Sweet Chaos and Some Unexpected Gifts

 

Well, we are halfway through the week leading up to Christmas and I'm so glad to say that the gifts are all wrapped, stockings are filled and all the groceries are bought and waiting for the big day. 

We were finally able to have family dinner on Monday. I was feeling much better and felt like it was safe to have everyone here. I didn't hold the two baby boys, just for safety reasons, even though I'm just dealing with allergies now, but it was so hard not to! 

We love our family dinners. They are crowded in this little house, but what David calls "sweet chaos" and I agree. 

The girls immediately get toys out as soon as they get here. We try to all sit and eat together, but inevitably  there are "more drink", baby needs feeding, someone has to go potty, and other bits of chaos going on, so we sit when we can and get up as needed. 

After everyone is done eating, we usually migrate (a few steps 😀) to the couches and talk about the latest show we're all watching at the same time or other things that come up.

On this particular night the girls played Charades and we all had to guess. They were great at acting out and they stumped us a few times. At one point, Emmy and Ella brought two stools over, sat there with Emmy "playing" the guitar (she's 7 years old 😀) and they sang the entire Twelve Days of Christmas to us. 

When everyone left and David and I did our walk-through-clean-up time, I saw this in the guest room. A little phone we gave them, a pad, pencil and some old glasses of mine. They had been playing "work." It was so cute, that I had to snap a shot of their set up.

They also had this suitcase out and were probably going on a "trip" somewhere. I just love their imaginations!

Speaking of this suitcase...well, two things...I made this one day at my friend, Kim's. Isn't it amazing? It was so fun to work on, as we spent the day talking and eating (our two favorite things to do together). The other side is decorated too and I just love it! We often do craft projects together and I would love to do one of these again. 

The second thing, which involves Emmy again...one night she spent the night with us and we let her watch an old episode of "That Girl" with Marlow Thomas. So for days after that, she would take this suitcase and fill it with random items and say that she was "That Girl" going to New York to live. It was so cute. Like I said, I love their imaginations. For weeks afterwards, if a toy was missing and we couldn't find it, I would take a look in the suitcase and there it would be! So fun 😀

Speaking of my friend, Kim...we had brunch yesterday and she gave me some unexpected gifts. As I was thinking about this, I realized that unexpected gifts are the best, because it means someone was thinking about you and you didn't even know it. That just warms my heart 💚 

I can think of other gifts that came out of the blue and those have all been the sweetest moments and the most treasured things I've received. 

Well, I've talked way too much today!

I'm off to do some regular life today, such as laundry, cooking, cleaning, bills, etc. We still have to maintain real life, even in the Christmas season, don't we?

We are preparing for some very cold temps here in S.E. Texas. Thankfully, no rain, so maybe we'll be ok. Tonight we'll be covering our plants and hoping for the best. 

Have a wonderful day, my friends! 

Until Next Time...

Blessings!