Saturday, December 22, 2007

Christmas Hoopla

Ok. Chris tagged me so here goes.

Christmas Baking.
First we have this project at school called "Cookies for Inmates". We get the kids and their families to bake a ton of cookies and then the kids decorate those brown lunch bags with a Christmas scene. We put a bunch of the cookies in each bag and send them to the Correctional Centre in Nanaimo for each of the inmates there. Not only have I baked for that, but I also baked 10 dozen cookies for The Bethlehem Walk. Needless to say, I haven't gotten a lot of baking done for my own family, although I did keep some of the other baking for us. As usual it disappeared about as fast as i could bake it.

Decorating the Tree and the House.
I have had the same tree for about 15 years. It was quite expensive when I bought it so, to me, it still looks fine. Jack is my Christmas Critic and this year he decided that we needed a change. My rule of thumb is, "If it's not broke, don't fix it." However, now that Jack has a full time job he has gone a little nuts with his buying decorations. So we have a bunch of new stuff to put up this year. Sadly, for Jack anyway, we still have our old tree. I think it looks quite nice.

Christmas Shopping.
I made myself a promise last year at this time that I was going to be done my shopping by December 1st. Sadly these promises go the same way my New Years Resolutions go. Real strong until it just isn't a priority any more. I have to go shopping with Jack today. We have to get some groceries and I still have all my stocking stuffers to buy. Jack also has one more gift to buy, but that doesn't concern me. Oh, wait. It does, since he is shopping for me.

Cleaning my House.
This gets done almost every day, but then along comes a family gathering and any of you who have been to my house know that I have quite old carpets. They look exactly like the carpets Mom and Dad had in their house in Osler. The brown, sculpted ones. I have shampooed it 3 times in the past 2 years, but it still look like garbage. So, at each family gathering I spray it with Febreze Alergen and then vacuum like crazy. Somehow, though, my bedroom always gets left to the absolute last. I'm not even sure if I will get it done this year. So all my guests will have to out their coats in Jasmine's room.

Relaxing
Another thing Jack did this year was buy a bunch of Christmas movies. So we have been watching the old Christmas Classics like Miracle on 34th St., It's a Wonderful Life, The Grinch That Stole Christmas, and then a truckload of Claymation Christmas Stories. On Christmas Eve we will watch A Nightmare Before Christmas, The Nativity, and if we have time The Polar Express.

Christmas Eve Party.
Ever since Emmett moved in with us we started having a Christmas Eve party with just me and the kids. Every year this party has become more and more elaborate. Now we have reached the stage where we have a feast of snack food like crab dip and chips, taco chips with melted cheese and salsa, candy, candy candy, punch, fruit platter, veggies and dip, and the list goes on. This is also when we watch the list of movies from the previous paragraph. Just before we start to wind down we each open one of our small gifts. Then I read the real Christmas story form the Bible. Then we pray for a blessed Christmas for our family and friends. Then it's finally bedtime around 11 PM.

Christmas Morning.
I had to make a rule years ago that the kids could not wake me up until 6 AM on Christmas morning. Well, I have gotten older and since I had the car accident almost 3 years ago, I wake up every morning at about 4:45. So, for the last couple of years my wake up time has shifted a bit, to 5 AM. Tye is usually the first to get up and he wakes up Jack. The the two of them wake up the girls and they all crowd around my door ready to "surprise" me awake. The girls have not had much for Christmas traditions so this one seems really important to them. Once we are all up, we go into the living room and open gifts. It is wonderful to see how the kids all want me to open their gifts first> I will get a gift for Gracie and she opens it. Then she gets a gift for Jasmine and she opens it. Then she gets one for Alethea and so it goes form youngest to oldest until we are all done. Then I make pancakes and bacon for breakfast and we all eat together. Then it's time for relaxing again with a movie, which someone got for Christmas or a board game.


So that's my Christmas Hoopla. Now I will tag;
Jude Saskwatch
Abe This WOrld is Not My Home

4 comments:

Christine said...

Hmph...I thought that I left a comment for you...maybe I forgot to publish it. We miss your finesse at the balderdash table. Sometimes we even make up stuff that we think you would have made up when we play. To bad we couldn't teleport you here.

Margaret said...

OK. Now I really want to come play Balderdash. I love those times. So much laughter. And then when Mom plays and starts to laugh, it's just too funny.

Becky said...

Thanks for the post! And for not tagging me.

jude said...

Hey Margaret, I'll make sure I write my Christmas Hoopla this weekend yet. Hopefully tomorrow. I enjoyed reading yours.
Tomorrow my family is having a picture taking day. I'll give you the low down on that also!