2017 In Review - Favorite Photos

To Grandmother's House the Trees Go

Every once in a while, I hear the words, "I have a lot of Christmas trees" coming out of my mouth and I realize that it's crazypants. It is absolutely crazypants that I can't tell you how many trees I have because it's SO many that I''m not sure what should count. Only trees with lights? Only trees that are more than four feet tall? I don't know what the rules should be. If we throw all rules to the wind and just count everything, it's 26? I think? Alexis generally comes up with a higher number, so let's just go with over 25 and call it a day.

You would think that would be enough, but you would be wrong. In fact, I bought two new ones this weekend. I HAD TO! They were a matching pair of 4 1/2-foot tall white and silver trees. They're delightfully tacky and wonderful and they're going to look great on either side of the fireplace next year. The best part is that between now and then, I'll forget that I have them, so it'll be a fun surprise come November. The second best part was that they were 90% off. See! I had to get them!

It still won't be enough.

For, you see, the littles. The littles are ALL in on this crazy train. Alexis comes up with a higher number because she LOVES telling people how nuts I am and then revelling in their shock. She sees it as perfectly reasonable to have a lot of trees because how would you have less? Which ones would she have to give up? If you say the Harry Potter tree, look out. She will send  Muggle your way.

And Mila. Oh, Mila. Mila is so in love with "the pretties." She spends a whole lot of her time making sure they are all turned on and properly decorated. She has done everything in her power to convince me to buy more trees and lights and ornaments and basically she wants our house to be the Target Christmas section, except with extra decorations at the three foot and below level. That high stuff can be skipped, mostly because it's not as much fun when she can't reach it to touch it.

Soooo ... that brings us to Christmas. We travelled to visit family and that family is not as spirited as I am. Thus, there wasn't a tree where Mila could see it. Long story short, she didn't say anything while we were there, but guess what she has mentioned 235234523059823 times since? Every time we're out and about and come across a tree, be it for sale or a part of the store decorations, she insists that we take it to Indiana to "Fix grandma's house."

Because it's broken.

Because it doesn't have 25+ trees.

Man, I love that kid.

Hell Froze Over (Or Something)

If ever the girls decide to look back and compare the number of gifts they got for Christmas, this will be the year that they will both say, “Hey, I was robbed!” There was a looooot less under the tree for them both and it was by design.

For Mila, the issue was that she really doesn’t care what’s in a present; she just wants to unwrap the present. Unwrapping presents is magical and mystical and go ahead, wrap a lump of coal. She will happily declare it ”So pretty!” and move onto the next present. Thus, she had clothes under the tree, but only a couple of toys. I assumed her grandparents would fill in the toy gap (Which was an error on my part. SORRY, MILA!) and Santa was responsible for toiletries and a bike. All-in-all, it was plenty, but it was less than other years.

Alexis’ situation was even starker. She basically had one big present to open from her parental units, so there were some clothes and little things, but nothing that cost more than $10. Seriously. That was my cap on gifts for her.

Because she finally got a phone.

I don’t know how exactly it happened, but somewhere along the line, Alexis got it in her head that she wasn’t allowed to get a cell phone until she turns 14. If I ever told her that was the rule, it was purely out of a desire to get her to stop talking because that was never the plan. For the childless who are reading this and thinking it’s crazypants for a 6^th grader to have a phone, I’m not even joking when I say Alexis was the last of her crew to get one. Her friends have had them for a year or longer depending on the situation.

And holy smokes was her not having a phone turning into an inconvenience for me. I mean, I have been known to text her friends to ask them to give her a message because I couldn’t tell her myself. Nothing says “adulting” like telling a 6^th grader to tell another 6^th grader something important. I honestly have no idea how previous generations managed to arrange for pickups and drop-offs without cell phones. Changing plans on the fly necessitates communication, y’know?

ANYWAY. I made up my mind that Alexis would get a phone months ago. She had absolutely, positively no idea it was going to happen. To keep it that way, I didn’t go get it until a few hours before we planned to open presents. Even then, I wrapped the phone box in a plastic bag, wrapped that all the way around with duct tape, then wrapped that with wrapping paper. When that part was done, I placed it inside a gift box and wrapped it again. TWICE. If Alexis had tried to peek, she would have found herself down a dangerous rabbit hole with no good way out.

Even when it was officially time to open things up, it took her a good ten minutes to find her way to the treasure. There were scissors involved and lots of help and it would have been HILARIOUS if I had wrapped coal for her just because by the time she got to the actual gift, she was so frustrated. And then she screamed. And then she was deliriously happy.

And then she cried.

I think that’s how you know you successfully executed a surprise. Happy tears are the best, y’all.