We've been home more this December than ever before. So when the last weekend before Christmas rolled around, we needed to shake things up and add a little extra sparkle to our day. We called it "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year," and spent the entire day together doing all sorts of Christmassy things. I made a list and checked it twice, ensuring there was something on there for everyone - pancakes and basement snowball fights for Cruz, some creative fun for Mila, homemade pizza for Chef Beau, and a trip downtown for Mom. I also wanted to add in something we could do for others and signed us up to ring the red kettle bells at Fareway. This ended up their favorite part.
I loved this sweet day. Sure it was a lot of time together and a few times throughout the day we wanted to pull our hairs out, but they're still my very favorite place to be.
Our Most Wonderful Day of the Year...
I forgot to mention that we actually started our day with a little early gift from Beau - some pretty hideous socks with his face on them. The kids thought they were great - until they took them off and realized they stained their feet pink!
We started our Saturday with our pretty typical pancakes, only spiced them up with a lot of whipped cream and strawberries.
Next was downstairs to burn off some of that sugar high. The kids LOVE our little snowball fights and Christmas came a little early for Beau with a new shuffle board table to keep us busy this winter.
Gingerbread houses are always a messy endeavor, but I appreciated Trader Joe's A-Frame style model home.
We bundled up and headed down to Main Street for some fresh air and afternoon cheer. Beau grabbed the little table in the window at SingleSpeed, the kids and I snapped a few cute pictures with their yummy hot cocoa from Stam, and then we joined Beau for some happy hour brews, UNO, and yummy pretzels.
We pretty much had the place to ourselves. The kids started getting squirrely, and I told them that when I was a kid in stores I used to pretend I was a mannequin. They latched onto that idea and pretended to be window displays for the next half hour, make a lot of busy shoppers stop to smile. And their antics earned Beau and I another round, so I guess it was a win-win for all. ;)
Then it was off to ring the bells at Fareway. I appreciated the opportunity to step on the other side of this and see so many smiling faces dig through their wallets and share some of their resources before getting their groceries. And I think the lively kids helped. My favorite was an old army veteran (his cap gave him away) who not only stopped to throw in a few dollars, but also danced a little jig with Mila. And my scrooge husband, who at first wasn't too keen on this cold little mission project, ended up leading us in several rounds of Jingle Bells.
Then it was home to warm our toes and put our pjs back on! Beau made some yummy homemade pizza, we watched a little Clark Griswold snuggled up with the big blanket, and went to bed grateful for this year we've had together. It truly is my favorite place to be.
