Lots of Snow, Two Christmas Trees, and One Curious Brain

We put up our Christmas tree last weekend. The kids were so excited, as they were *positive* we were the last people on earth to put up our tree! Can I just say that I am forever grateful to the person who invented pre-lit Christmas trees? Not having to string lights on the tree not only saves us about two hours of tree-decorating time, but also makes it way more fun for the kids, who only care about the ornaments anyway.

In my perfect world, we have two trees. One is covered with homemade ornaments made of pipe-cleaners, popsicle sticks, paint, and glitter, with of all the decorations covering the bottom 3 1/2 feet of the tree because that's how high up our kids can reach on their tip toes, and another tree that looks something like this:

(Yeah, still working on that second one... maybe next year?)

I really do love our Hodge-Podge, totally-doesn't-match-or-have-a-theme tree. As we take each ornament out of the box, we always remember where it came from or why it holds a special meaning and we share those memories as we hang it on the tree. I love this tradition of ours.

Winter must have seen our tree and decided it was time to visit London this week. The first couple of snowy days were slightly stressful at times, as I somehow underestimated how long it takes to get everyone bundled in snow pants, boots, coats, mitts, scarves, and hats, yet the school bus doesn't take this into consideration and adjust it's schedule accordingly, unfortunately. Thankfully nobody missed the bus, but we may have had a couple close calls. I think part of the problem is that our kids are really good with Velcro, but beyond that, any tying, zipping, buttoning, or snapping has to be done by Mom. We'll have to work on that.

Jesse has had fun riding to school on our toboggan, pulled by Scott. He was loving it so much that the day I picked him up in the van he flat out refused to leave the school, and said he wouldn't step foot out of his classroom until I agreed to walk him home in the snow.

Scott took all three kids tobogganing this afternoon on the hill close to our house, the same one I used to toboggan down as a kid. I stayed home with Nathan and got caught up on dishes as our dishwasher has been broken broken for two days now and the dishes have been piling up.

Tonight when I went up to put Samantha to bed, I found her wrapped in an empty plastic bag that had been ripped into strips and tied around her body. She was jumping and playing around like she always is at bedtime, as if these were her everyday pj's. I asked her where she comes up with her ideas. She looked at me very matter-of-factly and said, "Mom. I have a brain. And a curious one." Well, what do you say to that? I mean, just because I've never been curious about the most fashionable way to turn a plastic bag into a nightgown, doesn't mean it's not perfectly normal, right?