Merry Christmas!!!! If you find the Christmas Spirit, please send it my way :)

We're going through the motions here at Casa de Harried Mom. The house is cleaned (mostly), presents are wrapped (also mostly), and finally, on Christmas Eve I'm ready to do some cookie baking. I wouldn't feel right about setting out Chips Ahoy and Oreos for Santa, you know. I am so excited for Sarah and Jason this year, just seeing the look in their eyes on Saturday morning - I cannot wait to see that! It's a magic time for them - Sarah of course knows what to expect,  and now this year Jason knows that SOMETHING BIG is happening, but doesn't have the full picture yet.

And then there's the big kids. I really don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but honestly? I could really care less about giving the two of them anything. Especially the big kid. Of course, they are sleeping as I write this, so I'm feeling perhaps a bit more charitable towards them. Or not. I don't know. William sort of gets a bit of a pass, in my mind, because he's not constantly asking for things - all he wants out of life right now is time to play video games. It's his favorite thing in the world - his December Journal from school mentioned the Wii multiple times. Can you make a career playing Wii? Anyway - William really never asks anything of anyone, and usually doesn't cause much trouble, either.

 

Evie is another story. What to say? She makes me crazy. Truly. Two days before Christmas, first full day of winter break from school, and she's lying about finishing her tasks for the day. It's not like I asked her to complete an enormous list of unmanageable stuff, I asked her to pick up her room and practice the piano. That girl SWORE UP AND DOWN that she had practiced, telling me she did it while I was running water cleaning the bathrooms. Apparently she thinks I'm an idiot. Or that I can't hear. Regardless - 3 years into lessons that she asked to take, and I really think I'm over battling with her about practicing. I'm really over battling with her about EVERYTHING. Is this the job of the first-born, to challenge you at every turn and make you question why you thought kids were a good idea?? That girl turns everything we say into a debate or an argument. I could write a dissertation on Evie and our interactions right now, but suffice it to say, Evie is used to doing what she wants while we're managing the other 3, and it's not in her nature to want to be helpful. Evie likes to help in her own way or not at all. Deep sigh. 

 

So that's where we are right now, heading into Christmas Eve. I just typed Christmas Evie :) lol! Too much wine? Probably. Anyway. Suffice it to say, we're really wondering at what point your kids become sufficient to the point where you can ask them to help out, and they actually do it without you having to sit on them and watch. I'd really like to know when that happens...

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Sarah wanted to put the star on the tree this year!!! She did a terrific job - in the past, Evie's asked to do it, but she always seems get scared when Matt lifts her up to the top & William ends up taking over. This time Sarah asked if she could, and without a bit of hesitation she plopped the star right at the very top :) My little girl is getting so big!!!

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 I made a point this year of getting into the schools for everyone's holiday celebrations - it hasn't been easy up to this point, what with S&J being one year apart, but they're very manageable at this point so we went into William's school for his party on Tuesday & caught the tail end where the kids were choosing their gifts from under the tree - each student had brought in a wrapped book...

Sarah's preschool had their party on Wednesday & she got to have lunch at school with the other kids, a rare treat!

I missed Evie's party on Wednesday because I was at Sarah's, but I did go in & see Evie because she's the LUCKY student who gets to take home the class guinea pig for winter break! LUCKY ME!!! :)

 

Really - Evie is OVER THE MOON over having 'Jedi' for almost two weeks. She is such an animal lover, it's really kind of crazy.  I need to come up with some way of making helping out around the house 'animal' related...

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Merry Christmas to you all! If you're traveling, Godspeed! If you're staying home, may your holiday be merry and free of strife and stress! And if not, remember there is always coffee - or even better, a good Cabernet :)