As for the favorite Christmas movie...

"Miracle on 34th Street" wins by a hair (or since it's gross to say that, it just wins by one vote).

It's a Wonderful Life	2 (11%)
A Christmas Story	4 (22%)
Christmas Vacation	0 (0%)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas	4 (22%)
Miracle on 34th Street	5 (27%)
Something else not listed	3 (16%)

In case anyone wants to know the "correct" answer (aka Jennie's answer), it is A Christmas Story. This movie reminds me of childhood, watching it OVER and OVER with my dad who never stopped laughing while it was on. I'm not exaggerating. When the joke stopped being funny, he started laughing in anticipation at the ones that were coming up. I love this movie too. It's a classic.

It's a Wonderful Life would be the 2nd answer. I think of it as one of my alltime favorite movies, but I watch it throughout the year. God Bless George Bailey.

Happy Christmas, all!

P.S.- If you were a "Something else" person, please tell me what it is.  Now is your chance!

Halfway to #70...The Advent Calendar

#70 on the (in)famous list is Make An Advent Calendar Each Christmas.  I had HUGE aspirations for this year.  I read an idea two Christmases ago in a the Southern Living Christmas book that I just HAD to do.  Lo and behold, I procrastinated until November 30th and I was in a tizzy.  The two-year old idea will have to wait one more year.  In the interim though, I think this year's calendar is pretty darn neat.

I saw the idea somewhere...after frantically googling "easy advent calendar ideas for kids".  So I apologize to whomever originated the idea, blogged about it, and I'm failing to give due credit.  The idea was not my own, though I wish it was.

At any rate...this is it:

The windows were cut out of magazines (a task that Ben handled with mastery).  I then glued them onto cardstock, and cut around them with a razor knife.  I glued another layer of cardstock behind the windows, and under each one wrote a Christmas related activity that we would accomplish on that day.

For example...on December 5th...

I thought this would be more meaningful than "here's a piece of candy to eat because we're one day closer to Christmas".  I think it's working, and Ben is all about it.  (Abby doesn't really care one way or the other.)  It's also a way to make sure we do something fun and Christmas-y every day.

So, don't tell the kids because each day is a surprise, but here's what's on board for each day.

1.  Trim Tree
2.  Read "The Grinch"
3.  Make Paper Snowflakes
4.  Attend Singing Christmas Tree
5.  Eat Pancakes with Santa
6.  Make Playdoh Snowmen
7.  Make Christmas Tree-Shaped Crayon Melts
8.  Get a Snow Ball from Snow-Biz
9.  Watch a Christmas Movie Together
10.  Make Teacher Gifts
11.  At Dinner, Tell What You Love About Each Family Member
12.  Christmas Party!
13.  Make Pinecone/Peanut Butter Bird Feeders
14.  Eat Breakfast for Dinner
15.  Drive Around and Look at Lights
16.  Dance Party to Christmas Music
17.  Calloway Gardens!
18.  Camp by the Tree
19.  Make Cookies
20.  Deliver Cookies to Neighbors
21.  Sing Carols
22.  Stay Up One Hour Late
23.  Eat Dessert First!  Yum.
24.  Wrap Presents
25.  Sing Happy Birthday to Jesus!

Notice how I got some of the other list items in there?  Sneaky sneaky.

Made a List...Checking it Twice (and obsessively every day)

The Christmas season is here.  I'm already tired...and I love it.  But Christmas season this year has afforded me a lot of opportunities to do list-related things, so in checking my list twice, I'm referring to the 101 List, of course.

I have completed two more tasks since my last update.

#36 - Support CBC's Singing Christmas Tree

As the request of Brother Owen, there was no flash photography at the performance, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was amazing.  I have no idea how those singers weren't terrified and/or claustrophobic at the top of the tree, so MAJOR props to the highest and middle-most ones.  I am checking this off because not only did I support them with my attendance, but I supported them with baked goodies for the cast party (chocolate crinkle cookies), and by bringing Ben to all three performances so he could sing with the children's choir.  I hope to help them tear it down this week. 

Here's my happy "caroler"...

And the evidence of cookies sent for the performers...I can't lie, I held a couple back for me and my sweet-loving Abby, mostly the rejected looking ones.

#80 - Eat Breakfast with Santa

The Perry Chapter of the Kiwanis and Mahala Clubs hosted the annual Pancakes with Santa breakfast this morning, and we attended.  We got there just in time.  They ran out of sausage right after we went through the line.  (Poor Sam didn't get any as he had to wait at the table with the girls.  I tried to share.)  You might not know this, but my carnivorous kids would MUCH rather have attended Sausage with Santa (and it would make for a better "sounding" alliterative event, but I digress).  At any rate, we got a picture...bonus.  And there were no tears, the surprise of the morning!  Were they skeptical?  Yes.  Frightened?  Not so much.

I've also made great progress on several of the other tasks.  Tonight at B&N we purchased three Dr. Seuss books for Christmas presents for the kids (thanks to the buy 2 get 1 free sale).  By this time next week, I will be able to cross off #73 (Host a party at the homestead), as we are hosting our Sunday School Christmas party.  I voted in the mayoral runoff election in December 1st pursuant to #4 (Vote in all city and county elections).  And on #5 (Take the Professional Engineer Exam), I submitted my application last Monday to sit for the PE Exam in April.  I'm already biting my nails over that one.  Perhaps the most exciting recent list-related task is the advent calendar I made.  I think I'm going to do a whole new post devoted to it.  Because THAT'S how excited I am about it.

Until next time...

The Mom List - December, oh my!

You realize how much your children can mature in one year, when at the first night of basketball practice your son is no longer scared to catch the ball, and your daughter (the spectator) is no longer diving off the bleachers without fear of injury.

You spy your little girl "feeding" your baby girl with her toy dishes and all you can do is smile.

You're not scared of thunderstorms, but your daughter is...so whenever you hear a crack of thunder during the workday, you worry sick about her until the storm blows over.

You sometimes think of your kids as real, live Barbie dolls that you get to dress up and accessorize. 

Unfortunately, your daughter thinks that too, and her sense of matching is not quite on target yet.  Or maybe she's just channeling the 80's.

You have that 'oh crap' moment when you realize your son's foot is almost as big as yours.  And he's six.

You never realized how strong a three year old girl could be until you tried prying her off your leg at morning dropoff time.

There's that one, solitary morning where your kids get up, eat breakfast, get dressed, and get in the car all ready to go without any prompting/nagging/yelling that rejuvinates you for another couple of months.  It hardly even matters that it was totally just a dream.

Being late has become your modus operandi. 

It never fails.  All children in your house will have to poop at the same time...inevitably in the middle of dinner.  (Sorry.  It's uncanny, but true.)

I don't think that's biblical.

Ben is known for asking very deep questions, especially for a six year old.  The ride to school is when he typically comes up with his best questions (thankfully the trip only takes about ten minutes...I fear the things he could come up with with a longer time frame).  This morning's topic of discussion was money.  How much you need to buy a house.  How much you need to buy a car.  Borrowing money from banks.  Interest.  Savings.  What you can get for $13 (the amount of money currently in his wallet).  We talked about all of that.

I saw the opportunity for an important life lesson and so I seized it.  I told him what we *should* do with our money is save some, spend a little, and share some with others who need our help, like those who can't afford food for themselves.  That's what Jesus would want us to do.  He pondered it for a minute.

It was then that Abby chimed in.  I had no idea she was paying attention, since she'd been busy fabricating songs with unintelligible lyrics the whole ride.  ("You like *that* song, Mommy?")  She heard "That's what Jesus would want us to do" and ran with it.

"Yeah, that's what Jesus does.  He shares money.  Jesus *LOOOOVES* money."

Hmm.  No, Abby.  I don't think he does.

Guess we'll need to discuss *that* on the ride home.