I'm so far behind it's ridiculous. Haven't wrapped a single gift or even sent cards yet. I'm seriously debating whether it's even worth doing at this point. We didn't put up many decorations, but the tree and nativity set will have to suffice. I did manage to finish a little project that is now hanging on the wall in our living room that you can check out here.

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, 'Yes, Mommy' to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting 'Don't eat in the living room' and 'Take your hands off your brother,' because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always,
MOMMY

Ready for another ridiculously easy recipe for holiday treats? I came up with this idea last year, and it's sort of become a tradition around here. Pick up a bag of candy melts (craft store or back in the craft area at Wal-Mart; Michael's has these on sale quite frequently and it's just over a dollar for a 1 pound bag). Dump them into a microwave safe container, and nuke 'em until they're soft. Pour onto a cookie sheet (it's much easier if you put wax paper down first, trust me!) and sprinkle with broken candy canes. Allow to set, them break into little pieces. Package up and wow your friends.

I'm not really a big fan of peppermint flavor, but somehow when you mix it with the creamy vanilla candy, it's really good! And once again, the process is definitely kid friendly. D had a ball helping break candy canes and then dumping the packages (another hint: the little candy canes are the best to use for this; just whack the package once with a coffee mug and then snip the end off. Individually shrink wrapped canes are a pain!) Oh, and licking off the spatula is fun, too!

And while you're buying the candy melts, how about picking up some chocolate ones? They're generally cheaper than chocolate chips, plus they set up much better. They're great for dipping cookies, pretzels, and even marshmallows. You can put large marshmallows on wooden skewers, dip in chocolate, then roll in misc goodies (chopped nuts, crushed candy canes, colored jimmies, etc). You can make quite a nice little "bouquet" by arranging in a glass jar. Try it with large pretzel rods, too. Package them in a nice crinkly bag (look in the candy making section!) and they make a great gift for friends and neighbors.

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas! I helped decorate the church on Friday evening, and I must say it's quite lovely all decked out in greens, red bows, and gold. Still haven't done anything here at home, though. We're planning to get our tree this evening - an artificial one. We'd been debating about investing in one for a couple years now, and I think we're going to take the plunge. If we can't find one that looks somewhat realistic for a reasonable price, though, we'll be heading back to our standard lot to fork over another $30. I have Christmas music playing, plus I've been humming "Unto Us" (a rocking tune we're doing this month as part of worship - you can hear a snippet here - #8) We also had our first snow of the season yesterday - enough to excite the kids when they looked out the window in the morning - but it soon turned to rain and the ground is clear again.

Our little girl has been battling a cold and has been mopey (she pretty much spent all day Friday either sleeping or just sitting in the corner of the couch). She's perking up now, but I've got a sore throat/stuffy nose, and now our son has been hacking like mad. Hmmm... now that I'm thinking about it we might just focus on pulling out decorations tonight and pick up the tree itself tomorrow. We visited some friends last week who had already decorated their entire house, and ever since then our son has been asking when Christmas is coming to our house. Awwww... Nothing like pleading brown eyes to bring out mommy guilt :)

I'd like to bake some cookies with the kiddos over the next two weeks, too, and deliver them to various neighbors, but we'll see if it actually happens. Still a lot going on - getting together with a few friends over the course of the week, a craft night with the MOPS moms on Friday, then church activities on Saturday and Sunday. I think I need to take some time to sit down with the calendar and think through the rest of the month. There is always so much that I want to do for the holidays, but never enough time. I'm sure I'll be sharing more thoughts on that as we get closer to Christmas.