I was sick most of Thanksgiving week and weekend which made it hard to get started on Christmas. I wasn't really ready to start thinking about it, but I immediately had to start planning for how we are going to make all the family gatherings work with Tyler's schedule so we can figure out all the logistics and see everyone. We somehow got all the kids and their cousins in coordinating outfits and my sister-in-law took pictures in front of a tree. They weren't perfect, but they are so cute. Everyone was looking at the camera at the same time more than once which was pretty darn good. Once I get my disc of the sitting I can start doing Cards and get them out. The turkey leftovers were barely in the fridge before we shifted to Christmas preparations.
It's already chaotic. Normally, I thrive on the chaos. Usually I am more than ready to take it all on and get it all done and make Christmas happen. It takes the whole month, but the celebration for us goes on for days and it's so worth it. So what's wrong with me this year?
We did somehow get the tree up and decorated on Sunday, which is the only part of decorating I really get (or want) help with, but until last night that is as far as I got. After cleaning up my living areas again yesterday, I figured it was time to start doing the rest of it. I didn't get very far because of some decoration malfunctions.
The tree topper we used for years (and I never really LOVED) had to be replaced last year, but Garden Ridge had been so picked over I settled on a star that was okay, but not fabulous. The stand it props on the tree with was kind of short and the star wobbled and never really stood up straight all last season. However, I was prepared to use it for a couple years until I found just the right topper. I dug it out last night - no stand. I'm sure I will find it at the bottom of all my other decorations, but right now it's MIA.
As I started pulling out other decorations I realized that I wasn't going to be happy putting nails into my recently painted walls and I drove to CVS while dinner was in the oven to get those removable hangers. While there I saw an Angel tree topper that looked pretty cool and it was on sale so I picked it up too. When I got home I tried to put it on the tree and feed the cord through the center of the already decorated branches (yes, I know we did it backwards but it's been kind of weird so far this year). I ran into a couple of problems.
First, the stand thingy is way too long to make the Angel stable so if I use it, the topper falls over even worse than the star did last year. Second, the cord is too short to reach the plug beneath it. My tree has the outlet between top and middle layers firmly attached to the core and it isn't movable. I tried propping the Angel without using the stand which is possible, but strange looking and the cord isn't long enough anyway. When three ornaments fell off one after another I called it quits and served dinner.
Still no topper. I do have an angel one that doesn't light up, but it's really too big for our tree and I just place it somewhere on it's own for a decoration. I pulled it out to see if it would work anyway and the wings fell off of the back. As I started getting pretty Christmas things out of boxes I found that this was a familiar theme. Evidently, my boxes of decorations did not fare well in the 70+ days of over 100 degree heat this summer. Almost every single thing I got out had one or more pieces fall off. I am really dreading getting out my pretty wreaths and finding out that I am going to have to buy a hot-glue gun to salvage everything.
Determined, I started lining my counter tops with knick-knacks and attacked them with the only glue I had on hand - wood glue. I figured it wouldn't work, but I wasn't driving to CVS for super glue again that evening and it was worth a shot. So far, everything is holding which is a good thing for my sanity because the other problem I am running into is that half of the things that are supposed to light up aren't lighting up.
Every year there are one or two things that just don't make it to the next year and every year I try to add to our family decorations with one or two items, hoping to build our collection to something sustainable for future years. I just can never seem to really get 'ahead' and this year it looks like I am going to fall way behind. I don't want to spend a fortune on decorations in any one year, but my slow and steady building plan isn't working either. I might have to attack the after Christmas sales with a vengeance this year to try and prepare for next year.
Funny thing, some of my favorite and charming decorations are having problems. Do you know what isn't having a problem? The singing Frosty the Snowman. I talked my mom into buying this over 10 years ago at Walmart because it made me giggle. You press his hand and his head starts bobbing and he sings a couple lines of Frosty. It's really cute, until it's not. I love to see Frosty come out of the box every year and I am still happy to see him sing and bob, for the first 10 or 15 times. Then it starts to get annoying. The kids love him and I have only had to replace his batteries once in the last decade. I wouldn't cry to never hear him sing again, but the bobbing head is pretty cool. If he dies someday, it will be okay but he sure is withstanding the test of time. I wish my fiber optic Christmas trains that cost 3 times as much were that hardy!
Ironically, one of my problems has resulted by solving an older problem. I haven't had a mantle to decorate in 3 years which has kept one of my favorite nativity scenes in it's box so that no small child would harm it when it was on too low of a shelf. Their stockings have hung on my sofa table instead of the fireplace. Now, my kids are older and won't break everything in their path and, miracle of miracles, Dad and I got a mantle built!!!! We worked for a couple of days and created this:
(Sorry the pics are kinda blurry) I had wanted to sand and paint this before we decorated, but I have let go of that project for the time being. I am just so grateful that I have a mantle to decorate and will leave it as rough pine until the new year. I want to put my nativity up there and hang the stockings, but my stocking 'hangers' are kind of big and decorative because of what we've done the last couple of years. I am going to have to invest in some low profile stocking hooks so that you can still see Baby Jesus behind them.
There have been a few other road blocks to getting me in the swing of things. Namely, I can't seem to be home long enough to keep everything picked up and I cannot find my Christmas CD's. This is crucial. I really love putting on my favorite CD's and singing through decorating, wrapping and baking. I truly love Amy Grant's first 2 Christmas albums and I will play them over and over, belting out 'Grown Up Christmas Wish' and 'Emmanuel' like I am in concert with her to my children's dismay. I get super emotional and almost cry through the song about Mary because every time I hear it I am overwhelmed with her plight and her strength and how she carried through with what God asked of her. I am sure that all the CD's are together in one place so that I could find them easily this year, but I haven't remembered where that place is yet. The only CD I found was a kids Christmas CD I used as room parent for a gift exchange game when Tyler was in 3rd grade. It's 'jolly', but not really inspiring. I either need to find those CD's or break down and buy them on iTunes for Tyler's iPod and figure out how I can blare that through the house while I am working.
I have to get the decorating done or I am never going to get anything else done. When my house looks like Christmas, I can prepare for Christmas. It makes my whole outlook on the serious amount of shopping and baking I need to do better. How can I roll out 4 batches of cookies if my house doesn't look like the holiday is approaching? For that matter, why do I want to spend money on 6 lbs of sugar and 10 lbs of flour and all the different types of chex cereal for Texas Trash if I can't see the holiday in front of me?
My Black Friday shopping was okay this year, but as far as the kids presents go it wasn't overwhelmingly successful. I had picked up a few things this summer and once I inventory what I actually have for them, the little ones are probably close to being 'done' already. Tyler is a whole other story, but it's really hard to buy for an almost 12 year old. He's not little, but he's also not big and figuring out what he might like is virtually impossible. He's no help either, he keeps looking through catalogs and saying he can't really think of anything.
I know I will feel better about everything if I can complete my shopping and start wrapping presents, but I just don't feel like shopping this year. I am caught between a place of wanting to see the joy on their faces with a mound of gifts to open and knowing that they already have so much and they don't really need a lot. I don't want them to lose sight of what's important about the season and I seem to be more excited about those aspects. That's all good for our souls, but my 4 & 5 year old are still little and are dreaming of what Santa will bring for them underneath the tree.
We are going to be making a lot of gifts ourselves this year so that my kids can participate more and truly get the feeling of GIVING from their hearts with presents that they made with their own little hands. Instead of some of the other charitable things we usually do, we are going to fill 3 shoe boxes with presents to go to needy children in Mexico. They are excited about all of the projects and I hope that everything goes well so they can really experience the joy of giving.
I stretched my creative skills last week and did something that was out of my normal baliwick also. I cut out 28 card stock circles and coordinating symbols that I printed out and even drew and cut out a poster board Christmas tree to hang on my wall. This non-Heather crafting event was an effort for our family to do a 'Jesse Tree' advent calendar this year. So far, we are enjoying it. Each night I read a scheduled verse and tell my kids in a '4-5 year old' version the corresponding Bible story. Each night we talk about how God always had a plan and how each of these stories was part of His plan to bring Jesus to us which is why we celebrate Christmas.
Every night, I get Riley's attention for a whopping 10 seconds unless it's his turn to tape the ornament on the tree. Every night, Scooter asks when we are getting to Jesus. Every night, Tyler either tries to get more from the story or says 'I know how this one ends' and tunes out a little. It's a toss up! The kids take turns taping that night's 'symbol' ornament on the tree. I am not really worried about how much they are absorbing, I just make the effort and hope a teeny bit is seeping in.
We had to double up on stories last night since I had been gone Wednesday evening. Both stories happened to be about Abraham. The first was when God told him to look at the stars and know that his descendents would be just as numerous, the second was when God asked him to sacrifice his son and then stayed his hand after his willingness to obey. Tyler was very interested and so was Scooter, until he heard the name Abraham. When I read the verses, Abram was still used, but when I told the stories I said Abraham. Scooter could not get passed the 'ham' part and had a serious case of the giggles because someone was named 'ham'. It drove Tyler crazy, but it really was silly. I don't think he got the gist of both stories, but he probably will never forget the name Abraham.
I have been really good about setting the DVR to record all of the kids Christmas shows and then sit and watch them with them so far. My favorite one was on last night, 'Santa Claus is coming to Town'. Technology might be awesome, but I still like listening to Fred Astaire narrate that story and Burl Ives narrate Rudolph. My kids don't seem to mind the less than spectacular animation either. I will be watching 'It's A Wonderful Life' and 'The Bishop's Wife' soon too, even if I have to go plant myself at my mom's for an evening to do it. I still love Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant and they just 'speak' Christmas to me in these two old favorites.
I really, really love Christmas and if I could just have my sister here for one night to watch 'White Christmas' with me I would be set. There is nothing like Bing Crosby singing White Christmas to you in that low, sultry voice. There is also nothing like dancing around with the best sister in the world while you both sing 'Sister's' to each other and wish you had those matching blue dresses and fans yourself. I'm so glad she'll be here this year to celebrate with us - we'll definitely have to find time to watch the movie together before she heads back to Austin. It's tradition and we haven't been able to do it together in a few years.
It's all going to work out. I'll get the house decorated somehow and in some way. I'll definitely get some baking done by Christmas. I know if I can find my Christmas music, all will be good. I need to be singing 'Tender Tennessee Christmas' and secretly replace the word Tennessee with 'Texas-y' while I make the Texas Trash. Then I will have something to snack on while I get the rest done, singing all the way. I know that if I can get started, momentum will kick in and I will actually get a lot done in a short time because that's what always happens. Christmas will happen one way or another, even if I have to cut out some of my projects and limit the baking. Christmas will arrive and be celebrated over several days with lots of joy and family and celebration. I know you are out there Christmas - I can't see you clearly yet, but you are in my heart and I know I'll see you soon!
God Bless!
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