A woman from my book club typically hosts our December book club…but she declined hosting this year as she’s preparing to move. For the holidays, we opt for someone’s home over a restaurant and include an ornament exchange. If we get to talking about the book, it’s a bonus. Last year’s was so much fun and the hostess has THE perfect house for entertaining. I live in a lovely home and I’m not complaining, but it’s a home-y home, not a home that’s perfectly suited for entertaining. Plus, we still have the GAPING hole in our kitchen ceiling that is more than likely not going to be repaired by December 12th.
But I offered up our home and it really got me in the holiday spirit. I’ve got my ornament purchased for our exchange and I’m furiously searching Pinterest for the best of the best cocktails and desserts to serve. No one is going to care that our house isn’t perfect for entertaining or the fact that our Christmas tree is two-toned LED bulbs (blue on bottom, white on top) and the tree legs are on TOP of the tree skirt (oh, husband…). It’s all laughable and fun. Plus, I never entertain ANYONE outside of our immediate family. They’ll all understand the marker stains on the carpet – we’re moms!
Anyway, I’m about 90% done with holiday shopping and packages are arriving in rapid succession on our front porch. I have no idea what I’m going to do when I actually have to be a SNEAKY Santa because right now, everything holiday wrapping and to-be-wrapped is sitting in my front entry way….which will need to be removed before book club in a few weeks. I got this.
Work has been busy and my Christmas cards are staring at me unaddressed (but our nanny put all the envelope liners in – LOVE HER TO PIECES!!), but IT’S ALL GOOD. We even left to go swimming at 7pm last night. WHO ARE WE?! And, it was all Mark’s idea. He’s totally trying to be the cool dad. And it’s totally working.
Shea is attending her first ever birthday party this weekend (mom has politely declined every past invite from her schoolmates successfully up until this point). The Hotwheels and dinosaur coloring book are all wrapped and ready to go. She’s pretty into the whole birthday ordeal and as a naive mom, I’ll be interested to see how it goes. I was hoping we could make it another year without a birthday party that included friends and invites and that whole mess, but she can’t wait for her birthday party when she turns FIVE. Not possible.
I’m going push away all of those emotions until at least the middle of 2019.
We’ve canceled our trip to Cancun over New Years. Of course we’re disappointed but we’re more than okay with it – my father-in-law is alive! (If you missed the mention of his accident where he broke BOTH ankles, that story is here). We’ve got our 10-year anniversary trip in the spring to look forward to and honestly, being home or with family for the holidays sounds just like what we need. There’s always vitamin D supplements to make it through winter 😉
Shea is being treated for “mild bronchitis” – ’tis the season! And Piper is turning into a little miss thang before my very eyes. Her language is exploding and she soaks up every moment of being the baby. Potty training is slow going – very capable, sometimes willing, but far away from any actual progress. Oh well.
We’ve been to Champaign and took the girls on a long walk around the campus of the University of Illinois where Mark and I met. We took Shea to a volleyball game (she learned how to cheer for the right team and she’d say, “RIGHT TEAM, MOM….RIGHT TEAM!!”) and Mark and I went to the men’s basketball game at Notre Dame this past week (heartbreaker). We’re hoping for a stronger basketball season than football – shouldn’t be too difficult to improve upon (#facepalm). Shea has a lot of questions about “who was a baby first” (Shea and Piper or Mommy and Daddy) and of course, whoever is the tallest is the oldest. Good thing I’m staying forever young 😉
The girls are on a countdown to Saturday when December 1 is here and they can open the first little door on the advent calendar. I hope they’re not disappointed with the 1 M&M they’ll each find 😉 DREAM BIG, GIRLS! Hard to believe that December is nearly here…but the snow is covering the ground and we’re decorated and ready to go! Our community has lots of fun holiday time activities and we plan to take full advantage. The next few weekends will be busy and fun!
Be well,
We will miss you in Mexico! Maybe we can crash your 10th anniversary trip… or let’s all just try the first annual group trip again next year!
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We need a re-do!!! But…you guys will LOVE the resort! It won’t take any convincing to book again 😉
Oh goodness, I missed the story about your FIL accident. How scary, glad it was not worse. Dialing 911 with his nose, that is AMAZING. Sorry you have to miss your trip to Mexico, but your heart is in the right place.