Happy New Year 2016!

It’s 3pm on a sunny NYE afternoon. Both of my kiddos are napping, which never happens. Instead of working on my never-ending “to do” list, I decided to just sit and reflect. I am sitting in my oversize chair in my bedroom, looking out the window at the beautiful white covered land that brings me great peace. I always claim to dislike snow, but this winter, I have found a new beauty in the white blanket.

Seeing the animals in their thick winter coats, roaming the woods without the camouflage of leaves,  brings me joy and settles my “always thinking” mind.  As I watched four deer slowly walk around and then settle down to rest, unaware that they were being watched, I felt such a sense of peace.  I quietly told myself, “life is beautiful”.  I then realized that it was more than just that. That moment was reminding me that simple is beautiful. All it took to bring a sense of calm and beauty to my soul was to look out the window. I truly love sharing my land with four-legged creatures. Yesterday, I saw deer, coyotes and a bald eagle without leaving my house. Nature is calming.

Can you spot the 2 deer laying down?

I peaked in on my children a few moments ago.  This. 

This is beautiful.  This makes my heart happy. This simple little thing.

Everything happens for a reason, right??  Rylee never naps…hasn’t in a couple of years.  But today, she asked if she could go lay down with Wyatt, who was already sleeping. I believe this happened so that I could take this hour to reflect, recharge and remind myself of what matters.

With this, I know what my goal is for the new year:

I challenge myself to enjoy the simple life in 2016. To slow down. To spend more time outdoors in nature.  To mentally capture beautiful moments with my family. To be more thankful for the simple beauty that is my life.

Cheers to you, my friends, for a simply beautiful new year!

More Presents, Less Money

We have always been good about making sure we don't go overboard with Christmas gifts.  Our kids have everything they need and we don't want them to get everything they ask for.  

Last year, we kept this in mind as we purchased just a few gifts for them.  We do presents from Santa and from Mom and Dad.  My husband doesn't necessarily agree with this, but he doesn't do the shopping or wrapping, so I win that battle.  

Anyway, last year after the kids finished opening presents there wasn't much excitement in the air. We didn't get them anything big, nor anything they asked for...because a 3 and 1 year old don't ask for anything...or at least ours didn't.  So, after the presents were all opened, James went out to his car to get the dump truck he had originally bought for Wyatt but decided to return.  We were glad we made the last-minute decision to go ahead and give it to them, because it ended up being the most played with gift and created that fun Christmas morning spirit.  

So, this year, I decided there needed to be more of that "fun" on Christmas morning.  I got the kids more gifts than usual.  I had a hard time stopping myself from buying Rylee a million things -- she is so easy to buy for!!  Of course, I have to keep the number of gifts the same for both kids, so knowing I wouldn't know what else to get Wyatt to even it up, made me put a stop to buying for Rylee.  I have a feeling she will always be easier to buy for than him.  Rylee also circled everything in the toy catalog that she wanted....along with WHO she wanted to buy it for her...so she made it easy on all of us as well.  

By the end of our numerous get-togethers, the kids got a ridiculous amount of gifts!!  After watching multiple kids open presents in several different settings, here is what I learned this year about young kids and presents:  The more presents to unwrap, the better.  IT DOES NOT MATTER what is inside of them. Unless you are my 4 yo niece and get a package of Oreos ("Hey! This isn't a toy!!"). 

James and I both noticed that kids in general like to have more gifts to open -- I guess that's a no-brainer, but I didn't pay much attention to that until this year.  For other kids that I buy for, I normally set a price range and go for 1 nicer item within that range.  James and I both took note that other adults will give the kids multiple less expensive gifts, each wrapped separately and the kids will get more excitement out of those gifts. 

I also learned that kids will have the same reaction to a gift whether it's a $3 light-up toothbrush or a $50 toy with lots of bells and whistles!  Rylee proved this to be true when she was asked by her uncle what Santa brought her....though Santa brought her several really nice things, she could only remember the light-up toothbrush!  Wyatt was super excited about every single present he opened, but has played the most with the 2 least expensive items he received!  Note to self: Don't spend too much next year!!  

Wyatt had a gift exchange at his daycare last week.  As it wasn't his normal day to be there, I took him so he could participate.  We were given a $5 limit. Wyatt and I shopped at Dollar General for our gift to bring.  I was pleasantly surprised by how many decent options we had in that price range!!  As each gift was opened, I found myself thinking "Wow, that was a good gift for $5!" After all 12 gifts were opened by the two year olds, I was so shocked at the quality of gifts that were received, and at how happy each child was with their gift!!  Wyatt got a package of hotwheels cars, which has been his "thing" the past month....so that was an awesome gift for him!!  I told James next year, I'm only shopping at Dollar General for all the kids and I'm only spending 20% of my usual budget ;)  Kidding. Maybe. 

I also found it interesting that the gifts I thought the kids would be the most excited about, they weren't.  Or, the opposite...something I thought they wouldn't care about was a favorite item!  I bought Rylee new cowboy boots and figured they would be her least favorite item.....I think she showed the most excitement over those than any other gift she opened..she even put them on right away and wore them with her jammies :) This made me very happy as I spent a couple of months trying to find the perfect pair.

While Christmas is not about the gifts and we try to teach the kids that.....it's definitely the highlight of their holiday. I want their Christmases to be memorable for them as I have many fond memories of my childhood Christmases.  This year though, I think I learned the tricks to make us all happy....have lots of presents for them to open, but cut the budget in half! :)  .....until they are teenagers with expensive requests....

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I can't believe Christmas is just 3 days away!!!  I could use about three more weeks of Christmas season :)  I just love it so much.  I reported back in November that I was almost done shopping and planned to just enjoy the season without the stress of shopping.

Well, I have to say I really did enjoy it.  I still did some shopping and kept thinking of things I "needed" to get, but it wasn't at all stressful.  I actually found myself being more generous than most years and buying for people I don't normally buy for.  I don't think that would have happened had I had so much shopping to do.  Overall, I just really felt cheerful all month :) I did more charitable giving this year as a result too.

We got all of our usual holiday activities crossed off and added some new ones.  Here are some highlights:

Put up the tree and decorated it the day after Thanksgiving.....yes, in jammies. Why? Because that's what they wanted to do at 7:30am! 

Rylee wrote to Santa.  As I mentioned before, she will not go see him, which is okay with me, so we send a letter.

Our Elf on the Shelf returned...she wrote a letter to Rylee letting her know that Santa received her wish list.  Some how we managed to remember to move her every single night this year!!!! 

Disney on Ice and Festival of trees.  The latter was new this year, but will be on our annual "to do" list.

The Blenders concert with my dad.  This was my 2nd year attending and I hope I never miss it in the future!!  It was at Hoyt Sherman place this year -- my first time in that building...beautiful!!! 

Gingerbread House with Daddy.  I never participate in this one....this is a Daddy thing. I was impressed with Rylee's creativity...she added a fire place with fire! Wyatt lasted about 5 minutes.

Cut-out sugar cookies.  I tried a gluten free recipe this year and it was amazing!!!  We all loved them!!  My mom joined us and hopefully will be able to every year.  Wyatt frosted one cookie, while Rylee helped with the entire process from mixing the dough to rolling it out, to cutting, to frosting many cookies --- for some reason she would only eat the cookies I frosted....hers had way too many sprinkles :) 

A friend and I did some Christmas candy baking together this year.  It was so much more fun with a friend and we plan to make this a tradition!! 

We made it out several nights to look at Christmas lights.  I am beyond impressed with all the festive light displays in my small community!!  We are even blessed to have an amazing display that is set to music.  I've seen videos of this sort of thing, but witnessing it in person was incredible!!  We were all speechless....just watched in awe for about 15 minutes.  Hopefully we can see it one more time before the season ends.

Our library had a Winter Festival night for the kids.  They were to wear their jammies.  It ended up being a really cute Polar Express event.  The kids received tickets that looked like the ones from the movie (Stamped with "BELIEVE" on them).  They walked in a line on railroad tracks made from construction paper, then sat for a reading of the story.  They got to get up and dance several times to music from the movie.  There were also 2 adorable crafts they made, as well as a station to make reindeer food and eat cookies :)  It was about an hour long and Rylee was so sad when it was over.  She wanted it to last longer and she knew they only read a portion of the book....she wanted to finish it!  All the kids received a bell (like in the movie) at the end. 

Something else new for us this year, was a Christmas concert for Wyatt's daycare center.  His class only sang 1 song and he was THAT KID who cried hysterically through the entire song.  My dad came to watch and he and James felt so bad for Wyatt.  My dad kept telling me not to make him go up on stage.  But if I'm being honest, it was a little entertaining :)  It's not like the other 2 year olds were singing anyway, so none of the parents missed hearing their child sing.  The three year olds were super cute though....they sang 6 songs!!  I couldn't believe the difference one year makes! 

James and I attended our first ever (or at least in 5 years) adult Christmas party.  One of our neighbors invited all of the neighbors within a mile or two radius over last weekend.  It was the first time we had met most of them.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was so great to meet everyone finally!!  James even found many things in common with several of the men, which was great!

Tomorrow evening we will head to my aunt's house in WDM to stay the night.  My family has been having Christmas Eve at her house for as long as I can remember.  I always look forward to it more than anything else during the season.  It's so nice to have everyone together, have a nice meal, see the Christmas decorations I remember from her house as a child, and of course, open presents. 

On Christmas Day, it will just be the 4 of us in the morning....opening presents and eating sweets for breakfast.  James' parents will join us in the afternoon.  I don't usually cook (or do anything for that matter) on Christmas Day, so we will have a frozen lasagna meal.  I always look forward to a day where we can't go anywhere and we just spend the day relaxing and enjoying each other. 

Hope you all are enjoying the season too.  Have a very Merry Christmas!!! 

Christmas Song Story

I decided to try my hand at writing a fiction story last week-- for a contest.  I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to do it again!

I thought it would be fun to start out the story with a line from a Christmas song.  I asked my Facebook friends to give me a line, as well as a number between 800-1600, which would be the number of words in my story.

After getting so many great responses, I then got the idea to include LOTS of Christmas song lyrics into a story.  I chose "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose" for my opener.  The person who gave this suggestion, picked the number 999.  So, here is my 999 word story, that includes MANY lyrics from Christmas songs.

How many can you find???

                “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  Jack Frost nipping at our noses. This is silly.  I’m not feeling very Christmasy,” Zack said to Jill as he reached for another blanket. The chill in the air was definitely not going to be covered up by the puny fire they had going in their yard. 

“Well, I’m dreaming of a white Christmas,” Jill began.  “But since there is no snow on the ground, I figured sitting by the fire would be the next best thing.” 

“Seriously, Jill, I can barely feel my toes.  The fire is slowly dying. Can’t we go inside and decorate the halls with boughs of holly or something instead?” Zack urged. He wasn’t feeling the Christmas cheer his fiancé promised sitting by the fire would bring. 

Zack gathered the blankets and stood up to head for the house. “Baby, it’s cold outside. I’m going in.  I’m sorry.”

Jill let out a sigh and followed behind.  To be honest, she was freezing too.  Trying to put a little Christmas in Zach’s heart this year was tough for some reason. 

Inside, she grabbed supplies to start wrapping presents. Maybe seeing the gifts that would light up their niece and nephew’s faces on Christmas day would help Zach find the Christmas spirit.

“Honey, would you like to help? Pick out some paper and a bow for this one,” She said as she tossed the Cinderella doll onto Zack’s lap.  “Make it look good, but don’t outdo Santa.”

Rolling his eyes, Zack said, “Sorry to burst your bubble, but there’s no Santa.”

“You can say there’s no such thing as Santa, but as for me and Grandpa, we believe!” Jill replied as she curled ribbon to top her nephew’s present.  Everyone thought she and her Grandpa were crazy, but they enjoyed keeping the magic of the holiday alive in their hearts.

“We stopped believing once. And then one foggy Christmas Eve…” Jill began telling the story Zack had already heard several times.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Jolly ol’ St. Nicholas.” Zack teased.  He wasn’t going to believe her story about seeing Santa dancin’ and prancin’ in Jingle Bell Square.

Ignoring him, Jill placed the last wrapped present under the tree. “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!” She said in a sing-song voice. Just then the doorbell rang. She and Zack both jumped up to get the door. Through the window, they saw their neighbors Rick and Jane holding a plate of cookies.

“Our finest gifts we bring,” Jane said with a smile as she handed the plate to Jill. Seeing that Rick and Jane had more plates to deliver, they kept the chatter short.

“Thank you so very much!” Jill told them. 

“We wish you a Merry Christmas!” Zack said with enthusiasm. As Jill closed the door, a smile grew on her face. She knew Zack would come around.

“Wow! Where did that come from?” She asked.               Zack just gave her a wink and walked to the kitchen to set the plate down.  Jill followed behind and was delighted when he handed her a cookie. 

“What do you say we head downtown for a bit?” Zack asked. “I always like watching the tree lighting and hearing the carolers.” Zack was slowly starting to feel the Christmas spirit.

“Yes, I’d love to!” Jill couldn’t believe he made such a festive offer.

On the way to Main Street, Jill noticed the stars were brightly shining.  Her heart was so full of Christmas cheer. She placed her hand on top of Zack’s.

“I’m so glad you are trying to be less of a scrooge,” She told him.

With a chuckle, he replied, “And in case you didn’t hear, Santa Clause is coming to town.” He loved teasing her.  In some strange way it was actually cute that she chose to believe in Santa.

                Main Street was littered with people.  Children laughing, people passing. In the air, there’s a feeling of Christmas.  Jill looked over towards the pond. Seven swans a swimming let her know it wasn’t cold enough for the pond to be frozen.

                “Look Honey, the swans are still swimming and you couldn’t even handle sitting by the fire with two heavy blankets.” She got her chance to return the heckling. Zack just put his arm around her as they walked towards the Christmas tree that was about to be lit with hundreds of brightly colored bulbs.

                “Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree”, the children’s choir sang. This brought Zack back to age eight, when he got to sing carols around the big tree with his choir friends. The spirit was settling nicely into his heart.

                “It’s the most wonderful time of the year, you’re right,” He said as he kissed Jill on the head. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a one-horse open sleigh that appeared to be giving rides.

                “5, 4, 3, 2, 1…” The crowd counted down to the lighting of the large tree.  As the lights came on and filled the street with a warm glow, there was clapping and cheering. Zack and Jill joined in.

                “Thank you for bringing me here tonight,” Jill said before she kissed Zack’s cheek.

                “You are very welcome.  And thank you for trying to help me get in the Christmas spirit.” Zack replied as his eyes wandered over to the horse drawn sleigh.

“Since we’ve no place to go…” He said as he pointed to the sleigh.

“I’d love to!” Jill squealed with excitement. The couple climbed into the sleigh. Jill told the driver how much she wished they would be dashing through the snow instead of rolling on wheels.

The driver handed them each a cup of hot chocolate and said, “I don’t know if there’ll be snow, but have yourself a cup of cheer.” Jill smiled.

Zack snuggled up close to his soon-to-be bride. “Consider this sleigh ride your gift,” he told her.

“Baby, all I want for Christmas is you.” She said with a wink.

Holiday Cheer

Happy Friday!
So far, my plan to just enjoy the holiday season is off to a great start!!  Everywhere I've gone this week has been so cheerful.  If it's okay, I'd like to share some of my holiday experiences from the week with you :)

First, as is true most years, people just seem happier.  I see lots of smiles, kindness and laughter.  It's so heart warming to go somewhere and see so much holiday cheer right now.  On one town's facebook page that I'm a part of, people keep offering gifts to the person who correctly guesses a number....how fun, right?!?!  I am also really loving that my new little town has Christmas music playing outside of the shops.  No matter how cold it is, I roll my window down each time I drive through "main street" :)  Oh, and Red!!!  Red, Red, everywhere....my favorite color!!!  I love seeing it everywhere I go!!

The kids and I drove around looking at Christmas lights on Monday night...my favorite was what I think is called "lazy lights"....its like a spot light that shines colored dots onto the house.  I wish I would have gotten a picture to show --- it was so neat!!

On "Giving Tuesday" I was feeling especially kind and got several of my "acts of kindness" out of the way.  I donated money, selected an angel from the local angel tree, and wrote a Christmas card for a recovering soldier.  Just as I finished these items, I received a notice that a local charity was looking for volunteers in the coming weeks.  Being in the giving spirit and wanting to get started with some volunteering, I signed both myself and my daughter up to help.  I'm looking forward to doing that together in a couple weeks!

Speaking of volunteering, yesterday I finally got to help out at Rylee's school.  I was looking so forward to it all week long.  It turned out to be a really good time! They are learning the letter G this week and talking about Gingerbread Man for the holidays. I got to watch them act out the Gingerbread Man story and then lead a gingerbread matching game in small groups.  Preschoolers are so much fun!  Rylee made a gingerbread house at school today that she brought home.

Last night I started some Christmas "baking".  I made oreo balls -- James' favorite.  I used the peppermint oreos for a more festive ingredient.  This morning I made some bars that I will be taking with me to a gathering at my in-laws this weekend.  I had a few left that wouldn't fit in the container, so I set them on a plate, wondering how I was going to keep from eating them all day.  About 3 minutes later, Rylee yelled to me that the UPS truck just pulled in the drive.  PERFECT!!  I had the kids take the plate of bars to him....he happily accepted :)  The poor guy has been to our house at least a dozen times in the past few weeks. Gotta love online shopping...and free shipping!

Our Elf on the Shelf showed up this week.  I'm not gonna lie...kinda wish I never would have started this tradition.  But, the kids love it.  Rylee really truly thinks Elfie is real.  She has conversations with the thing!  At least Elfie leaves her letters to let Rylee know she was paying attention. It really is adorable to watch Rylee talk to her and makes the holiday seem very magical :)  I'm glad to know there is at least one character Rylee isn't scared of, since she hates Santa, Cy, Smokey the bear, etc.

My Christmas story for the magazine came out this week. I've received several compliments on it, including a very nice one from the editor!  The topic was ornaments.  Five people shared with me the stories about their favorite ornament.  As I was getting my ornaments out for my Christmas tree last week I realized I really don't have many ornaments with stories.  Almost all of them I bought myself and not for any reason other than I liked them.  Of the ornaments that do have stories, here are a few of my favorites:

My mother-in-law brought me this from Ireland

Given to me by Rylee last year for Christmas.

Rylee and I painted ornaments together this year and she made this one just for me...in my favorite color. 

This doesn't go on my tree, but is Rylee's 1.5 year-old hand print she made at daycare.

Regarding the Christmas tree, I think I have decided on my absolute favorite Christmas "activity".  I love love sitting by the tree at night after the kids have gone to bed.  It's calm and quiet in the house and the glow of the lights is so heart warming.  

Hope everyone is having a great December so far!!

Anniversary Pictures

My mom had been asking me for a picture of James and I for her wall collage and I was struggling to find one that was taken this year.  As I looked through our photos, I realized James and I only take photos of the two of us once or twice a year, and even then they are only marginal, as they are just selfies taken with our cell phones.

Then, when we moved and I unpacked the picture frames I bought for our master bedroom, I realized the only really good photos I have to put in them are 6 years old (from our wedding).  I was ready for updated photos of just the two of us.

So, as sort of a 6 year anniversary gift, I talked James into a quick photo session.  A high school friend has a successful photography business nearby and when I saw the details of her holiday "mini sessions" I knew it would be a great fit for us.

Here are some of my favorites from the session, taken by Creative Cousins Photography: