Santa Claus is coming to town!!

We have been running here and there doing all the last minute things to get ready for Christmas. It has been a year where nearly all of our traditions have flown out the window, and that is okay.

The younger kids were part of the Christmas program last week. I would love to tell you about it, but I didn't get to see it. I had to leave my office later than I planned, so I missed Kyle's class singing. I think he was just glad to see me make it, though. This expression on his face is funny!
Todd was supposed to be a shepherd in this Nativity, but when I got to the school his teacher told me he wasn't feeling well again. Poor little guy was feeling pukey again, so I brought him home. Unfortunately, it is the season for giving, and Todd gave that pukey bug to all of us. One at a time we have all been coming down with it for about 10-24 hours at a time. Last night and today was my turn, and it has been very unpleasant. We missed the candlelight ceremony tonight because of it, and that really saddens me. It is my favorite service of the year.
We have been re-arranging our house again, so we decided to set up our den area upstairs for Christmas this year instead of squeezing a tree into our living room. With our work and school schedules compacted even further by our holiday activities we just hadn't found the time to unpack all the Christmas stuff. So we decided to buy a new tree instead. If you have never set up a pre-lit tree I just have to encourage you to try it! We had the tree assembled and ready for ornaments within ten minutes.
I decided to get a tree that satisfies my girly nature. It is white, with teal, purple, and pink accents. The older boys hate the colors, but the girls think it is great! Next year we will have our girly tree upstairs again and set up the green tree downstairs.
I had several of these big ornaments on the tree, but they have dwindled down. It seems Beth has decided it would be fun to stuff them into her shirt to make boobs out of them.

The final piece was an angel topper. Since this was a girly tree, and I picked the colors, I also decided on the angel that had something in common with me. She plays the flute. I bet if you didn't know me 20 years ago you didn't know I know how to do that.
And since girls and girly trees like to have friends around, we paired the little purple tree up with the white one. Next year we will add a little pink one for a girly Christmas forest.
TodayBeth kept coming to me and telling me that she really needed to talk to Santa. She needed to call him. I was just too sick to do much about it all afternoon, but this evening I could finally sit up and not have the world spin around me so badly. So I called the North Pole and left a message asking Santa to please call her.

About ten minutes later the phone rang, and a very happy Beth relayed to Santa that not only does she want a Barbie and a real frog,but she would also like a phone, a laptop, and $500. Um yeah... me too...lol... except for maybe the real frog.
Then Todd got on to say hello. Santa had asked Beth what she would be leaving him to snack on and she promised him fudge and milk. Todd promised cookies and eggnog. Apparently I need to actually bake tomorrow.
Skeptical Kyle got on the phone and was blown away when Santa mentioned that he knew Kyle had played on an all-star team this year. Then Santa mentioned that he had heard Kyle wants a disco ball for Christmas and Kyle said, "How did you know that?" I do believe his belief in Santa has been restored for at least another year. Thanks, Santa!
Then Faith got on the phone with the big red elf, and talked about music and reindeer food. I am finding it particularly pleasant that she cannot figure out who Santa is, and she cannot even try to guess aloud because she knows she isn't allowed to contribute to disbelief in the younger kids.
I have a lot to do tomorrow to finish prepping for Christmas, but I am not as unprepared as years past, which is another tradition we were happy to bypass this year. Presents are mostly wrapped, and provided this pukey bug leaves me alone we should be ready to feed the flying elf and his reindeer tomorrow night.

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!