Our Holiday Break Summary

It's always sad to see the holiday season end, but it's nice to get back to a usual routine too.  Taking down Christmas decorations can sometimes be depressing, but I always enjoy the clean simplicity of the house once all the decor is gone too.  I also enjoy getting back to my regular diet and exercise problem.  It's nice to take a two week break from it but, boy, do I start to feel it.  My gut health isn't the same, and I have to start popping those tums again not long after the festivities begin.  Now, only a few days after I returned to my regular diet, I feel much better.

I also enjoy being back to a regular blogging schedule.  I miss you guys when I'm away! People who don't blog don't really understand, but we in the blogging world are a small, tight knit community.  Most of us have known each other for years and watched our kids grow up.  We've traveled together, laughed together, and sometimes cried together all through a computer screen.  As someone who is alone for twelve hours everyday, I really need my "blogging buds" so I have some connection to the outside world.

So "Welcome Back"!  I missed you!  And now for a little update our our two week holiday break.

This Christmas we had my daughter, son-in-law, and four grandchildren at our home for two full weeks.  Other than when we all quarantined together during Covid (and then we only had two grandchildren), this was the longest duration we've ever spent together .  To say things got a little crazy at times would be an understatement, but we had a lot of fun too!  

Originally, my daughter was only supposed to spend 5 days with us, but Atticus arrived with the flu and then it subsequently went through the entire family making them too ill to travel.  I was the only person out of nine people who did not get sick, which is pretty amazing since I was the caretaker of everyone and I had the most exposure.  I attribute it to drinking a daily cup of Cuppa Mushroom Coffee, as that's the only thing I did differently from the rest of the family.

For a while there, we were wondering if everyone would be well enough to celebrate Christmas at all.  We were supposed to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations, but people weren't feeling well enough on Christmas Eve to do anything.  So we didn't go to church, or have a special meal and we just had a normal dinner and watched a Christmas movie.

By Christmas Day, the virus had run through most members of the family and they felt well enough to open gifts, though some of them just cozied up the couch and watched while I was the one who was up and down picking up all the wrapping paper and tossing it in the garbage, distributing gifts, finding batteries for all the toys, oh, and making a Christmas Lunch all at the same time.  I was exhausted to say the least. 

It was Alethea's first toy-less Christmas.  She has gotten too old for toys and wanted things like clothes and decor for her room, but then she had nothing to play with after Christmas like the boys did.  I suspected this would be a problem, and I was right.  It led to a few tears and squabbles after Christmas opening, but in the end, she ended up playing with a lot of her brother's new toys.

The grandchildren made their mother a few handmade gifts that were really sweet.

Grandpa read the Christmas Story from the Bible like he always does.  It is one of our traditions.  And Alethea always acts it with our homemade toilet paper nativity scene. 

Another one of our traditions is to make Christmas Cookies.  I think I had to tell them to wash their hands at least a dozen times during the process to keep the flu germs from spreading.  They would make a cookie, decorate it, eat one, and then try to go back to decorating and I was like "No, you touched your mouth, so now you have to go and wash your hands" 😀

My son-in-law and I took the oldest two grandkids to see the new "David" movie.  Elisha was supposed to go with us, but he was too sick.  We felt bad leaving him behind, but after seeing the movie, I think it was too advanced for him anyway.  I enjoyed the movie, but I honestly think they could have done a better job gearing it towards young children.  I really love the "Young David" shorts on the Angel Network and I wish more of the movie was like that.  Once you get past the David and Goliath scene, I'm not sure young kids really understand the rest of the story.

I bought my grandkids a lot of science kits because their mom says they have so many toys already and she just wanted them to have some "once and done" toys.  We spent hours everyday doing science experiments.  Some experiments were a lot of fun, and others were a pain because of missing parts to the  kits or difficulty understanding instructions.  But it was a good thing I bought the kits, because then Alethea had something to play with.

I was so impressed with my kittens this Christmas, especially Milo.  In the past, they would just run and hide for a week when the grandkids came over;  this visit they actually engaged with them.  Milo even joined us at playtime. 

The Sunday after Christmas only my husband, son, Alethea and I were well enough to go to church.  It was so funny when Alethea and I discovered we were wearing the same outfit...so unplanned!  Great minds think alike I guess. 

By New Years, everyone was feeling pretty well and joyous again, except Grandpa.  Ugh! Now it was his turn, and when Grandpa gets sick, the whole world knows it.  He doesn't think he behaves ridiculously when he is sick;  he thinks he just gets "quiet", but to the rest of us, it's like having a sick toddler in the house. 😆

I decided to have a great New Years in spite of Grandpa being ill, so I brought out the special Christmas Dinnerware and even though we only had pork chops for dinner I made it extra special.  

I had all this fun New Year's Eve Decor and Props from 2020 and thought we could have fun doing a photo shoot. I had my son bring out all his special lighting from his YouTube days and we had a blast posing for pictures.  The grandkids loved the balloons and all the fun props.

Alethea and I changed the "2020" prop to "2026" with some black card stock and silver glitter.  One nice thing about being a crafter, is you always know how to fix things and you have plenty of craft supplies on hand. 😀

It was quite the noisy New Years at our house as they were running around blowing their party horns.  I loved how excited they were.  They even changed their clothes without me even having to ask because they were so excited.  It was one of the happiest New Year's Eve of my life, in spite of hubbie's illness.  I posted this cute video on Instagram about our New Year's Eve.

On New Year's Day my son had to attend a wedding, but the rest of us went to Eau Claire's newest kid's attraction:  4 Treasures Adventure Park.  Wow! Do I wish I had something like this when my kids were little.  What a fabulous and affordable place to take small children to, especially in the middle of winter, to blow off some energy and engage in creative play.

They had a special section called the Ninja Warrior Course where kids can "test their strength, agility, and determination".  Atticus was thrilled he could run up and climb up to the top of this curved wall.

Elisha loved balancing on the rope and tire swings.

They had multiple slides at the park, the kids really loved this gentle Donut Slide.

My most photogenic grandchild is Atticus.  I can always get a good, creative pose from him without even asking.  

There is a special area set aside just for 0-3 years old.  All the older kids were bummed they couldn't go inside this area as they had a ball pit and merry-go-round, but I totally understand and agree that the little ones need their own safe space from the big kids.  

Elisha sure loved standing inside this giant sea creature's mouth.  And if you haven't caught it already, the theme for the entire park was the ocean.

Daddy took baby Lazarus inside the big kid's play area.  He loved looking down at us and waving "hi". 

Mom meanwhile had to take Baby Lazarus down the slide multiple times because he enjoyed it so much.  If you're wondering why I didn't join in on the fun it's because I didn't wear socks, so I was just supervisor/photographer for the day.  I had no idea adults could play too, so I did not put socks on inside my boots.  But if I ever go back, you betcha I'm gonna play too!

And finally, they do not allow you to bring your own food and drink inside but they do have a concession stand that is very reasonably priced.  We got this jumbo pretzel for only $7 and it was the best pretzel I ever had in my life.  I want to go back just to get another pretzel 😁. They also have cappuccinos for $3.00 and plenty of healthy snacks too like string cheese and applesauce.

 I hope you enjoyed my Holiday Break Summary.  Things don't always go as planned, but we made the best of it and still had good times and made lots of memories.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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