sOmeThing oLd, sOmeThinG new, someThing borrowed and thE fLu!

That’s how the saying went at our house this year anyway.

Yes, our holiday season was a magical mix of old traditions, new traditions and borrowed traditions.

And . . . they were also laced with all sorts of sickness.

 

Old Traditions:

Alright, I’ll come clean.  We are those people.  The ones who pull out the Christmas movies, decorations and tunes right after Halloween.  And I’ll tell ya a little secret, our Daddy’s the worst one!! 

To us, the whole season is just too short, (although I swear it is way longer when you are a kid!  Cruel how quickly it passes by as an adult!)  so we lump it all together to lengthen the celebrations.  I mean, Thanksgiving and Christmas evoke similar sentiments anyhow, right?  There’s giving, gratefulness, family togetherness . . .

I have lots of memories of kicking off the Christmas season with The Forgotten Carols on Thanksgiving weekend.  (Though I haven’t made it back since becoming a Mom!)

And who could overlook the kickoff of serious Christmas shopping on that same weekend??  This year was the mother of all Black Fridays  Thursdays for me as I stood in Target’s line for over 2 hours, not even sure what I was after!!

My kids knew every word from Home Alone 1 and 2 and all the Christmas song classics.  C liked to sing about “the most favorite reindeer of all,” E’s favorite was “par um pum pum pum” (for obvious reasons), and M enjoyed correcting them both when they sang the songs incorrectly.  He also enjoyed repeating every obscene phrase you hope your kid doesn’t hear from Home Alone, and C knew all the funny lines by heart and always pulled them out at the most hilarious of times!

(hoping if I have pictures of it all it won’t be so much work next year!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Traditions:

We decided this was the year to forego/sell our branch by branch tree and invest in a pre-lit beauty from Costco.

We were lovin this new addition (see all my pictures of it above!) to our home all season long, though we may not be doing so if there comes a day those lights go out!!

And since we made this purchase long before Thanksgiving, we naturally had to go ahead and put it up early- with the rest of our decorations!

We also got my new camera lense in the mail- that unfortunately came with a learning curve.  More blurry pictures to come.  (Not so lucky when it comes to the entire camera business)

We spent the first part of December finishing up watching our star basketball player and our star performer in recital.

 

 

 

 

Borrowed Traditions:

We borrowed a lot of our Christmas décor items from friends and websites.  We are glad others are creative, cuz we are not!!

 

Hello Frasure kids, so nice to see you!!

Santa sent me here, with a big job to do.

I get to live with you each day,

And watch everything you do and say.

Each night I fly back to the North Pole,

To tell Santa whether to bring you presents or coal.

So you’d better be really good girls and boys,

If you want Santa to bring you toys!!

I’m real excited to have friends for myself.

And super glad to be your “Elf on a Shelf!”

(I have a mind to tell you there’s a good chance the elf was completely sleep deprived when she wrote this)

I give you, Princess Ivy!!

(The children adored her!) 

 

(Making snow angels in sugar)

(drinking syrup)

(fishing for goldfish)

 

(making Lego houses)

These are just a few of the shenanigans our little friend was up to, and my kids’ attitudes were amazing!  C especially, carted her around like she was a live baby and stopped throwing any and all tantrums.  (Our elf could be touched)

This tradition will definitely stick!

 

And The Flu:

It started one morning when E came in our bed and stuck his foot in our faces, saying “owee toe.”  There was a small red spot forming, but we didn’t’ think anything of it.

Next, I started noticing blister-like sores on his diaper area and diarrhea.

The sore on his foot turned into a blister, and D  popped it for him.  Yowch!!

But then it multiplied and he began complaining when we put shoes on him.  His hands were also beginning to get blisters.

About this time, I pretty much figured I could diagnose him, as we’d had sick cousins already.

But E further solidified my thought process when he began refusing to eat.  We found huge blisters inside of his mouth, which made it official. 

Hand.  Foot.  And mouth. Disease.

Ok, so not the flu yet, but I’ll get to that.

The other kids got it a little too, but not nearly as badly. 

We kept them out of primary and 1 day of school just to be sure, but they were healthy enough to drive me nuts, so we sent them back!

One night, we got out  the camera and flashlight to see the inside of C’s mouth.