The Big Day!

(And I’m not talking about Christmas.  Yet.)

I know many families whose children didn’t get out of school until just a few days before Christmas.  We ourselves had over a week to relax and get ready, which of course wasn’t relaxing in the slightest.  But we definitely had some fun over the past few days.  I can’t decide if it would be better to have fewer days off before Christmas or not.  I’m pretty tired out, I must admit, from keeping this train rolling over the past few days. 

Our biggest day of the week was probably Thursday.  Wow.  Big day.

We started by being bored, and happily I learned a terrific technique for staving off crazed children.  You just need some white glue and borax.  And look what you get - gak! It kept the kids quite busy while I tried to make a dent in the dishes.  I failed, but that’s beside the point.

After our gak-filled morning, we had the privilege of pulling together a little service project with my sister and her girls.  I was thrilled to add this activity to our holiday itinerary.  I had been trying to find something for my kids to do with their own hands to help someone in need.  We decided to not exchange gifts between the kids as we sometimes do and instead spend that money on something helpful.  We ended up going to the dollar store and purchasing large numbers of items with which to make hygiene kits for the YMCA.  We frustrated a few people in line behind us, but we had fun sending my kids off with their big-girl cousins on hunts for 20 bars of soap or shampoo and stuff like that.  Then we headed to my folks’ home to assemble the kits and enjoy some lunch.

I have to admit I rushed us through the last little bit because we had been invited to join my friend Krista in a Christmas outing and that was exactly I needed to boost my holiday spirit.  So we met up at the Gateway Mall (I was only ½ hour late or so…whoops) and then (another whoops) I discovered that the gingerbread house display I had told Krista about had shut down the week before.  Darn!  So after misleading Krista and her kids for a little while Krista mercifully took charge; we rallied the troops and headed over to The Grand America Hotel for a scavenger hunt of their window displays.  That was really fun.  Of course, Bundle and her little friend felt it entirely appropriate to find as many places as possible to lie down. Couches, floor, whatever, wherever. Kinda funny.

So that was an adventure that involved lots of parking and driving and directing the kids and breaking up arguments.  Worth it, (seriously tasty sugar cookies at the end...) but cost a lot of energy.  That was followed up by an evening of delivering neighbor gifts and then going on a drive to see Christmas Lights.  I have been wanting and wanting to go see the downtown lights this year but every night mustering the energy, not to mention the snowsuits and other gear necessary to prevent children from being cold and thus crying the whole time, has been beyond me.  So...we went for a drive.


By the time evening rolled around...mommy was all done.