Christmas Chaos

This Christmas season feels very chaotic for some reason. Last week was the height of business with a week full of parties and concerts. Monday night Papa and I got to enjoy an adult night out for his Christmas party at a local hotel. The President of his company was in town too, so he joined our group of employees for dinner. It was nice to catch up with the other sales rep's and their wives before Christmas.

Wednesday night was Schmoo's Christmas concert. Her school puts on a quite a production each year and performs at our local live theatre. The older kids in Grades 5 and 6 put on a Christmas play that incorporated singing numbers by the rest of the grades. Schmoo sang a couple of times. At the beginning of the concert she sang with the choir and then her whole Grade 1 class dressed as angels sang together. Papa, Bean and I sat in the front row and watched the whole thing. It was fantastic!

Thursday was Bean's turn. His nativity pagent wasn't quite as polished but was equally as cute as they fumbled through the nativity scenes and sang Christmas songs. About halfway through the play, Bean's friend S decided to announce there were "too many cameras", which of course got a laugh from the audience. Bean and S proceeded to spend the rest of the play announcing to the crowd about the excessive cameras in the audience.

The weekend was all about family.  Schmoo finished school at noon, so we packed up the van and headed east to Golden.  Uncle C and "Auntie" S were waiting for us at the other end.  It was a long drive, but the kids did great and we were all happy to arrive to some scrumptious snacks a la Uncle C.  Schmoo worked diligently when we arrived on her Flower Girl application and it was well received.  Saturday was a ski day.  We had a leisurely start, making it up to the ski hill around 11:30am.  Auntie S took the first shift with Schmoo on the bunny hill, while Uncle C and I took a long run off the gondola.  It was an amazing ride.  The gondola rose up above the clouds, revealing a beautiful blue sky and snow top peaks.

When we returned to the bottom of the hill, Auntie S and Schmoo were making turns down the bunny hill.  We all took a break for some snow tubing and then lunch before Uncle C and I took Schmoo up the chair lift.  Two long runs later and she was skiing like a mini-pro.  She absolutely loved it.  She kept calling out to Uncle C and telling him how much fun she was having.  Uncle C and I managed to sneak in one more trip up the gondola before we called it a day and headed home for a gourmet ribs dinner by Papa.  The fun didn't stop there.  Papa and Uncle C got the campfire going in the backyard and the kids rummaged in the snow and enjoyed marshmallows by the fire before bedtime.  Schmoo even got a snuggle on the couch with Auntie S while I was putting Bean to bed, watching Sound of Music. 

Sunday was a long drive home in less favourable conditions, but we took our time and the kids did great again.  This week is definitely quieter.  It has been nice to have leisurely mornings, without the usual rush to get to work and school.  Schmoo had a nice long playdate yesterday while Papa and I juggled working.  I spent the evening at a meeting and then played 2 games of soccer!!  Today we met up with our friends C & H and had them over to decorate cookies!

The excitement level is definitely rising in the house.  I expect that bedtime will become more and more challenging every night as Christmas Eve approaches.  I'm off to work tomorrow and have only a couple more things to pick up to finish off my Christmas list.