribed both kids heavily over a month ago to come with me to HomeSense. i wanted to go, but did not want to deal with irritable children at the same time. they were great. the store had just put their first round of Christmas decorations out. Kiara saw a lot of things she loved, and a PINK nutcracker was one of them. she loves to watch Barbie and the Nutcracker, a movie i picked up at a garage sale for $1 last year. i didn't think it was as much of a favourite as Tinkerbell. anyways that is the only connection she has to a nutcracker that i'm aware of.

a few days later she saw Santa at the kids' Christmas party. she told him she wanted a pink nutcracker and was ecstatic when he said that he would make sure she got it. it is the same response every time i ask  her what she wants for Christmas. not even the colour changed.

eventually i know my kids will understand the truth about Santa. however, that day is not now.

sigh.

i went out in search of that perfect pink nutcracker last weekend. would you believe all the pink was sold out?! all that was left were 3 purple nutcrackers (one of which was broken). thus the conversation with my daughter: "what if Santa didn't count right and he doesn't have enough pink nutcrackers?" her response, "then he will bring me a purple one." end of story. so the PURPLE nutcracker came home.


here is the best part. i know, can you believe it gets "better"?!

life in the house was a bit chaotic that evening and i never got that purple soldier properly hidden. forgot about it. yes. big mistake. this is the same girl who can find hidden chocolate in the dark. 

today i was in a cleaning and organizing mode. while i was busy, so was Kiara. she comments off-handedly that Santa could not bring her a pink nutcracker, but would bring a purple one instead.

feigning stupidity, i ask her why. she did the same, pretended to be stupid and didn't answer my question. {can you not see the 2 of us 10 years from now?!}

i continue to clean hoping that perhaps she really was being stupid. but trying to admit to myself that i was probably completely had!


then the PURPLE NUTCRACKER appeared. with the receipt!

and an announcement: "Mom, look what Santa brought me!"

so the truth is: we are both stupid. truly.


how does a mother ever explain that a gift from Santa arrives early. for only one member in a family.

i asked my 6 year old if he had ever heard of a child getting a present such as Kiara did. let the child lead us all and bring some wisdom to this ridiculous situation that i can only blame myself for.

so, as the kids see it: Santa brought a gift early. and we don't know why. but we are not sending it back.


so there the PURPLE nutcracker sits by the fireplace with the rest of the holiday decorations.

how did i ever get to be so lucky?!! isn't it every mothers' dream to have a purple nutcracker sitting by their fireplace? i can't help be totally confused as to WHO would be buying pink nutcrackers. other mothers? what is this world coming to?!!


on the good side. i finally have a few decorations up. gingerbread, icing and candies have been purchased. Christmas music is playing. Christmas will come whether the list gets checked off or not!