Our first week of winter break and the lead up to Christmas was FILLED with activity. I have said it before and will say it again, every moment of this month has been filled with excitement and joy… and also, I am SO tired. I saw this funny tweet about Christmas and felt so so very seen. “Christmas is a part time job that you have from mid-November to the end of December.” AMEN!!! OMG. Thank you for acknowledging the last month of my life!! So worth it, but also, whew, I am ready for a little less fun.
On Monday we had our first official day of winter break. Nate and I still both had to work, so it was a relaxing days for the boys to just play all day. We surprised them that morning with tickets to the Timberwolves game that night. Xander is VERY into basketball and will start on a team in January and so he was VERY excited. Both boys had started to be really sniffly, so I was a little nervous about taking them to a 7pm game and staying up so late (they are typically in bed by 7:15/7:30 every night). But we did it and they loved it! KT (not pictured) also really enjoyed himself, which is always a win to find something that appeals to the pre-k all the way through teen crowd.
Tuesday, Nate and I both took half day PTO and headed up to Duluth for an overnight trip of fun. I have wanted to take the boys to Bentlyville every year and it has never worked out until this year. I was VERY excited. I imagined us wearing coordinating mittens, holding hands, caroling, soaking in the magic of Christmas lights… ya know, picturesque. It is perfectly fine for me to have these sweet dreams because I am also perfectly ready to be flexible when they do not go as planned.
We were BUNDLED up, head to toe. But the -3 degree weather (plus a VICIOUS windchill) was biting. Like, painful. And within minutes, the tiny bit of Gussie’s exposed face was REALLY cold and he was miserable and then Xander started complaining, and even though we had only been there 5 minutes, and we had gotten ROCKSTAR parking (which is something that brings me DEEP joy in my life), and I had festive, ideal visions of family fun in my head, Nate and I looked at each other and then turned back around to the car. Because it was dangerously cold and that’s just how it goes. The parts we were able to drive past were really cool and so magical, and ya know, good enough.
We went out to dinner and then headed back to the hotel. To be honest, even though I was excited about the lights, I knew the best part would be the hotel pool. The boys went down the waterslide at least 50 times. We swam until 9:30pm and then got up the next day and swam 2 more hours. It was so fun and they loved it. KT swam with the boys on Tuesday night and was a good sport about it (pools are not his thing). The news was predicting a HUGE storm, so on Wednesday, we weren’t able to stay in Duluth for too long. But after swimming, we stopped at the Rocky Mountain Candy Company and bought a LOT of treats. Then we spent about 15 minutes in Canal Park driving around, letting the boys find Poke-stops for the Pokemon game on our phones. They LOVED it. Luckily the storm held off and we had an easy drive home. When we got home, Nanny Shyanna (who had been dogsitting overnight) had left the boys VERY fun craft kit gifts. She is so thoughtful and so sweet.
Thursday, the boys played with Sam all day. They made some craft projects, built a fort, played Switch. Friday we made rice krispie treats, did our annual footprint craft, and then the boys and Sam played for several hours. Dozens and dozens of cookies got picked up this week and I think I never want to see another macaron as long as I live (or at least until next week).
On Friday night, the boys headed to Grandma Debbie’s house for swimming, pizza, and a slumber party. Nate and I piled in the van for a neighborhood adventure. The weather was negative temps, blowing and the day after a snowstorm. The roads were icy and many parts of the state had “no travel” advisories. But we had a night out to get to! 7 people in our van and 4 in the other, our first stop was Arby’s. Random, yes. But apparently this is Aaron and Melissa’s Christmas Eve Eve tradition, and so we all joined in the fun. It’s been years (maybe decades) since I’ve been to Arby’s, but it was a 10/10 experience! After a lovely dinner, we headed to Groveland Tap for some drinks. After that was the main event- the Heiruspecs album release party at the Turf Club. Sean’s band have several albums and have been around for over 20 years. We’ve been to a few of their shows now and they are awesome! I’m not a huge music lover, but when your neighbor is an actual rockstar, you become a concert-goer! It was a very fun night out!
Christmas eve Saturday- I slept in until 8am and then spent a quiet morning sipping coffee and snuggling 2 needy puppies. Nate slept a little later and then I went to pick up the boys from my mom’s house. We spent most of the day all snuggled together watching the Grinch (and eating Grinch popcorn, which is regular popcorn with edible glitter and M&Ms). Then at 4pm, we headed back to my mom’s for Christmas Eve.
This week has been a lot of late nights, early mornings and so so much fun. So when Gussie fell asleep on the way to my mom’s, I wasn’t worried. When we carried him in and he fell back asleep, despite offers of dinner, treats and presents, I started to worry. He slept through dinner. He slept through opening presents. I started to mentally prepare myself for a sick kid on Christmas scenario. But when he finally woke up, Xander immediately handed him a giant chocolate egg and a present, and he rallied.
Weeks ago, Grandma Debbie and Xander found a 3 foot long Twix bar and Xander has been SO excited ever since. He was so so excited for Nate to open his present. It was fun watching him be so happy about giving a gift.
My mom made a fabulous dinner, we ate amazing cheesecake, Danny, Heather and Buddha showed up in matching shirts, we all got really fun gifts for each other- it was a FABULOUS night!
We got home and set out a monster truck shaped rice krispie treat for Santa Claus and the boys went right to sleep. Nate and I got to play Santa, filling stockings for all of us (including the puppies), putting out presents and eating the rice krispie bar.
Christmas morning was everything I hoped it would be. I’m not sure what time Xander actually woke up- sometime in the 6am range. But he didn’t really start bugging us until 7am! I was very satisfied with that wake up time! The boys were VERY excited about all of their presents. KT said, “American Santa is crazy!” Apparently Japanese Santa usually brings just one gift per person, so this was a new experience for him. KT is not a very expressive kid, but he definitely enjoyed himself and was excited about his gifts which was really fun. I think the whole month of Christmas festivities has been a bit bewildering to our very stoic 16 year old, but I think he has really enjoyed it too.
Presents, stockings, reindeer shaped pancakes, and lots of time to play with new toys. A literal perfect Christmas morning. At 1, we headed back to my mom’s house for a Christmas party with my aunts, cousins, and family friends. We haven’t all gotten together like this since before covid and it was really good to see everyone. We played several rounds of bingo- buy-in for a quarter and the winner of each round took the pot. Gussie helped me call the numbers and Xander somehow hustled Danny into bank rolling him, doing all the work, and then letting Xander keep all of the $8 he won. Fun Uncle. It was a wonderful afternoon.
We got home this evening and both boys were TIRED. We took early showers and both fell right to sleep. Christmas success.
Christmas is over and our Elf has gone back to the North Pole. It was such a joy/awe/wonder/amusement- filled month of glee. Our boys are at the best age. Even though so many mornings were extra extra early, I enjoyed every second of it. I hope some day, when they are older and the glee of childhood innocence is gone, that they know even though a magical elf wasn’t real, they have a real life mom who did a lot of work to create a magic-filled childhood. And that I relished every moment of surprising and delighting them. I had trouble falling asleep many nights because I was so excited to see their reaction in the morning. I jumped out of bed every day, thrilled to see their reaction. I loved planning and preparing and got so excited looking for and finding the perfect accessories. And I’m so so sad it is over. I have already started pinning ideas for next year. Their delight is my greatest joy in life. Elf on the Shelf is a tiny part of being a mom, but represents the absolute highest privileges of being a parent.
We have a WHOLE week, weekend, plus another Monday of winter break left. Week 2 isn’t quite as jam-packed with festivities, but we have a few more fun things ahead. We also have 6 lego sets, new ipads, a ninja slackline kit from Danny and Heather, and toys they don’t even remember opening to keep them busy. Christmas is over, but the fun continues.
