So Little to Do, So Much Time...Wait... reverse that!

I have talked a number of people recently and they are all feeling "the December stress". I would almost say it is just the after Halloween stress. For some reason this time of year is just jam packed with things that need to get done and events that need to be attended and fantasies that need to be fulfilled. I have felt like we are juggling it all and fitting in everything but it does feel a bit chaotic and stressful.

I am happy to report I am now officially done shopping and just need to start wrapping. I have ordered what I needed online, I have found what I needed for each person at the stores and have even finished the items I needed to sew. It is a great feeling. I do admit that this morning I made one more purchase though. While I was reading through blogs I read about a giveaway that Cocoa is doing on her blog for a CD of new Christmas songs. I would love to win the prize but couldn't help but want the CD and didn't want to wait to see if I was one of the lucky ones. I went ahead and bought it for myself. It will be my gift to myself. I can always find another person to give a CD to if I was lucky enough to win it.

Sophie has been rather upset that we haven't been doing everything we usually do at Christmas time. We have had to cut a few events this year because we just can't fit everything into our schedule. We did however get ourselves to the Christmas Creche exhibit that a LDS stake in Palo Alto puts on each year. It is one of the things the kids look forward to each year.
We couldn't take any pictures of the actual Creche displays so here are our kids in the children's room playing with a few nativity sets that are out for the kids to handle. I think we need to get the playmobil nativity set next year. The boys sure loved it!
The marionette show is always a highlight of the visit. I had never seen the show so packed with people!
We run into so many people that we know in the children's room each year. We are always looking for faces that we recognize. This year I passed a guy in the hall carrying his two children and I thought..."he looks familiar". It took me a moment to place his face and realized it wasn't a guy I knew but that Steve Young has a face that I just recognized.
The boys were more interested in playing with the nativities, Sophie was thrilled to get to dress up. She dressed up as a wise man and then a sheep and finally Mary. It was a lovely event and the nativities on display were beautiful. It is always a highlight of our Christmas season.

We have been doing school, more or less, between events, shopping and sewing. I have even attempted to keep to doing at least one experiment a week. This past week we made borax slime.
It turned out more like gloop. I think I put in too much borax and it hardened a little too much but the boys had fun playing with it so I guess it was a success.

I have made and the kids have been doing a bunch of file folder games recently too. This is one of Ian's favorites where he gets to follow the directions on the letters to deliver they to the right mailboxes.


So yes, we are busy, but busy doing good things.