Christmas is coming. School's out in 30 minutes. The boys are already beyond whacked-out with anticipation. I do not know how they will survive the next five days. Is there any way to avoid a let-down when an event is this hyped in their minds? Especially when Edward seems to be changing his Santa list by the hour and the one thing he finally said out loud to the big man is not, in fact, awaiting? (At least not the specific Lego set he happened to mention; fingers crossed for an acceptable substitute.)

On the other hand, I'm hoping for a magic moment when he discovers the item he told his teacher he wanted from Santa but was not planning to tell Santa himself or anyone else but the beloved Mrs. Smith. She sent me an email, which sent me scrambling to make the magic happen; said item has been procured. (Funny that she said, "Sometimes I'm like a bartender--privy to all sorts of things no one else knows!") There is also the possibility that Santa and the Tooth Fairy may visit on the same night as Ed has a couple more loose teeth. When questioned, Santa denied knowing Ms. Fairy, but Ed said, "I hope they talk to each other loud enough to wake me up so I can see them!"

 

Note the even distribution of ornaments all over the tree this year. I am surprised at how much I miss the "only at kids eye level" decorating style, but Edward took the initiative to get a chair to hang ornaments at different heights. Daniel attempted to follow suit, but was returned to low ground when his efforts almost resulted in him doing a face plant into the tree. Just for my own record keeping, I'm noting that we purchased and decorated the tree the weekend of Dec. 10/11. Even this far in advance, only a small selection of trees remained at our favorite tree lot (fundraiser for the local Optimists.) We've been burned before by waiting too long, so I'm glad we went against my "week before Christmas is plenty of time to have the tree in the house" instincts.

And in case you were wondering about my level of school-break neurosis, No, I do not have an activity grid for the two week break. The boys and I will spend part of that time with doting aunts, uncles and grandparents, so that takes some entertainment pressure off the parents. Otherwise, we have baking, library visits, movie(s), and friends to invite and are hoping we'll emerge unscathed in 2012.