angel tree

I only had one idea for our theme three this year- angles. I hadn't been trying to think of a theme but it came to me after the miscarriage. 

I bought overpriced costume wings from the party store and spray painted them a light tan. Christopher made the halo out of gold wire. I wanted to turn the tree itself into an angel instead of putting on angel ornaments.

I think it's one of the prettiest theme trees we've done. 

party people

For those keeping up with the saga that is Lucy's allergies (and who isn't?), I had to take her back to the vet for recurring sores on her legs. They took her back without me which was fine because I needed to focus on AB who had attached the leash to her dress and wanted me to walk her like a cat. I asked the very timid vet assistant to ask the vet for a more concrete plan than me bringing her for a shot every month. She returned several minutes later with the following medical plan: put hydrocortisone or antibiotic ointment on the trouble spots and make sure Lucy doesn't lick it off. Sure. No problem. I'll do that right after I stop the waves in the ocean and keep the world from spinning. There's no way I can control where the cat puts her tongue. 

On Sunday we had a little Christmas party for a AB's friends. I told the family several times in the days leading up to the party that I wasn't going to go crazy about it. It was going to be very relaxed. I scheduled it for 2 o'clock so I wouldn't have to serve lunch or supper. All we needed to make was snakcs. Everyone would be impressed with how non-OCD I was about the napkins. Weekday Sarah forgot to tell party-eve Sarah the stay chill plan. I won't go into details but it was not chill. 

This was pre-craft and cookie decorating. The whole house was clean and quiet for all of 7 minutes.

To be honest, the house wasn't entirely clean. We piled stuff into a laundry basket and hid it in the closet. The picture has been leaning against the dining room since we moved in several months ago.

I planned on making a bead snowman craft but when I went to Joann's they were out of beads. I stood in the fake flower aisle and scrabbled to find another option that didn't involve paint. Plastic ornaments were on sale so I bought a bunch to stuff with tissue paper and decorate to turn into reindeer.

The kids crafted, decorated homemade cookies, ate played, scarred the cats for life and genuinely seemed to enjoy themselves. Annabelle, who had done 12% of the preparations told me, "I'm glad I'm learning to be a host but it's A LOT of work. I need a nap."

Me too, sister. Try orchestrating a kid's party AND making sure your cat doesn't lick her legs.  

angels come in all varieties

I currently have both apple butter and pot roast cooking in my kitchen. If ever there is a time I feel like Betty Crocker, it's when I have pots bubbling on the stove.

Suddenly it's December 5th. I'm not sure how that happened but here we are. I've been getting snail mail and emails saying "Last minute deals for your last-minute gifts!" in a very bold and panicked font. It's 20 days until Christmas. I don't consider that last minute. I'm never in a rush to finish shopping by December 1st. I spend all year making notes and gearing up for the gift-giving season. I consider birthday gifts throughout the year to be warm-up for the Iron Man marathon of Christmas time. I live for this time of year. Don't be telling me I have mere minutes to wrap up my shopping! 

I finished up my Christmas cards last night. I plan out the card in my head for several months and spend many an afternoon perfecting it. This year's card is not my shining glory. It's fine but I could have made it better. Christopher and Elizabeth both told me it's good but my inner perfectionist was screaming it was borderline boring and blah.

The house decorating has been a little rocky. There's a stack of fake greenery, little village houses and fake berries in the corner of the living room. I'm trying so hard to get everything put together, but I feel a little less Christmasy this year because I was so hoping to buy a stocking for baby Elliot but now I can't. We put our fake tree up on Sunday and Lucy climbed to the top of it and knock the angel off. Her weight, slim though she is despite all the food she sneaks, is bending and breaking some of the fake limbs. I spent part of the afternoon twisting together pipe cleaners that look like greenery and jerry-rigging the tree back together. 

I do love how the mantle turned out. The lights from the mantle and the lights from the tree make the whole living room glow. 

Speaking of Christmas and winter, while my family up north are shoveling snow off their cars, we FINALLY have enough leaves to jump in. AB insisted upon bringing her wooden chair out and jumping off it into the leaves.

 When you can't make snow angels you make leaf angels.