If you are reading this, that means it’s Christmas Morning and I’ve finished my quest to make Spawnbeast’s first “coherent” Christmas a magical one! I’ve compiled this post all month long and have scheduled it to go live Christmas Morning. Know that as you read this, I’m waist deep in wrapping paper with a cup of coffee and cookie breath.
It all started with The Fa La La Bucket List.
I will be the first one to tell you how lucky I am to have the time and energy to make and execute a Fa La La Bucket list. This may be the only time I’ll be a stay-at-home-mom or only have one kid to worry about, so I made a promise to over do everything. The Ceremonial FLLBL was on the fridge, the real one was on my phone. We crossed something off the list about every two or three days.
Here are some highlights:
1. Decorating.
I went all out. We hung lights, I made swags with greens from the yard, it looks like Santa’s Elves had a mixer in my living room. We decorated the tree as a family with music and laughter. Spawnbeast (with the help of Husbeast) got to hang ornaments, I got to rearrange said ornaments and the dogs had their yearly “why the hell do they bring a tree inside” breakdown.
2. The 25 Book Advent.
I got this idea off pinterest. Buy 25 books, wrap them, open one a day until Christmas. I actually only bought about 18 books. The rest were last year’s holiday books that I reused. I love books and I want my kid to love books. This was great. Spawnbeast mastered tearing apart wrapping paper just in time for the big day and we loved sitting down as a family and picking that night’s book. Definitely going to be a family tradition.
3. Helping Others.
This will also be a family tradition. Tis the season of giving! Husbeast helped out our local shelter for a few hours wrapping gifts and promoting the organization. I was mainly a child wrangler that day. Spawnbeast and I sorted his clothes and toys to take to kids who need them. It’s important to instill giving and that it’s not all about receiving.
4. Christmas Bazaar!
We actually hit up a few Christmas Bazaars but Christkindlmarkt is my favorite. I go every year with my college roommate and her mom. It’s now become a tradition since Spawnbeast was a teeny tiny baby strapped to my chest. I get gifts, foodstuffs and things that make the holidays a little more special. It’s worth the drive. Before Spawnbeast, Christkindlmarkt always put me in a festive mood, even if I didn’t want to be just yet. The music, the people and the decorations would make any Scrooge soften.
5. Christmas Lights
This guy is in my neighborhood. My friend and I walked past his house the day after he put everything up. I made a mental note to add it to the FLLBL. I was not disappointed, it was (of course) 10 times better than seeing everything out in the yard during the day. It was about a 15 minute show set to his very own radio station. I need to up my christmas light game next year.
6. SANTA!!
I KNOW HIM!!! One day, my child will warm up to the big guy in red. This year, it was a little touch and go. We got the picture of Spawn on Santa’s lap, tears and all. Spawnbeast really only warmed up when presents started to appear.
Santa also came to the neighborhood on the Fire Truck. Every year, I revert back to a five-year old because SANTA ON THE FIRE TRUCK IS THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER. You have to understand, where I grew up you saw Santa at the gun club or the mall. They ride up with sirens and Santa walks up and gives you candy. It’s great. Trust me.
7. Longwood Gardens
I’ve wanted to get out to Longwood Gardens for a while. One, its great inspiration for yarn dying. Two, Spawnbeast is fascinated by colors and leaves. Three, Longwood is an amazing place to get my walking workout done. I’ll be going again in the spring because they are re-doing the fountains. Anyway, Christmas at Longwood is amazing. We put Spawnbeast on the baby leash and he ran around the poinsettia displays, there were lights and enough fake ornamental birds to confuse Tippi Hedren.
8. Cookie baking!
I’m not a great baker, but for christmas cookies, I fake it. This year I made 7 batches and swapped with our neighbors. So. Much. Butter. Here’s plate prOn:
These aren’t all seven batches. One got eaten and the other was not very pretty.
9. The little things.
On top of all the oot and aboot FLLBL stuff, we did the usually holiday stuff like christmas cards, wrapping gifts, singing/dancing to christmas songs. All the things that made me really enjoy the season growing up.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and yours! See you in the New Year! 2015 is going to be a great year, I’ll have lots of exciting things to share!!
Stay tuned…
