Our Week - The One with the Reindeer Run, a Lunch Date, Olivia’s Class Christmas Party, Seeing Santa, and Looking at Christmas Lights

Last week, I was finally feeling better, and I was able to get back out in the world after a week with Covid.  It was the most hectic, fun, and festive week!  We were able to squeeze in most of the things that we hadn’t had the chance to do, and it was just a merry, merry time!

Monday, December 16

Monday morning, I was finally feeling back to normal after being sick other than feeling tired by the end of the day and still not being able to taste 100%.  Since it had been nine days and I was feeling much better (and hadn’t run a fever in a week), it was time to get back out in the world again!

I dropped the kids at school for the first time in a whole week (Brian did it the whole week while I was sick), and then I met Brian at the Kia dealership so I could drop my car off for service.  Brian and I headed home after that, and I worked on the blog all morning and did laundry. 

My SUV was ready by lunchtime, so B and I drove back to the dealership to pick it up and then I filled it with gas on the way home since I was getting low. 

By the time we got home, I had just enough time to eat a quick lunch, throw dinner in the slow cooker, and then work for a little longer before it was time to pick up the kids from school.

When we got home, the kids did homework and then they played outside for a while because it was warm and sunny.  I started day one of my new Bible study for 2025, and then I went for a walk / jog for the first time in two weeks.  I did more walking than jogging and I felt positively exhausted when I was done, but I was grateful to be back out there getting in some movement.  I missed it terribly when I was sick.

When I got back home, I steamed some broccoli to go with our ranch chicken pasta, and then we all sat down to dinner together.  After dinner, I showered and got ready for bed, and then while the kids showered, I finished our Christmas cards so I could get them in the mail on Tuesday. 

Once the kids were ready for bed, we watched some of the holiday Lego Masters special that we’d recorded, and then Brian and I watched the Falcons play in Vegas before we headed to bed.

I was happy to be back at it, but my energy level still wasn’t 100% and my brain fog was still pretty bad, so while it was a productive day, it wasn’t quite as productive as I’d wished it had been originally.

Tuesday, December 17

Tuesday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and then I started to tackle my to-do list.  The to-do list was ridiculous on Tuesday, so I had a lot on my plate.  First up, I headed to Target where I finished up all of the Christmas shopping.  After that, I had about an hour at home to work on some more laundry, and I also took some time to organize all of the gifts.  Then, I headed back out to visit with my therapist one last time before the year is over.  On the way back home, I swung by the library to pick up a book… I placed a hold for this book months ago, and of course, it became available the one week that I had no time to read.  Haha.

After the library, I headed home to eat lunch and finish up some blog work, and then it was time to get in the car line.  I ended up starting my book and getting through a big chunk of it, and it was so good I didn’t want to put it down.

When we got home, I got another Bible study done while the kids did homework, and then I dropped Olivia off at dance later in the afternoon.

It was another gorgeous day – 75 and sunny (although, not very Christmasy) – but I didn’t want to waste it, so I headed out for another walk / jog.  I had a faster pace, and I didn’t feel quite as exhausted when I was done this time, so that was a major win.  I even did a quick eight-minute arms workout when I was done.

I’d just gotten back home and was checking the mail when our school resource officer drove by my house.  One of his best friends lives five doors down from me, so I walked down the street and chatted with them for a few minutes before walking back home to get showered and in my PJs.

Brian headed to pick Olivia up from dance, and then we sat down for a late dinner – eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, and toast – and after that, the kids got showered and ready for bed.

We watched a few more minutes of Lego Masters before they went to bed, and then Brian and I finished an episode of Saturday Night Live before heading to bed ourselves.

Wednesday, December 18

Wednesday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then drove around to the football field to get ready for the Reindeer Run.  Several of the ladies from the school were already out there getting everything together, so I helped out where needed.  I helped get some of the Christmas blowups set up, I pulled out the Christmas trees from the shed to line the starting line, and then I helped out in the concession stand to get the hot chocolate ready. 

Since two of the teachers were co-chairing it this year, I didn’t have nearly as much on my plate, and it was nice to have the break since I’d been sick all week and still didn’t have my full energy back.  They appointed me to oversee things while they went back to the classrooms, but there wasn’t much for me to do since we had so many wonderful volunteers.

I took up a post at the hot chocolate toppings table, and that’s where I stayed for most of the morning.

Fifth grade came out first, and that’s Olivia’s class, so I watched her run and then we took some pictures, visited Santa, got hot chocolate, and had her face painted.  I was able to snap a few pictures with her, and then I headed back to the toppings table to help out there.

The rest of the morning went by in a blur.  All of the grades came out one-by-one, staggered a few minutes apart, and it was a really fun morning.  The preschool came out last, and they were all just so precious.  We did chocolate milk with toppings for them so they wouldn’t burn themselves on the hot chocolate, and they were just the cutest little things holding their little cups up for marshmallows and candy canes.

Once everybody cleared out, I got my annual picture with Santa, and our school resource officer joined me for one since we always take our picture with Santa together.  Then we got everything cleaned up, and we had so many volunteers that it was done in record time. 

After everyone left, I locked up the shed and the gate, closed down the concession stand, and then our resource officer and I had to figure out how to get the balloon arch from the football field to the auditorium without breaking it or popping any balloons.  Those two areas are on completely opposite sides of our large campus, so it was going to be tricky.  The school wanted to use it for another event, but it was impossible to disassemble it, so we had to take it in one big piece.

Our resource officer has a giant truck, so we were able to lay the balloon arch over the back of it, and then he sat on the tailgate to hold it in place while I drove his truck around to the other side of the school.  His truck is HUGE, so it felt like I was driving a bus, and I thought for sure I was going to jump a curb or take out one of his side mirrors since I had to go through some narrow areas, but we made it.  Haha.

Once the balloon arch was delivered safely – and may I say that we didn’t even pop a single balloon! – we drove back over to the football field, and I headed out.

We weren’t able to see my nephew and his fiancé the previous weekend since I had Covid, and we were sad since we only get to see them once a year since they live in North Carolina, but they were able to meet us for lunch Wednesday afternoon.  My nephew, my niece, and my nephew’s fiancé all joined us at a local restaurant that we love, and we hung out with them for a couple of hours.

After lunch, we walked down to my friend Khristina’s new bookshop because one of my books had come in, and Haley, Braden, and Zach all came with us.  Everyone loves a good local bookshop!  (And I SO hate that we forgot to get a picture with the three of them while they were here!)

By the time we were done there, it was already time for me to drive back to the school and get in the car line, and I read my book the whole time I waited.  I was determined to get through it before I had to return it, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to renew it since there’s such a long line of people waiting for it!

When we got home, I had to catch up on all of my daily tasks along with some blog work since I hadn’t been home since 7:15.  I did my journaling/quiet time but skipped my Bible study due to lack of time, and then I had to get Olivia to dance.

After dance, I drove to my friend, Christy’s, house to return all of her Christmas blowups that we had borrowed for the Reindeer Run, and then I headed back home.  There was a beautiful sunset on the way home, and I'd hoped to capture it, but I was just a little late by the time I got home.

By the time I got home, it was time for dinner, so I reheated the leftover ranch chicken pasta from Monday and made some fresh steamed broccoli (that is basically the only green we can get the kids to eat, so yes, we eat it a LOT) and Brian, Jacob, and I ate together.  Olivia always eats dinner on the go in the car on Wednesdays since she doesn’t get home from dance until 8:30.

After dinner, I was exhaussssted, but I made myself do a quick strength workout, and then I showered and got ready for bed.  I lay on the couch for the next hour and read my book while B went to pick up Olivia, and then I ended up falling asleep while Olivia was getting showered and ready for bed.

It was hard to wake myself up, but I got up and got the kids in bed, and then Brian and I watched a few minutes of college football before heading to bed. 

 

Thursday, December 19

Thursday morning, I had no place to be, but I had a to-do list a mile long, so I hit the ground running the minute I got home.  I finished a blog post and started two others, I got all caught up on blog comments and emails, I caught up on blog reading, I wrapped all of the gifts for Brian and the kids, and I got all ready for Olivia’s class party on Friday.

At 3, I grabbed the kids from school, and I finished my book in the car line (fastest I’ve read a book in a LONG time… it was SO good), and then we headed to music.  Piano lessons went well – Jacob worked some from his book and then worked on a piece he’s being wanting to learn for fun.  Guitar lessons went well, too – Mr. Steve got Olivia started on I Look in People’s Windows by Taylor Swift and I’m SWOONING that she’s learned the opening chords because it’s one of my favorite songs on the entire Tortured Poets Department album.

We said our goodbyes for two weeks and then headed home.  The kids played outside for a bit while I knocked out some more stuff around the house and did my Bible study (I love looking back at the notes and art that I did last year on this second trip around!), and then I cooked stir fry with chicken and rice and veggies for dinner. 

After dinner, I got the rest of the laundry put away and then I opted out of my workout.  I’d had a horrible headache, borderline migraine, all day that medicine wouldn’t touch, and it included tons of dizziness and tension, and there was no way physically that I could’ve gotten anything done. 

Instead, we got the kids in the bed, and then Brian and I watched more football I think?? and then we went to bed early-ish.

Olivia also brought home the cutest art project from school on Thursday... they were told to make a Nutcracker decorated any way that they wanted, and she told me she just made Taylor Swift in her TTPD dress.  Haha.  Is it not the cutest thing you ever did see?!

Friday, December 20

Friday morning, I got the kids to school, grabbed Maui’s food and meds from the vet, and then I headed back to the school to get ready for Olivia’s class party.  I arrived right at eight just as they were finishing up announcements, and Olivia’s class headed off to “specials” (art that day) shortly after that while I prepped for the party. 

When I walked in the classroom, she came running over to me and she gave me the biggest hug and I’m just so happy that she still greets me that way every time.  All of her sweet friends said hi to me, a couple hugged me, and several of them chatted me up for a bit.  When I walked in the door, one of them said, “Mrs. ___, you are always here!”  (I blanked out my last name since I don’t share it here.)  Haha, it does feel that way sometimes!

At nine, the kids all lined up to eat because I’d set up a big brunch for them thanks to all of the parents’ donations – donuts, muffins, Chick-Fil-A chicken minis, fruit, Gogurt, juice boxes – they had a big spread!  Several of the other parents came, too, so I was able to catch up with a few of them.

After brunch, the kids played “Dirty Santa.”  They’d all brought in a $5 gift, and they drew numbers and went around opening and/or stealing gifts from one another.  Since I’d been sick the week before, I was lazy and bought a $5 Target gift card for the game thinking it was kind of lame and feeling guilty that I hadn’t had time to shop for anything better, but it ended up being the first gift stolen and the second gift stolen, making it the first gift that was frozen and couldn’t be stolen anymore.  Guess it wasn’t so lame after all.  Haha.

After Dirty Santa, Olivia’s teacher turned on The Grinch in her classroom, and the other fifth grade teacher turned on another Christmas movie and all of the kids went back and forth from class to class to hang out.  Olivia and her friends put makeup on some blank paper faces that her friend had brought, and I chatted with our resource officer and some of the other parents.

By 10:45, I was ready to GO (haha), so I checked her out early and then we walked over to Jacob’s hallway to grab him.  They were all doing fun stuff all morning and were gathered in the lunchroom enjoying gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate that our chef had made for them, but Jacob was about done, so he grabbed his stuff and then we headed to the office to officially check him out.

Every year, they’ve never let me check them out early because they’ve always wanted to stay until the very end (they got out at noon), but this year they finally let me avoid the car line and just grab them and go!  Praise!

This was officially our last elementary school class Christmas party, though, so it was definitely bittersweet leaving.  I’ve been planning Christmas parties for the past seven years since I started room-momming after I quit my corporate job, and this was the last one I’ll ever plan.  *tear

We headed straight to the mall where Brian was already waiting, because we wanted to get in our annual Santa visit.  At this point, with Jacob in eighth grade, I’m 99% certain that he doesn’t believe in Santa anymore, but we don’t know for sure because he always just goes along with everything.  Haha.  Olivia has been questioning things aloud this whole season, but she’s never come right out and asked, so I know this is probably our last year for her, too. 

The kids have been seeing this same Santa every single year since Jacob was born aside from 2020-2022 when he took a break from Covid.  He came back last year, and we were absolutely THRILLED to be able to see him again.  He has to be getting on up there in age, so I don’t know how many more years he’ll do this… hopefully long enough for us to decide to stop taking Santa pictures… because I know that’ll probably come to an end soon anyway.

On the way out, the kids wanted to stop by Toys R Us inside Macy’s (because of course they did), and while they did that, Brian went to look at toasters since ours has been on its last leg for months.

We ended up leaving with a Lego set (that Jacob bought with his own money), some furry stuffie that you pull all of the fur off of it to reveal a different face (that Olivia bought with her own money), and a duplicate of the toaster that we’ve had since we were married… and it was cheaper at Macy’s than it was anywhere online, including Amazon!  Woo hoooo!

We all headed home after that, and the rest of the afternoon was spent eating lunch, tidying the house a bit, surprising the kids with gingerbread house kits, and spending about an hour in my office to wrap up some things.

ESPN College GameDay did a special show Friday afternoon from 3:30-7, so I headed downstairs and snuggled with Maui for most of that, and scrolled through social media, decompressing AKA rotting.  Haha.

Brian picked up pizza for dinner, and we whipped up some Moscow Mules, and then after dinner, the kids showered and then we watched The Santa Clause.  I fell asleep about 30 minutes into it and slept like a rock for the rest of the movie. 

When the movie was over, we got the kids in the bed, and then Brian and I headed downstairs to watch the first of the college football playoff games – Notre Dame and Indiana.  It was pretty boring as expected, because one of teams probably shouldn’t have even made it to the playoffs.  The way they are doing things this year is really allowing some weaker teams to make it in even though there are much stronger teams that were left out.  Hopefully they’ll tweak the way things are done after they see how this first year of the 12-team playoff goes. 

After the game, we headed to bed knowing that we had a glorious 17-day stretch of days off ahead of us!  The BEST.

 

Saturday, December 21

Saturday morning, we slept in, and Brian picked up donuts for our first official day of Christmas break.  I rotted on the couch all morning with Maui and watched more ESPN College GameDay, and I also went through some old UGA yearbooks from the 1940’s that my grandfather was in!!!!

One of Brian’s coworkers is the daughter of someone who was very close with my Mama Cass and Big Daddy, and she went to school at UGA the same time that my Big Daddy was there.  Brian’s coworker didn’t want the old UGA yearbooks that belonged to her mom anymore, so she asked us if we wanted them since she knew my Big Daddy was in them. 

She ended up having his junior and senior yearbook and it was SO COOL to see all of his old pictures and all of his accolades!  He was truly something special!  I am so grateful to have these old University of Georgia yearbooks from 1946 and 1947... I will treasure them!

I finally got off the couch a little after 11, and I got in a mixed cardio workout.  I had to go lighter than usual, and it still made me tired – this Covid exhaustion is getting old – but I got a whole hour done.

After my workout, I got the whole house tidied, and I gathered all of the towels in the house to be washed.

The kids had put together their gingerbread houses after breakfast, and then once they had set, they spent the rest of the morning decorating them.  They turned out so cute!  I love the treehouses… it was a nice change of pace from the standard house.

I got lunch ready while the kids did their laundry, and then after lunch, the kids tidied all of their stuff in the house and cleaned their bathroom.  After that, they were allowed to do some screen time, and I spent about an hour in my office working on a blog post and doing my Bible study.

We went to 5:30 Mass later in the evening after missing for several weeks due to being sick and out of town, and it was so nice to be back.  Afterwards, we finally got to spend some time with my Momma and Daddy… we had only seen them during the last couple of months because they were out of town and then we were out of town and then my mom was sick for a long time and then I was sick for a long time.  So, it was great to spend some time with them.  It was also AMAZING to finally have Mexican food from our favorite local place because we hadn’t been in ages and all of us were craving it!  We documented the evening with a photo, and we had a photo bomber in the background.  Lol.

After dinner, we swung by Dairy Queen – because of course we did, haha – and then we headed home.  Brian and I watched the Tennessee vs. Ohio State playoff game while the kids played piano and guitar, and then after we got them in the bed, we watched the rest of the game.  It was booooring like the other playoff games.  Olivia asked me to take a picture of her with Sheepie before bed because they were wearing their matching pajamas.

Sunday, December 22

Sunday morning, we had leftover donuts for breakfast, and then I did my usual Sunday morning thing – online sermon, yoga, planner for the week ahead – and then I got some blog work done.  I also made a grocery list for B because he was so kind to go grocery shopping since he knows I hate it so much.  Haha.

While he was gone, I transferred all the photos from my phone to my computer and got them organized, and I stopped midway to help B get the groceries put away.

We had a light lunch at home, and then after that, I jumped in the shower to get ready for the day.  I had to finish this weekly post that you’re currently reading, so I spent the rest of the afternoon doing that, and then it was time for some fun!

We loaded up and headed out to look at Christmas lights once it was dark, and then we grabbed Panera takeout on the way home.  Maui came along with us for the ride and she snuggled in my lap the whole time.

We watched Elf before the kids went to bed, and Brian and I made some Winter White Cosmos to enjoy during the movie.  After that, Brian and I watched some of Saturday Night Live from the previous night and we headed to bed.  

It was cold the entire weekend, so we were able to have fires in the fireplace every night and it was just so perfect for the season!

And that was our very busy, very festive week!

Happy Monday, y’all!