Christmas and the Week that Followed

As always, Christmas was wonderful. I was super excited and woke up before 5. I started hearing the girls and Luke shortly thereafter. However, Jack and Thomas slept until the appointed time of 645. I saw a couple of posts from friends who have teenagers that slept in on Christmas and I was glad that at least 2/3 of our teens are still so excited that they wake up early.

We opened gifts, had our traditional breakfast casserole and spent the day lounging lazily. We had our big meal on Christmas Eve, so there was no cooking or baking. We played games, ate a lot of candy, and didn't do much else.

The kids were thoughtful in their gifts and were excited to see everyone's reactions to what they picked out. Anna was shocked that Jack got her iPods. Kara got Anna the Lululemon belt bag she has wanted for a very long time. Kara got Luke the complete set of Dork Diaries. Jack got Kara a Lana Del Rey record. Anna got Jack a book from the 1800s and Kara a portable cart that represented an inside joke from our DC trip. You get the idea :) The older kids have to use their own money for presents, so I really think it adds a lot of meaning when they put time and effort into finding the perfect gifts for each other. I also loved my gifts from the kids. When Luke was choosing Thomas' gift he knew he wanted to get him baseball cards. I asked him if he wanted to give Christmas or Halloween themed cards. Luke responded with a thoughtful, "I'll get him both--he deserves it." It made me laugh, as Luke is still at the age where he is not required to shop for, pay for, or do much to actually effectuate a gift. I hope he is as generous when his money is on the line!

Thomas also gave me some great presents, my favorite is a really cool bracelet that has a charm containing a picture of our family. You would never know by looking at it, but you hold it to a light and there it is. In a funny twist, apparently at some point I commented on a "magic beans spinning cube (sort of a rubik's cube type puzzle)" that I wanted. That is how Thomas wrote it in his reminder notes and then when November/December rolled around, he had no idea what I was referring to. So, he got me several gifts that may have matched that description. Of course, I have no recollection of saying anything about a magic bean puzzle, so I can only assume he found the right one :) I crocheted Kara a purse and really enjoyed the process of making a gift for someone. I may try and do something similar next year. For their big gifts, Luke got a device that measures bat speed; Kara got an iWatch; Jack got an upgraded saxophone (if it ever gets delivered...); Anna got an iPad; I also got an iWatch and Thomas also got an iPad. 

Everyone sits in the same spot each year. If you try and move, someone will get mad.

Anna was so surprised Jack got her Airpods, it warranted an immediate hug.

Wearing the Tigers sweatshirt Jack gave him, while opening another from me.

The aftermath.

This makes it seem like it was all about the gifts, which of course, it never is. I loved everything everyone picked out for me, but that is not what wakes me with excitement. I was excited to spend the day together and to see the reactions to the gifts I (for Thomas and we for the kids) picked out. I love the music and the lights and the movies and the food and the family time. Christmas Day represents the entirety of the season in one amazing day. 

Week Before Christmas and More on my Dad

I was going to end with my dad, but I think I will start there instead. I don't want to kill the Christmas vibe. My sister and I have been trying for weeks to get an answer about whether he can move into the assisted living facility where he is at. At one point my sister was there and they told her he was approved however, the financial people needed to talk to us because there was a condition. I called multiple people, leaving multiple messages on multiple days with no response. So, my sister started casually looking for other options. Then, on Friday they told us his last day of covered care was Wednesday. With the weekend and Christmas ahead, that effectively gave us 2 days to figure out a placement and move him in. I am going to make a long story short and say that there wasn't actually a condition, they just wanted to talk to us. But, she didn't call to tell me that until 4:30 Friday afternoon. Earlier in the day, I called the social worker, who actually answered the phone, and expressed my frustration, which is why I think I finally got the call back. I could write a whole saga, but I will keep it short and say that we think the place with memory care would be better, but my dad wants to stay at the Villa so we will give it a try. It was an incredibly frustrating week, as we knew he was getting close to discharge, although I thought he had at least another week, and then we got the news on Friday.  Christmas Eve we had a sibling call and filled my brothers in on everything. It was nice to chat, even if it was a somewhat sobering topic. Tuesday or Wednesday I will need to physically go to Lakeland to help go through my dad's apartment and move stuff to his new room. It feels never-ending and I will be happy when he is settled at the new place. I feel like the next couple of days of getting him in there are going to be stressful.

Back to Christmas! The biggest thing that was different about this year is the kids were in school the week before Christmas. Thomas and I also did not take any time off from work. Usually it is a fairly slow week and that was the case for Thomas. Unfortunately, I am still very busy. I was expecting a leisurely work week where I did my yearly training requirements and sorted my e-mail inbox. But, it was not meant to be. For the kids, school got less and less intense as the week went on. On Friday, 500 kids out of almost 5000, showed up. Jack and Anna were two of them. We told them they didn't have to go, but Jack thought it would be fun and Anna wanted to exchange presents with her friends. They both brought some Christmas treats, which they mostly gave to their teachers. Kara stayed home.

We are now blocked out at Disney, so there were no more Wednesday trips. Friday, we went and saw the Johanessen family lights. They are ranked the number one light display in the Orlando area and were ranked #6 in the country by USA Today. We had to park at a shopping center and then walk about half a mile. They were at the end of a small street with maybe 10 houses. None of the other houses had any light displays which leads me to believe the neighbors aren't huge fans. There was a required $10 "donation" to see the backyard, which we paid. The money goes for the police they have blocking traffic and helping people cross from the shopping center, the port-a-potties and other upkeep. It was pretty spectacular and we enjoyed walking around. It was raining when we got there, which definitely worked to our advantage crowd-wise. No exaggeration when I say that there were hundreds of people coming down the street as we were leaving. It was shoulder to shoulder and the line to pay for the backyard was probably 50 people deep. We enjoyed it, but based on that, I do not think we will go back.

They had multiple photo opps, including this fun sled.

This bear gave Luke a hug

Some of the front yard

Some of the back yard, the girls are down there, close to the heart. :)

The kids

The parents

After the lights, we stopped at Jeremiah's and enjoyed their holiday treats. Saturday, we mostly stayed home. We did go to dinner at Tijuana Flats. Their 2 for $20 lures us in. We played games and watched movies. Thomas let the older kids watch Die Hard, which they all enjoyed. I like to see Snape as the villain. Christmas Eve was more of the same, except with a lot more cooing/baking. Kara and I went for a long walk in the morning and then made the sugar cookie dough. We hadn't done sugar cookies for Santa in a few years and I decided to revive the tradition. I am glad I did. We all had a lot of fun sitting together and decorating. 

I was happy everyone wanted to participate

Jack got some shortbread cookies from a friend, so those are in plastic, but the rest are our homemade sugar cookies.

We also had our big dinner. We had ham, rolls, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables and deviled eggs. The kids said they liked it better than Thanksgiving. The dinner question was to name one thing you hope to get and one thing you expect to get. Thomas is not getting his "hope" (a comic book), I think everyone else is. Sorry Thomas! The girls went for a bike ride, Thomas and I went for a walk and spent some time watching the two neighborhood houses that have coordinated light displays. We all reconvened around 7 to watch Charlie Brown Christmas, take a Christmas Eve photo and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was a great day!

Anna took this fun selfie. Watching Charlie Brown in our matching jammies.

Now, it is 550 AM on Christmas morning. My last quiet morning of sitting in a dark living room with the pretty lights on the tree to keep me company. I can hear the girls and Luke upstairs. I am not sure if Jack is awake yet. 

Current view.

A Fun Weekend, More Epcot and a Quiet Weekend

Thomas was out of town from December 4-8. It was very disappointing for him to miss out on prime holiday happenings. The week was busy! The girls and I went to Hollywood Studios on Wednesday after school/work. It was a good night, we rode lots of rides, got dinner and holiday treats, enjoyed the lights and finally saw Fantasmic (didn't love it).

I did love the lights.

The biggest thing that happened was Anna got stung by a wasp at school on Tuesday. She was swollen and a little sore on Wednesday. Then, really sore and swollen on Thursday and Friday. She ended up missing two days of school and didn't get back full range of motion until Sunday!

This was either Friday or Saturday

Sad picture to send to Thomas

Last Saturday, to celebrate Thomas being home, we had a super fun family day. We started with Fort Christmas. Jack drove. He is a good driver, but can be a little overconfident. I told the kids when they started driving that my biggest rule was they needed to take any correction we gave them without argument. I think Jack is a little bit in the "I already know this" phase and was getting annoyed at my directions. Anyway, it wasn't a big deal, but did cause some mild frustration for both of us.

The houses at Fort Christmas had decorations and we enjoyed walking around. The Fort was also open. I think it was the first time in years that we have gone with everything open. It was a beautiful day to be outside. 

From there, we went to lunch at Steak-n-Shake. Another Wilson December tradition! It was very good and we had no complaints. I think their shakes are the best! Then, we went shopping. Bath and Body Works was having their annual $4.95 sale and we spent over $100! $5 adds up with 5 people adding things to the basket. Luke was the only one who didn't pick out anything; he did did get some things at Five Below. We also went to Target. We came home for a couple of hours and then went out to dinner at Tijuana Flats. It was a full, fun, expensive day :)

We had another Wednesday afternoon/evening at Epcot. We went to Norway and watched holiday storytellers who told us about the Barn Santa. They were excellent story tellers and we loved it. Then, we grabbed dinner at Connections. I wanted to eat solely festival food, but was outvoted. The plan was to eat dinner at Connections and then snack around the world, but we ended up riding rides and never made it back into the World Showcase. We did get a few more cookies to start a new cookie stroll. The spiced hot chocolate is my favorite. We also liked the sugar m&m cookie and the Linzer cookie. The peppermint pinwheel would probably be my fourth, with the snickerdoodle and gingerbread coming in last (writing to remember for next year).

We did Soarin, Living with the Land (love that holiday overlay!), Figment, Spaceship Earth, Test Track and Guardians. On Guardians, we got our final song! Thomas and I have now heard all 6 songs. It took us 10 rides, which is better than a lot of people (according to the Facebook page). 

Thursday was the high school band's Christmas concert. Kara, Thomas and I went. Anna had a headache, so she opted out, and Luke just didn't want to go and was thrilled when Anna let him stay with her. They missed out because the concert was really good!

Thomas and I were off on Friday and went back to Epcot. Maybe we have a problem??? We listened to another storyteller (Hanukah), watched the Voices of Liberty singers (amazing!), saw the show in America, and strolled through the shops. We also got food. Specifically, I wanted another cheese fondue. We also got a turkey plate and Thomas got to try the peanut stew, they were out last time. It was super spicy, but he liked it. The only ride we did was Frozen. We left around 1:30 and were home in time to meet the kids when they got home from school.

The forecast called for a stormy weekend, so we decided to have a weekend (mostly) at home. Saturday morning, Thomas and Luke went running. Luke did 1.5 miles, Thomas did 6.3, he said he wanted to make sure he could still run a 10k. Should there ever be an emergency and someone is needed to fill a spot in a 10k, he will be prepared! Anna and I went for a walk. It was drizzly out, but nice to be outside. Then, Thomas and I went to Target to, hopefully, finish our Christmas shopping. 

We came home and had a fun afternoon at home while it rained outside. Thomas and I wrapped presents. Thomas, Anna and I played Ticket to Ride. Then, Kara joined in for Scattergories. In what can only be described as a December miracle--I won both games! Thomas and I ended the night with a Hallmark movie. It was a pretty amazing day!

End of November, Start of December

We started putting up our Christmas decorations in the week before Thanksgiving. We were ready this year! We were originally supposed to be on a cruise Thanksgiving week, but unfortunately, that did not happen. I think Anna and I were the most disappointed. The boys didn't really care and Kara was somewhere in the middle. But, we chose to make the best of it and Thanksgiving was nice. Kim and her family and Kevin joined us for lunch. We started the day with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Kim and her family arrived around 11 and Kevin around 12. We planned to play some games after lunch but ended up chatting instead. It was really fun to hear about Amanda's adjustment to college life and of course, we were all excited to hear about JD's mission in Japan. It was good to have them here.

In the week after Thanksgiving, we went to Disney twice. On Wednesday, we left work a little early and went to Epcot to enjoy Festival of the Holidays. We did the cookie stroll and ate from lots of food booths. Thomas and I let the kids get whatever they wanted, which is really unusual for us, but nice to do once in a while. We enjoyed the food, decor, holiday storytelling, and of course, some rides. It was the emptiest we have seen it in a while and we took full advantage.

I love when they love each other. It was a beautiful night!

Living with the Land had a great holiday overlay.

Friday we went to Animal Kingdom. Traffic was bad and we didn't get into the park until about 4:30. We did the Safari, but lots of animals were already in for the night. We also rode Dinosaur twice in a row. Dinner took a while, so we only had time to do one more ride. Majority chose Flight of Passage. The posted wait was 50 minutes, but we only waited 30. Like our Epcot day, the park was really quiet. We enjoyed the holiday lights and walking through Pandora after dark.

Luke had his last baseball tournament this weekend. I hadn't been to one in a while, so I decided to go for all his games. He pitched on Saturday and did really well. His team won both games by a good margin and were the number 1 seed going into Sunday. On Sunday they had to play a team that has beat them 3 or 4 times this year. And, they finally won! Then, they won the next game and were crowned the tournament champions. It was a good way to end the season.

Monday I went to Lakeland and took my dad to the doctor. We are moving forward with trying to get him into an assisted living facility. Hopefully, we can get everything done before he is released from the rehab facility (due to the hip replacement). Thomas is out of town, so I had to race home from Lakeland to meet the kids after school. The older kids all stayed after school for various reasons, so I had to grab Luke and then go get them. It was a very hectic day. I don't normally feel stressed, but lately work has been stressful. I don't feel like I am doing a very good job. I am very busy and sometimes it is overwhelming with work, my dad, and other family obligations. I know I will get through it, but I don't like feeling this way. Basically, like I am not giving 100% to anything at the moment and yet everything needs 100%. Does that make sense? I am thankful for a good supportive family or I would really be in trouble!