The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind! The kids have been so excited about every aspect of the celebration, and we (I) have been determined to go as big as we (I) could manage. They loved decorating, baking, shopping, gift giving, visiting Santa, touring the neighborhoods viewing Christmas lights, the Christmas parade, listening to Christmas music on the radio, watching Christmas movies, Henry, our Elf on the Shelf...
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I got in over my head decorating while all four of the kids were awake, but, the day after Nick left I was bound and determined to ring in the holiday cheer. :-P
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While my back was turned, James started smashing ornaments for sport. It was tricky just trying to clear the scene to clean the carnage.
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| Walkin' girl! |
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City Hall in Downtown Clarksville
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I surprised the kids with a Chick-Fil-A picnic in the car and then the downtown Christmas Lights parade Saturday, December 5th. I was nervous managing them all with the crowds, but it worked out seamlessly. As luck would have it, we parked on the nearest street possible, and instantly found an open spot on the sidewalk to park the stroller and take in the last 30 minutes of the parade (which was completely adequate.) The kids were entranced!
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| SANTA!!!!! |
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| Our beloved babysitter, Ms. Ericka, is now a fourth grade teacher at a local elementary school. She invited us to come see the Frozen display at her school! Sis was in SEVENTH HEAVEN! |
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| She has a crush on Kristof. |
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My girls on a good day.
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Emmy got her first flowers from a boy! ;) Her best friend Matthew brought them to school for her. :) She dutifully watered them and even wrapped the base container in a towel to keep it warm at night. ;)
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| The drive-through Nativity at a local church is a must-see for us every year! Emmy begged me to go through it a second time. :) |
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Sipping hot cocoa and listening to Christmas carols at the end of the Nativity. :)
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Working on Poppy's Christmas gift!
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I was a little concerned about how we were going to see Santa this year, because I wasn't about to go stand in line at the mall with my crew and trekking through the Opryland with the four of them sounded equally miserable. Luckily, we had Nick's battalion Christmas party! Appropriately, Santa flew in on a helicopter!!
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| Emmy had set out her chosen ensemble for this big moment days before... |
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| ...But just minutes before we left, I found her preparing a snack bag of sugar cookies that she had lovingly decorated. She told me they were for Santa, along with one of her cards. She was concerned that no one gives Santa gifts. She, very bravely, pulled both from her dress-up purse to hand to him after indulging her Christmas list (an Aurora dress.) My heart swells looking at this picture. |
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Hannah was rendered speechless.
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| My girlfriend Sally, thankfully, swooped in, as she does, to rescue me from making a scene while managing all of my kids in front of the long line of families. James and Julia wanted nothing to do with Santa this year. |
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Santa....CHECK!!
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| Emmy preforming in her first Christmas show! She had been practicing her songs for weeks! |
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She looked a little bored.
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| Her first show was on her birthday--a Tuesday--and the 3 littles were at Mom's Day Out! It was so nice to be so present for my big girl. |
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| This boy. |
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The best of a few timer-pictures. All dressed up for the Christmas service!
So, we went to the Christmas production at church on Sunday the 21st. I totally missed the boat on tickets for the 5:30 performance, so we went for 7:00. I was very anxious the twins would fall apart given that it started at their bedtime. Well, turns out I was right to be anxious, only not for the twins, who played happily in the childcare. It was because I seated myself and my two big girls in the front, center row and their behavior rapidly declined over the course of the first half an hour. To the point where they were nearing a screaming/wrestling match over our candle during the Pastor's reading of the birth of Christ. The very moment the music started up again, I grabbed our stuff (but apparently not all of it) and the girls and took off up the aisle, head down so as to not make eye contact with anyone. Of course, Sis left her baboo, so a very kind girl chased after us to return it. The mom equivalent to a sorority girl's Walk of Shame. Awful.
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| Is it a photobomb if you place yourself in front of the group? |
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I took the kids to the dollar bins at Target and divided them up into teams to buy Christmas presents for each other like we did last year. Hannah and Julia, and Emmy and James. Each team could pick out 5 things. It was a little frantic, I'm not gonna lie, hence the lack of pictures, but the kids got really into it! They had so much fun choosing things (well, Emmy did, Hannah was squarely focused on what she wanted for herself and stuffed those things into the bag without hesitation-a few pairs of dress up "slippers" and plastic giraffes were just a few of her great finds. I laugh at the thought of unleashing that girl for a true shopping spree in Target.) As soon as we got home, Emmy was determined to wrap it all, so we did.
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| Emmy, joyfully, wrapped all the presents that arrived in the mail for me! :) Sis helped. |
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| Just hanging out on our couch cushion! |
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| Christmas Eve, we decided to make some spaghetti for dinner! |
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| Emmy assembled our version of the traditional Odell family "Daddy Cookie Cake." She did an awesome job! |
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| I told the girls to go get fancy, and they did, happily. I tossed on a Christmas-y table cloth, threw my three-day old unwashed hair in a clip and a dress over my yoga pants, cracked open a chilled bottle of Martinelli's and we broke bread. Cheers! |
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Emmy was unrelenting in her request (demand?) of opening a single present on Christmas Eve. I gave in. The twins perusing their new reads.
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| The big girls modeling their new Snow White night gowns. |
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James is a BIG FAN of homemade spaghetti, much like all food.
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| Playing Santa. |
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| Getting cookies and milk ready for Santa! The timer feature is my friend! |
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| It's quitin' time for little Horns! |
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| Emmy placed the cookies and milk and her handmade card in just the right place so that the dogs and James couldn't get to it before Santa. |
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| Santa arrived! I always miss Nick when he's away, but I was especially missing him just after midnight when I was working on assembling the last rocking chair. |
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Emmy set her clothes out!
Armed with my phone, camera, scissors, screwdriver, and black tea, I was ready for the big day! The kids opened their present in rapid-fire, and were so excited for each one. So much so, that I had trouble keeping up with extracting everything from the very secure packing materials! Emmy led the show dispersing and then sometimes opening gifts for everyone, Hannah enthusiastically followed suit, the twins were wide-eyed and eager to participate and quickly glommed on to random things like chapstick. They dove right in to playing with their new toys and that is how we spent the day, only taking breaks to eat sweets and FaceTime with our family!
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| Julia admired Hannah's Elsa doll and dress. |
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| Emmy and her mermaid tail! |
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| Elsa, Anna and Kristof barbies!?! |
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| Juj playing with Jamesy's dump truck. |
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James playing peek a boo with me behind my buffet.
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| After a long day, opening presents, parade-watching, playing with toys, eating sugar and face timing with our family, we set out to go for a drive to see Christmas lights. My girls were asleep before we left the neighborhood. We turned around and came home and called it a day. :) |
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Because we didn't make it before Christmas, we went for a stroll on the riverwalk to enjoy their awesome light display.
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It's a James-In-The-Box!
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| These two fight over their new elephant slide. |
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So many new toys and the box wins out. :-P
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