December and Christmas Recap
I’m BaaaaaAAAaacccck!!! Who’s ready for a super long recap?! I’m really behind on blogging so I figured I’d just do one HUGE blog post about our December and Christmas break…on the last Monday of January! LOL!
Our Christmas break was a welcomed event and we enjoyed our days doing a whole lot of resting! Before break though, we were busy doing, you know – ALL THE CHRISTMAS THINGS!
We started December off with auditions at our local theater for Eliza. I’m happy to report that she got a part and is “Village Woman #2!”
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It wouldn’t be the month before Christmas without AAAAALLLLL the dress up days and while Eliza mostly dressed up by herself this year, I helped her with “Grinch Day!” I can’t believe this is her last year in elementary school – oh my heart.
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Jane was busy drawing family pictures while at preschool and this one was bittersweet, but still had me giggling just a little, as she included our beloved Nubs the cat who passed away in 2022. I love that she included him.
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We made our last handprints for the preschool/church Christmas tree. All three of our kids have attended preschool at the same place, so this was definitely a moment…
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Henry had his Holiday band concert…
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…and this was the only “family picture” we took. I had been feeling a little under the weather, so we basically snapped a picture and high-tailed it out of there!
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The next day we headed to the east side of the state and ate at an amazing restaurant!
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…and drove through the cutest little town…
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Eliza dressed up in Hawaiian clothes for one of her school Christmas days – hence the shirt. We spent the night and the next morning we headed out to a fancy mall to donate a toy and get our picture taken with Michigan Running Back, Blake Corum!
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We purchased our toys on the way…
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…and stood in line for about 2 hours. Luckily I had heard that Blake would be arriving early, so we did, too. I had read somewhere that about 15,000 people showed up!!!
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The guys in front of us brought a bunch of toys and we even saw one guy bring in a bicycle!
We took our picture with Blake and I feel like I looked like such a mom! LOL! I shook his hand and I told him, “I’m sweaty.” LOL!!! Whhhhhhyyyyyy???? Why did I say that?! Bahahaha! Henry was pumped and now has this picture as his background on his computer.
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Jon mentioned flexing with him and I was all, “Yes! DO IT!” Jon went ahead and asked Blake if they could flex and Blake said, “Oh, yeah!” Bahahaha! People were loving it! Also, look at his thighs – all muscle! Such a cool guy and him doing this provided so many gifts for kids! A win-win for all!!!! This football team is full of the very best role models!!!
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We watched as more and more players arrived as they’d be helping and doing autograph signing later in the day…
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Since we NEVER get to be in malls, we walked around with the kids, grabbed smoothies, coffees and did some shopping…
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Ope! I found my car! 😉
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We headed back to see if anymore players were around as we were leaving, but decided to head out…but then I saw someone in charge gesturing toward the escalator right next to us. I told Jon we should stay a few more minutes and then the ENTIRE team came down the escalator RIGHT. NEXT. TO. US. We were a person away from all of them! How fun and cool is that?!
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We headed out for Sushi and then headed home. It had been quite a day!
At some point Jane did my hair and she was so proud of the piggy tails she had given me so it, of course, had to be documented!
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Jane, herself, took part in some self care. LOL!
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On Monday, December 11th, I stayed up to get Disney reservations. At midnight I grabbed Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique reservations and then set my alarm for five hours later to get dining reservations! I used my favorite Disney princess mug to keep me caffeinated. I’ve had this mug since I was a teenager!
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Jane has been loving working on puzzles and she’s been doing a fantastic job of putting them together herself!
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Eliza had her band concert and was given a speaking part! She did awesome! Love her!
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The only “family” picture I was able to get…
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Being that more holiday dress up days were coming up, Henry told me he wanted to dress as Buddy the Elf!!!! Without a second thought I ordered him a costume and we decided once it had arrived to make a video in our downtown of him being a small town Buddy the Elf. LOL! The video ended up getting 26,000 views!!!!
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Henry also made this shirt with a light up “tree” on it! I love how fun and festive he is!
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Oh….and our elves kept nice and busy all month, too…
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Santa’s Helper dress up day and fancy dress up day…
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Henry added snowflakes to his backpack and a paper chain link countdown to his trumpet case.
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Jane and I celebrated at the library…
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It worked out that the library staff made Reindeer Food. It was on my list of things to do, but I’m not sure I was going to get around to making it happen. Phew!
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Another dress up day!
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Jane helped me assemble boxes for her class treats.
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Eliza’s last elementary school Christmas party.
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Henry and a girl from his class were both at their sister’s Christmas party… As luck would have it, they were both nice and dressed up!!! I loved the dedication!
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Eliza’s Santa – with its tongue sticking out. Of course! LOL!
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The girls assembled gingerbread houses while Henry was MIA… I think he was working on homework…
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Henry finally emerged and wrapped his backpack. Bahahaha. This kid.
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I had high hopes to do a holiday home tour, but this was as far as I got….
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Back to Henry… and his entire ensemble!
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Eliza had pajama day, Jane also had pajama day and Henry had ugly sweater day…
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We picked up Henry because he had a half day and the grabbed Jane. She was showing us all of her treats she had received from her Christmas party…
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The kids were officially home for Christmas break and I tried to take them and this scene in as much as I could.
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I made them Grinch milkshakes…
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The elves continued to be mischevious…
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Henry fell asleep like this…
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…because he woke up in the middle of the night and decorated the house. My. Heart.
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This girl was thrilled to be able to hold her elf, Papa Nana (AKA Lela).
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They were all about holding the elves…
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We made and decorated cookies.
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…and took the elves and the kids to look at Christmas lights.
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We headed out to dinner on Christmas Eve…
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…then arrived back home and made ever more cookies!
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Our elves magically left as they always do, but also magically dropped off Christmas Eve pajamas at our front door… A moment with Henry we’ll never forget….
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Jane was excited to leave out cookies for Santa.
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I love this picture of my babies
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Eliza read, The Night Before Christmas.”
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The kids made traps for Santa – I was thrilled the big kids did this…
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…because Jane was ALL about it! LOL!
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The stillness of Christmas Eve….
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Christmas morning was full of gifts, giggles and happiness…
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Her profile and that ponytail all while taking in the magic. I love everything about this picture…
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Henry received a football and we found the kids in the backyard putting together plays in their Christmas jammies!
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I sat and read and relaxed – it was glorious!
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We poured the kids sparkling juice and let them drink from our wine glasses as we prepared our Christmas Day dinner.
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We watched, Family Switch, and it was the funniest movie we’ve all watched in a while!
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Jane snuggled in close and worked on her puzzle sticker book.
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The day after Christmas, Eliza went over to a friends house for a sleepover and we met up with her at our local rec building to let the kids bounce on the bounce houses – Henry went a couple of times, but Jane went over and over and over…
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I joined the kids outside for some flag football. Henry is getting really good!
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We went to my mom’s house for my side of the family’s Christmas party and on our way home we stopped at a book store and this fun store and just HAD to get a picture next to this gigantic wheel of cheese!
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We stayed home this year for NYE and took the kids to dinner in our downtown – so fun!
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We had a lot of fun together – Jane but a balloon under her shirt and said it was her baby! Ha!
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More cookies and sparkling juice!
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We played a fun game together… I was cracking up!
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Then our “midnight” was around 8:30 and then we sent the kids to bed. Jon and I stayed up but just sat around until midnight – nothing crazy and we were actually 15-30 behind on the tv since one of us had accidentally paused the tv or something at some point. LOL! So we wished each other a Happy New Year a little late – whoops! Bahahahaha!
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On New Year’s Day we watched the Michigan football game! We were pacing a lot. I could barely watch at times!
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Phew! That took a lot of work to finally get that recap done….but I’m so happy I did! What. A. Month! Okay, I suppose I’m all caught up and if you made it this far, you deserve a handshake! LOL! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Marie 🙂
I’m linking up with Hello Monday.