Have I told you that I am good with plans but poor at follow through? I had this whole countdown of activities planned and even had 24 numbered cutesy cards labeled and ready to go. On Dec. 3 I took stock of the situation, realized that we hadn’t done a thing yet (our tree wasn’t even up), and admitted that the folks at the Blue Hutch needed goals and freedom. So I ran to Photoshop and created a bucket list (like one I saw on Pinterest), put it in a frame, and pulled out a red washable marker to check things off as the month progressed. This is a recap of our Winter Bucket List activities. DECORATE THE TREE I am a “decorate the tree the day after Thanksgiving” kind of gal. This year my obsessive nature had to take a chill pill because there were pre-lit trees for $40 on Black Friday and I was determined to get one. Twelve o’clock midnight and I was online at JoAnn Crafts and Fabrics to order my tree. It took four days to get here and then it was made wrong. (One pole wouldn’t fit inside the other because they were the exact same diameter.) The old tree was pulled out and some girls that were staying with me for the afternoon helped to put it up. In the process the stand broke and so another day was lost since I had to wait for Honey to get home before I went to a pre-Christmas Walmart to find another stand. Finally, on December 4 we got the lights on and unleashed the children on the tree for the FIRST TIME (can you believe that?). They did a super job and it was the fastest that tree has ever been completed. OH MY WORD it was fast.

I already told you about watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and I have deduced that my kids watched Charlie Brown’s Christmas because they have taken to calling each other blockhead. I am going to make a new Peanuts film and call it, “You’re A Great Influence, Charlie Brown!!”

“Arrest These Merry Gentlemen” was the name of the Christmas musical the children participated in. Little was sick the weekend of the performance and couldn’t participate but Bubba and KB are naturals on the stage and did great. Bubba was a wiseman at one point and both kids sang their hearts out – – as did all the parents watching, since we had been listening to the CD in the car since August!

We did make a gingerbread house. It was awful. and wonderful. and nasty.

What else was on that list. . . scroll up. . . we didn’t go to Our Lady of Snows; I already blogged about the Christmas Party for Jesus here; you’ve seen our Christmas jammies; the kids saw Santa in the mall in November (randomly) and no photos were taken and nothing of note happened; we didn’t cut snowflakes and hang them and there was no birthday cake. We did, however, watch The Polar Express and it was such a great experience. Our kids are just getting to where they can truly enjoy an entire movie and they were entranced by this one. Each child had their golden ticket and a jingle bell but didn’t know why. I had forgotten how suspenseful the film was and KB spent most of the evening on her feet dashing between her beanbag and my lap; begging us to reassure her it was a happy movie. Bubba kept saying, “This is bad. This is bad.” Honey and I did a lot of giggling.

We went caroling with families from our church and that was something. We met at the preacher’s house, got some instruction, practiced a song or two and then headed out. The responses were classic. Most folks in the neighborhood are older and so their eyes glazed with nostalgia and smiles covered their faces. It was great.

And to round out our Winter Bucket List, we made peppermint bark and took it to the firemen (I am nothing if not resourceful). On Christmas Day we stopped by the station and Honey took the kids in to thank the men for being there and away from their families. The men gave the kids a short tour and showed them the trucks. Honey said everyone (firemen and family) loved it. I asked the kids if any one of them had said, “Thank you for being here on Christmas!” like we had practiced and all I heard was “oops” and “I forgot” from the back of the van. Honey assured me that he had covered that.

Good times. Goodness – what a full 24 days!
Happy January 11. Go do something off your personal “bucket list”.

Today was thank you note day. Bubba starts back to school tomorrow and, while I might take my sweet time, I am a woman who loves to write a thank you note and I want my children to share the value and experience the joy of expressing heartfelt gratitude.

So I told my son he WOULD write thank you notes today.

He was all for it. He really does love his Star Wars pop-up book and watching The Sword in the Stone with him last week was an experience I could charge admission for. I was not at all surprised to walk into the kitchen this afternoon and see that he had taken the initiative and started his letter to Aunt Brooke. I am also not surprised that he stopped halfway through to admire his penmanship and inform me that he has, “very very nice handwriting.” (I’m going to tell his teacher to stop encouraging him!)

So, here is the letter. You will see his personality in the list portion of the note and you will sense a touch of bitterness in the random information about the Leappad.

The picture is a story for another post, but you can tell how much it bothers him by the warning added on the next page :

Bitter, party of one?