The Saturday 7

1. Good news, everyone. I'm feeling much more prepared for Christmas than I was at this time last week! I know you were concerned. On my day off Wednesday, I finished my last minute shopping, then spent two hours wrapping all my kids' gifts while binging The Great British Baking Show! Today I finally solidified my plans for Jesus' Birthday Party and one other time-consuming Advent Activity. And I think I've gotten all the groceries I need so I don't have to go back to the store before Christmas! Now I just get to enjoy the season!

2. Our Advent Activities were hit or miss again this week. Sunday was our annual Cousins' Cookie Decorating Day.

Brodie was a big fan of his first Christmas Cookie Decorating Day

Whit was less impressed

Lainey was only a few days old at her first cookie day, so she enjoyed it a lot more this year!

Nash and Saylor were sick, so they missed the festivities. We're hopeful that everyone gets their germs out of the way before Christmas proper, though, so we can spend the day together!

3. On Monday, I had planned on bringing treats to our neighbors. I set aside a few Christmas cookies that weren't drowning in sprinkles, and bought stuff to make cute puppy chow in mason jars. I was going to put the cookies on a cute plate, wrap the mason jar in ribbon, and write a nice card for each set of our neighbors. But I fell asleep on the couch after work and the kids didn't know about the puppy chow plan, so they gave each neighbor 4 cookies on a paper plate with no card or anything. Lol. It's the thought that counts!

4. Tuesday was "Paint by Number" canvases (less than $4 at Aldi!). Lucy wasn't interested (shocker), so I sat down with the younger two to paint with them.

Levi made it about 10 minutes before he said, "Do I have to do this?" Lol. Lena and I lasted closer to an hour, but neither of us finished. Maybe during Christmas break . . .

5. Wednesday was the kids' favorite: taste test day. It's a pain for me to come up with something different every year - especially something that doesn't cost an arm and a leg to buy a bunch of different flavors. This year, we went with Gatorade. Again, Lucy wasn't interested, but Lena and Levi loved it.

That night was Youth Group Christmas. The kids were encouraged to dress Christmassy. Lucy wore black leggings, a hoodie, and a black coat. Lena did this completely on her own:

She took home 2nd place among grades 6-12! There was even a prize: candy, tinned herring, and a $10 Meijer gift card!

I love the disparity between Lucy and Lena, because it's so Justin and me. I'm all about dressing festively and thinking up creative ideas and going all out. He's all about looking cool and not drawing too much attention to himself. Lol.

6. On Thursday, the kids got to open this year's special ornament. I try to do something they accomplished that year, or something they were really into, and I really struggled this year! I ended up getting Lucy a macaroni and cheese ornament:

But I went outside the box for Lena and Levi. Thanks to the influence of her friend, Harper, Lena became obsessed with stuffed animals this year - specifically Palm Pals. I couldn't find a stuffed animal ornament that I loved, but there is an ornament Palm Pal, so I got that instead.

There's even a spot on the top to attach a hook so it can hang on the tree!

For Levi, I knew I wanted a Dude Perfect ornament, but they are surprisingly hard to find. The Dude Perfect website doesn't sell them, and there are probably copyright laws against using their logo/likenesses, so the only ones I could find were very expensive. Finally, I decided to check ebay and came across a set of cheap keychains. Bingo! Attach a hook to that puppy and call it an ornament!

7. Yesterday was movie night. I paid the big bucks ($25 to buy it on Amazon Prime) to watch the new "Best Christmas Pageant Ever" movie from the comfort of my couch. I read the book to my second graders every year, so I'll get my money's worth if I show it to them. And I was prepared to spend more than that to watch it in the theater anyway, so really it was a bargain. (#creativejustification)

Most of us enjoyed the movie (Lucy gave up about halfway through). I thought it did a really good job of staying true to the book (almost word for word at points), while filling in some of the gaps the book doesn't fully address.

Tonight, we tried out the new Christmas light display at Deer Tracks Junction. We used to go to the one at the ballpark, but the last time we went was 2020, at the height of the Covid hysteria. The drive through lights display was one thing that wasn't shut down for social distancing, so most of West Michigan was there. We had to wait in line forever and my kids had terrible attitudes the whole time and I said we would never do that again. But this year, we drove past the ball park on the highway one night and Levi was fascinated by the lights. He only vaguely remembered going before, and he insisted that he wanted to go. He's also the one who always wants to go somewhere and do something for each day's activity. So I bought the ticket and told him we were going today . . . and he said, "Do we have to?" 🤦😡 In the end, Lena went willingly, Levi went reluctantly, and Lucy stayed home in her bed. Lena, Justin, and I thought the lights were really cool. Levi fixated on sitting on Justin's lap and steering, so when his turn was over he whined the rest of the time. He also was overcome by heat and insisted on having the window down even though the rest of us were cold. And then he had to pee part way through, and there is absolutely no way to accommodate that, so he literally peed out the side of the van while we inched along. He has been very difficult lately, and I'm having a really hard time knowing how to handle him.

The kids brought their palm pals to watch too.

The jellyfish were so cool.

8. Pics and memes:

I tried fake nails for the first time in my life. They were just from Temu, so probably not exceptional quality, but they were easier to apply than I expected, and I felt like such an adult wearing them. The one drawback was that they were so long and drove me bonkers! I lost one in a library-related incident three days after I put them on, and wasn't too disappointed to remove them all. I'm still kind of on the fence. I did like how they looked. I need to buy child-sized or something so they're not so long!