Children's Christmas Party- Air Force Style

"All the fun starts at 2pm- don't be late!" is what the invitation to the squadron children's Christmas party said. So my husband and I made threats and barked orders, somehow managing to get the girls to the hanger where the party was starting with five minutes to spare. We were then ushered outside onto the flight line. You could see the confusion on even the parents faces. All I could think was, "Damn it's cold outside, this better be good!"

We were standing out on the stark runway for a few minutes before the thumping of helicopter rotors could be heard approaching. Of course I then in my headheard Arnold Schwarzenegger in my head yell "Get to the choppa!!" like in The Predator.

My mind work in a weird way people.

When the helicopter swung around we saw this...

What the what? Is that? Noooooo.

It was.

I guess his sleigh was in for repairs......

My kids of course at this point were going completely insanely bonkers. "DID YOU SEE THAT?!?!?!" LaLa screamed at me over the beating of the chopper blades.

"I sure did, kiddo!"

I sure did.

Favorite Christmas Song

I was sorta tagged by Tara for this one but I asked for it and loved every minute of it!

I guess it all started when I was a kid but to me it isn't Christmas until I hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing Joy To the World. It was on a CD that my Mom had when I was growing up. We used to decorate the our Chirstmas tree each year and this song was the first one on the CD. So, I give you the song that makes it feel like Chistmas to me....

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I tag everyone who sees this!!! (am evil)

The Holiday Rush

I have outdone myself this time. I am having roughly 19 people (a mix of Americans and Brits) at my house tomorrow for Thanksgiving (assuming everyone shows up) and have I got anything prepared. Nope. My house is a slight bomb site. I have the food, but none is prepped. Thankfully I am not doing the turkey or the ham (yes we are doing a ham too) so there is that small reprieve. So today is all about cleaning and prepping.

Ahhhh the holidays. This is my favorite time of the year but I have found that they aren't nearly as fun as when I was a kid. It seems like they just sneak up on me and the amount of stress they generate is astronomical. Not to mention that I am in the UK, which I love, but since Thanksgiving isn't a British holiday there are already Christmas ads on the TV. So, it is a weird mix of Thanksgiving and Christmas at the same time at my house. I already have pulled out some of my Christmas decorations but the weather and my calendar are shouting Thanksgiving. I should come up with a word for this time of the year.

Thanksmas?

Happy Thanksmas Everyone!!

We're In For A Rude Awakening

We (we, meaning LaLa and I) are in for a rude awakening once school starts back up. She and I have both been staying up entirely too late at night. I have to admit, she is doing worse on the bedtime front than I am. She has been stalling bedtime until nearly 11pm for the last week. I am an adult, so I am allowed to stay up til 1am if I want. She is a child and should be in bed no later than 8:30pm tops (in my perfect world where there are unicorns, rainbows, pink kittens and sparkles all the time).

To say that we have been sleeping in a little would be an understatement. We haven't been getting out of bed until the God awful entirely too early hour of nearly 10am for the last week. I haven't been setting my alarm clock and I don't get out of bed until one of my kids prods me if my alarm isn't set. KiKi has been getting up at her normal weekend time of about 8:30-9am. However, KiKi isn't a kid that will prod me to get out of bed. She prefers to play quietly in her room until I get out of bed (the child is an angel, seriously, doesn't get into things, just plays in her room). So, I sleep. Then I get a crack of daylight peeking through my blackout curtains and know that it is entirely too late in the morning to be sleeping. Let's face it folks, I live in England, if there is light coming through your curtains on a winter morning, it is well past 9am. Then I prod LaLa out of bed, with her moaning about how she is "exhausted" and needs "just a few more minutes" .

So what I am basically trying to say is....Tuesday, January 4th, when the kids go back to school, LaLa and I are going to be in a world of hurt at 7am when the alarm clock goes off. Who wants to bet we are late to school?

Things I Learned Over Christmas

I had a wonderful Christmas and here is a list of things I have learned over this holiday...with pictures (of course).

1) It is impossible to keep the kids away from their stocking while their dad is in the loo.



2) Santa is goooooood.



3) Zhu-Zhu pets look like prey to Sam Kitty.



4) Bags are good hiding places.



5) Cooking for 16 people isn't all that bad. I might moan about it, but I secretly loved every minute of it PLUS it got me out of most of the house cleaning.



6) Ethan does smile every once in a while.



7) Kevin might be a pirate.



8) Friends are the family you choose.



(That's Robin and Debbie. They're pretty damn awesome.)

What I Am Doing on Saturday

The cashier today raised her eyebrow at me today when I plopped the My Little Pony pinata up next to the till. Then with horror she said “Please don't tell me you are having a birthday party this close to Christmas!?!” Well, yes, actually I am. You see, my daughter didn't have the choice to plan her birthdate. As luck had it, she was born three days before Christmas. She is my lovely Christmas baby. Guess what? She also deserves to have a birthday party just as much as every other child on this planet and I refuse to short change her just because her birthday falls in a very busy and money strapped time of the year. So, yes, I am buying her a My Little Pony pinata for her party.

On Saturday my house will be filled to the gills with roughly 15 invited children and probably most of their parents. We will eat pizza, play party games, have the My Little Pony pinata stuffed with sweets, dance, and have cake. I am also baking the cake. My daughter will be deliriously happy. I might be certifiably insane by the end of the party. However, the strain of organizing a party near Christmas is a small price to pay for the smiles I will receive on Saturday. I think that is a very fair trade.

Let it Be

This morning while I was getting KiKi dressed for school this is the conversation we had.

Me- Daddy is leaving again for a while. Don't worry he will be back before Christmas.
KiKi- Is he going to school?
Me- Yep. He'll be in Germany for school! (tries to sound excited)
KiKi- Will his friends be there?
Me- Yep. He will have some of his friends there.
KiKi- Alright.

Needless to say the four year old was a little more understanding when told that The Man will be leaving again for work purposes. I on the other hand threw a tantrum a two year old would have been proud to claim. Usually I am the picture of a stoic military wife, on Thursday when I found out we had four days to alter our plans for the holiday season (he won't be here for Thanksgiving) I lost the plot. Don't worry. It only took me 45 minutes to gather myself and put back on my stoic face. What else can I do? I love my husband.

Martha Stewart I am Not...

So it may come as a huge surprise to all of you guys, but I am NOT crafty. I think I failed Stay At Home Mom 101 when it came to this. We have not once made a macaroni necklace or beaded...well anything. The closest I come to crafty is setting out paints, markers and paper and saying "Go wild, girls!" And frankly since the hair incident, scissors are completely off limits. For some reason however I thought "Hey, lets do a gingerbread house this year!" Of course this thought came when I saw the kits at the commissary and realized I had all the ingredients to make the icing at the house already (I am thrifty like that).

Flash forward three weeks to Saturday. After putting it off as possible I finally succumbed to the siren song of the craft project. Well, more like LaLa nagged me until I had lost the will to live and gave in (she is gonna be a great wife one day). Realizing the kit only came with gumdrops, I threw LaLa into the car and ran up to the base for some other sweets to adhere to the house. We may have went a bit overboard...we had gumdrops, orange slices (the candy ones), pepermints, gummy bears, gummy worms and Mike and Ikes. Our house was going to be faaaaaaab-u-lous! At this point I was feeling confident in my gingerbread house abilities. I mean, I had made one in first grade...how hard could it be?

Besides the fact that the roof wanted to slide off and I got icing EVERYWHERE....

....not bad.

Joy to the World!

It's Christmas Eve! My stockings are hung, my presents are wrapped and plans have been made on how to spend our first Christmas in England. Tonight we are going to attend church on base with the girls. It is a candle light service, which is what we usually attend when we are back home in South Carolina. The base church seems to be really nice and when "the Man" and LaLa went to check out what time the services would be starting one of the lady's from the church invited him and LaLa in for lunch and dessert. I think we will probably start attending church on base because I am not sure what other churches are in the area.

Anyways, after church, we are going to come home and let the girls open one present. This is something that my family has always done. After church we always just open a single present, then it is off to bed so that Santa can come.

On Christmas morning we will open all of Santa's presents and the rest of the presents from the family. This might take a while judging by the stack of gifts under my tree. Seriously, it looks like Christmas came into my house and threw up underneath my tree. I am totally not complaining. It is just kinda funny cause I have this little 5 foot tree and it is being overwhelmed by the presents.

After presents, we will pack up the girls and go to Domino's house for Christmas dinner. OK, I am from the south. Dinner to me is anywhere from noon-2pm (supper is at 6 pm when all the northerners are having "dinner")(sorry about the tangent there). Anyhoo, we are going to be keeping it fairly simple this year for Christmas dinner. Ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, corn, rolls, pie.....yeah ok, so it is still gonna be a lot of food. I guess after we finish dinner we will waddle into Domnio's living room and exchange the gifts that we got for each other. By this time it should also be late enough that I can call my family and not wake them up. Of course the idea of calling them at 9am my time also makes me giggle to myself. Can you imagine being on the receiving end of that.

Mom-*phone ringing looking at the clock which says 4am, picks up the phone* *groggy* Hello?
Me- MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Kids sing Jinggle Bells for MiMi!
Kids- *singing* Jingle Bells Jingle Bells!
Me-Aren't they great mom?
Mom- I am so going to take you out.

I would be living in fear until I saw her in July. It would sooooo be worth it.

So that is what I am going to be doing this Christmas. What are your plans?