Backwoods Wife

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

 

{pretty}

 

The kids were the chief tree decorators this year. Normally I am a bit more particular about where the ornaments go, but this year I decided to let them do whatever they wished. I put the lights on and they did the rest. The ornaments were moved around the tree on an almost daily basis, and the girls continued to come up with creations of their own to hang on the tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{happy}

A certain small someone recently got her very own sippy cup.

Inspecting the cup after eating a large quantity of sweet potato.

 

Very entertained by the new addition to her mealtime.

 

Delighted to be joining everyone else in cup-sipping!

 

 

{funny}

 

Our tree toppers! Yes, there are three. We had a request for an angel and two stars. I wasn't sure how we were going to accommodate that tall order but lo, and behold! Dwayne came home with a Christmas tree that just happened to have three little branches up top. Each of the older children was boosted up by Mommy or Daddy to put their topper of choice on the tree. (Quick story behind the little gold star - when Hendrik was little he was determined that we have a gold star for the top of the tree, nothing else would do. I searched all over town, there was not a gold star to be found. I ended up making this one out of the padding from inside a box of chocolates and the gold paper from a Caramilk chocolate bar. What allows it to sit on the tree is an icing coupler! It is still requested each year despite it been a bit shabby around the edges now.)

 

{real}

 

What our living room looked like for much of the Christmas festivities. Laundry doesn't go away over Christmas holidays for some reason...

 

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12 Days of Christmas

 

 

Do any of you celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas?  My understanding is that they begin Christmas Day as the time of preparation for Christmas is Advent.  That would make today the 11th day of Christmas I believe.  I'm not quite ready to be done with Christmas just yet.  With our family being sick in the week and a half or so before Christmas, I feel like I missed out on a lot of the things I had hoped we could do together as a family.  Next year, I will prepare everything well in advance so that even if we end up ill over the Christmas break, we can still have maximum Christmas cheer!  I plan to take photos of our decorations and make a list of our Christmas books, music, and DVDs to keep in a folder on our computer so I can have that information at the ready all year without having to go hunting through storage bins.  I have added a few things this week to our collection (hooray for sales!) and plan on continuing to decorate this week before taking everything down on Saturday.  The kids and I are planning on doing some crafting this week as well as we didn't get to do that in the week before Christmas.  I know I've been mostly talking about Christmas decor and creating a Christmas mood here, but I would be very interested to find out if, and how, any of you celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas.  Please share any comments or links you might have!  

Christmas Crafting

This morning we had a little crafting play date at our house.  So much fun!  The older girls made clothespin doll ornaments and the younger two kiddos played with toys while we moms chatted and sipped coffee.  ~insert happy sigh here~  I do miss creative activities and will have to try harder to incorporate it into our days.  Scheduling it in might be the best way to go about it.  Put it on the calendar and it just might happen!  Thanks Ainsley, Megan, and kiddos for a great morning!

These ladies still need their faces finished, but you get the general idea. :)

 

I'm kicking myself now for not taking pictures while the kids were working... 

Where's the line to see Jesus?

No more tree!

Last night we FINALLY took down our Christmas tree.  Somehow I managed to get all of decorations off the tree and a third of the lights before the kids noticed what I was doing.  There were some minor protestations, but with the assurance of decorating for Valentine's Day today all was well again.  Today I have to pack up all of the ornaments and breakable bits from around the house.  Riley had a blast "fishing" off the loft railing last night with a long length of silver garland.  Then the garland was threaded through the sleeves of one of her dresses and hung off the antler's on the deer mount as a decoration/dress drying device.  We now have several shorter lengths of garland as a result of all of the "fishing", etc but it was a lot of fun for all of $4.

For now we are breakfasting and doing laundry and dishes.  Then it's packing up the Christmas stuff, getting out supplies to make Valentine's decorations.  The girls were supposed to resume dance class this morning after a long hiatus (the instructor wasn't well) but I've kept their big brother home from school today as he wasn't feeling so great yesterday so we're all staying put.  We'll have to make a quick trip to town later to pick up some milk and check the mail.  I am really hoping my engagement ring is waiting for me at the post office.  I sent it to a jeweller at the beginning of December and have not seen it since.  I was told 10 days...it's been about 7 weeks now - I'm not impressed.  I won't be using those jewellers again.

Dwayne's parents begin their trek home tomorrow via the winter road again.  My mom and dad are driving them back.  It works out well for all parties - Mom and Dad V get back to the airport, Mom and Dad B get a change of scenery and a few more shopping and restaurant options than we have here, and I have Dwayne and don't have to worry about the wood stove(s) or the generator and other fun stuff like that.  (Normally I don't mind doing that sort of thing, but the whole being VERY pregnant thing has kind of made those tasks a bit difficult!) :)

Off to continue what has so far been a productive morning! 

Oh, I also have to call the sheriff's office to try to get out of jury duty next week...

Update:  Apparently the sheriff's office cannot excuse a very pregnant woman with three children 5 and under from jury duty.  I actually have to go to the courthouse and ask to be excused which, I'm told, doesn't usually take more than 2 hours.  Ugh.