Christmas with the Cranks/Taulmans

It's December 3rd and I don't have the first Christmas decoration hung.  I go through this every year .. total dread and exhaustion.  If you don't know this, all four kids' birthdays are between the start of school and Christmas.  And, I am not a believer in mediocre birthdays!!  So far we have had a full-blown backyard beach party, corn maize experience and 80's murder mystery dinner. Eli's birthday party is a week from Saturday and it's a construction theme.  As you can imagine, we're not just throwing up some decorations!  

By the time I plan and execute birthday parties and purchase gifts for the kids for their birthdays, I'm pretty wiped out!  Then the word "execute" starts to take on a whole new meaning!  Like I said, it's December 3rd and no decorations have been hung.  I am grateful the tree is fully-decorated in the storage room so that's one less thing to do.  Seriously, you would think I could have hauled it downstairs by now!  The up side is that my Christmas cards are done, printed and waiting for labels to be attached and I am so close to being done (I accidentally typed "dong" just there .. which is what I feel like) with my Christmas shopping.  

Rick and I were accused of being the Cranks this year because we plan to boycott almost all Christmas parties we have been invited to.  And we usually also squeeze in a family birthday dinner with Rick's sister and family.  But this year, instead of that, we're going to all go to The Christmas Train as a family.  We haven't been since the first Christmas after we moved here. Kyndal was 7 and Dawson was 5.  They have been requesting that we go again, and I think Eli and Brynne will love riding the train, seeing the North Pole and Santa and all of the other cool things.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Now we can just only hope the weather cooperates.

Maybe, maybe, I'll decorate the house this weekend.