Typical holiday weekend for us: go, go, go with a big dance performance at the end!
Saturday was scattered. I was at the Museum, the minis were at home getting the house Christmas tree ready (this involved cleaning and NEW living room shelving as we begin our living room transformation), and Hubs was designing the new living room. Big projects ahead before we start on the even bigger projects!
I had just enough time to get home from the Museum and get Elizabeth ready for another dance rehearsal.
The cat was confused about who the make up chair was for.
We dropped Elizabeth off and then had a whirlwind three hours to get a lot done. We did our weekly Trader Joe's stop, furniture shopping, a big trip to Walmart to get things for Christmas donations, and grabbing take out for dinner.
At the check out we came across a huge display of Mentos. Harrison: "wait, you can eat Mentos? Wow!" We've only ever used them for science experiments!
When the youngest mini had been picked up and dinner eaten, we still had gifts to go buy for donation. We were unsuccessful at finding several of the items on the family's list that we wanted them to have. The minis had a blast picking out numerous toys (they may have done a little looking for themselves as well).
I was so happy to be able to do this with my minis. In the past, we've always gone to Toys R Us one afternoon for a big shopping spree and dropped it in the Toys For Tots bins as we left. The minis have always loved it and I have too. Obviously we didn't get to do that this year since Toys R Us is closed. We donated to the local food pantries around Thanksgiving and had plans to purchase things to take to local shelters for Christmas, but my mom messaged late in the week asking for any donations for their Christmas Basket families.
You see, my old high school I attended (and where my mom works currently) does Christmas Baskets every year. They receive requests from local families and each group of kids has senior leads. They are in charge of making sure their families have everything they need. I had my mom send a list of everything her office's family needed and shopping we went!
I know the minis don't fully understand what they're doing each year, but I hope it just becomes a habit for them each December for the rest of their lives.
Some of what we bought and donated.
We had such a busy Saturday that a relaxing Sunday morning was quite welcomed. Although it wasn't too relaxing as Elizabeth quickly made her way outside to "eat some of the snow." She ate it off the leaves in our yard. At 8 a.m. We were the only ones in the neighborhood up.
Then it was off to the Mall for another Christmas recital! The boys were stoked her recital was in the mall food court so they could get their favorite tamales (I had pho) while they watched Elizabeth perform.
Elizabeth had a fan club section watching her.
To celebrate a job well done for her recitals, we got to do some shopping at the mall afterwards. We came across a train store. After years and years of nonstop Thomas the Train, I was curious about the new model train store in the mall. Now that I know a thing or two about trains, the boys are now uninterested. Story of my life.
Elizabeth's Christmas recital was the perfect way to get into the holiday mood (not that we need any help with that). While she's already got her eyes on next year's recital, I have my eyes on the next few weeks of celebrations!