25 days of Christmas- Days 19-23

Days 19-21 were a bit of a bust in terms of celebrating the days of Christmas, but it doesn't actually matter because Husband and I got away from this madness for 36 hours to celebrate our 7th anniversary. Without that reprieve 25 days of Christmas would have been null and void because not only might there not have been a Christmas, there might not have been Baldwin children to celebrate it. Parenthood wears you down to the bone. To.the.bone.

Here's what I know of those three days...
Day 19: With all the best intentions, I let the kids open up a snowman cake pop kit a sweet friend gave us. The plan was to actually make the cake pops, but we never did get around to that. Probably because I was too busy imagining my escape.

Day 20: Escape complete. We had what I would say was maybe the best anniversary celebration we've had in 7 years. Normally, all I would want would be time alone with Andy, but this time all we both wanted was time with adults we could commiserate with. We had the BEST (I seriously mean the best) dinner at Linger with our fun friends. We laughed, we ate, we drank and we were definitely merry. Then we checked out the OneRepublic benefit concert at the Ogden. We stayed at the same hotel we have stayed at for 6 of the last 7 years. We spent a lot of time reflecting on our years together. The highs, the lows, the way lows and the miracle of the last year. It was seriously a much needed 36 hours. We could have probably used 36 days, but we'll take whatever we can get.

Day 21: Return home to happy kids and tired grandparents. The true Christmas prep begins! We let the kids open a present from my cousin and they both loved it. They also loved Avett's present, which seems to be a thing. The kids LOVE baby toys. Do all kids love baby toys for a while? Or is it just mine?

I love that Eloise looks insane.

Day 22: A neighbor and I decided to host a little neighborhood holiday party for the people on our street. It was great fun, except Eloise got super sick that day. We thought maybe she had the flu, but  the next morning, she was fine. Vaughn and I stayed at the party and he got to eat some cookies and play with some kids. And whats better than eating cookies and playing with kids? Nothing. For me the party was another Pinterest success story (don't worry- big ol' FAIL com in' atcha for day 23). I made this and this which I shaped into a snowman.

Day 23: Whew! Christmas prep day! I tried to get everything done for the next two days so I can really rest and enjoy our time together. I was mostly successful in accomplishing what I needed to and pulling off a few Christmas activities for the kids...

Today we made these. Aren't they adorable??

Except ours looked like this. Aren't they horrifying? Taste the same, though and kids don't care especially when a) they got to help and b) they got to eat it.

I wish I could blame the children, but we worked on this together.  Their new aprons didn't even help...

For the last activity of the day, they started coloring our Christmas tablecloth that Neema & Grandpa sent them.

And if all that doesn't put you in the mood for Christmas, may I remind you of the reason for the season?

OK, it's not Avett- it's Jesus. But they have something in common: both of their mom's rode on a donkey and delivered them in a manger they were both babies and had mama's who absolutely adored them.

Merry Christmas!