Tis' the season!

Tis` the season to be BUSY! Christmastime is a wonderful time of year, but... It's also busy, stressful, exhausting, etc.  With Thanksgiving being on the late side this year I feel like there really is minimal time to get things done.  Thank GOODNESS for amazon!  I feel like 3/4 of my holiday shopping has come through there.  It's the only way to get things done with two little kids.  I've learned pretty quickly that it's not worth the stress and anxiety to take my boys to the mall.  Someone always ends up having a meltdown.  And, 99.9% of the time that "someone" is Owen.  I swear he knows there's nothing I can do about him pitching a fit mid-mall, and so he does it. Every. Single. Time.  Plus, even when they aren't screaming crying and causing a huge scene, I'm so preoccupied trying to keep them happy that I can't remember who or what I'm shopping for.  Alas.  Online shopping has won me over this year.  I've been pretty diligent about the wrapping component.. working on wrapping a handful of items each night so it doesn't turn out to be a huge to-do days before the big day.  It's helped, but also makes me realize that I still have several things to buy and we're officially within a week of Christmas!

Christmas makes me think of so many things... Family.. Cookies.. Presents.. Candy Canes.. and, of course, SANTA!  (When I type that, I automatically hear Will Farrell shouting "Santa" as he does in the movie Elf) Does the idea of Santa fill you with warm fuzzy happy feelings?!  It does for me!  For my children, not so much:

Aidan is thoroughly unimpressed, and Owen was purely terrified.  However, he wasn't screaming!  He saved that for our trip to see Santa the other day at the mall.  Sigh.

The poor mall Santa.. bless his heart!  Between Aidan refusing to look at us, and Owen screaming bloody murder, the poor Santa was practically gritting his teeth waiting for me to take my children back.  As is evident in the above photo!  Owen was flailing so bad the other 3 pictures they took were all blurry.. this was the only non blurred picture, but also includes the "perturbed" Santa expression and Aidan looking somewhere off to the side.  Oh well.

 I'd say I have high hopes for Christmas morning, but I think we're still a bit too young to fully grasp the excitement that comes with Christmas presents galore.  I'll call it a success if no one has a major meltdown in the time it takes Daddy and I to open all of their presents.  I'm hopeful.. slighlty hopeful.. that Owen will take an interest in opening a few gifts.

So far this Holiday Season the thing he has enjoyed the most is the tree.  When he woke and saw the tree, pre-lights/decorations, he was very confused.  He kept walking over to it and just pointing at it saying "Ehh".. like "why is there a tree in the house?".  Then, when we were decorating it.. he thought it was fun to follow me around and around the tree as I was stringing on the lights.. the fun ended when I realized he stopped following me around, and instead was chewing on a tree branch.. sigh.  I'd say only my kid eats a Christmas tree, but I'm sure he's not alone!  It was quite funny having to brush pine needles off his tongue, though!  Since then he has only pretended to eat the tree.. I suppose that's better?  He really enjoys seeing the ornaments.. especially the few Mickey ornaments that are hanging eye-level to him.  He's pretty good about not touching.. again, except for the Mickey ones.. those he just can't resist!  He also likes to add his own ornaments.. ya know, his shoes, his sippy cup, the pacifier, etc.  He cracks me up!

Life is busy, ya'll.. so, I'm gonna call it a night! Plus, I'm pretty exhausted.  This would be the second time in 3 days that I've had to sanitize my boys' bathroom tub because some little stinker (ahem, Aidan) has decided to poop during tubby time.  Yup.  Twice.  In 3 days.  And, both times, I was bathing the kids together.. which caused mad chaos because, ya know, Owen thought it was something cool floating around in the tub and he wanted to grab it.. For real.  It's never a dull moment.  Never. Ever.  So yea, I'm pretty tired and I still smell like bleach, despite showering after the kids went to bed.  Merry Christmas to everyone!