Festive Things to Do This Month

Tomorrow officially begins Christmas break and I am so ready for it!  Not because I long to be finished with work-- I truly do love my job.  I'm looking forward to this break mainly because it's one of the things I worked most hard for and one of the main reasons I switched careers; so I would be home with my kids when they were off of school.  To think that I get a whole two weeks off with them and it doesn't cost me any "leave time" or "PTO" is amazing!

I remember when I was pregnant with Michael and someone told me to cherish each moment because the years go by so quickly.  I didn't fully understand just how fast they could fly until I found myself as the mom of a toddler and not knowing how I got there!  Also, I hardly have any memories of my life from August 2014 through August 2015-- the first year after Michael was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes.  I took a lot of pictures during that year which is how I remember that I survived, and I wrote some blog posts during that time which reminds me of what I was feeling.  Mostly, I was numb and so very sad.  I look back at those pictures and wish I could return to that scared twenty-six year old woman and tell her it really would all be okay.  I would also scoop up those two little boys (two year old Michael and one year old Noah) and squeeze their little cheeks and race around the house with them.  I feel like I missed out on a year of life and it makes me want to hold on desperately to the time I have now.

So while I'm off for Christmas break with my kids, I'm determined to make it the most joyful, coziest, warmest time of year for them.  I want them to grow up remembering how their parents made holidays extra special because of the time we spent together-- not because of the money we had or the jam-packed things we did.  Time, to me, is best spent with hardly a schedule.  Too many activities stress me out and keep me from fully enjoying my time.  I'm so excited that these next two weeks are hardly full of a schedule at all!  During this time, I plan to do a lot of simple things that make my kiddos feel like it was the best holiday break ever!

Some of these things we've already been doing for the past month or so. Here are some ideas:

• Let the kids decorate the tree!  My kiddos LOVE doing this, which really means that most of my ornaments are in the middle of my tree-- multiple ornaments on same branches.  I do not go behind them and rearrange the tree.  I leave it just as they put it.  They redecorate it themselves over the weeks and it's completely fine with me.  The breakable ornaments I put at the very top section of the tree or I don't put them on at all.  There will come a day when I can hang the ornaments wherever, and I'll know that no one will pull them off and hide them.  Unfortunately, that also means that I'll be decorating the tree alone since my kids will be too cool-- so I'm fully soaking in these years when they want to help!
• Play Christmas music!  Bonus if you play songs from their favorite movies!  If you're an Amazon Prime member, you can download an app called "Amazon Music" and can download tons of songs for Free onto your phone and make playlists.  Just be careful not to select "Amazon Unlimited" because that's an extra fee.  I have a playlist called "Christmas" and it includes all Christmas music that we love to listen to as we ride in the car and I can also play it at home for impromptu dance parties and upbeat motivation in the mornings as we get ready!  We have traditional songs on the list as well as songs purposely directing our attention to Jesus and the reason for the season. 
• Elf on the Shelf.  This doesn't have to be intense.  It can be simple and nearly cost free to come up with ideas for the elf to do each night.  I wrote about it here.
• Put up some outside Christmas lights.  I picked up some Command hooks a few weeks ago and just got around to putting them up around our front door last week!  I hung one strings of lights around our front door, and I just strung a few other strands on the ground in front of our bushes and my kids literally think it's the best thing ever because now they feel a part of the "Christmas lights" houses and I think it's fun for them to know that they can play a role in bringing joy to someone else who might be driving through our neighborhood. Speaking of lights...
• Go driving around and look at Christmas lights!  We've done this two or three times already.  We try to go through different neighborhoods and it's a good activity while we wait for Aaron to get home in the evenings. We play Christmas music and marvel at how talented some of these neighbors can be, but we also appreciate all attempts at Christmas lighting (including our own!).
• Make hot chocolate!  We like the Swiss Miss Light hot chocolate packets because they're only 4 or 5 grams of carbs per serving.  I heat up water in a normal cup and add the hot chocolate mix, then I squirt some whipped cream on the top.  They LOVE it!  It's so simple but it makes them feel special and that's what counts. 
• Watch Christmas movies!  I spent the last several years collecting Christmas movies since we don't have cable and can't always rely on the streaming services having the movies we want to watch.  We try to choose a movie a day, but lately we've only been able to watch a movie a couple nights a week.  Now that we'll be on break, my hope is to watch most or all of what we have while we go about our business in the house each day (playing with toys, doing laundry, etc.). 

I hope this list gives you a little peek into what we're up to this holiday break and I hope it inspires you to focus on the meaning of the season and not get wrapped up in the stress that can so easily overtake! 

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba