Santa Brings the Goody Bags

Today marks the start of the countdown of twelve days till Christmas, and my True Love has given me a few hours all alone on this brisk Saturday morning. Rather than continue my shopping or wrapping or baking,  I'm taking a break from the madness to check-in with the blogosphere and with myself. The shorter time span between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year has proven to be challenging for a number of reasons, and I'm thinking a pause is in order.
We returned to Charlotte from Oklahoma on Saturday night after celebrating Thanksgiving with the Lewellen (and Purdy and Schmidly and Braly and Mathias and Hatch) bunch. Per tradition, we were all gearing up and getting excited to begin decorating the next day. Little did we know, that on the exact same day we would be trimming our Christmas tree, we would also be having another, less welcome tree, removed from the roof, attic space, and playroom of our home.

Outside.

Produced six holes in our roof and lots of damage.

And, inside.

A door totally knocked off the frame 

and a four three limb sticking through the wall.

One tree out, another in.

I just love the sight and smell of a real Christmas tree.

We were so thankful that we were not home at the time that this whopper collapsed onto our house; it would have been terrifying to hear and could have really hurt someone. We have been fortunate to have had an insurance company who has made the process as easy and pain free as possible, yet, dealing with a construction project in our house in the middle of what is the busiest time of the year has been a bit of a headache.

Dolly checking out the construction progress.

My already lengthy holiday to-do list extended to add items like 1) choose paint color 2) select light fixture 3) decide on nook layout. {We decided to take advantage of a bad situation and turn the attic space into a play-space for the girls.}
Other items on my growing to-do list are pretty standard for this time of year and mostly involve helping Santa check off his list. I've almost made scoring online coupon codes and utilizing Target cartwheel savings a sport this season and think I've done a pretty decent job of finding some good deals on most presents. Having three children within five years in age and all of the same gender makes choosing unique gifts a little tricky, but it's also fun to really focus on what is unique about each girlie.
I've also been fulfilling my holiday season room-mom duties in Wright's class and Carter's class and thinking ahead to menu planning for our holiday meals.

A {tasty} work in progress.

Oh, did I mention that I need to have all of these items crossed off of my list by Thursday, December 18 because on that day we'll be flying to Dallas, Texas, for the wedding of my Cousin Kristen in which all three girls will be flower girls?! We will be returning to Charlotte on the afternoon of December 23 - just in time for Christmas Eve. Yep! So, there's a bit of a time crunch on things this year!
When it hit me, actually when my mom brought it my attention, on or about December 2, that I'd only have two full weeks after Thanksgiving and before we'd be leaving for Dallas, I knew that I was going to have to be intentional in how I was using my time and especially in how I was creating meaning around Christmas in the house for the girls. This has meant a few things...

• Busting my booty when they are all at school. Running my errands like mad. Getting as much done as I possibly can without them, so that they do not feel the hustle and bustle of it all... and shopping online as much as possible!
  
  Impromptu trip to the American Girl Salon on a Wednesday.
  Byers and Nora needed to hair styles for the wedding.
• Playing Christmas music in the car and at home, even if I'm not in the mood.  
• Talking with them more and more about giving, about others, about those less fortunate than we.
• The most obvious thing I've done comes at bedtime each night when I've been stopping whatever I've been doing and completely focusing on the girls. We've been sitting down, all together, and reading several Christmas books. I always make sure at least one of the books is about the real meaning of Christmas. I've let bedtimes lax and my chores wait. This time is important, and this season is short. 

We've enjoyed visits by our elf, Dolly, who is a well behaved elf who brought Murphy shrills of pure delight this morning when she discovered that the Dolly had been frolicking all evening in her Caboodle.

She does wear a red lip well.

I've read some articles over the past week or so of folks being anti-the-elf, and for our family, I think it's all about balance. We all love the magic, the mystery, the excitement of Santa and the the reindeer and the elves, but that doesn't mean the true meaning of it all is lost. And I have to say, I think we have managed keep the balance, to maintain the meaning.

As our six year old Carter so perfectly put it,

Christmas is really about Jesus' birthday. Santa just brings the goody bags!