Some Drama and Romance While We Wait…

Every time I sit down to write a blog post, I feel as though there is nothing new to say. We remain in limbo around here, just waiting for Baby to come!

I’m trying to fill my time with getting last things done, and soaking up the last of this season of life before everything changes!

So basically, what I have to say today is that my family is amazing.:)

The girls are my entertainment during the day – the latest excitement around here was the first snowfall, which meant it was finally time to set up the Christmas village.

Oh, the stories and adventures that unfold when the Christmas village comes out! Dickens Village is a town apparently abounding with drama and romance. The 19-year-old pastor is one of the few males living in the village, which is predominantly populated by Disney princesses and fairies. This automatically makes him the most eligible bachelor, and much sought after at the balls held at the church. The women of the village spend most of their time fighting over who will end up with the pastor, and eating at the Tea House or the Bed & Breakfast. They also seem to go on an awful lot of train trips, as this is the only mode of transportation available to them in the village….

So I keep an ear open all day long for the latest Dickens Village gossip, and once my little entertainers go to bed, Ben keeps me going with his jokes, daily massages, and unfailing willingness to help out in any way he can.

Last night, I was climbing back into bed at 4 am to try another round of sleep, when I knocked something off my bedside table in the dark. It landed with a crash, causing Ben to bolt upright in bed, and demand as sleepily and urgently as possible, “WHAT’S GOING ON?? HOW CAN I HELP????!!!!”

(I love it that he doesn’t even need to be fully awake to start offering his help!)

See, if Baby knew what awesomeness he’s missing out on, he wouldn’t take so long to make an appearance!;)

Trying to Make Some Christmas Memories

Oh, it’s that time of year again.

I love decorating for Christmas…in theory.

But in actuality, it always turns chaotic, and someone gets grumpy and/or frustrated, and then it becomes contagious, and before long, I’m wondering why in the world we’re decorating for Christmas at all.

Ben often voices this thought, usually while I’m still thinking that it’s fun and important, and I think I love doing it, but it takes me about 45 minutes of trying to decorate to agree with him. If our timing on that sentiment would match up, the girls would come dangerously close to going without a Christmas tree.

But what gets me every time are these two little things:

1) Memories – from when I was a kid, and Christmas decorations were magical.

2) Our girls’ reactions – They love it as much as I used to! Anika plays with our little Christmas village every day, from the day we set it up until the day we take it down. Kaylia is following strong in her big sister’s example.

And they get so excited about decorating a Christmas tree, just like every kid.

So let the decorating chaos continue…for many years to come.

This year, I have something new to think about to get me through the moments of grumpiness:

Then we dragged out our Christmas decorations and set to work for the rest of the afternoon together. The tinies were so excited and we’re drifting into the years when they have precedent, when they remember what we did last year, when they can’t wait to open up the box and see their ornaments from the year before. It reminded me again that this is their time, their childhood and these are the memories they’ll have, the standard and expectations for their grown-up Christmases. (Emerging Mummy)

I want them to remember the way we used to do things. The traditions we had when I was a kid have always been important. I love continuing them with my kids, and adding some of Ben’s traditions, and coming up with some brand new ones of our own!

And sometimes that’s hard work, and it takes a lot of effort, and sometimes the efforts really bomb, but sometimes they create magic.

So we’ll keep trying, and I’ll keep remembering that these are the years I want to remember forever, and I hope our girls will, too.