The Grand Opening!

The day has finally arrived. After many postponed dates, our new Aldi has opened its doors! And you better believe I was there bright as early this morning for the ribbon cutting ceremony. There was a small crowd, including some area officials, customers, and news crews. Our mayor, who was handing out quarters to use in the new carts (Aldi carts are dispensed with quarters which you get back when you replace it after shopping). We were disappointed to not have our shopping buddies, Elise and Penny, with us. They are off in California for Christmas. We definitely have many trips together planned in the future.

I was amazed at how big and beautiful the store was. Such a change from the dingy, smelly place that was there before. Everyone was just so happy to be shopping there. Seriously, a two-minute drive for us. And just in time for Christmas. I can always count on a couple last minute store runs when preparing big meals. 

The stroller drew a lot of attention as usual, and the kids were little gems as we perused the new aisles with all the excited customers. They just munched on their popcorn as we picked up a few things, and just really learned the layout of the new space. There were a lot of manager type people there helps everyone get what they need. The entire staff was very excited and friendly, and even handed out bags of samples as we left the store. Everyone just seemed to be in a cheerful, festive mood. It made for a great little outing this morning.

It’s one thing when you have a grocery store down the street, but when you have one of your favorite places to shop so close to home, it really makes errands seems so much more enjoyable and productive. I may be acting a little bit too excited about a simple grocery store, but seriously, grocery shopping is my life. I’m sure most of you moms would agree. And I love doing it. I love thinking of new things to make for my family, and it doesn’t hurt that the prices here are awesome.  Ah, the simple pleasures of being a stay-at-home mom.

Another year, another Christmas party!

After some thought, Elise and decided we were in the mood to co-host another Christmas party. I’m not the type that wants to dibs this event every year, but being afraid that the season would come and go without a rousing gathering of friends, we just went for it again, and we are so glad we did. The theme this year: “Ugly Sweater Mocktail Party”! We loved the contrast between the silly attire, and sophisticated food and drinks. We Provided a non-drinker-friendly bar, including Pina Coladas, Grape-Appletinis, and Pomegranate Mojitos. Elise made some adorable instruction signs above the bar so people could mix their own throughout the night. She also made some cute little name tags that people tied on their glasses in case they mixed theirs with someone else's.  We also had a selections of slightly less sophisticated drinks, like, Ginger ale punch, Festive Nog (Egg Nog mixed with Sprite), Sparkling Cider, and even a keg of Root Beer. We also provided, and asked others to bring, some appetizers. I made herbed goat cheese balls, and lemon-raspberry crumb bars, as well as some quick mini quiches, just in case. The tables just kept filling up with the most wonderful foods as people arrived. It was quite a feast of appetizers and desserts! They were so good, in fact,  that I had to change from my tights and tight-waisted skirt to more confortable jeans half way through the party. One perk of being the host, I guess.

We had some spectacularly ugly sweaters show up. We also had some great-looking, normal outfits in the bunch, so hopefully no one mixed up people’s intentions for their attire. KC and I got into full character, complete with red sparkly tights, and socks with sandals. (And I should note that when the kids saw us in our sweaters they were completely in awe and couldn’t stop exclaiming about everything they saw. Of course Ruby loved the tiny snowmen on my mock turtle neck.) There was a vote for the best (meaning, ugliest) sweater in the bunch, and Ryan won, hands down, with his green festive cardigan. (And we were informed that soon after leaving the party, he and his wife got pulled over, but got out of it for being festive, and having cookies to bribe the officer with. Nice.) Though, KC came in a close second (not that we would take the prize, had he won). He got a prize that included chocolate, Italian soda, and Elise threw in a free Christmas card design! I’m so glad people had fun with this. It was my first ugly sweater party, and I hope it’s not my last.

The White Elephant exchange was excellent, as always. It’s always a surprise what gets passed around. I was sure my high-heel shaped soap dispenser would be a dud, but I was wrong! Oh, I love a tacky gift exchange.

We had such a great turnout, and were so pleased to be with so many great people. It’s always inevitable that we’ll have fun with our friends. There’s never a shortage of great conversation, or laughs. We’ve been hear for almost six years, and over those years we have made some lasting friendships we hope to never lose touch with. This party was such a great way to get us all in one place. We definitely feel like a kind of family. (We took these after the first couple left. Sorry Wendy and Larry!)

When the last guests left a little after midnight, we had fun laughing about the night as we all cleaned anything that had to get done before we collapsed. The kids did pretty well. The boys were zonked through the entire thing, but Ruby heard us partying and needed a little cuddling a couple times during the night. It was fine with me though. I loved that dark, quiet time with my girl.  We may have been tired the next day, and it may have taken a day or two to get my kitchen in order again, but I am so happy we made this party happen. I always need a fun gathering like this to bring the Christmas cheer to that next level, and this year did not disappoint!We might have had a little too much fun pretending to be drunk.

 

An even more toddler-friendly “Chismit tee”.

Don’t anyone  get excited, but I came out of my comfort zone again to do a project for the littles. I felt like a stranger in the fabric/craft store. But I managed to find the few things I needed for this simple task. And forest green sparkly felt, no less!. When I saw this on Pintrest (doesn’t it have Pintrest written all over it?), I knew the kids would love it, so I put in a few hours and it was done!

When they woke up to it in the morning, they fell instantly in love. Ruby, true to her hoarding ways, immediately gathered all the letters. We are really working on sharing lately. Now, every time they are arguing over toys, I hear a bunch of little voices saying, “I can share! I can share!”

Alex was confused which tree to put the ornaments on at first.

Bennett woke up a little later, so he had it to himself after the initial excitement had worn off, which I’m sure he liked.

We also realized we could use the finger puppet nativity on it as well.

I made only letter ornaments, though the tutorial has some other cute patterns. Maybe next year. These kids love anything that displays letters, so I thought that would make it most fun for them at this age. This is definitely the kind of thing I would’ve opted to buy rather than make myself in the past, but hey, being a mom of toddlers makes me open to trying things I normally wouldn’t. I think Christmas also has put me in the mood to be constructive. And I think we’ll enjoy this one for years to come. Thanks internet stranger!

It’s been fun finding Christmas themed activities for the kids, though anything too organized is still pretty moot. Even coloring gets a little hairy, with the eating of crayons, and begging for the whole box so no one else can color. But we have managed to find some fun things for them to do.

Any kind of sticker has been great lately. These jelly stickers, or window appliques are a favorite. I love driving up to see their arrangements on the front window. I love that there are kids living in my house.

I splurged on this Little People Nativity set. Ruby has been obsessed with it ever since. She loves the animals the best, of course. She is often found trying to carry them all at once for long periods of time as she wanders the house. She also thinks any of the people are called “Baby Desus”. I’m a little nervous about losing pieces, so I try to take inventory at the end of the day. Sometimes I look for them with Ruby, and she’ll go around the house saying “where’s camel"? over and over and over until we find him. She also likes to put any piece, not just the angel, on top. The boys look at it now and then, but mostly it’s Ruby’s territory.  Heaven forbid anyone else even touches ONE of the 20 pieces. That girl.

I don’t know what these kids are going to do (or what I am going to do) when Christmas is over. Without Frosty, Christmas trees, lights, “Sant-i-caus”, nativities, and all their new favorite Christmas shows, they’ll be so depressed. We’ll try to enjoy everything to the max until then.

Boughs of Holly

Our halls are decked! Well them main living area anyway. I had to make a few changes from what we’ve done with decorations in the past, with wild toddlers on my hands this year. I’m sure more changes will be made as they use their creative little minds to undo everything I’ve done, but we’ll figure that out as necessary. Luckily I never get into the decorating too much, so it’s not much to keep track of. Just enough to make it feel different and festive around here.

I thought it would be fun to display all of our past Christmas cards. The one with the babies all in a row would’ve been our picture that year, had I had any amount of time or energy to send them out.

And this is where I hope to put more Christmas cards as they arrive in the mail.

The Ribeiras are our first!

The stockings had to be moved from the mantle, of course, so these shelves really came in handy.

I love seeing those three stockings in a row.

To me, this candle is the smell of Christmas. Balsam Cedarwood from Target. Mmmm. I couldn’t resist is a few years ago when I smelled it at the store, and it’s lasted ever since. Now everything in the storage bins smell like it, but I don’t mind.

Because our tree is little, we thought we needed more Christmas lights to enjoy. We strung them around the perimeter of the living room, and I LOVE how cozy it feels when it’s dark outside.

We still aren’t brave enough to get a real tree with the kiddos, so we pulled out the trusty little guy we bought last year. We turned on Christmas in Connecticut (how had I not seen this before—I loved it!) as we were trimming. KC’s aunt has been so very kind to supply us with some awesome ornaments over the years. We had such a great time opening each one and seeing the details that Hallmark puts into each one. Some wind up and play music, some are battery operated and have sound effects, and many of them can be manipulated in one way or another. The textures, colors, and design of each one is so unique. I’m truly impressed by what I thought were just cute little ornaments. They are more like little works of art. And they are perfect for our child-themed tree this year. They especially love the Disney themed ones. I contemplated decorating it with all their toys, knowing full well that whatever is within reach is free-game (and even what isn’t within reach these days). But I think they’ll really enjoy this little tree just for them. I just hope I don’t get sick of replacing the ornaments every night when they will inevitably be scattered all over the house. I’m sure the kids will thoroughly enjoy decorating their own little tree with these ornaments for years to come.  So here it is, pretty sparse, but it’s meant to be that way, for my own sanity.

I was so looking forward to the babies’ reaction when they woke up to the decorations. Ruby was as excited as can be, and couldn’t wait to get her hands on it. She kept saying “so cute!” every time she looked at an ornament. But the boys were a different story. Every morning when we get them up, they come running into the living room, but that morning, the boys saw the lights from down the hall and went the other direction. I found them sitting at the end of the hall against the bathroom door. I think they were a little nervous. Bennett warmed up quickly. But Alex was cranky for longer that I was ready to deal with at that time of day. Finally, later on, he decided he wasn’t afraid of the tree after all and joined in the fun the others were having exploring. Oh, and yes, Ruby is wearing boy Pajamas, backwards. That’s what happens when all the girl pjs are dirty, and she know how to unzip them in the night. (And yeah, some pictures are blurry. I was playing around with the camera. Whatever.)

Now Ruby thinks all Christmas trees are for her to play with.

And thanks to Pintrest (of course), I found a way to spruce up my plain green tree skirt , into a more festive one. The directions used a glue gun, but I put my sewing machine to work on this project. It was sort of an experiment, since crafts aren’t my strongest suit, and it didn’t turn out exactly how I’d hoped, but it’s more fun than what it was before, so I’m happy. Maybe a couple times a year I can pretend I have a crafty side to me.

There you go, our simple Christmas décor. I love to look back on past Christmases to see how I decorated and remember the fun we had each year. What is it about all these fake pine needles, and tiny lights that fills me with such cozy happiness? KC and I eat dinner pretty much every night in the living room with just the twinkle lights on as we watch something Christmasy. Life is good.