Our Week - The One with the Downtown Tree Lighting and Breakfast With Santa

Last week was my week to get caught up on all of the things that were neglected while the kids were out for Thanksgiving.  I managed to get lots done and then we ended the week with some very festive activities so it was a good mix of productivity and fun.

Monday, December 2

Monday I hit the ground running.  I had errands to run as well as a doctor appointment and I worked fast and furious on some upcoming blog posts.  The majority of the day, however, was spent doing ALL THE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING since it was Cyber Monday.  I did run to a few stores on Monday, but I did most of my shopping online.  I ended up getting so many great deals and I am so close to being done with our Christmas shopping that I can taste it.  Feels so good!

Monday was also Maui’s tenth birthday, so we had a little celebration for her after dinner.  We celebrated her with a little cheese snack complete with a candle.  We sang Happy Birthday to her and the kids helped her blow out her candle and open her gift… an adorable red and white striped sweater with a Santa hat attached.  She was not amused with the hat portion of the sweater.  Haha.

I spent the rest of the evening with her all snuggled up in my lap and I couldn’t help but think about just how thankful I am for her.  She came along almost one year to the day after my childhood dog (Bill) of 13 years died and I swear she is Bill reincarnated.  She looks like a miniature version of him, she has some of his same quirks, and she smells EXACTLY like him.  It’s uncanny.  I never thought I could love another dog the way I loved Bill but she proved me wrong.  She is truly the sweetest girl and we are all just smitten with her… even Brian.  ;o)

Tuesday, December 3

Tuesday morning I volunteered at the school for an hour or so.  We have our annual benefit ball coming up in January so the kids are starting to sell the raffle tickets for the ball and we have to type all of the information into a spreadsheet for each of the potential 10,000 tickets.  It’s a big job so they need all the help they can get.  Technology wasn’t cooperating that day so my volunteer time was cut short, but I wasn’t complaining since there’s just so much to do to prepare for the upcoming holidays.

The rest of the day was spent catching up on all the things – blog writing, catching up on emails, catching up on blog reading, and addressing Christmas cards that I’ve had for three weeks and still hadn’t gotten addressed.  Whoops.

Wednesday, December 4

Wednesday, unfortunately, started out for me in the middle of the night.  Olivia woke up with a horrible stomachache and ended up getting sick, but fortunately it was pretty brief.  I was up with her for a couple of hours and got back in the bed just as my alarm was going off to get up.  Since Olivia had a stomach bug she had to stay home from school, so B took Jacob to school so Olivia and I could get a little more sleep. 

Olivia woke up at 7:30 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and pretty much ready to party.  It never ceases to amaze me just how dang resilient kids are!  Meanwhile, I was on the struggle bus and I wasn’t even the one who was sick.  Haha.

I set Olivia up with some lightly buttered toast and some water along with Disney+ and she lived her best life all morning binge-watching Vampirina while I washed all of her bedding and clothes and sterilized the whole house.

We slowly introduced different foods throughout the day and she ended up doing well with them, so she and I were able to pick Jacob up from school.  Then we spent the rest of the evening catching up on all of the schoolwork that she had missed that her teacher was kind enough to send home with Jacob.

She ended up going to bed at 7 that evening and she slept straight through to 6:30 the next morning.  We’re so glad our girl is better and we’re thankful that nobody else got her funk!  I was also extremely thankful that it happened on a day where we had nothing scheduled because those days are rare in December!  Oh, and that evening I was also thankful for snuggly blankets, a warm doggie in my lap, and festive shows on TV… I was beat!

Thursday, December 5

Wednesday was supposed to have been my day to get back to the gym after three weeks, but since I wasn’t able to go Wednesday, I ended up making it back on Thursday instead.  It wasn’t my best workout, but I still got it in!

Olivia's teacher's assistant sent this to me first thing in the morning.  She had written this in her morning journal.  I guess our time together the day before had made an impression.  <3  Oh, and yes, she is still on a kick of calling me "Lindsay."  Lord, help us.  Haha.

The rest of the afternoon was spent blogging and sorting through all of the packages that had started to roll in from Black Friday and Cyber Monday… holy moly at the packages, y’all!

Thursday evening was Olivia’s visitor day at dance, so B and Jacob and I were able to observe her in class.  Jacob and I typically sit in the lobby during her classes as they don’t allow family and friends to watch (it’s too distracting for the kids), so it was a treat to see what she’s been learning all year!

Friday, December 6

Friday, I spent the morning working at home, I got my allergy shot, I had an appointment at the doctor, and then I ran a bazillion errands Friday afternoon.  We had many things that we had bought/ordered that we decided we didn’t want to keep, so I had tons of returns to do at Hobby Lobby, Marshall’s, Carter’s, Kohl’s, and TJ Maxx… whew!  It was a busy one!  And a rainy one at that. 

Friday evening, we met my parents and my brother at Panera for a quick dinner and then we headed downtown for the parade and Christmas tree lighting.  We’ve been attending this particular tree lighting for more than ten years – before the kids were even born – and I was glad that the rain cleared up so we didn’t have to miss it. 

Once the tree was lit, we walked the tree trail.  Each year, our city allows different companies and organizations in town to sponsor a Christmas tree and then each company decorates their tree.  All of the trees are lined up in the median downtown and it makes for a really beautiful and unique walk. 

After walking the tree trail, we ducked into our favorite local craft beer store to grab some Tropicalia (FAVE!) and then we headed over to the frozen yogurt place on the corner to grab some treats.  They had all of their seasonal flavors and our entire family opted for the candy cane frozen yogurt.  Oh man, it was good!  I just love this time of year and all of the Christmasy flavors everywhere!

After eating our froyo it was getting late, so we headed home and got the kids in the bed.  B and I stayed up and watched a couple of episodes of Gossip Girl afterward.  We just finished season three and it is getting crazy!!!!

Saturday, December 7

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for another one of our favorite traditions… Breakfast with Santa at our church!  We had opted for the early session at 9 AM, so we ended up not having to wait as long to see Santa.  We jumped right in line upon arrival and only ended up waiting about 25 minutes, so it wasn’t too bad at all. 

Jacob told us that he asked Santa for a LEGO Star Wars Y-wing, a LEGO Star Wars B-wing, and some STEM kit he’d seen in an ad.  We have literally bought none of those things for him.  Face palm.

Olivia told us that she asked for a big Hatchimals (CHECK!), a kit where you can make and decorate your own jewelry (CHECK!), and a flower pillow.  What the heck??  Lol.  I asked her where she saw the flower pillow and she said that she just thought of it in her head.  I swear, this girl makes something up every single year just to keep us on our toes.  Hahahaha.

After seeing Santa we were able to enjoy the breakfast portion of the morning – pancakes, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, and hot chocolate.  I always look forward to their breakfast because the pancakes are so light and fluffy and delicious. 

During breakfast, the kids chatted with their friends and wrote letters to Santa that were later deposited into a special mailbox to go straight to Santa.  As always, it was a fun time and I’m just trying to relish every event like this because I know our years are numbered for these kinds of activities.

We headed home after breakfast and spent the rest of the day there.  I finally got most of the rest of our Christmas cards addressed and I also got a few gifts wrapped.  We played the Hatchimals game upon Olivia’s request and were pretty lazy for the rest of the day.

The SEC Championship game was at 4 and Georgia was playing LSU so B and I settled in with some beers while the kids played outside for the entire afternoon.  The game ended up being one of the worst I’ve ever seen.  We (Georgia) went into the game with several of our key offensive players out with injuries, and then we proceeded to have SIX MORE INJURIES during the game (including a minor one for our QB1), our guys made many mistakes, and the officials missed countless penalty calls that would have been beneficial to us.  It was pretty much a train wreck and we ended up losing terribly. 

Fortunately I had gone into the game pretty much knowing that we were going to lose (although, I was hoping they would have at least kept it close) so I wasn’t super disappointed with the outcome.  It sucks, but after having that perfect storm of crap on top of crap, what can you do? 

Once our game was over, we got the kiddos in the bed and then B and I watched Christmas Vacation as well as some more football.  'Tis the season for all of the festive movies!

Sunday, December 8

Sunday morning I made homemade waffles and then we all watched Home Alone 2.  I worked on my planning for the week ahead while I watched and I’m feeling pretty good about the week ahead.  I have a ton on my plate, and I just can’t believe that the kids have less than two weeks until they’re out for Christmas break.  It was literally just Thanksgiving!  I’m surely hoping that Thanksgiving is much earlier next year because these super late Thanksgivings make the Christmas season feel exponentially shorter.

Sunday afternoon we headed to my MIL and step-FIL’s house for lunch.  My step-FIL was down with a bad cold so I helped my MIL finish up with the meal prep.  We had meatballs, cheesy mashed potatoes, broccoli, black eyed peas, and garlic cheddar biscuits, and then we had Dairy Queen Blizzard cake to celebrate my nephew for his birthday.

The kids got lots of play time in the back yard with their cousins after lunch, and us adults all got some fresh air as well.  I’m so enjoying this cooler weather and I’m so thankful the heat is over.  The older I get, the more I hate the heat!  I guess I’m living in the wrong place.  Haha.

Sunday afternoon Jacob holed up in his room to get caught up on some reading for school and Olivia and I read loads of books as well.  She has to turn in reading logs for school and each student has to have read at least 200 books by the end of the school year.  Well, Olivia has actually already met her goal for the whole school year, but we’re still turning in the logs because the teacher is going to tally the total number of books that each student reads during the school year.  She is all about reading so she can turn in those reading logs!  She loves to read anyway, but this has definitely been even more of an incentive for her to do so.  She’s competitive, that one!

After the kids finished reading they played video games with B and I finally got the whole house photographed for my Christmas home tour blog post.  It’s always such a huge undertaking each year to get everything decorated, tidied up, photographed, and then get all of the photos edited so I’m glad to have it mostly done!  I hope to have the post up tomorrow so stay tuned…

Sunday evening was spent at my parents’ house.  My mom made Santa Fe soup (which is amazing!!), and I whipped up some Winter White Cosmos per my Momma's request.  Christmas music was on and everything was just so wonderful and cozy.  We got some things squared away for Christmas, and it feels good to have the plans set in place!  It’ll be here all too soon!