Where is My Christmas Spirit?!?!?!

For some reason it has been more difficult for me to get into the Christmas spirit this year. I am sure that it has something to do with the fact that this is my first non-college Christmas. The first Christmas that isn't surrounded by a substantial, wonderful "Christmas Break."

Don't get me wrong... it isn't like Christmas Breaks of the past have been all filled with rest and relaxation or anything.... I always worked in college... and worked retail (Wal-Mart) for several years, so it isn't like I was just spending four weeks doing nothing. In 2008 we welcomed Chacey over Christmas break, halfway through my graduate program. The semester resume six days after she was born and life has felt crazy since! In 2009 we were moving, relocating to Kansas City and I was getting ready to start at Farmers in early January. Maybe it was just the feeling of getting a break from something (classes - 21 credit hours takes its tole) that made the Christmas spirit flow more freely. :) Now in 2010, I just worked 36 hours in three days and we are at a ridiculously high claims volume (quit wrecking your cars, people).

Oh well... moral of the story is that I needed an extra boost before I could recognize the reality that tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!! Chacey loves Christmas lights, so we took her to Christmas in the Park.... which turned out to be a big hit! She loved pointing out all the of items that she identified... trains, bears, water, etc.



Tonight, we decided to made a gingerbread house. Chacey was very helpful as she carefully spread the icing on the roof. (We may have told her that the icing was "yucky" so that she would abstain from eating it.)


Then Chacey helped Daddy line the top of the roof with gumdrops... that we convinced her were also "yucky." She did a very good job!


We let her decorate one whole wall all by herself... and she may have put some of the "balls" on the roof out of the color sequence that we were going with... but she was creatively expressing herself! :)


This was Chacey's side. I did the "icicles" hanging off the roof.


Chacey and Daddy with the finished product!

Our Short Helper

Chacey was such a big helper when putting up the Christmas tree this year! I thought that it would be a constant battle making her leave the "balls" on the tree alone, but she hasn't touched them since the night she helped put them up! The giant, head-sized balls on my Dad's Christmas tree have been a different story tonight though...

Chacey did such a good job helping Sam put up the Christmas tree! She took the top two portions of the tree out of the box and carried them over to Daddy in the corner.



I love this video of her taking the tree over to Sam. I like how you can hear the "strain" in her voice as she is trying to give the part of the tree to Sam. She was such a good helper! In my opinion, what makes this video even better is that it is such an accurate portrayal of her personality. She is SO dramatic and over the top in everything she does, right down to her vocal inflections. Cute now, probably problematic later...



Sam putting the star on the tree... before the ornaments were on. We had to get the light in the star right, so it got done out of order.


Her idea of putting the ornaments on the tree was to stuff them into the branches until they were wedged in there and didn't fall out. And, of course, they were all at one height. She did such a good job though (even if they did get rearranged after she went to bed)!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! (Slightly Delayed)

So, I haven't had internet access in a VERY long time... and am consequently very behind in the updates of our life. In trying to highlight the major life events, Thanksgiving seemed like an appropriate topic to touch on!

We spent Thanksgiving with the Dollins family this year. We ate a delicious meal and enjoyed visiting with family that we don't get the opportunity to see very often. Chacey got to hang out with her cousins, Truett and Macy. We hadn't seen Truett since May and had never met Macy, who was born in late July. Below: Grandma Karen with Truett and Chacey, taking a break from meal preparations.


On Thanksgiving evening, we braved the frigid temperatures with Andrew and "Big" Chacey to the Plaza Lighting (visit that website to see a video of the lighting and fireworks). Chacey was so much more interested in pointing out all of the "buses" (helicopters) that were flying around in the sky than she was in the actual lighting... or in getting her picture taken.


Trying to get a picture, but between her love of the flying buses and her concern for the people standing in the second story windows of the surrounding buildings (she thought they were going to fall), she couldn't focus.


Finally a smile...


The crowd and the lights... there were enough people to keep it from feeling so cold!


Immediately following the lighting, we stopped at Quik Trip to obtain "dinner" food (the only place open on Thanksgiving) of Cheetos and Dr. Pepper, then crashed the Rembecki house for awhile so that we could all warm up!

At Farmers, Black Friday is apparently a holiday worthy of vacation (no complaints here), so we got to spend another relaxing day doing whatever we wanted. Karen and John wanted to take the kids to the Sesame Street show at the Planetarium at Union Station. Chacey is a hardcore Elmo fan, but she wasn't sure about the Planetarium view... especially when Big Bird kept randomly popping up and startling her. Ah well, all about life experiences!


After the show, we went over to Crown Center to eat at Fritz's... where the primary appeal to kids is that all of the food is delivered by trains that run around tracks next to the ceiling. Chacey and Grandpa John got in some quality coloring time while we waited on our food..


Truett and Ben in their conductor hats:



Saturday was mostly consumed by family pictures and shopping. On Sunday, Sam had to return to Maryville pretty early to get set up for Feaste, so Chacey and I had a "pajama day" that resulted in very little productivity and all of the 6th season of Friends (yay $9.99 on Black Friday). Overall it was a fun, busy weekend. Vacation days are always welcome, and it was nice to get to spend four consecutive days with Sam... we don't get to see him all that often!