December Daily- Days 6, 7, & 8- Christmas Moments

Friday was "Caps for MES" day. Kids can pay a dollar to wear a hat to school every first Friday of the month. The money raised goes to support their kid's closet for any child who needs clothes, shoes, or a jacket throughout the year. Since it is December, kids were able to wear Santa or holiday hats if they wanted to, and Jude did. We dug around in the Christmas stuff  Thursday night and found a Santa hat. He quickly put it on and wore it around the house. This is a pretty significant change for him. Jude does not like to draw attention to himself in any way, so I was worried he would wear it to school, kids would make fun of him, and he'd take it off immediately. So I was quite surprised to see him come down my hallway after school, still wearing his Santa hat. I asked him if he wore it all day and he said yes. I asked if anyone else wore one and he said they did, but not a lot of kids and that some kids looked at him and laughed, but he didn't care. Super proud of his willingness to be himself and to ignore others who would dampen his sweet Christmas spirit.

Friday night, we took the boys to the Arlington to eat dinner, then to walk around downtown and look at the lights. Cracking and eating crab legs does not make for a quick meal, and I love that we always take so long to eat when we are at the Arlington. It's enjoyable to sit, eat, and visit without being in a hurry to get done and off to somewhere else. 

The Arlington also had it's huge gingerbread house up and decorated. We were in a while back, and they had the basic structure in place but hadn't started decorating it yet. I made a mental note to try to go by next year between seeing the structure in place and seeing the completed house in hopes of seeing it actually being put together.

 

 

I love spending quality time with this crew. 

I spent Saturday catching up with house cleaning and a little bit of decorating. I planned to finish the big tree, but after all the cleaning and the fact that I read way past my bedtime on Friday,  I was exhausted and sat down to watch the Polar Express with the boys and Carter's girlfriend. 

 

 

To cut back on toxins and harmful chemicals, I have gotten rid of most of my candles and potpourri. I still have a couple of bags of potpourri, which I still put out because they are pretty, but I no longer add additional scents to them. I now use essential oil in my Young Living diffusers. I am currently diffusing Christmas Spirit essential oil, and I love the way it smells. The smells of orange, cinnamon bark, and spruce are perfect for the Christmas season without being overpowering and nauseating. 

After the movie, Carter took Jennifer home and dropped Ethan at a friend's house to spend the night, Jude and I switched the tv over to Food Network and watched some of the Holiday Baking challenges, till he fell asleep on the ottoman. 

 

Sunday, we went to church for the yearly Lessons and Carol's performance by our church choir. It is a Sunday we always enjoy. The Christmon tree was up, and it looks beautiful sitting in the sanctuary. I can't wait till the Poinsettia tree is put up as well. I love the Christmas season in our church. 

After church, we ate lunch at home and then headed to Hot Springs to do a little shopping. It started out a bit rough because the big boys were indecisive, and Jude was under everyone's feet as we were shopping. We finally got it under control (we aren't used to shopping altogether) and got a few things bought to go under the tree. 

Once we got home, the boys all found some sort of technology to play on, while Jess and I worked in the kitchen. Jess worked on deer jerky for a friend, and I made cookies for the boys' lunches this week. 

 

I love the weekends, especially when they are filled with all my people.