It’s mid December now.   We started the “holidays” the day after Thanksgiving with a giant boost of Christmas spirit but now it seems the work part has kicked in for me and I’m less jolly and festive.   Mostly for me it’s coming down to the wire to make sure the gifts are even (not only monetarily but in “want” value and quantity), making sure we get in those must do holiday things (drive around and see the lights?  YES!) and get everything wrapped and under the tree.
    We do our daily Advent cups (link here to what those are all about) and I think the kids still look forward to it, even though our lives are much busier so we don’t always get to do what’s inside.  They understand that part, though, but I find if I’m not the driving force behind it then it’s not going to happen.  We are at a point in our family where we will always have dinner together, but after dinner the big kids tend to want some time to themselves.  I get it, I was the same, but it makes me sad.  The advent may say “watch frosty” and I know the boys probably won’t do that so I modify it a bit.  We watch Frosty with the littles, put them to bed and I put on Die Hard for Dee and I.  It worked, got ’em all to hang out with us for a couple hours.  As they get older,  it makes me truly cherish the times that they do snuggle up to watch a movie w us.  I’m lucky that our kids still want to spend a little time with us.  Don’t get me wrong, we’re not “cool” or anything, but we are ok.
   Another fun thing is that Trey has taken over the task of moving Cornelius the Elf each day.  I get why people hate the Elf but I’ve had fun over the years.  I know Trey is finding joy in it this year because the first thing Erin does when she wakes up is go on the hunt for him.  He’s been on the tree, hanging candy canes on door ways, taping himself to the cabinet, chilling out in the fridge…Trey leaves a little note (which Erin keeps because she believes it’s truly from Cornelius) with a clue and off she goes.  It’s pretty sweet.
    We had one of our little foster guys come back, and he’s awesome and we had missed him.  I have to admit, having 7 kids for the holidays (or in general) is exhausting.  We’ve got ages 15, 14, 13, 7, 3, 18mo and 6 mo now.  Everyone gets along, thankfully, and the big kids have stepped up and have been helping out by doing their chores w no complaints and even offering to do little extras that make such a difference.  We truly are doing alright but it’s a lot on our plates.  We run a pretty tight ship, have to be organized with so many people,  so in many ways so adding another one doesn’t add too much to the chaos.  We also have a dear friend who has made us a couple dinners.  What a gift that has been for us.  We are in “rotisserie chicken and a salad” mode otherwise because there isn’t much time to get to the store and shop let alone cook.  Levi thinks he should be a personal chef and the kids prefer his meals to mine.  I have a hard time accepting help, but have to admit that was so nice and did help a lot!
    Into the final stretch we go – hope everyone is managing and getting all done that they need to and finding time to breathe and embrace the chaos.