Christmas

This morning Caleb asked why Saint Nick doesn’t leave anything fun for Lynn and I to play with and I told him it was because Saint Nick brings for the kiddos. I guess I’m going to have to create a new December night time visitor who leaves things for the moms and dads so the kids won’t have to worry about the adults in their lives being left out. It’s the right thing to do . Heh.

As the kids get older (that’s Logan’s shoe on to the left of my Birk, *sniff*) this tradition in particular hits home just how fast time flies and how quick my babies are growing. I mean, intellectually, I know the kids are always growing, that we want them to be growing, but I suppose it seems less apparent in the day to day business of raising a family. I see it in the piles of out-grown clothes and in the fact that Logan is almost as tall as I am already and that I can’t keep Caleb in long pants to save my life. Even then it doesn’t feel like that big of a difference. No, it’s in these little moments like lining the family’s shoes up side by side for a tiny little tradition or watching my boy do his Scoutmaster interview at a camp-out that it hits me like a ton of bricks. It’s these little moments that remind me to slow down and pay a little more attention to the day to day things; to really appreciate the little things, and to do everything I can to help my babies keep growing strong and independent. So, to all you new-ish moms and dads: embrace your two year old redecorating the tree now, make a mental note of how tiny those feet are today and take pictures of those chubby little hands because one day you’ll be sitting down blogging about a family something-or-other, feeling a little sad that your babies aren’t really babies anymore and then just end up in awe of the whole thing.

After I posted the above picture to flickr this morning I went back and pulled up the previous years we’d documented this tradition and it just. blows. me. away. Click on the pic if you want to see our Saint Nick visits for 2006-2011…I posted annual pics in the comments section.

I love December. Generally speaking it has FINALLY cooled down and actually feels like winter here in my corner of Texas. I love all the Christmas decorations that go up and I love how excited the kids are about everything. Though, nowadays the pressure is on because they remember the things we’ve done in previous years like the Advent calendar for example. Because of the way our schedule is shaking out, I’ve decided to go unconventional this year (and maybe start a new tradition if it works the way I think it will): I am making a little count down notebook with envelopes and pages for whoever wants to write or draw something they want to remember about the day. I’ll be busting out my Polaroid POGO printer so the kids can take pictures and print them off to stick in the book (because the prints are actually stickers! So cool.) if they want. Should be fun.

We’ll have a few days to catch up on before I get it all finished, but that’s cool. It’s going to be one of my projects I’m toting along on my rainy and cold camp-out-with-strangers weekend. Logan is participating in a Webelos Invitational Weekend with one of the Boy Scout Troops he is thinking about bridging over to in the next month or so. There is no parental interaction other than we can observe what they’re up to from a distance. I have to be on site the entire weekend because Lynn is away on business. I am amassing quite a bag of stuff to keep myself busy handwork wise. Hopefully it will be a productive couple days for me!

I have to go double check my list and finish rounding up my gear. On the bright side, I am finally going to get to use the catalytic heater I bought a couple years ago. I did a test run this morning and I have to say, I am impressed with the heat that little thing eminates. I also bought myself some new boots for the occasion: they’re Sorel 1964 Premium (leather) boots. Cute, right?! Molly loves them and wishes she had them in her size, though wearing mine is apparently pretty fun too.

Wish me luck! I’ll meet you guys back here on Monday with a report on the goings-on. Have a great weekend and think of me when you’re all snuggled up on your couch!

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Speaking of Advent Calendars, my mom is doing her own version on her blog this month: http://mkpdesigns.wordpress.com/ click on over to see my sibs and me age gracefully through the last 36 years of Christmasses Past. Fun stuff!