holidalies

So, first of all, I’m participating in Holidalies this year. I’ve signed up for the “at home” list, because I can barely be counted on for a a daily entry, nevermind logging into another site to record it. Holidalies makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. It reminds me of a time when blogging was just… well, blogging (as I know it). Rambling, sharing, an online journal of sorts.

Holidalies makes me think of all my original blogging friends, and the mommy board on which most of us met. Such good times. And so, on a whim, a nostalgic whim, I signed up. I saw it as a challenge to take more photos for my blog (which means take more photos in general), and to just write. Now, granted, I really phoned it in the first few days. But I’m here now, writing, blathering, and generally boring you. And I will continue to do so for the rest of my month with my daily posts. Slices of my life. Yes, there will be the recipe posts and perhaps a sponsored post here and there, but I am committing myself to a chronicle of the next month. Hopefully you won’t mind 😉

And so that brings us to today. Ah, today was just one of those days. This photo pretty well sums it up:

My cranberry-apple oatmeal totally bubbled over this morning. But not bad enough to cause a really big mess. Just enough to be annoying. Sigh. This was already after refereeing a fight over feeding the fish, and standing my ground about not opening the Advent calendar until everyone was awake.

I tried to get past it. The boys went off to school and I set about to some cleaning. The coffee maker was first on my list, and then I deep-cleaned the den, pulling out the couch, diving under the cushions… I’ll spare you from the atrocities I witnessed.

After that, we had a few errands to run, so we decided to treat ourselves to Chinese for lunch. Mmm… hot & sour soup is my favorite. I could eat bowl after bowl of this stuff.

I ran into Joann’s to pick up some blue yarn for a Dr. Who hat I’m working on for Jake. I ran into a friend there, so that was a nice surprise!

And now it’s time to wind down for the night. The kids are bed (well, the older ones are reading in bed). I’m in my PJs. And I think that tea and a brownie are certainly in order.

Good night!

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Do you have a Christmas tree decorating tradition? Ours is to hang up all of the ornaments while Christmas Vacation plays in the background. It’s something Drew and I have done since our pre-kid days, and every year without fail we laugh at all the same parts.

While I love the idea of a real tree, the reality is that our artificial tree just makes more sense for us. We can put it up whenever we like (in our case — last weekend, even though we didn’t decorate it until today). We can use it for years. We don’t need to water it. And honestly I love that it has glitter on it. Find that on your local tree lot 😉

This year, the ornament hanging went much smoother than in years past. The kids all listened, and there was minimal frustration. We have some very old and very fragile ornaments that they’re not allowed to touch yet.

And yes, there was hot cocoa. (The grown-up version had a little extra “Christmas cheer” thrown in!)

Over the next few days we’ll move ornaments around until it’s just right. I had planned on making a popcorn garland this year, but I just didn’t have time last week. Our old garland is at least 30 years old. Have you ever seen 30-year-old popcorn? Yeah, and I thought the ornaments were fragile. We strung it up last year, but this year it’s staying in the box.

This early in the month, it’s still a work in progress. And I really need to find our tree skirt!

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One of Those Days

String Up the Lights