Here is a quick look back at the past few days. We have officially entered the busy holiday season (unlike the busy sports season, or the busy summer season) and life is moving by quickly!

Thursday night was the school concert and Friday was Alan’s company party. He got an award for being with them for fivve years. He also got a lot of attention for his holiday décor. He seems to be pretty well loved at work. :)

You can tell he works for a big corporation. Had this come from the local office it would have said something different. :)

On Saturday Alan went to a conference while the kids and I had some fun on our own. It started with Eve pretending to be a cat for several hours. She took it pretty far!

Kitty Eve doesn’t fit in the laundry basket quite as well as Daisy does.

Don’t worry, she’s eating craisins, not cat food!

I took the kids to karate, then we stopped by Alan’s diner. It’s not really his, but it’s where he goes every Saturday morning while the kids are in karate. The diner staff were excited to meet the family of “eggs benedict and a large grape fruit juice.” Hahaha…

The waitress suggested we take a picture and send it to him. He laughed.

She’s a classy date!

After lunch we did some painting at the pottery studio. There were several holiday craft fairs going on and the Gingerbread Festival, but alas, we were tired and headed home after painting. I was a little bummed to miss the Gingerbread Festival and not see all the cool houses people made. Maybe there will be other craft fairs we can check out next weekend. ‘Tis the season, after all!

Sunday we got our Christmas tree.

It was a misty, mizzly morning… well, all day really! There was intense fog most of the day and into the next day.

Our little tree. <3

While the boys put up the tree, Eve and I went to Clara’s Dream and Tea. I’ve been wanting to take her for years, but I never got tickets. Last year I was so excited that I got tickets, but then Lex’s FLL championship was the same day so we had to sell them again. Sad. I think I might have missed the peak opportunity for this with Miss Eve though. If you’re going to the ballet (Clara’s Dream), you can also buy tickets to Clara’s Tea, a sweet and fancy tea serve at the ballet studio nearby. Everyone dresses up in fancy clothes, drinks tea, eats scones, and meets the cast of the ballet. Eve was only mildly interested and wanted nothing to do with dressing up. She ended up putting on a somewhat dress and we discovered (again) that she has no dress shoes. She didn’t want any jewelery and wouldn’t let me touch her hair. Oh well. I got gussied up and we had lots of fun.

She’s so silly!

Pretty ladies at a tea party.

They served tea, scones, sandwhiches, desserts, and even gave out little presents. This girl dances in the ballet and she brought around a basket of gifts for each little girl.

Eve with the Russian dancer and “Hot Chocolate” from the ballet.

I was beat after that, but the kids were itching to decorate, so I made them eat dinner and shower, then we broke out the decorations, put on some tunes, and relaxed into the holiday spirit.

Who are these big kids?!?

The front camera on my phone is awful! The colors are so washed out, and for some reason the picture is sideways. I’m not going to fix it now. Sorry.

I tried using the regular camera and just guessing at the aim, ya know, the old fashioned way, but we were too silly and wobbly for that to be useful.

Our beautiful tree.

Monday we skipped karate (shh… don’t tell!) and decorated the house.

Peaceful

Happy holidays!

Advent boxes are up! Fa la la. 

This year I went with coupons. (Thanks Mom!)  And candy, of course. 

I hope the kids like them.  They love the advent boxes and look forward to them each year.  This year they were hoping for puzzles, and Legos, and tiny toys.  All the things they’ve had in past years.  :-)

Lex reminded me, via a conversation he was having with Eve, about the advent boxes. Once again they are very excited for them and once again I completely forgot. I feel like I had so much more time back in the day! Back when our life revolved around the home, not schools. December first is a measly 12 days away. I suppose now is a good time to start thinking about what to put in those boxes I love so much. Any suggestions?

This is my third attempt at writing this Christmas blog post. The first two were from my phone on the Amtrak train yesterday (that will be another blog post) and my WordPress app got wonky (that’s a techical word, right?) and lost everything. I was annoyed and my thumbs were sore, so I gave up after two tries. Today I’m on the computer and hoping things will go a bit smoother.

The blog and my blogging habits have been changing lately. Now that the kids are older and I’m working full time I feel less need to vent share in this forum and as I take more pictures on my phone and share more often on Facebook and Instagram, there seems to be less urgency for regular blog posts. Of course that means all the thoughts and photos I used to capture in one place are now being spread across multiple platforms, which in some ways is less ideal. Additionally, it occured to me this week that almost every grown-up at Christmas had a camera phone and was taking and sharing their own photos. Gone are the days where my camera was “the one” and I was the somewhat sole holder of holiday photos. Now everyone has their own copies and people are sharing through the day/event, also creating less of an urgency for frequent blog updates. There seems to be no perfect solution, only ever evolving technology and habits.

Anyway, enough of my tech thoughts, on to Christmas!

This year Christmas was AWESOME! It’s great every year, don’t get my wrong, but this is the first year since…. I’m not sure when, that all four of the Collier kids were home together. Rosy has been working holidays in the ER, Barney moved out to CA two years ago, and Joyce has been Navy-committed for what seems like forever, but this year the stars aligned and everyone came home. Well, to my home anyway. :) It was great. Barney even brought his new (to us) girlfriend and she survived (I hope!) the very silly Collier clan reunion. :)

Eve made up her own cookies this year. They included very fine peppermint candy cane dust. It took her awhile to chop up the candy candy as fine as she wanted them.

They came out pretty well, though a bit too crunchy. We’ll work on it for next year. :)

Decorating the Christmas tree. It was up for three days before we got a chance to decorate. I think that’s a record for me. Usually it’s barely up for an hour before I’m stringing lights!

Daisy was intrigued. She has been VERY good with the tree, though she does like to drink the water.

We experimented with Peanut Butter Blossoms this year. Lots of variations, all delicious.

Goody bags for the teachers and staff.

Joyce came to back to see that all of her hard work sorting Legos had been undone. Sorry J!

Cookies for Santa.

Santa usually leaves the kids little gifts in their bedroom as well. This year they each got a karate bear and a few books.

Stocking time!

Each year the kids get a project to do in their advent boxes. This year it was a tree made with tiny Lego-like building blocks. They got 14 pieces a day and on the final day the star went on top. It was fun.

Uh oh, Lex opened a book first! Good thing he understands how Christmas works these day so the book didn’t slow him down for too long. :)

Aww… kittens. Eve loves anything cute.

Rosy will be stylish and warm this winter!

I got a Selfie Stick in my stocking. It’s totally dorky but we all had a great time with it!

The 2015 calendars came out, with a #tbt theme this year! Everyone looks forward to this gift. :)

Haha… selfie stick fun!

Do we look a little tired?! :)

After lunch we took a walk to the playground to shoot some hoops.

Unfortunately the basketball court was covered in snow. Fortunately we can have fun wherever we go!!

Bitty Baby came along for the walk too, wearing her new snowsuit. Eve took her snow-mountain climbing.

Eve dressed for dinner. Bitty Baby joined us too.

We need some practice with the selfie stick! I have about a dozen pictures, all totally silly, of me trying to get a group shot. This is the best. :)

Maybe we should have stuck with the old fashioned tri-pod method. :)

Saying goodbye to Uncle B. Come back and visit us again soon, please!

In case that wasn’t enough photos, I added all of my Christmas photos to a Google album for your viewing pleasure.

The kids and I decided this year to give their teachers crafty reindeer bags filled with cookies for holiday gifts this year. Shhh… don’t tell. It seemed like a good idea until this past weekend when I sat down with the calendar to map out the next two weeks. Turns out to have an assortment of cookies available we have to bake cookies every day this week! I don’t remember ever being stressed about making cookies but somehow this year we are having trouble getting it done.

Then, this afternoon, I got a box of cookies from one of my students, a tin from Greg and Kathy (thanks!!), and a text from Rosy saying she’s bringing lots of cookies. Hmmm…. then it hit me why I’m stressed – school is out so early this year! Our last day is Friday the 19th, which is nearly a week before Christmas! So having all the cookies ready, to provide a variety for teacher gifts, we have to have all the baking done a week before Christmas. That doesn’t make any sense at all! Somehow that realization completely calmed me. I decided to scale back the treat bags and just relax! We made chocolate pretzel treats today, wrote holiday cards (check your mailbox… eventually!), sang carols, and had a lovely afternoon.

Sometimes you just have to step back, take a breath, and check your expectations.

Happiness is.

The kids have been very excited for Advent boxes this year.  Alan and I once again spent the evening of November 30th up too late filling them. :-)  This year the project is extra challenging.  Those kiddos are going to have to work for their candy! :-)

We had to work hard to get all the tiny pieces into the right boxes! They will love it.

Advent boxes all ready to go.

I made these boxes and numbers so long ago, and they still make me smile every day.

Another Christmas has come and gone. This year the season snuck up on me and was over in a heartbeat. Actually, we still have more family to see, so I guess it’s not over just yet. We were supposed to go see Mandy and Rachel today, and Rosy was going to meet us there then head up here afterwards, but the roads were so awful we turned around and came home. Rosy will drive tomorrow. Weather permitting. Now I have an unexpected free afternoon. Eve is napping (she really needed a nap!), Lex and Alan are updating Lex’s computer, so I decided to blog post was in order. Maybe some UVEI work too. My “vacation work” list is glaring at me from where I strategically placed it on the desk.

Christmas was smallish this year, but Alan was able to set up a Google Hangout so we got to see everyone, either in person or on the big screen. My words aren’t working well so I’m going to switch to pictures.

On Christmas Eve we went to Grandpa’s for dinner.

We started with a walk to the lake to burn off some energy before going inside.

Kicking snow and ice into the water.

Alan is a really tree hugger. :)

Leave it to Eve to find a beautiful (fake) flower on the road in December.

Pizza and salad and lots of cookies for dinner. Then back home for the all important cookies for Santa tradition.

Cookies and milk for Santa. An apple and two carrots for Rudoph. A bowl full of carrots for the rest of the reindeer. Two very excited children.

Christmas Eve tree. Funny how the camera picks up the blue lights primarily. We really have multi-color lights, not just blue.

I tried to get fancy with the photography here. It didn’t work well.

Santa left a few presents in the kids’ bedroom, under the little tree they have in there. The kids were up early and opened those presents, then we all got up and went downstairs for stockings and breakfast.

Eve was excited to see her kitty in her stocking. “Silly kitty,” she said.

Personalized notepads…

… and toothbrushes is what my kids get in their stockings! (plus candy and bubble bath and pens and oranges, of course!)

There’s always time for a few stories.

Joyce stopped by to say hi before work. I wish she was REALLY here, but the big screen is the next best thing. We miss you Sister J!

After Mema and Grandpa Tom got back from church, and Katie and Popcube arrived, it was time for presents. The kids did a great job waiting until nearly 10:30 when everyone was here and settled.

I told the kids they had to use their new notepads to make thank you notes after each present. Lex almost took me seriously and started making a list of what gave him what. That lasted for about three presents. :)

Eve loves her tie-dye kit. We were just talking about making tie-dye a few days ago. Santa must have been listening.

Lex made this neat Santa artwork for Eve at school.

Mema is ready for a rocking NYE!!

Eve LOVES her fairy costume!

Selfie. :)

Eve got a Barbie head. She’s pretty excited.

Lex loves his new wall tracks. He is already planning to buy more with is Christmas money.

Little girl in fairy wings blow drying Barbie’s head on Christmas morning. That’s how we roll around here. :)

Lex got a few cool games this year. This one is a Lego one.

Christmas dinner was beautiful and delicious. The crowd was just eight instead of our usual 12-13, but that’s ok. I will be enjoying lasagna leftovers for days!

My friend gave me fancy napkin rings last year. The kids had fun with them.

Barney and Lorie joined us after dinner. Before dinner in their timezone. Maybe next year we can all be in the same timezone. I can hope, anyway.

Since we were all staring at the TV anyway, we watched a few Christmas carol videos on YouTube. Pentatonix – Little Drummer Boy, is my favorite. Eve’s favorite is Libera ~ Carol of the Bells.

Grandpa Tom, giving me the eye.

This morning another package came filled with more presents! This one was from the Kirkwoods and came filled with things the kids loved, including Magic Kitten books and Infinity Books. Julie, I LOVE your Haven donation for Eve. She thought it was nice, but seemed much more interested in the Magic Kitten sticker book. Perhaps her concern for the homeless is a bit fickle. :)

Lex is pretty excited about his Infinity Ring books from the Kirkwoods.

Merry Christmas to all! Another wonderful one on the books.