I know posts have been few and far between around here lately.  We have been BUSY!  So to catch you up on all our happenings over the last two and a half weeks, I’ve written a little ditty and it goes like this…

On some days of Christmas Craziness my true love gave to me:

Twelve Floats a Glowin’
Alethea, Lydia and I all got to experience our first Minneapolis Holidazzle Parade together this year.  I know, I know, I grew up in the Twin Cities and had never seen it in person before.  Shame on me.  It just wasn’t part of our family traditions growing up.  I don’t know whether it will become part of ours, but it was cool to see the girls’ faces light up as they watched the stunning floats go by.  This is Alethea and Poppa (Peter’s dad) waiting for the parade to begin (not sure why Alethea looks sunburned, the weather hasn’t been that nice lately):

And here’s Lydia making everyone laugh while we were waiting:

Ooooo lights!!!!

Eleven Singers Singing
I was in charge of directing our church’s Christmas choir again this year.  I decided to try my hand at arranging some of the carols we were going to be singing.  “How is the arranging coming?” Peter asked me several times in November.  “Haven’t started yet,” I told him, “but I don’t think it’ll take me too long.  I’m not going to do anything too fancy.”  Turns out even not fancy arrangements are a lot of work.  Especially when you forget to save one before you go to bed and then wake up on Saturday morning with two hours until choir practice and find that your computer has rebooted and you’ve lost eeevvvveeeerrryyythiiiiiing!  Three original arrangements (one written out twice!) and four rehearsals in two weeks makes for choir overload!  Peter told me that next year I have to be done in July or he’s pulling the plug on my directorship.  We’ll see.

Ten Students Playing
Tuesday was the Christmas party for my piano students here at our house.  We had a great time playing music bingo, eating junk food and performing Christmas carols for each other.  Alethea enjoyed getting to interact with all the ‘big kids’, though she was a little confused about what kind of party it was.  She kept walking up to various students saying in a cheerful voice, “Happy Birthday!”

Nine Presents for Peter
… and other assorted gifts.  Lots of Christmas shopping has been done and while I have done as much as possible online, there still have been a few trips out to brick and mortar stores to pick up this and that.  Peter and I even braved the MOA to get Lydia her Bitty Baby Doll from the American Girl Store, though afterward Peter commented that we should probably have just paid to have the doll shipped rather than deal with the crowds.  Bah Humbug!

Eight Dozen Cookies
The girls and I were invited to attend a cookie exchange on Monday with some friends from church, but due to Extreme Choir Week (see number eleven above), Sunday night was my first chance to bake anything.  So, I stayed up late baking my Coconut Macaroons and Chocolate Andes Mint cookies.  It was totally worth it though because not only did I end up with a nice variety of cookies for my piano party, I got to spend an entire morning chatting with other moms.  I really need to do that more often, it was such a blessing!

Seven Monkeys Climbing
Okay, so it’s not seven monkeys, it’s just one, but it feels like seven!  Lydia is now climbing on everything in sight, including, but not limited to, the stairs, step stools and Alethea’s child sized rocking chair (which is now in the basement because Lydia kept falling off of it).  I can’t seem to get anything done because I’m constantly rescuing her off of things and the day I finally put the gate up at the bottom of the stairs so I could clean the kitchen, she sat there and cried for 10 minutes!  You heard me right, easygoing, not bothered by anything Lydia wept like her poor little heart would break just because I wouldn’t let her climb the stairs without me.  Sigh…

Would you believe that she got up here all by herself?

Six Gifts from Santa
One of the great things about our neighborhood is that every year the ladies do a Secret Santa week early in December.  This year I got five lovely gifts left on my doorstep through the week and then Saturday was our brunch and Santa reveal, where we ate a potluck meal and exchanged our final gifts.  I had a good time planning a gift theme for my recipient (snowflakes!) and thought my Santa did a really good job picking gifts for me.  Alethea had fun going to the door each morning to retrieve my gift for me off the doormat.  She especially liked the Tuesday gift, which was mini chocolate bars, but then on Wednesday when she pulled the tissue paper off of pretty paper napkins, she said in dismay, “But it’s not food!!!!”  I guess you can’t please everyone.

Five Sets of 20 Cards
My photo cards from Snapfish arrived and all 100 of them are currently sitting on my counter in envelopes, stamped and addressed.  My letter is written and copied.  I just need to get the letters stuffed and envelopes sealed and they’ll be headed to the post office for mailing.  How glad am I that I bought stamps in November so I have zero trips to make to the postal counter?  SO GLAD!

Four Assorted Parties
Happy Birthday again to my nephew Deacon and my sister-in-law Leah!  We enjoyed celebrating with you!  The piano party (number ten above) and a football and pizza gathering with church friends rounded out our yuletide celebrations thus far.

Three Prescriptions Filled
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been to the pediatrician’s office in the last few weeks, but I do know that we’ve had three rounds of antibiotics to combat ear infections, one for Alethea and two for Lydia.  I wish we could just get healthy, but they’ve both got horrible colds again and after a couple terrible nights with Lydia, we’ll be going in for an appointment this morning.  I really hope it’s just a cold and not another ear infection, otherwise we may be looking at tubes for our baby.  She just can’t stay on antibiotics for weeks on end.  It does horrible stuff to her digestive system and that makes both of us cranky!

Two Rooms Decked Out
My holiday decorations are done!  There are a few touches in the kitchen, my office and the main floor bathroom, but I’ve concentrated most of my efforts in the living and dining rooms.  I haven’t had a chance to get pictures yet, but Lord willing, before the end of the week, I will post my final decor shots for you all to see.

And a Gorgeous Balsam Fir Tree
I’m pretty sure we found the finest tree ever grown in Minnesota for our home this year.  It’s perfect!  And we had a terrific time going to cut it down too.  We’ll, at least some of us did.  Lydia had a hard time sitting up in the sled and Alethea didn’t like being squished!  The adults in the group just about died from laughter as we watch Lydia channel Ralphie’s little brother Randy from A Christmas Story:

After tree cutting comes tree decorating though and the girls liked that much better:

Alethea, naturally, took her ornament hanging task very seriously and did a nice job of getting each one to stay on the tree.  This is the face of utter concentration!

And as you may have predicted, Lydia thought her job was to go around and pull down all the ornaments Alethea was so carefully placing:

We did finally get all the ornaments to remain on the tree and Peter and I both agree that it is the finest tree this family has ever had.

Ho, ho, ho!

So that’s what we’ve been doing lately.  It seems like there are never enough hours in a day, but clearly we’ve managed to cram some stuff into the hours we do have!  How’ve you all been?  Busy too, I bet!  We’ll, I’d love to chat, but we’re off to see our pediatrician.  Have a happy Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve today! Later y’all!