Enjoying Our Break!

Well, so far we're really enjoying our Christmas break! On Monday we just did some shopping. I was searching for men's Christmas socks for Ched because we both LOVE Christmas socks and thought it would be a neat tradition to exchange a new pair every year. However, apparently retailers are not so hip to that idea because I could not find men's Christmas socks ANYWHERE!! I went to 3 different department stores in the mall, two shoe stores, and several random stores (like Hallmark) and there were NONE to be found!!! Weird! I may go and try Target and WalMart, but I'm not holding my breath!

Yesterday my mom was off work (yay!) so we went running around, like we always do. She always says that she should use her extra days off to get some practical things done, but it never happens. We almost always end up going shopping and out to lunch! We took The Kids to see Santa at an outdoor shopping center here in town. This is my favorite place to go because Santa is in his own little house, rather than sitting outside the JC Penney's at the mall, and it makes it more festive. Plus, Mrs. Clause is there, too, and she gives both of The Kids a cookie and the pictures are only $5 per picture and it comes in a Christmassy little cardboard folder. It's a much more festive than going to a mall Santa. The funny (and fantastic) thing is that The Kids don't believe in Santa - they know the true story of St. Nicholas, but we've never led them to really believe that a fat man comes down the chimney - and they still want to go and see him and have fun pretending that he's going to bring the presents! This aspect of the season is something that I LOVE, and I'm so glad we went about Santa in this manner. We get to have fun and pretend that Santa's coming, but, in the long run, we don't have the stress of "What are they going to do when they find out he's not REALLY bringing the presents?" or the concern about 'lying' to them.

Today we went to the library and ran a couple of errands and then came back here and started on Thumbprint cookies. Now, I love the taste of thumbprints, but I reeeaaaalllyyy don't look forward to making them. They're not hard, by any means, but it's just a lot of truckin', as my mom would say. You make the dough, roll it into little balls, dip the balls in egg white, dip them in pecans, poke your thumb into the center (hence: thumbprint cookies!) bake them, let them cool, THEN you have to fill them with icing, which must be homemade or it's just not a thumbprint cookie...whew, it's a process!

Both of The Kids got a chance to help me make the little dough balls, so it was nice that they could get in on the action! Bear and I were having a great time belting out "Winter Wonderland" as we rolled the dough. It was so funny to see her hamming it up! I wish Ched could have been here!

We've also done some crafts - little reindeer jingle bell ornaments and some snowflakes out of beads - which have been fun. Mainly it's nice to just have some time off of having school!

I got all of The Kids presents wrapped last night and that feels great...although I have a huge crick in my neck from sitting on the floor!

On a completely unrelated note: Deco has always pronounced "breakfast" as "bwek-shee-ast" (He still says his r's like Elmer Fudd!). Tonight, after I was done singing songs, he asked me if we could have pancakes for "bweak...ff...fust" and then said "Hey! I can say it! I can say bweak..fff...ff....fust!" Then a few seconds later he says "Bweakfwust....well, maybe I can't!" It was so cute! I love it that he's getting so big, but at the same time, part of me wants him to stay a little guy forever. He had trouble getting to sleep so finally, after the 3rd time of going back in there, I took him to his rocking chair and rocked and rocked him until he was alllllmost asleep. I was singing "Shout to the Lord" and he said, "I weally love that song!"