Our Weekend - The One with Fantasy in Lights

Merry Christmas Eve, y’all!  IT’S MY VERY FAVORITE DAY OF THE ENTIRE YEAR!!!!  I doubt many people are even reading blogs today but I thought I would pop in and recap our weekend real quick.  I mostly do this for our family and myself, anyway, to archive our memories, so I’d still be doing this even if there was no audience.

We kicked off Friday with Christmas parties for both kids at school.  I’m the room mom for Jacob’s room so I was in charge of crafts along with one of the other moms.  I helped the kids make a snowflake ornament out of popsicle sticks and pom poms and then I helped the kids make a snowman paper chain countdown for the remaining days until Christmas.  Once I was done doing that, I snuck down the hall to visit Olivia at her Christmas party.  She had already made a couple of different crafts by the time I arrived, and she was finishing her last one when I got there… a snowman made of cotton balls and popsicle sticks.  And boy oh boy, was she using a crapload of glue!  Lol.  I had to lay that thing flat for the rest of the day at home and it finally dried sometime during the evening.  Haha.

After making her last craft, she enjoyed her Christmas cookie that she had made before I got there along with a couple of other snacks and a drink, and then she said her goodbyes to her teachers and classmates because I let her go back to Jacob’s class while I finished up with his class party.  He had been busy making a gingerbread house from ice cream cones and other treats, and his class was just sitting down to eat their snack when we arrived. 

After cleaning up, his teacher called all of the kids to the carpet and she read The Polar Express to them.  Olivia was over the moon to be hanging with the big kids!  One of Jacob’s best friends, a little girl named Ella, put her arm around Olivia and guided her to the carpet and she sat with her arm around her for almost the entire time.  It was the absolute sweetest thing!  Olivia looked like she had died and gone to heaven. 

Once the story was over, we all gave hugs, said our goodbyes, loaded up in the car, and headed out about 30 minutes early… it was officially Christmas Break!  We met Brian (he was off Friday, too) and my father-in-law at Five Guys for some burgers to kick it off, and then I ran to Bath and Body Works to exchange something before heading back home for the day.  It was drizzly and COLD so the four of us holed up at home for the rest of the afternoon.  I wrapped some more gifts while B and the kids played video games, and then we all headed down to the kitchen to bake Monster Cookies for Christmas Eve.  They are Brian’s specialty, so he and the kids did almost all of the work while I watched… and got on to B for getting raw egg germs on my clean kitchen hand towels.  Lol. 

That took the remainder of the afternoon as the batter makes 50+ cookies, and as we were finishing cleaning up, we spontaneously decided to grab some tickets online for Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens later that evening.

We made a frozen pizza for dinner and then bundled everyone up to head that way.  We chose a terribly cold evening to go – it was still a tiny bit misty and the wind chill was 33 degrees – but we had a great time.  We headed straight for the big tent first to see all of the Christmas decorations and characters, and then we walked back outside to see the Nativity scene by the lake. 

We hopped on the jolly trolley a little before 8 and rode through Fantasy in Lights for probably my 20th time.  Haha.  We just love that place and it’s been a family tradition ever since they opened it probably 25 years ago.  We sang Christmas carols on the jolly trolley, looked at all of the lights, and it was a great time as always.

The kids were both freezing and exhausted by the time we made it back to the car, and they were both out cold within 15 minutes down the road.  B and I got the kids straight in the bed once we arrived home, and then we made it through half of Die Hard (because, YES, it IS a Christmas movie!) before hitting the hay ourselves.

Saturday morning we got up and made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and the rest of the day was deliciously lazy.  We painted Olivia’s nails because she had been begging to have them painted for weeks.  Her school doesn’t allow painted nails, so we always have to wait until a long weekend or some kind of break from school.  She chose gold which was very fitting for the upcoming holiday! 

I worked on several to-do lists for the remainder of the Christmas Break and I also worked on planning ahead a bit for 2019 and then I played with Legos with Jacob for a bit. 

After lunch, the kids went outside to play since it was sunny and warm-ish and they came tearing inside a few minutes later to let us know the ice cream truck was in the neighborhood!  They continued to stalk his every move based on where they were hearing the music and then they started screaming when he turned on our street.  They greeted him outside in their PJs, chose their treats, and then enjoyed them inside.  Only in the south would the ice cream man come around during the month of December.  Haha.

Late in the afternoon we got ready to head out for church and I started feeling pretty nauseated and weird.  I was worried I might be coming down with something, but it just ended up being my stupid hormone changes again.  TMI coming, but every few cycles I get horrendously nauseated and feel like I’m coming down with a stomach virus and then it turns out to be nothing.  It’s awful while it lasts, but I was just thankful it didn’t end up being a true stomach virus. 

I felt pretty decent during church, although I still had a couple of weird nausea/dizziness moments, and then by the time we got to the Mexican restaurant with extended family I had started to feel pretty good.  I still had no appetite, but I went ahead and got my usual margarita along with some (bland) rice to eat, and by the time dinner was over I felt totally back to normal.  Tequila cures everything, I guess.  Haha.

B and I spent the rest of evening finishing Die Hard by the fireplace because it was coooold again, and then we headed to bed, too. 

Sunday we had literally nothing on the agenda.  My MIL wasn’t cooking lunch and my Momma wasn’t cooking dinner, so we had a completely free day.  I spent the morning planning blog content for 2019 while the kids watched Christmas TV specials that we had Tivoed and then we all went out for pizza for lunch. 

The weather was beautiful on Sunday – sunny and low sixties – so we went to the playground for a good hour to let the kids run around and get some fresh air while we can.  Apparently we’re supposed to get loads of rain starting the day after Christmas and it’s supposed to last for a whole week.  Yuck. 

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at home, grabbing Cracker Barrel veggies to eat at home, and then snuggling up to watch yet another Christmas movie, this time Arthur Christmas!

Today you can find us cooking and baking, celebrating Baby Jesus at children’s mass, and watching Home Alone on repeat at my parents’ house all evening while we EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY!!!! 

ENJOY EVERY SINGLE SECOND, FRIENDS!

Don't forget to link up with Heather, Johannah, and myself... just grab our new Christmas graphic and link up below!

*Linking up with B Loved Boston for Weekending and HoHo Runs for Weekly Wrap.

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