Simple Pleasures..

Every year around Christmas time I am quickly reminded of the simple pleasures in life. Being a parent there is this keen desire for your kids to have a memorable Christmas experience..that somehow it is a pivotal role to molding the person they will be when they grow up…that those very Christmas’s spent in Spongebob Pajamas and pigtails.. between the ages of 2-6 will have enough magic to last a lifetime:)  No matter how your family celebrates Christmas and where you put the “True Emphasis”, there is always the longing to give your little one the perfect gift..the one that generates an unbelievable excitement upon tearing open the wrapping paper, that you, at that very moment feel like a kid again as well. This year now that Kyla is getting a bit older, we have really tried to stress the significance of the “Real Christmas Story” and Jesus being born. We got this adorable book about the first Christmas and tried as hard as we could to explain to my “very rational child” why Jesus was born in a “FARM”-as she says. At the end of reading the book with her again today, she took a deep sigh and said..”Man, I love baby Jesus……Cinderella too”. It was so genuine and sincere. Precious really.

Something that is always a bit sad to me however, is that selfishly..now that I’m older, It never really feels like Christmas time until Christmas eve. I am always trying to do things that make it soak in…Gingerbread lattes at Starbucks every day, Mariah Carey Christmas out of every speaker, holding peppermint and holiday Pine candles up to my noise for several minutes at Target…you name it. Maybe I’m trying too hard. Maybe I am always so busy with work around the holidays that the days go by so fast, I just “miss it”. Either way..these last few days have been truly magical..and that is because of our kids. Watching the pure joy they get out of the smallest things has put everything in perspective for me. My dad sent a bunch of Christmas presents to us in this large box, that has been kicked around the house the last few days. Last night, the kids went to TOWN with this thing. I don’t think I have heard either of them laugh so hard in their lives. It had become a fort, car, refrigerator, hiding place, bed…at that moment I remembered that kids are so simple, really. They want adventure, and they want to make messes. That is FUN. Yes, Tickle me Elmo and Dora-dancing-tippy-toes will steal the show on Christmas mornings-for real..but I know that without all of that-I could literally talk up these amazing refrigerator boxes to them, and they would love us all the same. Watching them play together..truly old school style, made me SO happy, you don’t even know..here are a few faves I caught:)

Another thing my kids love in the world of “messes”..is CRAFTS. Yes kids, the apple did not fall far from the tree for this one. Kyla needs crafts like I need coffee. We are both fine as long we know that we will get our “fix” somewhere in the day. We decided to start a tradition last year, of making most of our Christmas tree ornaments..A truly kid friendly tree that looks more like  a scene from Dr. Seuss rather than a spread in Martha Stewart Living:) It gets our kids involved and gives me YET another reason to bust out my hot glue gun..(I will post more pics of the tree and holiday decor later this week:) The kids were squealing at the opportunity to mesh feathers, popsicle sticks, and paper scraps with their stamp-pad-ink-smeared creations…it was starting to feel a baby bit like Christmas:)

And because we have tried to stress the importance of “giving” with Ky Ky this year, she wanted to make Christmas goodie bags for her friends at school. Seriously. The most rewarding feeling in the world is seeing your child DELIGHT in making things for others. How badly do you wish you were in her class and were one of her BFFS??? Goodie bag contents include: bouncy ball, pretty pencils, Crabby Patty Gummy Burgers (Spongebob lingo for all you NON-Nickelodeon folk), 1 pack of Old Maid or Go Fish card games, 1 chocolate santa, 2 reindeer cookies, and a glittery foam handmade flower necklace for all the girlies. Yeah. How bad do you wanna be 4 again………….Me too.

Thanks to auntie Liz and my dad..we have SEVERAL gingerbread house making kits in our house. Who knew that four walls, 5 bags of candy, and one pouch of liquid sugar could make two kids so blissfully happy. Lets just say, that we have decorated the same 2 gingerbread houses like 10 times. They decorate them, the next day eat the roofs and bushes off, then we decorate them again the next day. Its impressive really. I usually pride myself on the fact that my kids don’t really eat candy, but this phenomenon of gingerbread-edible-craftiness is just bigger than me and my motherly concerns:)  Today I had the kids by myself ..I felt exhausted, and they were wired. Mommy had no better ideas but then to give into the request of decorating the houses AGAIN. But this time, rather than being paranoid that frosting was dripping all over the rug, or that Hayden was feeding our dog Zooey gumdrops under the table, I just sat and watched. I couldn’t believe how much I had missed the other days while I was multi-tasking. After watching Hayden consume about a gallon of frosting, I suddenly realized the reason he has been up til 11pm every night this week. Hmm… mere coincidence I’m SURE:)

It’s beginning to look alot like Christmas in the Maxwell house. Darling Children, thank you for your joyful simplicity…