Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

I'm currently avoiding those last-minute Christmas tasks and writing this instead. One good thing about writing these posts is that it's something I can do while sitting down and it feels productive. I'm exhausted from the part-time job that is December. I made a list of everything I did this year, partly to see how much more I do this time of year than the other months, but also to keep it for next year so I don't forget anything. And I can start on the list even earlier next year. There were 65 extra things (and counting) on my December to-do list. Everything from decorating the house to taking the kids to see Christmas lights to coming up with 20 new ways to move the elves (I save up all my creative energy all year for this). So, I feel like I've earned the right to be tired today as I sit on the couch.

I love Mya and Winter's styles. Pretty and put together with every attention to detail, down to the headband matching the shoes; much like her personality. And then we have punk rock with a girly flair. Same for her personality as well.

Addie is doing her "plunges."

We thought it snowed in Azusa. We were so excited. Then I bent down to touch it and it was not cold. And this snowy white substance stayed there for over a week. It didn't melt... because it wasn't snow. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe a salt of some sort resulting from the rain? I didn't have the heart to tell them that it wasn't snow. So I just didn't say anything and they still think it snowed at our house last week. 

Just like 3 of them still believe in Santa and the elves on the shelf and the tooth fairy. Its fine. But I'm surprised their friends at school haven't mentioned anything... I'm not one of those moms that wants to keep the wonder and magic of Christmas alive for as long as possible. I'd prefer they knew. I didn't even tell them Santa was real. They just saw it on movies and came to their own conclusions. Mya never bought it. She's too practical. I don't really want to be the one to tell them the truth, however. I remember when my mom told me. It was traumatizing. Maybe I'll have Dan do it. 

I have a giant pile of wrapped gifts in my room that they've been aware of for weeks. We'll see if they ask questions on Christmas morning when they are all under the tree. My plan is to tell them that Santa mostly gets presents for the kids whose parents can't afford them... Maybe he arranges all those toy drives. That sounds like Santa. He's such a good guy.

While trying to make snowflake cutouts: "Look, I accidentally made a pokey elf bra thing."

Our Christmas party looked different this year. We were missing about 20 members of my family. Most of them moved away. Last year we didn't have a party at all because everything shut down again. I'm learning to accept the changes that come and appreciate some of the good things those changes come with. This was such an awesome group. Smaller than usual but that meant that we had more time to catch up. And the cousins enjoyed each other thoroughly, making up for lost time. 

The night of the party, the youngest, Johannes (pronounced Yo-HAW-ness), was nick-named "Your Highness." One of his cousins really thought that was his name so that's what he started calling him. "Your Highness, wanna play? Your Highness, let's go upstairs."
 Obviously it caught on because how awesome is that.  And it is actually the perfect way to address a 3-year-old. Because the world revolves around them and no one else. And if you don't treat them like royalty... well, good luck with that. 

Toward the end of the night, past "Your Highness's" bedtime, he requested milk with the blue striped straw that he used a few hours prior. His mom, being the caring mom that she is, washed his straw off since it had been added to the pile of dirty dishes. Your Highness was NOT happy with the clean straw and yelled, "NOOOOOO! No no no no no Ahhhh Ugh NOOO!" and proceeded to melt off the chair and have a nice little fit. He absolutely refused to drink out of the now clean straw. And his world was pretty much over.

It took us all a minute to figure out that he didn't want his straw cleaned. He liked it dirty the way it was. I looked at Your Highness's mom and said, "I think you're going to have to dirty the straw again..." She nodded in agreement. She took the straw and went over to the sink and fiddled around in the sink saying, "Hmmm okay dirtying the straw... getting dirty. Okay, now the straw is dirty again." Your Highness was pleased. He put the "dirty" straw in his milk and drank happily. They left shortly after that and hopefully, he took a long royal nap on the way home. 

I've been making loaves of banana bread for my neighbors for over a decade now. I tried to quit but Dan begged me to continue. He's big on Christmas traditions. We deliver to 11 families so it is quite the day of baking. This year, Mya offered to take it over. Bless her. She even let Angus help. Double bless her.

They decided to play "Spies." I don't know what kind. But it kept them busy for hours. Winter is awesome like that.

Otter, our 13 year old lab, had a little surgery on her paw. She's fine. But she had to wear "the cone of shame" and she HATES when anyone messes with her paws so she was pretty miserable. It was really sad to watch her try to hobble around with her cone and her hurt paw. And the vet sent her home with tons of meds and she was all doped up and confused. She's already pretty deaf and mostly blind. And her bandage started to come down a little bit, exposing her sutures. Dan came home from work the next morning and I was so relieved. I love having such a capable decisive partner. He looked at her bandage, carried her into the car and drove her down to the vet to have it rewrapped. When she got home, he took off the cone and said, "Let's just watch her to make sure she doesn't mess with her paw." She proceeded to pass out and sleep the entire day, poor thing. She was exhausted from the whole ordeal and didn't get any sleep with that stupid cone on all night.

She's so happy now. We still need to put the cone on at night for a couple more nights to make sure she doesn't mess with the bandage. But we leave it off during the day, and after a few reminders not to lick her hurt foot, she leaves it alone for the most part.

Winter turned 11! I always think of her as a little bit older and have to remind myself that she's not Mya's age even though she may look like it. Birthdays are always a little emotional for me as I remember the day the kids were born. Winter's arrival was much like the way she lives life. Definitely not textbook. Different than the typical way and on her own time schedule. 

She was the only baby that came too fast for an epidural. And she was 10 days early. She was due on January 1st. I started having contractions 10 minutes apart for hours. They weren't advancing so we went to the hospital to see what was going on. The doc said "Let's get this labor going" and broke my water. She was born 30 minutes later. It poured rain on the way home from the hospital. She was the easiest baby and not the easiest toddler. Winter is the reason I started this blog. Her hilarious shenanigans made good stories (after the fact) and making light of parenting and keeping a good sense of humor was one of my survival tools. She has has grown into such a cool person. People always say that about their kids but Winter really is a joy. Her funloving playful nature is infectious. She is loved by all and I'm so lucky that she's mine. 

Merry Christmas Eve Eve All!