CHRISTMAS VACATION | BENNETT IS SIX | NEW YEARS RESOLUTION

Wow it's been one of the longest Christmas vacations I can remember.  And what is crazy is that I'm not ripping for it to be over, and we have actually been really busy!  Don't get me wrong, we all work wonderfully with a schedule over here - time for play, time for rest, time for work, time for being together, time for being apart, you know the drill. But I sure will miss these lazy mornings and having daddy at home more than usual.

Christmas break has been filled with lots of family visiting, fires in the fireplace, Christmas parties with and without the kids, home cooked meals, jammie wearing marathons, Christmas movies, sickness {way too much in my opinion}, adventures in legos, tractors, makeup, and Bambi stuffed animals {Christmas morning hits}, chickens laying eggs {!!!!}, and my first born turning SIX.

Christmas is really becoming such a fun time - and honestly it is not only because of the Santa angle.  Bennett and Emory are fully involved and embracing the true meaning of the season - Emory even told Santa this year that she just wanted to talk to him about Jesus' birthday {OK seriously proud momma moment if I have to be honest, and I do}.  Seeing them embrace the reason for the season as well as still being in awe of Santa made this Christmas so amazing.  So REAL.  So far in our house we haven't had a hard time at all combining the true story of Jesus and the magical story of Santa Claus.  The kids all know the only reason we give and receive gifts on Christmas is to celebrate Jesus' birth and the best Gift we have ever been given.  This book is a good merger of the two and Bennett enjoyed it.  That being said, we still have a six year old who is goo-goo for presents and in the thick of all the gifting fury we had to reel him back in a few times. ;)  Real life people, real life.

I informed Bennett last year, in the midst of planning his fifth birthday party days after Christmas, that when he turns six we will not be hosting a large back yard birthday party as usual, but a much smaller scaled sleep over instead.  He was fine with it and has been talking about it ever since.  He invited four boys, and all four could come.  My parents kept Emory and Jacob so we could focus all our attention on the birthday boy and his brood of hooligans.  We took the boys to see Walking With Dinosaurs {which was cute, nothing like I thought it would be but the boys loved it and acted it out all night long!}, came home and had pizza, homemade chocolate cookie pie and ice cream, and all boys were in bed by eight and asleep by 9:45.  Not too shabby!  I was pleasantly surprised by the boys and how good they were.  There was your typical name calling and tattling and ear piercing screams {of excitement}, but overall they were great and some very sweet friends.  We would definitely do it again.

One might think an entire post should be dedicated to resolutions of the New Years, but this year mine is simply said, but involves a lot of DOING on my part:

FINISH STUFF

I am one of those busy, project starting people….always doing something, "to-do" lists miles long in my head at all times.  Aaaaaaand I don't always finish things.  2014 is going to be my year of marking those things OFF that list.  Things like: clean out closets, organize dining room hutch {check! did this Jan 1!}, print out family photo books for at least 2 years {I am six years behind…}, FINISH our Master Bedroom, FINISH hanging pictures around our house, FINISH FINISH FINISH.

And now I leave you with the note we found under Bennett's pillow after losing his second tooth over the break, and yes, he did this all on his own:

Needless to say the tooth fairy wrote him a note back, encouraging him to continue being his kind self, and left him money for him to do with as he wishes.  He wanted to take it to church.  

Maybe my resolution should be to work on having a heart like my six year old does? ;)