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!”
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.
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.
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…
Henry had his Holiday band concert…
…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!
The next day we headed to the east side of the state and ate at an amazing restaurant!
…and drove through the cutest little town…
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!
We purchased our toys on the way…
…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!!!
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.
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!!!
We watched as more and more players arrived as they’d be helping and doing autograph signing later in the day…
Since we NEVER get to be in malls, we walked around with the kids, grabbed smoothies, coffees and did some shopping…
Ope! I found my car! 😉
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?!
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!
Jane, herself, took part in some self care. LOL!
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!
Jane has been loving working on puzzles and she’s been doing a fantastic job of putting them together herself!
Eliza had her band concert and was given a speaking part! She did awesome! Love her!
The only “family” picture I was able to get…
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!!!!
Henry also made this shirt with a light up “tree” on it! I love how fun and festive he is!
Oh….and our elves kept nice and busy all month, too…
Santa’s Helper dress up day and fancy dress up day…
Henry added snowflakes to his backpack and a paper chain link countdown to his trumpet case.
Jane and I celebrated at the library…
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!
Another dress up day!
Jane helped me assemble boxes for her class treats.
Eliza’s last elementary school Christmas party.
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!
Eliza’s Santa – with its tongue sticking out. Of course! LOL!
The girls assembled gingerbread houses while Henry was MIA… I think he was working on homework…
Henry finally emerged and wrapped his backpack. Bahahaha. This kid.
I had high hopes to do a holiday home tour, but this was as far as I got….
Back to Henry… and his entire ensemble!
Eliza had pajama day, Jane also had pajama day and Henry had ugly sweater day…
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…
The kids were officially home for Christmas break and I tried to take them and this scene in as much as I could.
I made them Grinch milkshakes…
The elves continued to be mischevious…
Henry fell asleep like this…
…because he woke up in the middle of the night and decorated the house. My. Heart.
This girl was thrilled to be able to hold her elf, Papa Nana (AKA Lela).
They were all about holding the elves…
We made and decorated cookies.
…and took the elves and the kids to look at Christmas lights.
We headed out to dinner on Christmas Eve…
…then arrived back home and made ever more cookies!
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….
Jane was excited to leave out cookies for Santa.
I love this picture of my babies
Eliza read, The Night Before Christmas.”
The kids made traps for Santa – I was thrilled the big kids did this…
…because Jane was ALL about it! LOL!
The stillness of Christmas Eve….
Christmas morning was full of gifts, giggles and happiness…
Her profile and that ponytail all while taking in the magic. I love everything about this picture…
Henry received a football and we found the kids in the backyard putting together plays in their Christmas jammies!
I sat and read and relaxed – it was glorious!
We poured the kids sparkling juice and let them drink from our wine glasses as we prepared our Christmas Day dinner.
We watched, Family Switch, and it was the funniest movie we’ve all watched in a while!
Jane snuggled in close and worked on her puzzle sticker book.
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…
I joined the kids outside for some flag football. Henry is getting really good!
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!
We stayed home this year for NYE and took the kids to dinner in our downtown – so fun!
We had a lot of fun together – Jane but a balloon under her shirt and said it was her baby! Ha!
More cookies and sparkling juice!
We played a fun game together… I was cracking up!
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!
On New Year’s Day we watched the Michigan football game! We were pacing a lot. I could barely watch at times!
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.
