the 12 days of Christmas

**Idea stolen from Ms.Molly. Because my original idea of 25 days of Christmas was a little daunting. And would prolly bore you all.

1) My first ever advent. My boys are finally able to enjoy, understand, appreciate an advent activity. Plus I just never got my act together to do anything last year. So all year long I've been collecting Christmas books. The majority of them were from goodwill for $.25 a piece. In early November I finally broke down and paid full price for the remaining 8-10 on Amazon and Etsy. I really, really, really loved it. Not sure the boys were all that impressed, and we might have fallen off the wagon there at the end, but overall a very fun activity for us all.



2) the Calm light show with our dear friends. It was freezing, but oh so fun. A new tradition for sure. We even got to ride the train this year. And our gaggle of boys won the hearts of the kettle corn makers who upped our "small bag" into the largest bag of kettle corn I've ever seen. We all ate ourselves sick and there was more than half left.

mmm...kettle corn.







3) A few starbucks dates with my men. Red cups. Muffins. Crumbs EVERYWHERE. Grins and giggles and favorite beanies that fit for a second year. Joy.





4) A free ticket from another GREAT friend to the concert of the year (No joke, there were only THREE PERFORMANCES AND I SAW THE LAST ONE) The Pistol Annies were AMAZING. I sang along to every word and laughed along with the crowd to the pure audacity of those country girls and they're crazy/funny lyrics. So so so great.



5) Ringing the bell with my boy. Or as Henry called "dingling the bell". I was completely inspired by Ashley doing this with her kids every year. Thankfully Henry and I lasted the whole hour (with candy canes and hot chocolate and a visit by Grams). I can honestly say that was the changing point for me this season. I was just NOT feeling the Christmas spirit this year. I was in a lull. Not excited, underwhelmed by everything. And then we spent that hour in the cold ringing the bell. The reality that I spent more on our coffee and hot cocoa than what we probably collected opened my eyes. I felt as the grinch felt, my heart doubling in size. So many in need. And us with so much to give and don't. Very humbled. Very thankful. Very inspired. Definitely a new tradition as well.







6) Our Disney trip. Such a highlight. Such a great family time. Love love love.



7) Celebrating our 9 year anniversary holed up in a corner room with a view at the Padre Hotel. We ate Panera in bed. Cuddled. Watched lots and lots of crappy cable tv. Spent the next day junking and eating at the Noodle bar. Great great weekend. But not nearly as exciting as all our plans for NEXT year, when we hit the double digits. (HOLY COW?!)



8) Graham cracker houses!! Henry decorated and decorated and decorated. Ben ate and ate and ate. And neither went to bed until WWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY past their bed times. Note to self: next year, do this several hours before bed time in order for the sugar high to wear off.









this picture is a miracle, it just makes me happy.



9) I started a santa mug collection. Because really, they're just uber cute. And hopefully will become one of those fun things my kids remember about childhood. Those santa mugs coming out of the box every Christmas, to be filled with hot chocolate and marshmallows and memories.



10) Our first attempt at homemade sugar cookie making/decorating! I'm sure it might be shocking for some to think that I have never ever made home made sugar cookies before. But I haven't. I'll get back to this later. Back to the cookie making. We rolled them out and baked them before naps, and after naps were joined by our dear Ms.Hannah for some decorating. And of course, LOTS of sampling.















11) A daddy who spent his own christmas money to buy his boys a trampoline. We want to jump ALL. DAY. LONG. It's pretty awesome.











12) Simplify. Simplify. Simplify. I did my best to do that this year. I started out this Christmas with one thing in mind, doing all those things that work has always prevented me from doing in the past. I set a strict deadline for myself as far as work goes, and stuck to it (with the exception of one lucky friend, and sisters who finagled their way in last minute, but that's sisters, they're allowed ;). In putting limitations on work (and therefore, on myself) I was able to truly enjoy doing these things with my kids. I enjoyed our jammie days (there were many, and it was great )Making messes. Napping in front of the fireplace in the afternoons. Embracing the tree being "redecorated" constantly by a sneaky two year old. Letting go of Christmas cards. Embracing New Years cards. Basking in my boys and their Christmas memories. It wasn't perfect. I was still sewing and hot gluing the last few days before Christmas (heck, I was hot gluing on Christmas Eve ;) BUT, I got to spend time with my husband. We wrapped presents together and watched movies together. Might seem like common place things, but this time of year those are precious, precious times. And ones that I will fight even harder to protect next year. My family is a gift. I don't want to take them for granted. I don't want to regret. I want to relish.







And relish we did.