Christmas Shenanigans—The Lead Up

Hellooooo, peeps, on this Christmas Eve!

I never fail to be amazed and confounded when the actual holiday is upon us.

We spend so much time and effort in the lead-up; planning, purchasing, celebrating, hosting, worshipping, and just generally running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

And, then, out of nowhere, the day is here, and things inevitably seem to downshift into a general kind of I-can’t-believe-we-made-it sort of chill. Families are with families, school responsibilities are complete, people have reached their travel destinations, and everybody just sort of closes ranks.

I love this stage, even if it sometimes feels a little disorienting.

For us, our family came in early and departed yesterday (except for Nanna, who’s here for the week!) so we had a massive sort of quiet settle over the house yesterday afternoon. I already miss the extra peeps, terribly, but it was nice to take a nap, start tackling some laundry, and re-set for this final push.

We have a non-traditional sort of Christmas Eve planned with a movie out and then church this evening, of course, and I’m here for it.

More mañana, peeps. In the meantime, enjoy this hodge-podge of pics from the last few days!

Happy Christmas (Eve)!

Over and out. 

Holiday Break School Finish Line

Okay, peeps.

We did it! We made it through the final day of school before the holiday break, and, MAN, did it feel like a hard-earned victory!

I’m an official room rep for Little Man’s classroom, this year, and it made allllllll the work worth it to have him happily yell, “Mama!” and give me a giant bear hug when he walked into the decorated classroom. Especially since it’s often a coin toss as to whether he’ll want to acknowledge me in public, ha.

No joke, this was my seventh, consecutive year to throw a classroom holiday party for one of my three kiddos and I was dragging a bit, getting into the spirit, for many reasons…

First, because I’ve been sick. :(

Second, because it’s been a lotta years putting forth this kind of effort at the busiest time of year, af the tail end of a ton of responsibilities and events.

And third…because most of my already family arrived the day before, and it was hard to ditch this adorable little niece o’ mine to deal with my school duties!

She and I enjoyed such happy crafting time in the morning before I had to gather up my gear and head to school. She even helped me build a few prototypes for the craft project we tackled during Little Man’s class party. :)

My dude was in high-flying, HAPPY form at school, and I was grateful to be there to witness and facilitate the fun—exhaustion, be damned.

But if there was ever a cliche sign of the season, and all the parties, events, hosting and planning that’s been going on…it’s the current state of my car’s trunk:



I legitimately plan to leave it all there for a solid week before I deal with it, ha.

SO ready to launch this next phase of the holiday when we close ranks and hunker down as a family. It’s the BEST.

More mañana, peeps!

Over and out. 

Chica’s Mariah Choir-iah Bravery!

Okay, peeps.

Here’s my glorious eldest—who, as of this week, is only half-an-inch shorter than me, but in heels (like this pic) has me beat!!! Gahhhhhhhhh! I cannot.

Not only is she slaying it as a VP on the middle school choir council, and as the President-Elect for next year, but, last night, she had her Winter Concert and sang a special duet with a friend—and totally rocked it, which was not an easy feat, since they sang All I Want For Christmas Is You!

If this all sounds uber-annoyingly bragadocious, that’s because it IS!! I’m a proud Mama Bear and Chica has worked her backside off for a fine arts pursuit she loves!

This year, there’s a new choir director at the school, and she’s fabulous—and that’s saying a lot, since we also liked the prior director!



I’m so grateful that my girl has something she loves and enjoys in this way, and I’m SO STINKING PROUD of her for powering through nerves that would level me!

It’s a joy to watch her little songbird ways come out in daily life and in school life, and I hope choral participation brings her joy for many years to come!

Okay…orchestra concert is tonight. Gahh!! All. These. Holiday. Things.

More mañana, peeps.

Over and out.