Some Holiday Whine

I had been feeling pretty good about the state of my holiday preparations, but there are some things you just can't do very far in advance - and life rarely cooperates well enough to make the last minute items go smoothly.

Last night I was up really late wrapping our gifts to the kids, Santa's gifts, and stocking stuffers. I don't feel like we spent all that much (not more than we normally would) but there are lots and LOTS of packages for the kiddos. The tree will look awesome Christmas morning, and I'm glad, but whew the wrapping took me forever. Especially since so much of the kids' stuff is odd shaped or packaged in only half a box - what's with that?

I saved the wrapping longer than I needed to on purpose, it is one of my favorite holiday tasks and I always feel a bit sad when I'm finished. Before the gifts are wrapped I like to sneak looks into the hide-y places where things are stashed and think about how much the children will love them.

Today I have been working here and there on ahead-of-time tasks I can do for the soups I'll prepare for Christmas Eve. And I've been baking. I also like baking. The trouble (as with the wrapping) is that it is quite difficult to get started before the kids are in bed so I end up being awake far too late in the night.

Harper's had a sniffle that suddenly turned into an ugly cold today. She was up coughing so hard she nearly threw up, then she was screaming in between coughing fits and woke the baby. In the meantime I had a batch of cookies half put together in the kitchen so things were starting to feel very grinchy. Of course I don't want Harper to be sick and then I worry about who else will get sick and how it will change our holiday plans. She is supposed to spend the evening at Nana and Dziatku's tomorrow, sleep over, and even help make some desserts on Wednesday morning - all of this planned so I could go man-to-man with Michael and maybe get a thing or two accomplished before bedtime. I will admit that I am not thrilled at the prospect of cancelling that arrangement. Bah humbug.

How about a few less groucy pictures?


Please notice how much more heavy-handed Harper got with the sprinkles as the cookie-making progressed.



My dad purchased a bunch of holiday-themed wall-clings for Harper to use in her room. Do you think there are enough?


I kept trying to get her to spread them out a bit (her concept of negative space is a little underdeveloped I guess) but she kept insisting she couldn't because they were, "telling a story."

Finally we have (Uncle) Jamie and his girlfriend, Molly, at his college graduation. It was a little surreal because I still feel like he ought to be about nine years old. Please note the two diplomas - they are both his. That's what happens when you double major and the majors are in different schools. Congratuations Jamie!