'Tis the Season

 Here's the truth about Christmas at our house this year. I am so absolutely excited about this time of year, and I want to do and eat and see Christmas everything. I see posts online or talk to friends about new Christmas traditions that I am dying to start and all day, every day I want to listen to Christmas songs, and read Christmas stories, and watch Christmas movies. I think that my children need every single toy that I see in the store, all the while I'm thinking of new service ideas that I want to do for other people.

But the truth of the matter is, we are very much in survival mode right now. On the opposite end of all that Christmas cheeriness is the overwhelming feeling of dirt and filth in my house constantly, and the never ending piles of laundry, and the lists of things that I'm behind on in my work and church calling. 

And I don't even necessarily have a great excuse. While others have sick family members they are taking care of, or are sick themselves. Or they have full-time jobs or much larger church responsibilities than I have. Or their husbands are gone on business or their children have very busy extra-curricular schedules. (And they still manage to do more than I can imagine.) I, on the other hand, have a 2 foot tall, adorable, (but still very needy) bundle of joy. 

I literally have no idea how to accomplish more than I currently am short of locking him in his room and drowning out the sounds of his sobs. He is in a phase right now where not only is he a momma's boy (as he always has been), but I cannot walk out of the room (even in our own house) because he just bursts out in tears. Doing the dishes is out of the question, as I have mentioned, because he believes with his whole heart that loading the dishwasher is a two person job. Cooking meals is not an option, because he is desperate to touch of the hot oven with his chubby little fingers every time I open the door. The laundry can never be put away because, either he is sleeping in the room where half the clothes in our house go, or he is chasing after my feet from dresser to closet to dresser to laundry basket, just hoping that I will trip on him-because then maybe I will give in and pick him. And I won't even start on the piles of blankets and jackets and socks that is in the back seat of both of our cars. I'm just asking that if you see me dropping Meili off for preschool or dance, and there is a trail of garbage that falls out the door of the car-don't judge me. I guarantee all of the disgustingness that is our lives right now, bothers me a whole lot more than it bothers you and give me a good 3 hours to myself someday, and I will get it all taken care of.

I know that this is a phase. I've been here once before. And hear me when I say that I wouldn't trade it for the cleanest house in the whole world. But it is the cold hard truth in our lives right now. 

However, in the spirit of Christmas, let me tell you about the very small, and simple things that are going right in our lives this Christmas season.

 I don't mind one bit that Meili and Grant love playing with our two nativities. I find it amusing that as long as the pieces are scattered under couches and in the cupboards, neither of them even notice their existence. But as soon as I arrange them perfectly on the coffee table, they both believe it is their sole responsibility to put them in their true places. I love that Meili believes that everyone just huddled as close to the baby Jesus as they possibly could. Because, let's be honest, I'm sure that's what they would have wanted to do.

 I mentioned Meili's gingerbread house in a previous post. Although Josh decorated far more than Meili or me.

 With all the things that are slacking in my life, there are a few things we do really well. Every night, we light our Christmas candle, read scriptures and a thought about the Savior's life, and sing a Christmas song (which Meili usually makes up on the spot) and a hymn. Then Meili blows out the candle and changes our advent calendar. (I skipped us a few days ahead, because I liked the look better.) The last couple days I noticed that Grant was just watching Meili in awe and trying to blow himself. So we've let him try a couple times. This is definitely one of my favorite traditions and some of the absolute highlights of this month.

 In an effort to focus a little more on the Savior and a little more on service this month, we started the tradition of adding a straw (strip of paper) to the baby Jesus' manger for each act of service that anyone in the family does. It doesn't look like much service in there, but let me tell you, it's going to take quite a few "straws" to make his bed softer.

 We have had a couple of elf visitors in our house this month. Our elves aren't watching to see if the kids are naughty or nice, and they don't make messes. (We've already heard, there are enough of those in the house already.) But they hide every night, and Meili loves finding them the next morning. 

Meili created this "one-horse open-sleigh" from her own imagination. I love it!

And for your viewing pleasure...

 Grant's hair is getting out of control and we'll need to cut it sooner rather than later. But for now, we're loving the mad-scientist curls.

We're down to just about three weeks, before our little baby boy falls into the "toddler" category. 

This month he is a pro at stairs. Upstairs, downstairs and everything in between. I love watching little kids when they're about to go down the stairs and they try to gauge on the top stair how far away they should be before they turn around on their tummies. My favorite is when they are way off, and they have to do a couple scoots on their belly because they turned way too early.

He's taken anywhere from 2-4 steps on his own probably 10 times or so. But he's probably not actually going to be walking for at least a month or so. 

Still 7 teeth. And he pretty much always seems like he is getting a cold or getting over a cold. 

He loves to clap, and someday I am going to get a video of him shaking his head because it is awesome. (He shakes his head over and over and so hard that he almost falls over, and smiles the whole time.)

I hope you are enjoying this Christmas season as much as we are-messes and all!

B-I-N-G-O!

Last week, we had the annual Anderson Bingo. Meili made out like a bandit if I do say so myself. First there was the cowgirl setup that Liz brought...

 Brayden and Grant are 2 weeks apart, and the poor boys each week have to listen to all the adults compare who is doing what and how many teeth they both have, and who is chubbier. From the looks of it so far, they are both going to be able to hold their own.

 The gift I was looking forward to most was 8x10 framed picture of Josh...

 It's hard to see, but he's wearing a coconut bra under his shirt, a matted disgusting wig, and posing as only he knows how. Believe it or not, this prize actually got stolen! (And I'm sure that had nothing to do with the gift certificate that went along with it.)

 Meili also went home with a suitcase/sleeping bag/camp chair combo, and an easy bake oven! I guess we can take back all the things we got her for Christmas!

 Luckily, Josh was not the recipient of this giant spatula; because I know that he just couldn't help but make a hamburger patty to fill it.

Josh just HAD to steal Alex's bacon flavored necklace, popcorn, and breath mints. But all was forgiven when the next gift Alex opened was a can of Whoop-Ass (pardon me) chili, and emergency underpants. He loved it!

 And Meili asks everyday if she can use her easy bake oven. So far we have made the world's smallest (and most expensive) cupcakes and red velvet cake. Both have been a masterful success. But I told her we have to hold off for a little while or we'll be in the poor house with these teeny-tiny baked goods!

Live Nativity

We go to the live nativity in Nibley every year, but if you ask Meili, it might as well be called the nighttime petting zoo. She probably wouldn't even remember seeing the baby Jesus if you asked her. But she could tell you about every single animal she pets. She loves it!

 I got a new camera and was so excited for my first opportunity to use it... that I left the battery charging on the counter. So excuse the really horrible phone pictures.

 Grant just laughs when he sees animals. He loves my brother's and in-laws' dogs, and he was so excited to touch this pony. I know that most kids love animals, but if he's anything like his sister, this phase will not pass.

 I told Josh that maybe this is the kind of horse that we could actually get for Meili!

December Traditions

In keeping with tradition, my mom, sisters, dad and I took our kids to Festival of Trees the first week in December. I say it with everything that we do all together, but it is always crazy, everything takes longer than it should, and we all feel like we've been wrestling wild animals when all is said and done. But we must enjoy because we keep getting all these crazies together.

 I think rather than feeling left out from the older girls, Meili and Ruby decided to form a "club" and were inseparable all weekend.

 The highlight for the girls is hardly the trees. They like the activities and the prizes.

 The next day, my sister Emily, my parents and I took the kids to Temple Square to see the lights. 

The last couple years, I've gone with Josh and the YM/YW in our ward the week after Christmas, so I was totally not prepared for how much more crowded it is to go before Christmas. I also wonder if because it was so much warmer this year that there were more people there. I prepared my children for the Arctic, and most of the time Meili was begging me to take her gloves off.

Sadly, I think Meili had been having so much "Cousin fun" for the couple of days that we were there, that she was really not super well-behaved. So I was pretty frustrated with her by the end of the night, and it kind of tainted my feeling about the whole event. However, in the scrapbook, I think I will choose to leave that part out, because I think Temple Square is absolutely one of the most beautiful places on earth. 

The next day, my mom hosted her annual Gingerbread House making party-where I took no pictures. So I will have to get some from someone else :)