Somehow time has ticked away so that we are only 22 days away from Christmas.
How in the hell did that happen?
I thought I was ready this year. I mean you pretty much have a 364 day warning that its coming again on December 25th, but still you don't ever seem quite prepared enough.
I am trying to keep things low key and minimize the stress however. I'm one that would be all for a burgers and beer and store bought cake type of Christmas. But I also confess to loving big turkey dinners with loads of homemade treats.
Shopping is pretty much done. Thanks to the 24/7 availability of the online store it makes a busy mom's life much easier when she can shop on Tuesday night at 9 o'clock in her p.j.'s. One can even get their husband's approval on items they are buying for his relatives. Thank you God for the internet, you have saved my sanity, not to mention a trip to the mall, which would result in rage or at least annoyance of indescribable proportions.
I've got a good start on baking and cooking for the holiday too which is a plus. The next few weekends have quite a bit of stuff going on, so not much time for domestic chores.
All in all as prepared as I should or could be. Still some stuff to get, but we're down to the gift card/cash/alcohol stage so that is pretty straightforward to do at any time without being mobbed.
Miss K is starting to get excited about the big event, or big events as they have about 100 things going on this month for them at school. There's a big dinner, some field trip to a play, among other things.
She took her head out on a rock Tuesday at school. Which resulted in her being basically sent home with a watch for concussion symptoms sheet of paper that had to be signed and returned if she passed the test so to speak.
When her description of the events was that she thinks she tripped on a stick while playing hide and seek and thought it funny that the "girls" were looking all over for her. (she was the self proclaimed winner of the hide and seek that lunch period). She was impressed with the freezie she got while sitting in the office and was thoroughly impressed that she got to go home early with what she said was not even a "contusion"
I declare no sign of concussion, just typical 5 year old enthusiasm for something out of the ordinary.
Yesterday I came home to pick her up to find she'd spiked a pretty good fever. Awesome. Kinda figured it was coming as the day before there were 7 kids absent from her class. (she made 8 with the head injury).
She was reasonably pleasant over the course of the evening, even managing to join us for supper, but she was in bed at 7:15 saying that everything hurt and we prepared for the night of drama to come.
All in all not so bad. She awoke at 10:30 complaining that her ears really really hurt. I asked if she wanted ear drops and she said yes, so with that affirmation I know things must have been rough. I stuck around for a snuggle and when I went to go back to bed she gave me that look that would melt the heart of any parent around.
The look that says "I know you really can't do much for me mom, but if you could just hang out I'd be really really happy". OK, done.
I scooped up Miss K and off to the spare bed we went. I did manage to scare the crap out of Big C when I told him what was up…poor guy. About 5 seconds after I crawled into bed with Miss K she let out a big sigh and fell into a fitful sleep.
The fever broke a couple hours later and life and sleep returned to almost normal. She was gung ho to go to school for a while, then thought maybe a day at the sitter's might be better as it had already been a pretty crazy week.
In other news we have an elf. Not an elf on the shelf, but one that acts like it.
Big C really wanted to do it last year and I was not really on board. I was not on board this year either, spending 50 bucks for that creepy looking thing and a book was a little too much for me. Not to mention I don't have the time to hide that stupid toy every night and have it do crafts or change the oil in the car or whatever people do with the damn thing.
That little skinny thing gives me the creeps. Nightmare on Elf Street if you ask me. And spying on kids, to make them behave for the month of December? Bullshit, kids should behave the whole year, not just under the threat of reports to Santa and no toys.
I told Big C he was on his own. If he wanted to be creative, then go for it, I was having no part in it. He did figure that the real Elf was too much money. But I give him kudos for dubbing a stuffed Elf that we already had as Miss K's pseudo "Elf on the Shelf". She thought it very cool and quickly named it Snowflake.
We're not really doing the "behave or else" spin on things but more the fun magical side of hide and seek and where will he be tomorrow.
I can get on board with the magic of Christmas and she does delight in even the simplest of moves. Big C tipped Snowflake on his side yesterday before leaving, and Miss K determined he must have got tired and needed a nap.
I'm not a fan of the marketing machine that is Elf on the Shelf, but am a fan of seeing delight and wonder in my kids eyes when she truly believes there is some sort of magic taking place.
After the start of the week that she has had, I will take anything that doesn't involve another bottle of ibuprofen
Til next time….may the elves in your life soon have all the Christmas shopping done
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