Somewhere in the middle of our busy day, Alice (8) asked me "Mom, isn't Christmas on the 25th?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Well, how come you're trying to get all this stuff done, now?"
"Umm...so I can enjoy Christmas, and not be worrying about cooking then."
"Oh. Good thinking."
(yeah, I thought so too,)
Christmas preparations are coming along nicely, and today was another very productive day. I'm grateful to have the older kids home from school. Everyone seems to play together so well, the older ones include the younger ones while playing "school" or "house" or even organizing talent shows. It's just nice having them around. Today John was home as well for his usual "weekend" from work, so I was able to be even that much more productive. I started the morning by putting 5 nice-sized roasts into the oven to cook for the morning. John splurged and bought us all donuts and juice from the grocery for breakfast to celebrate the start of our Christmas break. (Very nice treat!) After breakfast, the older kids helped me to put another layer of paper mache onto the pinata we're making for our family Christmas party. Lunch crept up on us, and then John and Mary were off to preschool. Their teacher was kind enough to schedule a make-up day since their last two were cancelled due to icey roads. It gave them a chance to celebrate and participate in their gift exchange, and other festivities. Once they were off to school, I started shredding the cooled beef for sandwiches. It's our year to host John's family Christmas. We have the hall booked, and instead of ordering premade shredded beef, I thought I'd try a friend's recipe and make my own. It turned out wonderfully!!! And so simple. Why did I not ever try this sooner? After dishes and kitchen clean-up, I managed a shower for the day. (The kids were starting to wonder if I'd ever get cleaned up.) Then it was back to the kitchen for more holiday treat-making. This time it was Ritz crackers sandwiched with peanut butter, and dipped in white chocolate. Yumm. These are one of my favorites.
After supper, I made one final trip out to Walmart and Aldi's for groceries and party supplies like plates, napkins, etc. I hope not to be back in either store before the new year! It was just nuts, and someone please tell me why they have 36 check-out lines, with only 5 registers working?!
It was a very busy day, and I'm grateful to hubby for being so patient. This is definitely a team effort. He is so good about helping out and taking over with the kids so that I'm able to get the extra things done once in awhile. I truly am blessed to have him in my life.
On my to-do lists for tomorrow:
cook up a few more roasts, and shred (better too much than not enough)
cook and shred chicken for sandwiches (also for John's family party)
one last treat recipe (a toffee-like bar)
another layer to the pinata
christmas cards to get finished and in the mail (better late than never, right?)
fold laundry (I'm getting behind again...it's clean, just not folded)
double check on kids clothes for Christmas eve mass, iron as needed
begin gift-wrapping? (or maybe not just yet)
