Confessions of a Christmas junkie

The Christmas cheer is in full swing over here. We've got Christmas music going non stop in the house and the car, we're sipping eggnog and the fireplace channel is blazing - a whole channel with nothing but a roaring fire, with an occasional stoking from a mysterious flannel-clad arm.

I have such a hard time resisting buying things this time of year. I'm not really that interested in buying presents. It's holiday decor I love. All other seasonal decor pales in comparison. Sparkles, glitter, fancy ribbons, whimsical designs, cinnamon-scented pine cones, greenery, you name it. I'm obsessed with it all and I find myself inexplicably drawn to this section of every store I enter. I don't even have anywhere else to really put it, but I love it just the same.

I can't stop looking at all the fun, crafty things on Pinterest. Darn you friend who turned me on to this! and I thought Facebook was the black hole for time and productivity. I'm over you, FB. Pinterest is my new love...  It inspires my creative bug and I'm quickly racking up a bunch of ideas for things I need to make, bake and sew. When will I find the time!?

We're having fun slowly opening our presents from the box of goodies that Nana and Poppy sent.  We've been celebrating Hanukkah style, opening one each day. It's actually a lot more fun to spread out the joy. The kids are thrilled with the one they opened and surprisingly, they don't even ask for another. Each gift is appreciated and not lost in the shuffle. The Jewish people may be on to something!

The kids newest game is The Nutcracker. Hadley is always Clara and she dons her pink tutu to play the part. Wyatt is the Nutcracker and the Rat King position is rotated depending on who's around at the time - sometimes it's me but usually it's Finley. It's pretty simple. Clara and the Nutcracker are "best friends". They dance around together and then they fight the Rat King. Run Finley Run!

Every day we watch a Christmas movie (or two) in the afternoon. The kids love all the classics - Frosty, Rudolph and Charlie Brown's Christmas. They're still the same old school versions I remember as a kid and I'm surprised they like them so much, but they do.

I've even gotten better about remembering to actually move our elf, Graham, each day. It makes the game much more interesting when they have to look for him and they enjoy coming down each morning to find him. They race from room to room and whomever discovers his first runs to tell the other.

We're having unseasonably warm weather and hardly have any snow on the ground compared to what we'd normally have this time of year. I'm not sure if this means a mild winter is in store or Mother Nature is just saving it up.

As I watch the traffic jams in the parking lots, insane lines in the stores, and people shuffling around, filling their carts (you'd never know there is a recession based on the shopping in Canada), I am very grateful I'm organized and got all my shopping done early. I just took Wyatt today to pick out something for Dayven from the kids. We were barely in the door when I heard him telling Dayven "Daddy, we got you something, but it's a secret. I won't tell you, ok?" It's about to burst out of him. There's a slim chance he'll make it to Christmas without spilling the beans.

We're almost to day 22 on our Advent calendars. I guess the temptation to eat more than one chocolate per day was just too great for some people. I found Hadley's stool pushed up to the counter where I keep them so I'm guessing she's the culprit. In all fairness, she ate them from Wyatt's calendar too so at least they have the same number of days left. 

Only 7 more sleeps to go until the big day. It's such an exciting time of year!