Christmas Is The Time of Year.....

Christmas is definitely the time of year for being with the ones you love and enjoying life. It is also the busiest time of year because the kids are out of school, presents must be bought and wrapped, SPROUT is busier than ever. It is a lot to juggle. Because we travel home for Christmas, we have our family Christmas here on Folly a little early. Santa comes, brings the kids presents, and we wake up and it is Christmas morning at our house. So the rush is a little sooner to get all of our shopping done. Once that is done we travel to Conway where we spend Christmas Eve with my parents and Christmas day with Brett's parents. This year, due to my camera being dropped by a certain 3 year old, I did not take any pictures of our family Christmas. Instead I had to rely on the kindness of others with their cameras. And by that I mean my mom. So I have some photographs of Christmas Eve to share.

But before I share those, I want to say that not only was I busy and not able to blog as usual, but I was also procrastinating. Because just like Christmas can be somewhat overwhelming in that positive eustress sort-of way, so can trying to summarize such a holiday in a short blog. As I was thinking about this post tonight, I realized it is not so important to point out every detail of our Christmas but to point out what makes our holiday special and the things I appreciate most. So here are the things I love and look forward to every Christmas.

1. The red pajamas that the kids and Brett and I wear on our Christmas Eve that have our names printed across the bottom.

2. Fireworks at my mom and dads house on Christmas Eve.

3. Mom's baked goodies and her decorations.

4. Visiting my Granny and my aunts, uncles, and cousins.

5. Seeing Chapel and Eli and Conor and Jude play with all of their cousins.

6. The present opening mayhem at the Barkers on Christmas morning.

7. The Barkers being really loud and funny.

8. MaMa Anne tending to the babies so I can sleep in!

And finally, this was the first Christmas my sister and I have spent apart. It definitely felt like something was different, but I have her visit in February to look forward to, and knowing we will see her soon makes it much easier.

A Traditional Santa

I would assume that the seasonal job of being a Santa would mean that each year a new person is put in the suit for boys and girls to visit. It is reasonable to think that Santa's helpers move on or find some other employment during the year. Well, not so if you visit the Santa in Marion Square located in downtown Charleston. Since 2004, Chapel's first Christmas, we have visited Santa at this venue and every year it is the same (gentleman) Santa in that suit. And I know this because he has a very particular look about him and we have pictures from each year to prove that indeed this person revives his role year after year. And Ms. Clause has been consistent for at least the past 3 years. I treasure the bond that my family has formed with this Marion Square Santa. It makes the tradition even more special because not only are we continuing the tradition of taking our children there, but he is continuing the tradition of BEING the Santa there. And with all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, isn't it nice to have tradition to look forward to?

A Folly Jolly Christmas

Living on Folly Beach has its perks. One of those, in the dead of winter, is the Folly Beach Christmas parade. What a rally. The City, which has practically been a ghost town since September, comes alive as people travel from far and near to participate in this rowdy one-of-a-kind Christmas spectacle. Having participated in Christmas parades before, I must say that the Folly Beach parade has the widest variety of floats, beauty queens, surfers, hippies, and shriners I have ever seen. My kids love it. And I love that we can simply walk from our house to Center Street and see all of our neighbors, buy hot dogs and hamburgers from the Exchange Club, and get a bag full of candy. This year we were joined by our friends Mike and Andrea and their little boy Sidney and MaMa Anne and PaPa Ed. Here we are enjoying the good times!

Waiting for the parade to start. Cold but excited.....

Jude slept while Conor was cold but awake.

Strange gorilla/surfer float??

Only on Folly does the refurbished school bus make the parade!

With the Grandparents.

Going for the candy!

Eli happy with his treats! Love this picture - priceless!

Christmas Card Chaos

It seems once you have kids, the appropriate card to send out at Christmas includes a photograph of your child(ren). Each year, for the past six that I have had kids, I have worked hard to get a nice photo and send it out to all of our family and friends. Sometimes the pictures are spontaneous and require no planning or work - like the one last year that was taken of our entire family in front of a beautiful tree in Disney World. I saw this photo and thought, this would make a perfect Christmas card. And it did.

This year, however, involved much more work. First, I ordered these cute matching "i believe" shirts from a nice lady that prints kids t-shirts for my store. Once that was done, I talked to this sweet lady who does photo's for my friend Caycee and she agreed on the spur of the moment to take the kids picture for me. So this past Wednesday I met her at the studio and it was WILD. Conor and Jude had been in the car for most of the day and Chapel and Eli drank a large coke in my car on the way there without my knowledge (long story) and that combination equaled complete chaos in this poor lady's studio. Which looked very much like she only photographed weddings and adults, not kids. But she was most accommodating and encouraging as my children ran in circles. I was convinced she would not be able to get one good shot; however, she managed to capture a few good poses for me to use. So for all of you who have not gotten my card, they are on the way. And when you see them, just know a lot of hard work went in to them! Next year, I am hoping to go the more spontaneous route.

Superhomecuts

Tonight Brett and Eli and had their second scheduled home haircuts. What is so great about getting home haircuts is not only the convenience, but also the great chit-chatting. If you think gossiping in a salon is fun, just wait until you get the opportunity to do it in your home. I am very thankful that we have a friend that is willing to come over and do the job here. I can easily schedule Brett and Eli and not have to walk around bugging Brett for weeks to go get his haircut. I can just say, "tonight is haircut night" and it is done!

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The main difference is you have to sweep the hair yourself. Brett makes sure we don't throw any hair outside because his mom warned us of an old wives tale - if a bird makes a nest out of your hair, it's bad luck! Who knew????

17 Months - YES! They are twins!

Today, December 8th, my babies turned 17 months old. I can hardly believe they are practically 1 1/2 years old. Where did the time go? With each month they become more animated, more loving, and more fun. I took them park yesterday and even though they were dressed very similar, I got the same old questions. Are they twins? (Um, yeah! They are exactly the same size and both wearing chocolate stripes.) Followed by, is that one a girl and that one a boy? (Um. Um, I don't even know what to say. OF COURSE. One is in a dress and one is in pants and tee. They are definitely a boy and girl). Okay, so maybe it is not as obvious to everyone else as it is to me, but they are a pair and always have been. I guess as they age it is harder to tell they are twins. Jude's hair is so light and his skin so fair. Conor's hair and skin are very dark and she is a bit shorter than Jude. I guess I should expect these questions by now. We have been getting them from day one. And to tell you the truth, I am glad my babies still turn heads with their cuteness and still generate these questions from well intentioned strangers! Happy 17 month birthday, Conor and Jude.

Counting Down the Days

Like most kids this time of year, Chapel and Eli are counting down the days until Christmas. And like most kids in Germany, they are counting down the days with the help of an Advent Calendar. Aunt MiMi sent them the Advent calendar just last week and according to her, they are all the rage in her new country. After using Wikipedia, I now know why - the origins of the Advent calendar comes from German Lutherans who, in the early 19th century, would count down the 24 days of Advent physically by drawing lines as they waited and prepared  for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. Eventually the tradition evolved to the form used today. 

There are all sorts of Advent calendars but the premise is the same. They all have little windows with numbers on them, and you start with 1 and count up to 24 (some go to 25) until you arrive at Christmas Day. And behind each window you get a small treat and on the final day, the treat is larger than the others before it.  Which is very exciting for kids. (I did read that some Advent Calendars show pictures of the Nativity behind each window - but I bet kids still go for the candy ones!) The particular brand Meredith sent is a Haribo Advent Calendar. And Haribo is of course the Germany company responsible for the ever popular gummi bears and other like confectioneries. So this afternoon, we opened up a few windows to catch up to the 7th and the surprises were awesome. Gummi cokes, gummi sours, gummi angels, gummi bears and a bracelet with pictures of gummi candy. Chapel and Eli were so excited. And they can't wait to open more - it is full of suspense and excitement, this Advent Calendar. So hats off to the Germans for thinking of this cool calendar and making it an even more awesome tradition by incorporating some tasty treats! I can't wait to see what the final window has in store.