Christmas Preparations 2016

Wow, what a December! It looks pretty good on this side of my first Saturday morning of vacation, but it's been a whirlwind.  I've been pushing to get my December homework done early since class moved up this month, and my car has been in the shop more often than not this month.  First, the computer went out. You don't realize how many things the computer controls until it dies...not only do you not have the backup camera and hands free phone, but no radio, CD player, heated seats, you can't control your heater, you can't control anything...It took several weeks to get the part for this but it finally got fixed.  While waiting for this to get fixed, we took the kids to a museum and came out to find someone had hit our car and left a dent (but not a note!). I couldn't get an appointment to get that fixed until January 3rd.  Then, two days later my engine light came on and I had to take my car into the shop again!  I think we will be shopping for a new car after Christmas given how many times mine has had problems this year. Then, Aspen had a tumor on her shoulder that had to be removed the first week of December as well...It turned out okay, and we are hoping they got it all, but she had a rough couple of days.

Despite all this craziness, we did fit in a few fun things along the way. Jack has visited Santa no fewer than 3 times this year!  His first visit was in Snohomish right after Thanksgiving. This might be the first time I've had to stand in line for Santa under an umbrella...It was a very rainy day.

Then, the weekend of Dec 3, we were babysitting Alice, Sam, and Tommy and took all 4 kids to a Christmas event at the Flying Heritage Museum.  Here, Santa arrived by Tank and they had all kinds of 1940s era planes, tanks, trucks, and more. Jack was in heaven! All three big kids had a great time.  It started with facepainting, and then there were games, cookie decorating, and more in addition to the tanks and planes and of course, Santa #2.

 Alice fell asleep while waiting in line for Santa. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but I handed her to Santa without her stirring at all. She slept right through the visit, which might be for the best. She was a tired baby by this point.

The second weekend, I had to go to class all day, but Mike took Jack to a Santa breakfast at his school for Santa visit #3...

In additional to all this, I had one Sunday where I had friends over to do holiday cards and tag crafting and another Sunday where I spent a good portion of the day creating t-shirts for Disneyland!

Today, we have dentist appointments for Mike and Jackson, (That's another thing I had had to fit in December as well. I've been to the dentist twice in the last month for a root canal. ) plus they need haircuts, we need to pack, and we have to drop the pets off a the boarding place, which always makes me feel very guilty. Wall Streets new favorite place in under the tree. It makes me sad that they can't stay at home, but I know they'll be okay. 

We leave for CA before dawn in the morning...We're looking forward to it!