What Did(n't) We Do In Early December?

I am usually fully "in the zone" by early December...meaning, I am so busy running errands/wrapping presents/doing my Christmas shopping and baking that it is hard for me to look beyond my own nose (or my own to-do list). I suppose I am one of those people who love to get the stressful holiday chores out of the way early, so that I can fully enjoy the last week or two of December without a lot hanging over my head. Example: I used to hate the very idea of Black Friday, but in the last few years I have welcomed it; it's so nice to get all (or at least most) of the Christmas shopping out of the way early in the Christmas season! (usually because there's so much else to do during the season besides gift shopping, ugh!)

The plus side to the "early-bird" approach is that by the time school gets out for the holidays, my obligations are all done! I am ready to collapse into a couch, eat junk food, watch TV, and hang out exclusively with my family for a few weeks. 'Tis the season to be a social hermit and a couch potato! (Incidentally, this is also why you probably won't see much blogging done towards the end of the year, either.)

But all work and no play makes the Barretts a dull family, so we did find time here and there to have a little fun...

For example, the kids and I made ninjabread men one night. No, not gingerbread men...ninja-bread men! I have been wanting ninja-posed cookie cutters for years, and I finally found a ninjabread baking kit while out on a shopping trip. I couldn't resist!

 

The girls had so much fun cutting out the cookies, and then decorating them afterward.

My only complaint about the activity was that the cookie mix wasn't particularly tasty. No worries though...we'll save the cookie cutters and make some better homemade dough next time!

We also got to attend our friends the Nielsen's annual Ugly Sweater Christmas Party: it is one of the highlights of our holiday season, and we love the opportunity to goof off a little and hang out with our friends.

I am not so good at taking pictures at the ugly sweater party any more, so for some reason this is the only picture I have...and you can't even see our ugly sweaters! (Nathan has on a sweater-vest, but you get the idea.) But trust me, they are indeed quite ugly! And at least my husband and I look filled with love for each other, don't we?? That night, Nathan and I ate a lot of yummy food, socialized with lots of people, and ended up with a head massager as part of the White Elephant gift exchange. It is a very goofy-looking gadget but it's very soothing, and we have enjoyed using it!

We were also lucky enough to catch up a little with (Sister) Sam Stratton, one of "our" former missionaries. Sister Stratton served in our ward back when Nathan was starting out as the ward's mission leader; at that time, both of them were "new" missionaries, so they learned a lot from each other. She was always one of our favorite sisters (although we loved all our missionaries in their own way!), so we were overjoyed she stopped by! It was great to catch up with her and see how her life has changed since finishing her mission.

 

Her sense of humor was still very intact, and we found much to laugh about. Sam was excited to see our girls again, whom she loved dearly; sadly, our girls didn't remember her as well as she remembered them (probably due to the steady stream of missionaries we had going through our house for a while). They warmed up to her again pretty quickly, though!

 

Sam was also kind enough to take a few pictures of our family...although none of them were worthy of hanging on our wall, they were definitely amusing to look at later!

And then there was December 7, 2015, a day that will live in (semi-) infamy. It started out well enough...just look at that gorgeous sunrise!

The girls were very impressed.

 

But all was not well. Just hours later, I went out to run an errand in the van...and it failed to start. We'd just replaced the car's battery, so we didn't think that was the problem. A friend came over and tried to jump-start the car, with no success. Sadly, this was the sight outside our home an hour or so later...

 

It is so worrisome and stressful to have a car break down...especially at such a busy (and financially strained!) time of year. At least our insurance paid for the towing. As it turned out, the van's engine starter had gone out and needed to be replaced. Thankfully, it was a relatively quick fix; we were able to pick the fixed van just a couple of hours after its diagnosis.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time to decide which repair shop to go to, so I picked our "default" location, Fletcher's Tire & Auto. We usually go there only to get our cars' oil changed; we try to avoid it when we need more complex/pricey repairs. We had a few friends say they could have fixed our starter for just a few hundred bucks. However, time is our enemy in December, and we knew we didn't have time to wait for someone's availability. So we were stuck, and as a result ended up paying a lot more for the repair than we might have at a different time of year. The silver lining is that we are able to pay off the cost in installments, interest-free. That takes the sting out of it a bit, but still...oof. It was a pretty frustrating thing to have happen during the Christmas season.

Things picked up a bit later that night, though, as we finally got our family Christmas tree purchased from our local grocery store, and then set it up in our front room.

 

Maybe the girls sensed I was tired and distracted...maybe they are just getting older and more independent. Either way, they ended up doing about 80% of the work when it came to decorating the tree. They only made me put up the strings of lights; they handled all the ornaments themselves! It was fun to watch how they worked, and overall they did a very nice job.

No matter how stressful the day had been to that point, it was very reassuring to smell that wonderful pine smell, and to see the beautiful lights twinkling on the tree. There is something so peaceful and calming about a Christmas tree...I wish I could put my finger on what it is. Maybe a tree in the house helps me feel more "Zen" or "at one with nature"? Regardless, it definitely made the whole day better retroactively!

That Friday evening (December 11), I got to take Lorelai and Aurora to some more holiday festivities at the Sahuarita Town Center (Celeste was off on a birthday dinner date with Nathan...more on that later). The town was holding its annual Winter Carnival there, and there were several activities, including a parade of lights, a tree lighting, and even ice skating!

Well...not real ice-skating. We wore real ice skates, but the "ice" was nothing more than a waxy plastic surface. It wasn't even cold! That didn't matter to the girls though...after a few hard tumbles, they started to get the hang of the skates and were able to clomp around on the "ice" with some rudimentary skill. All our skates were pretty ill-fitting (we were one of the later arrivals), so it ended up making everyone's ankles quite sore; once again, though, I suspect the girls didn't mind.

We also enjoyed the parade of lights (although due to the dim light, I wasn't able to get any pictures). It filled me with a twinge of nostalgia...as a youth, I often attended Denver's Parade of Lights, and it was so much fun (even if it was quite cold!). I love seeing festive floats & marching bands, and the Sahuarita parade (though much smaller than the Denver parade) was both tastefully done and fun. A few local high school marching bands participated, as well as several local organizations. The LDS Church entered a float as well, and many of our friends were on board! It was fun to clap and cheer for everyone.

Of course, there are many Christmas activities still to come. However, as of this writing, not all of them have happened yet! We'll see how long it takes me to get back to the blog to provide the recaps. In the meantime, I'm starting to relax a little, get out of "the zone," and enjoy the Christmas season. I hope you all do the same!