Merry Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve (and as I sit in wonder at how the mass of wrapped boxes under the tree grew so thick) I find myself thinking about how much harder it is to stay connected to what I think of as the true meaning of Christmas than I would like to admit.  I have worked to do less (I know you should work to not do but it is just the way I'm made) and yet still it is hard not be caught up in the idealized versions of the holidays and feel swept up in the river of buying.  

Yet it is still worth striving for.  I have found solace in a quiet snowshoe.

 I have found enormous joy and humor in watching the kids act out Mo Willem's Piggy and Elephant books each night on their "stage" which is the massage table in our bedroom.  Maya is so much like Piggy and Ella is so much like Gerald the elephant (the parts in which they play) that it takes their performance to a whole new level.  Both our kids have surprised us with their comedic timing and facial expressions.

 After one particularly difficult internal moral debate, Gerald decided he WILL share his ice cream cone with his best fried Piggy and the two sit back to back and smile.

Like this:

I've also come to appreciate how good it feels to buy local and to buy stuff you really love rather than "filler" stuff.  

We've also had the usual fun of making gingerbread houses (although less fun without the Smith's who couldn't come due to one of the many crazy winter storms we've had here in the Northeast in the past 2 weeks).  

 And there is always the December joy of the Elf on the Shelf.  Jingles has been a little less adventurous this year but he has shown up in some pretty funny places causing Maya a full on Elf APB when she wakes in the morning.

He got into a goody box our neighbors gave us.

 And on a swing up high.

 This was an oldy but goody he couldn't help doing again.

 

 He found some Barbie googles to spy more closely on Maya after a particularly sassy few days.

And then this morning, on his last morning with us before Santa comes to get him tonight, he was all bandaged up in the first aid kit.  I guess the ice storm made flying rather rough.    We will miss you Jingles. It has been fun. (Kind of.)

Merry Christmas Eve to all of you and blessings for a joy-filled night!