A glimpse into the magic of Christmastime in our family of eight with a brand new puppy!
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 739+ hours (of 1000)
Nothing like a new puppy to push the outdoor time. Osa does good outside on her own, but she loves when we go out with her and run around to play. I spent some time on Monday with her and her dog cousin Lady at my parents' house. Lady is the sweetest, most patient pupper and she played with Osa, zooming all around her. They were so cute together!
Reading Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah which was a borrow from my student Ruby, but with the celebrations, I only got a little bit of reading in these few days.
My favorite part of any holiday - but especially the last two weeks of the year is the food and the company. So brace yourself, there's quite a bit of mention of foods and merrymaking in the next two Around here posts. Am I a food blogger now? haha, but for real.
Waiting out the artic blast. It was below zero with wind chill making it feel negative 20 or less. The wind wasn't even going in any direction specifically, it was just swirling around in every direction. We lost power for two hours on Friday and our house got down to 64 degrees while my head was still wet from a shower (!) Right at the moment that I was starting to get a little panicked about it getting any colder in the house, the electric kicked back on. I don't know who was out working in those conditions to get the wires working again but THANK YOU! Our power was spotty for the next few hours but just flickering and nothing that knocked us out long term again.
Christmas cookie baking: We finished up with Old Time Gingerbread cookies (Olive and Gemma helped) and Peppermint Blondies bars. We also chocolate dipped the candied oranges (took 24+ hours to fully dry before we could sugarcoat and choco dip!)
Grateful for this farm Dadda (my handsome husband) who replenished frozen water multiple times a day during the artic blast. He stuffed the chicken coop and goat house with extra straw and pine chips. He checked on all the animals frequently to make sure they were warm and safe and made safe space for the dogs to go outside without slipping on the ice. He and Grey took a trial run down the driveway with the truck before we left to make sure we'd be able to get back up before we loaded everyone up. They did make it back up the driveway in the truck while the rest of the kids and I watched and cheered from the window. So thankful to have you next to me in our wild life B - always willing to do the really sucky jobs to make sure we are all cared for and safe.
New Puppy training. Lots of accidents in the house, but Osa is working on it and we are giving her plenty of outside opportunities and praise when she goes to the bathroom outside. We haven't quite figured out the sleeping arrangements either because she cries if she's in her crate. B slept downstairs with her on Christmas eve and then the kids sleep downstairs every other night during break...so for now she's fine - but come back-to-school we are going to have to have another plan.
Mimi's Christmas on the eve of Christmas eve. Kuma and Mimi made three different kinds of lasagna (traditional, veggie, and gluten-free!), we had meatballs, pierogies, and a huge delicious salad. Cousin Tausha made Christmas margaritas and there was cookies and nut & poppyseed roll to our hearts' content. The kids went in birth order to open their gifts from Mimi and then Tausha set up the cup game to play with all the cousins. It was a freezing artic blast outside, but how the inside of Mimi's house was warm with love and laughter. How lucky we are to have our Mimi.
Christmas eve mass at St David's at 4:30p. Everyone got dressed up and I was able to have all three girls matchies! Bless them for humoring me. I straightened Violet's and Gemma's hair and did similar hairstyles for them. Red wasn't crazy about wearing jeans but he agreed only because Santa was coming that night. Abba and Chum met us at church and thankfully we sat way at the back since Olive and Red were antsy-pantsy and needed plenty of space to move around. Olive may have been licking the stain glass door in the back - thankfully she didn't freeze her tongue to the metal in A Christmas Story style (!!) We sang Silent Night holding candles with all the lights off and the kids were enchanted and it was beautiful and worth all the madness that comes with having two toddlers in church.
Delivering cookies & Christmas lights thank yous. After mass we made our stops through the neighborhood so the kids could deliver their annual thank you cards to houses with beautiful holiday displays. We had a Grinch house this year (the Grinch was 'taking the lights off' the house)! We also dropped off some cookies and our Christmas card to our four closest neighbors too.
Christmas Eve party at our house. We warned everyone that 4wheel drive was going to be necessary to make it up our driveway (LOL) and that was true but even still we had everyone show up to enjoy the magical evening! Besides the food that B and I made for the night (see below), Heather brought a beautiful and delicious charcuterie from Wild Forage Boards, my mom brought pasta salad, Pappy made bacon wrapped teenie weenies, Kuma brought pineapple bake, and Brandon mixed up Tipsy Rudolph cocktails (and mocktails for the kids). The kids all ran around and played, stopping only to ask Echo where Santa was on the Norad tracker. I got our matching jammies and didn't even have them wrapped (hah #momfail). Abba read The Night Before Christmas to the kids as is tradition and by 9p everyone started to give hugs goodbye and goodnight so that Santa wouldn't pass us up. It seems like a lot of host Christmas eve with a house full of kids - but honestly, it helps wear them out so they fall asleep! Thanks to all the family, friends, and neighbors who helped us count down those last hours before the big guy arrives!
Santa prep. B and I had another 2:30a bedtime on Christmas eve as we made preparations for Santa to arrive. Had some wrapping and assembling to do, but mostly just organizing and pulling packages from all the hidden places they were throughout the house/garage/truck. Imagine the two of us at 1a struggling to carry in the basketball hoop from the truck bed to the dining room. It had a big sticker on it that said "4 person carry" LOL. We managed with lots of a pauses for breaks for me and a few curse words to get it in though.
Our Christmas morning! Gem was up by 5:30a and agreed to play in her room with Violet and Olive until 6a to wake up the boys. By 5:50a, they could wait no longer - so B started the coffee while we let Osa out and then let the kids filter down from their perch on the steps; littlest to oldest to see what Santa brought. The kids were all happy and grateful. They love opening each others' secret santa gifts and we leave all the wrapping paper in a big mess on the floor until the very end. The dogs lay in fluff piles gnawing on bones and trying to steal the kids' toys. The tv has a youtube fireplace with Christmas music playing and everyone eats their weight in candy and cookies all morning. It is wonderfully chaotic and makes all the madness leading up to it worth it.
Tinseling hair. The girls got a hair tinsel set (my ninth grade students helped me purchase the right one - thanks Ava and Olivia!) It was pretty easy once I did a few and the girls look so cute and festive.
So tired. So, so tired. Maybe some of the most Christmas tired I've ever been! I think having six kids (two of them toddlers) and a full time job, and a new puppy...it really pushed us over the edge. B and I went back to sleep on Christmas morning for two hours while the kids played because EXHAUSTION.
Gigi & Pappy's Christmas for lunch on Christmas day. Gigi made her coleslaw (I love it so much), ham, lazy day cabbage, broccoli and cheese, and homemade rolls. Everything was delicious and Mimi came down to spend the afternoon with us too. The kids loved all their gifts, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, and I got the greatest motherhood gift of all - a nap! Hahaha, I was so exhausted and went to lay down on the downstairs couch and went on to sleep for TWO HOURS! So I missed most of Christmas day, but I know the kids had an awesome time and I am so grateful for the rest.
Abba & Chum's Christmas for lunch on the 26th. Abba and Chum made spaghetti, meatballs, salad, and garlic bread. My sisters and their fellas were there along with my sweetie pie nephews and Lady pup and Osa pup. It was a full, boisterous, wild house - my favorite kind of house! We opened presents in a blur of wrapping paper, played a bunch of random, hilarious competitions (potato poop relay, candle blowing, dare challenges) and we even sang the 12 days of Christmas together! We sang Happy Birthday to Bryan, got to visit with cousin Becca, John, and Little J while they were in town from Florida, and even got to spend some time outside with the puppers. It was the perfect last celebration for the holiday.
Updating my new planner. Favorite pre-new year activity! I transferred over birthdays and anniversaries. Added any appointments that we have upcoming (dentist, well checks, etc). I used the school calendar to mark off early dismissals and Act 80 days. And I looked ahead at all the beautiful, wonderful potential the upcoming year has to offer in all those clean, gorgeous month pages. When people ask how I manage a family of 8 with two full-time working parents, kids in lots of activities, meal-planning, and usually coaching or volunteering during sports seasons...the answer is my planner. Honestly, one of my most prized possessions and I keep them over the years in my memory boxes. I don't journal - but these are sort of like a journal filled to the brim with little notes, reminders, beautiful quotes that I find, and things that were important during this part of our life.
Making a Tavern ham in the crockpot, kielbasa/white cheddar/cranberry bites, roasted brussels sprouts, and fiesta ranch dip with broccoli, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes (Rust and Violet cut up the veggies) for Christmas eve at our house. We ate lots of leftovers in an attempt to clear out the fridge and most of us had the majority of our daily nutritional intake coming from cookies if I'm being honest.
It was another wild, chaotic, beautiful, magical, and hectic Christmas season. And honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way. I will never complain about having places to visit with people who love us, feed us, laugh with us, and show up with hugs for us. I hope you and your family were surrounded by love and care, that you were warm and safe in the weather, and that you found magic tucked into the hustle and bustle of the season.
We got Piper during the holiday season last year, so I understand your pain. Potty training and puppy training is so much work!
ReplyDeleteFor crate training, we put Piper in periodically during the day with toys (sometimes with peanut butter in the toys) so she would get used to it. Over the course of a few weeks we got her trained, and now I say "crate" and she goes right in.
I hope it goes well for you and Miss Osa.