Christmas Prep

Day 4

I’m slowly grinding my way into a sort of choppy, screeching mechanical motion towards Christmas preparations. I felt a bit shaken by Halloween this year, but I think I may be on firmer ground with Christmas. Hell, I may even be ahead of my usual game. Normally we have to have presents for everyone else ready to go well in advance because we had to ship them. Now I can relax a little and not worry about it. And even though I’ll miss decorating the outside of the house, I’ll have plenty to do inside. I took a quick stroll through the early bird stock of wrappings and trappings at Target when I stopped in for a mattress cover and it looks like they’re going to have some pretty golds and blush pinks again. Last year I put paper chains up all around the living room. I used what I had at the time, but I think this year I’m going to get a few different wrapping papers and sandwich the colors to make sure there’s color inside and out.

We have all of the lights from our previous outside decorations too. Would lining every room in icicle lights be too much or just enough. I’m thinking our apartment is going to end up looking like Buddy the Elf came to visit. I’m okay with that.

I’ve been on Pinterest this afternoon, which is always dangerous. So now pretty much everyone I know will be getting homemade fudge for Christmas. The girls are already making their Christmas lists. Pippa’s includes an American Girl stable that comes with a chicken coop and a kitten of her own. Yeah, no. Not happening, kid. She’s definitely getting her Hatchimal though. I think she’ll be the type of kid who actually plays with it for more than a day. She likes animal toys. Anika is getting a Barbie & Ken wedding set that she keeps eyeballing whenever we’re in the toy aisle. We do the Christmas Eve box with PJs, a book, and either slippers or socks (this year will be socks because they both have slippers). I think my parents are really looking forward to spoiling them this year. Not to mention Alan’s mom, who is currently making Pippa a new quilt.

Pippa and I noticed today that one of her new adult teeth is just starting to erupt. I hope it stays pretty high and isn’t very visible until after school picture day. I really want her pictures to have that no-front-teeth gap before they move on to the completely awkward “teeth are too big for her face” phase. She definitely got my large-ish front teeth too. I could see them on the x-ray when we got her teeth checked back in May after she knocked them loose on the arm of the couch.

~Liz