Short Hair, Don't Care (or do I?)

Hair.  My hair has pretty much been the bane of my existence forever.  Early on I remember the pain of pigtails and barrettes, even though I think I liked them.  Then when I was about five, my mom cut my hair really short.  I think you'd call it a pixie, but I look back and all I see is "boy".

My best friend happened to have really pretty long hair (and those barrettes with the very thin, colorful braided ribbons that cascaded down) and I was so jealous, so I started growing my hair out.  By third grade I got some length, but somehow it ended up as a very bad mullet.  Finally by fourth grade it was better but not great and I had no idea how to do anything with it so I spent the next 4+ years in an array of colorful headbands to keep my stringy long hair under some sort of control.  But looking back, it was not good.

By sometime in eighth grade, after much teasing at school, the headbands had to go.  My mom did my hair every day, as my fine, thin hair was prone to every sort of bump and lump as you tried to put it up, and I just couldn't do it.  So it was either a ponytail, half ponytail, or a French braid.  Better, but a full set of bangs remained and were constantly split down the middle.  But, ahhhh, it was 1992 and guess what was in style?  So, after a bit of experimenting I wore the puffy, hairsprayed bangs for a handful of months, and almost felt normal for a while.  But then, on my last day of summer camp early in the summer of '92, our entire cabin woke up late and no one had time to shower.  I was forced to leave my hair as it was when I brushed it out the night before--side part, bangs swept to the side.  And it was almost like I realized instantly that it looked fine and was so much easier...because I never went back.  And, for better or worse, that's been my hairdo ever since.  The length has changed, from the middle of my back to nearly shaved up the back; from curled ends to pin straight; once-upon-a-time highlights and later some bangs.  But for 27 years the core of it hasn't changed--the side part remains.  You'd think by now I'd know what works and what doesn't, what makes me feel good and what makes me feel frumpy.  And yet, Thursday night I couldn't decide how to get my hair cut until I'd already been in the chair for about 20 minutes.  Sigh.

Normally I'd just blame my usual indecisiveness.  But I feel like this time it's something bigger.  I'm having a hair identity crisis, and I think I'm actually blaming 40 for it.  I feel like I've handled 40 really well until now.  I felt pretty good right around my birthday, having worked out a lot the prior month, and no one could believe I was 40, so clearly I was doing something right.  But since then I've thought a lot about appropriateness and what my age might mean about my hair, wardrobe, etc.  I mean, we all want to be the cool old lady, but there's a point where cool gets too cool for a certain age, and I just don't want to go there.  So I critically look at clothes and think about whether it skews too junior, or even if it ages me prematurely.  At what age is it weird to have long hair?  Does short hair aging me prematurely (i.e., mom hair), or conversely, making me too cute to command the respect my age should have earned me?  I'm trying not to overthink it, mind you, but my complete inability to choose a hair length made me realize I'm just not sure who this newly-40 version of me actually is.

It's been so long since my hair was short that I'm not sure if it still fits me and my personality.  Will short hair look sleek and spunky?  Or will it be mom hair?  Is my long hair as feminine as I imagine, or is it just a feeble attempt at staying young?  Over the last year I just sort of adapted to where my hair was.  I don't know if that was just a natural flow or if it was simply laziness/busyness, but I guess it worked.  It was actually going very well until about a month ago when I started feeling like it just suddenly got long and I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I honestly forgot I could even put it up for something other than working out--hence why long hair is probably not the best idea for me.  I don't do anything with it anyway, so there's probably little point in growing it long.

In a panic, while I waited for the stylist, I looked through all the pictures of me in Facebook.  I was shocked at just how much my hair length varied.  It moved back and forth through high school and college...

The long...

...the short...

...and the in between!

It was long before I got married...

...then short, and really short by the time Jacob was born.

Then it went longer again pretty much through when Carter was born...

I had to cut it when I realized Carter had a death grip, at which point it stayed pretty in between for a while until this last round of long hair again.  And by long I mean maybe an inch past my collarbone.  All of those lengths have their pros and cons.  Any time there was a picture I liked, there was another at the same length that I wasn't thrilled with.  If my hair is too long, it just hangs there and can look stringy.  Sometimes I think I'm having negative flashbacks to the awkward long hair of my youth.  If it's too short, it can look weird from certain angles.  Being short also brings with it the risk it won't be cut quite right or lay quite right.  But when it looks good at that length, it's great.  Clearly I'm pretty comfortable at almost any length, but I had a heck of a time deciding what to do this time.

Another issue was that my hair hadn't been cut in a year, so I figured it needed some cleaning up at the very least.  In the end I asked the stylist to take off a couple inches and then I'd get a better idea of what I wanted.  When she got to that point, I decided to go all the way.  I asked for up to my shoulders, but it actually ended up a bit above.

The end result - if only my skin was as great as selfies make it look!

I actually think it's a tiny bit shorter than I'd prefer, but considering how quickly my hair can grow, I think it will grow into a good in between spot pretty quickly.  It seems to be laying ok, though I'm not sure it's the best I've had.  It might need more shaping or something, but it'll do for now.  Everyone likes it and it feels really healthy.  So, as far as everyone else is concerned (well, except Jacob, who never likes my hair short), it's great.

As for me, I'm still not sure who I am with this hair.  It surprises me every time I see myself in the mirror, and even Craig looks at me funny when he sees me.  He insists he likes it but it's just so different, and I guess I can't deny that because I have the same reaction.  Maybe he sees a younger version of me and it doesn't quite compute yet.  I do think it looks more polished at any given moment, and if anything it makes me look younger (which is odd because I feel like long hair is a younger thing), but it's still going to take some getting used to.  Will it change how I see myself?  Will a different length jump out to me as "the one", or will I slowly but surely revert to where it was, either from laziness or a continued inability to find a length that feels like "me"?  The jury's out, but it's definitely been an odd little journey.  I never thought my self-image was so tied up in my hair, but apparently it is!  I guess even at 40 you can learn new things about yourself.  #thisis40hairedition

Old Stuff, New Year

In a perfect world, we'd have spent our Christmas break having precious moments as a family--playing with the Christmas toys, having long conversations about Christmas memories, and snuggling together on the couch watching movies.  In reality, there was a lot of sleeping, a lot of electronics, and a lot of me trying to check off a to do list.  Not ideal, but in many cases I feel like my sanity depended on it.

We did have some fun.  Yesterday we went out to see "Ralph Wrecks the Internet", which was really fun.  We had a somewhat entertaining trip through Target and its demolished Christmas clearance section (but hey, I got a string of red beaded garland to extend a single strand I use on our fake ficus tree, for just 20 cents!).  We ordered our dinners of choice for New Year's Eve--Chinese for Craig and me, Outback steak for Jacob, and Wendy's for Carter (honestly, that's what he wanted!).  All of us stayed up until midnight, and then slept in this morning.  And thanks to earplugs, I even slept through 60mph winds last night!  We've had a very lazy day, which wasn't a bad way to finish things off.  I don't think anyone even opened the front door.

But the vast majority of our time at home was not exactly ideal.  We had our fair share of the kids driving each other nuts, but that's just par for the course around here.  The bigger problem was that I had a list of stuff I needed to get done, and between Craig working and being overly tired as a result of work, I was flying solo a bit more than anticipated.  He had to work Wednesday when we got back from Buffalo and then took the kids into work with him when I had to work on Thursday.  Thank goodness for a Wii in the office!  Jacob and I had his annual brain study appointment on Friday morning (and Carter came along), and then it was back home for the rest of the day, most of which was alone with the boys because Craig had to work in the evening, given that it was the night before the Knighthawks season opener.  Saturday he was at work all day, and he napped literally almost all day Sunday because he'd worked so late on Saturday and really for most of the week prior.  So, while I was trying to get things done, for the most part the kids were defaulting to electronics (NBA 2K19 for Jacob and anything on the phone or tablet for Carter).

I know that conventional mom wisdom is that I should let the household tasks go and just focus on the kids, but that's easier said than done.  For one, most of our living room is taken over by a massive "stadium" setup that Jacob has been creating with Legos, Playmobil, magnetic tiles, Lincoln Logs, and almost anything else we had floating around.  Add in the new Lego police station and some of Carter's stuff, plus other Christmas remnants, and there isn't a lot of space to get down and play.  Could we?  Yes, but the lack of space just doesn't inspire creativity.  It's almost like I mentally can't bring myself to add to the mess.

The other problem is that we just have too much stuff in this house.  I've mentioned before that "stuff" tends to give me anxiety, and it had just gotten to the point where it needed tending to.  This had to be the time to do it.  I just can't bring myself to dive into that stuff in the evenings, or really even on weekends.  It's just too difficult, and tends to lead to random rabbit holes that tend to take even more time. Having multiple days off at home is really the best way to do it.

I think one of our challenges is that I don't want to waste things.  Where other parents might just do a sweep and give stuff away or throw it out, I want to honor the thought that went into the gift or honor the urge the kid had to ask for that gift.  And when you have two boys who are loved by a lot of people, it all tends to add up.  Carter is a very imaginative player, too, so things that you wouldn't think would still be useful or worth keeping somehow get worked into his crazy little play scenarios.  I also think I did a decent job of storing stuff over the years, so it was either "out of sight, out of mind" or it had space to build up for so long and finally just hit capacity.  We also hadn't done a purge/organization in a while, so there was stuff everywhere--this piece here, another piece there.  My kids have a tendency to use something, lose interest, and leave it in some random spot in the house.  When I finally get sick of it and do a sweep, there tend to be a few "dumping grounds" where they go for lack of a specific home.  There were a couple bins in the living room, a couple bins in Jacob's room, and a large cabinet in Carter's room.  There were parts and pieces everywhere, and it was finally time to get things sorted out.

I first did a sweep through the bigger toys to see if there were any that had been outgrown.  There wasn't much that Carter was willing to give up...yet.  I figured if we really needed space I'd push it later.  I also knew that no matter what we did during this round, we'd reorganize again once the Christmas stuff gets put away, so there were still opportunities to switch storage spots and make things more accessible.  Anyway, the next step was sorting through the dress-up stuff.  I knew Carter wouldn't want the superhero stuff, and would have mostly outgrown it anyway.  So a lot of that went.  I also had more blankets and crib sheets to clear out of a basket in his closet.  We narrowed the dress-up stuff to part of one drawer under his bed.  Then we went through his books.  We cleared out some baby books as well as some where his interests have changed.  Those will go through my Aunt Lynne who runs a free book program at my church's food pantry program.  Then I went through his drawer of Imaginext and superhero figures and sorted everything--all Imaginext in one bin, random superheroes in another, and everything else in another pile.  That led into the big sort--the cabinet in his bookshelf.  It was full of random toys and mostly giant bins full of Happy Meal toys and prize box trinkets.  It took forever (literally hours), but we finally got through all of it.  I also pulled more stuff out of bins in the living room, and in the end there was a full Wegmans bag of little stuff he was ready to part with.  We still kept quite a bit, which was fair, and since we had cleared out a drawer of his bed, that became the new home for all of that stuff, so it would be easier for him to see all of it there than if it were in a bin.  Some other toys (dinosaur figures and some trucks) went in the third drawer, and the bottom of the bookshelf became home for a bin of Imaginext figures and all of the random vehicles to go with them.  It felt good to match up pieces and clear out so much stuff.

Next up were the bins in Jacob's room.  I cleared out a couple Halloween costumes he'd kept around, and then went through his random bin of Happy Meal toys.  I had to upsize the bag of stuff we're ditching.  Then I made Jacob and Craig go through three more bins of mostly Playmobil and random sports figures, and those got sorted into sports and "other" figures.  We added a bunch more to the big bag, and after a little polling on Facebook, I asked Carter's teacher if she would like to go through it for a prize box or anything like that.  When she said yes, I had to go through everything again to pull out stuff that wasn't matched up or no longer made noise or didn't seem appropriate.  I still ended up with about 10-15 pounds of stuff to give up!  I threw other stuff in a bin for when I'm ready to donate, and tried to find homes for any leftovers.

Anyway...we still have a lot of work to do, but it was a good start.  It was just enough to make things tolerable again and free up a little space.  Everything just feels a little less disorganized and jam packed.  We'll go through things again after the Christmas décor comes down, and I still have a couple trouble spots to hit, like our overflowing craft corner that probably has a dozen coloring books we could donate to Carter's class.  We'll get there.

I also went through all of Carter's school papers and crafts, and cleared out most of the newspapers I'd let pile up.  We're slowly but surely working through Christmas snacks and a fridge full of random leftovers.  My dining room table is only a little messy, and all of my bills got paid.  Many of the Christmas gifts have been dispatched to their homes, and next weekend I'll get going on putting Christmas away.  It seems like I just put it up, but I'm oddly ready to take it down.  I like my downgrade to snowmen and silver and white and blue.  It feels fresher and cleaner after a month of excess.

The thing is, I don't have anything against stuff.  In fact, I like stuff and tend to keep a lot of it.  What I don't like is when stuff just sits around and doesn't get used.  That's why I want a second Christmas tree--so ornaments don't go unused.  That's why I don't mind keeping toys if they're in a spot to be seen and used.  And if stuff isn't going to get used, I'd prefer to have it put away neatly where it's not in the way, which is why I keep memory bins for myself and the kids.  Sometimes it's clearing out, sometimes it's new habits, but it's always good to be reminded of what we have and be realistic about what we need and what we don't.  My goal is to take days in the summer to go through all of the kids stuff, and hopefully other stuff too, and either take it to the consignment store or donate it.  It's time.

So, a new year has started, and while I still feel a little weighed down by old stuff, hopefully this is the year I start getting it under control.  Maybe it's just one small spot for improvement, but it's something.  One step at a time...

Final Thoughts on 2018

Another year is ending.  I've decided I just don't love New Year's, but I don't know if it's almost like guilt for making it through the year mostly intact, or deep concern about what the next year will bring.  I know I should look at that positively--what good the new year will hold--but I'm getting to that age where I know certain things will start taking a downtown, so I worry.  Particularly this year, where we know that Craig's job situation will be changing.  I learned my lesson four years ago when I felt like we were out of big new year milestones to look ahead to, and two weeks later I was out of a job and everything changed.  Yes, it led to good things, but it was pretty scary for a while!  This year we're looking forward to Jacob's new school situation in the fall, and Carter continuing to grow and learn.  All I can hope for me at this point is to be a better mom and wife, and to keep looking for little ways to improve.

Just to do a quick review of our moments of significance in 2018:
Losing my Uncle Cliff
Carter playing soccer (just like his big brother)
Carter turning five, graduating from Preschool and starting Kindergarten
Jacob's trip to Calgary
Chick-fil-A opened in Rochester :)
Two lacrosse tournament wins for Jacob's FCA team (but a rough lacrosse year otherwise)
Jacob turning 10
Our 15th wedding anniversary
Jacob's new basketball hoop
A fun family trip to Howe Caverns and the Basketball Hall of Fame
Two cousin weddings and two cousin babies
Another fun trip to Seabreeze (and Carter's first real waterslide ride!)
My 40th Birthday
My amazing Chihuly trip to North Carolina
Our trip to Toronto featuring my first Christmas market and our first NBA game as a family
Our awesome Niagara Falls waterpark weekend
A fabulous Christmas full of great presents and lots of family time

I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones scrolling through my pictures brought to mind.  It wasn't an outstanding year, but it was certainly a solid one.  Mostly good stuff and lots of milestones, at least.  I hope and pray for great things in 2019, both for us and the ones we love.  Happy New Year!

A Merry Christmas to All

We got a solid seven hours of sleep or so before Jacob woke up at 7:30 and roused his brother to come in to get us up.  Could have been worse!  But of course, first up, the top of the stairs picture!

Stockings first!  Mostly lots of candy, though Carter got a swimming turtle to go with the fish he got last year, and a small set of Jurassic Park Legos.  And gold (chocolate) coins, of course!

Jacob loved this sign that we secretly picked up at the Toys 'R' Us in Canada...

Carter really wanted a little guitar, and while I couldn't bring myself to buy the Elena of Avalor one that originally prompted that wish, this ukulele was a hit!

Carter's big gift from Santa was the one I was most excited about--it was an Untamed Fingerling.  It's basically the scary dinosaur cousin of the cute little finger riding monkeys.  This one came with a cage for the dinosaur to bust out of!  They react to different stimuli, sometimes happy and sometimes fierce, which is pretty cool.

Carter also got a Hot Wheels food truck, some shark slippers, one of those magic coloring books where one marker reveals colors and pictures, and a super cool talking C3P0 ornament that's wearing a Santa hat and lights up.  He also got a stuffed hedgehog he'd admired in one of the souvenir shops in Niagara Falls.  I happened to find it at the last minute when I was on the hunt for one more gift for each kid (more on that in a minute).  Jacob got an NBA beach ball, a little basketball-themed magnetic desk thing (sort of like where you mold the tiny shapes on a base, but with basketball players--I rescued it from the sample cast-offs at work), an alarm clock, and a book that uses basketball to manage stress (hey, I had to try).  His ornament was a metal basketball wearing a Santa hat.  Oh, and Jacob gave Carter a mini football, and Carter gave Jacob a cool set of mini-Lego-type pieces (called Brxlz) that form a four-inch tall Raptors logo.  When Carter saw it on my computer screen when I found it on Amazon, he said, "That is legit!"

Jacob's big Santa gift was a much-anticipated Oyo football set.  Only...when he opened it, it wasn't the right one.  He'd actually had a couple little meltdowns over the Oyo stuff on his list leading up to Christmas (i.e., when he realized he was still getting a Santa gift, he panicked that he hadn't accounted for that on his list--to which I unsuccessfully tried to explain that he never got more just because he believed in Santa; we always bought the same amount and split it).  So when it was the wrong one, it didn't go over well.  A couple tears and a new online order later, he was doing a little better so we opted to move on to the one big Santa gift sitting under the tree addressed to both kids.

When Jacob opened it and realized it was a giant Lego police station, his mood brightened considerably!  You may recall this gift was purchased under duress at the eleventh hour (literally) six whole years ago when Toys 'R' Us botched our bike purchase and we didn't have a "wow" gift for Jacob.  We bought it around midnight the night before gift opening and wrapped it, but had second thoughts because it was such a big gift (and we'd had a rough Christmas season, behavior-wise).  Jacob ended up satisfied enough with that Christmas, so it sat in our closet for years, waiting for the right moment.  Jacob had other large gift requests in the years since, and eventually I decided we just had to keep it around until Carter was old enough to appreciate it.  Then we could make it a joint gift so it didn't count for such a large expenditure against either kid.  It worked perfectly this year as both kids were thrilled!  Craig got right to work building it while I started the cinnamon rolls.

In the meantime, I also got working on my contribution to the Binkley family Christmas spread--an old family tradition, Broken Glass.  It's basically three flavors of jello in a sweet whipped cream and graham cracker crust.  Of course, I was doing the shortcut version (Cool Whip instead of whipping cream) in premade gluten-free crusts.  But once I posted this photo, I got a call from my cousin Lori, who said she was making Broken Glass, too!  I decided I could take one to Christmas Eve at Craig's aunt's, and just have the other one for Christmas night so Jacob could eat it.  So, all was well.

After food prep and packing, we were finally off to Buffalo.  Craig and I giggled along the way because Carter was too darn cute watching a movie in the van, snuggled under his blanket and cuddling his favorite bear and new hedgehog, and laughing hysterically about something.

We had a nice time as usual at our first stop, Craig's Aunt Marie's.  The boys got fewer gifts than usual there, which was fine but obviously left them a little disappointed--unnecessarily, of course, since there were so many more to come.  But the food was good and the company even better.  Oh, and this little dude was there...

It's Craig's cousin's baby boy, who was born in September.  I'd been chatting on Facebook with his mama for weeks because he'd had some formula issues and ended up on the same stuff Carter was on.  He'd had a rough go for a while with bad eczema and fussiness, and the formula worked wonders for him.  The process of making the decision to switch had been a tough one, and I'd been trying to encourage his mom along the way, since I knew how it felt.  He's doing really well now, and he's such a sweetie!  Our niece was the lucky one cuddling him once he fell asleep, but I couldn't resist a picture!

Eventually we headed out to Craig's parents' house, and the boys were so excited for their gifts!  Carter got an Imaginext Mystery Machine and three sets of Playmobil Ghostbusters!

Jacob was thrilled with some Raptors and Saints shirts, and even more excited about these sneakers!

He's actually still waiting for a gift, too, so he made out well!  We all did well, actually!

Due to some changes in living quarters, there's actually nowhere for us to sleep at Craig's parents' at the moment, so instead of just heading upstairs like we normally would, we packed up the van and headed to my parents' house for the night.  I figured it's the first time I've slept there on Christmas Eve since before Craig and I were engaged!  On Christmas morning, I made my kids take a picture on the stairs just like my brother and I did every year!

Their reward was a special gift Santa left each of them downstairs.  Carter got two books, and Jacob got a pair of wireless earbuds.  They're not quite the fancy ones he was eyeing up in the days prior, but I bought a pair at Five Below in my last minute shopping so he could test them out--for comfort, format, etc.--before we look at more expensive ones.  He was actually thrilled with them once he got them up and running, so score one for mom! ;-)

After Christmas morning church and a tasty Christmas dinner, it was time to open presents with Grandma and Grandpa.  Everyone once again made out well.  Carter was so cute in this little Sabres Santa hat!

Both kids got games, clothes, and some other fun stuff.  I got a cool Chihuly-inspired solar light like we saw in North Carolina, and Craig loved his Mercyhurst banner and new toiletry bag.  

I have to say, this Christmas was exceptional in that everything we got was either on our lists or was truly useful.  No real dud gifts at all this year!  We're always grateful for what we get, but it's nice when they fit into our home seamlessly!

After a little downtime to make use of the new gifts, we headed to my Uncle Jeff's for the big family gathering.  The boys once again did well.  Jacob got a New Orleans Saints shirt and fidget spinner, and Carter got a second Untamed Fingerling to fill out his cage, as well as a Playmobil Knight carrying case set.  Craig got a movie and a new grooming kit (scissors, tweezers, clippers, etc.) he had wanted.  I got wine and some new Instant Pot accessories.  We were all very happy!  By later in the night, it seemed Jacob might be coming down with a cold, so the boys headed out.  I was able to snag a ride from my cousin and her husband (the guests of honor when they had a big announcement about a new addition to the family!) so I could stay late to play silly trivia games with my cousins and a couple aunts and uncles.  We had a lot of fun, but by the end of the night I was exhausted!  I had to get up early the next morning for breakfast with a couple high school friends, so sleep was very important by that point!

We had to head back home later that morning because Craig had to work (Knighthawks opener tonight!), but the good news was that it gave me some time to get settled back at home and even sneak a nap. I had to work on Thursday, and Friday morning was Jacob's second session for his annual brain study.  Never a dull moment, I guess, but I'm thankful for some time at home--even if the kids are already making me nuts!  My goal for the break is organizing the toys as much as possible--clearing out old stuff, organizing all of the misplaced pieces, and maybe bringing some lost things back into play.  We'll see how far we get!

Anyway, now we're heading toward 2019 and I'm thankful for another wonderful holiday season.  Hopefully great things are ahead in the new year!

'Twas the Days Before Christmas...

Hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone.  Seems like just yesterday that we were in Toronto for the Raptors game and I was rushing home to get things decorated.  The week between Thanksgiving and December seemed to go on forever, and for a while it seemed like we'd never make it through our Advent calendars.  Sure enough, Christmas ultimately sped here and raced past us like it always does.  And suddenly we're three days past and I haven't blogged yet.  Ha!

Oh, and before I get to the main event, since I never did mention this monumental anniversary last year, I figure I should do it now.  It was eleven years ago yesterday that I started this blog as a way to keep friends and family up to date on my pregnancy with Jacob.  There probably aren't a lot of things I've done regularly for this much of my life, so that's pretty impressive when you think about it.  Documenting parenthood just sort of happened, and while my kids will probably never read all of this, I'm glad it's here in case they do.  Not everyone has their life story written for them from birth, so hopefully someday they find it interesting.

Anyway...on to Christmas!  We had a very busy few days leading up, with lots of baking, wrapping, last-minute gift buying, and other general planning.  I was determined to not stress out, and all things considered I think I did okay.  I had moments, and sometimes left Craig with the kids so I could do marathon sessions, but for the most part I avoided the near-mental breakdown state that usually pops up a day or two before.  The pre-Christmas weekend helped a lot with getting to things that a normal work day does not.  In addition to Carter breaking a glass ornament at Pier One during a marathon shopping session there (!), here are some other pre-highlights:

I got a delivery of a pair of boots a week before Christmas, and the box they came in was ridiculous!  Given the season, it seemed appropriate to box up what we could, and it fit one of the best presents ever!

Carter had a fun week at school, from Grinch Day, to playing a mouse in the March of the Toy Soldiers day at school (he'll be a soldier next year), to their party day Thursday and Friday's pajama day.  The highlight of that day was opening up presents we gave the class in lieu of teacher presents.  It was a really fun idea (and selfless on the teacher's part), and the kids loved opening up presents of classroom supplies and new learning games.  He wore these Santa pajamas to school, and was still wearing them the next morning when we had a nice snuggle session prior to resuming the Christmas madness...

I had to wash those jammies immediately after so he could have them for Christmas Eve morning, too!

In the midst of everything else, I decided I needed to test out my plan for putting up a second tree in the dining room next year that will be a theme tree from year to year.  I had to make sure our old six-footer fit so I knew whether I could take advantage of clearance sales for lights and a tree topper.  Sure enough, it fit!

I had to leave out a couple back branches so it could tuck in the corner, but it worked just fine and I'm looking forward to putting all of my angels on it next year!  It'll also satisfy my craving for multicolored lights until our pre-lit main tree craps out.  It's more to decorate, but at least it will lessen my stress when decorating the main tree, since it's so loaded with ornaments and getting a couple more each year.

By Saturday night I had also baked a couple rounds of cookies.  I actually had to do the peanut butter blossoms on Thursday night because Jacob wanted cookies to take for his class party, since he usually can't eat most of the party snacks.  We did the cutouts on Saturday.

I stayed up late on Saturday to finish up all of my wrapping aside from a few last minute gifts we had to take care of on Sunday.  It was a marathon, but it was worth it.  And it still wasn't that late--just a little after midnight.  I couldn't help but snap this picture as I went up to bed, as having this little tree be the last thing lit on my way to bed sort of matched my peaceful Christmas spirit at that point.

I've wanted one of these ceramic trees for years, mostly because my grandma had a big one and I always thought it was pretty.  They've made a big comeback in recent years, but I wasn't willing to spend big bucks on one.  But I did find this tiny one in my favorite random-gifty-crap catalog this year, and when I placed an order for a Christmas gift for someone else, I had to add this to the mix since it was only $9.  It fit the bill perfectly.

On Sunday our church was doing an early round of Christmas Eve services, so we went to church like normal and got to enjoy a wonderful, beautiful service to start off our holiday.  Of course, Carter totally took a header on the way into church, scuffing up his chin and getting a large mud smear on his knee, but once we got over that (and the very loud drum that caught us off guard in the first song), it was lovely.

Afterward they had a hot cocoa bar and a few family picture backdrops set up, which I was eager to take advantage of since we didn't have to rush out like we did last year to get on the road.

Happy boy with his hot cocoa!

Mama and her boys

Full family pictures are few and far between in our house, so whenever we get the chance and we all look nice, I jump at the chance.  All three we took are below.  They're all sort of perfectly imperfect, I guess.

This shows the whole backdrop and we're all smiling, but Carter is pushing into Craig for some reason...

This was my best angle, but Carter is being crazy.  Of course, this probably best represents our daily chaos!

We're all standing nicely and smiling for this one, but I look like I'm carrying around about 30 extra pounds.  I swear it was just the angle and my sweater puffing out weird from where it draped off my chest.  Darn it.

After another full day of preparations, it was time to get the kids in bed so Santa could come.  Carter brought home some reindeer dust from school, so we had to run outside and dump it on the grass.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that after the forecast not looking like we'd have a white Christmas, we got a little bit of snow overnight a few days ahead, and then we had a lot of lazy, dreamy snow right up through Christmas.  We had more on the grass than it looks like here, but I was happy we had just enough to make it feel Christmasy.

Once the cinnamon rolls were prepped and the kids went down (much easier than expected), it was time for Santa to get to work!

As usual, at least half of those presents were. for extended family.  The kids' were mostly on the left side...except for that tall one, which was for Craig's mom.

Once everything is done, I always try to sit in the silence for a couple minutes with the main lights off and only the Christmas lights on.  It's my little calm before the storm, a little moment of peace before two full days of craziness.  Ahhhh.

Well, I think this is enough for one post, so we'll save our two crazy days of Christmas for another one!