12 Days of Christmas

My amazing kids decided to do 12 days of Christmas for me this year, one kid for each day. Not quite all decided to participate, but the others have done something clever like had the dogs do one day. Treats for them and treats for me.

Their ideas have been so clever and so different from each other!

Crafty wrote me a song. It is absolutely beautiful and the chorus keeps running through my brain. Baby Doll bought me 2 bags of expensive popcorn. Teach gave me 3 puzzles, and Scout gave me 4 pairs of earrings and some beautiful purple flowers. Curly gave me 5 "lbs" of my favorite grape Hi-Chews. The dogs did Day 6, and Dog Walker gave me 7 six-gallon packs of distilled water for my ice machine. (I will be set for months!)

Today was day 8 and Sport took me to lunch at Taco Time. He knew I worked there as a teenager and some of my favorite foods are still there. This has been so fun and so sweet, knowing that my kids love me and they were worried about my mental health in this first Christmas without my sweetie. Not gonna lie, it hasn't been easy. My sweetie was all things Christmas. He loved the season and he was the only Santa Claus some of my grandkids have ever known. 

I spent most of today working on the wooden puzzle and making apple cider. I have 7 half-gallon bottles; sadly, one of them broke in the canner. Tomorrow, we will have to get all the neighbor gifts delivered after church, but they are all ready to go. I am looking forward to being ready for Christmas a few days early.

And enjoying the rest of the 12 days.

Ockey Family Christmas Party

We had our annual family Christmas party tonight. As usual, I forgot to take pics, but Dog Walker came to the rescue. He had a great evening dressing the part of the big guy and handing out copies of his latest book.

Each family brought soup and Curly and Sport made our famous egg nog shakes. Santa made his annual visit, then we shared gifts. It was fun to see my siblings and catch up a little.

Skittles' Dance Recital

 I don't think we have missed a Christmas Recital at C&C Ballet since Bossy started dancing there in 1994. It was a sad day when Baby Doll did her last dance. Don't get me wrong, I love watching her play volleyball and she is truly awesome, but I have also missed seeing her dance. Especially tap; that was her favorite. 

So there was no question that I would be at the recital tonight with Scout, cheering on Skittles. He reminds me so much of Sport when he was dancing at that age, although I don't remember him doing tap. He loved being part of the boys class, so maybe he was a little older. 

But I digress.

Skittles did an amazing job! He is taking tap and this is his first year trying out jazz. He is the only boy in both classes, so it is pretty easy to spot him. Sorry my pics aren't great. He is wearing the white tux in his tap pics and the pink shirt in jazz.

So proud of you, Skittles!

Wordless Wednesday - Lunch at Red Robin

Yum!