Holiday overdrive

We're in the thick of it now, this Christmas season, having reached the point of multiple holiday-related activities per week (and sometimes multiple activities per day - more on that later.) We had our children's party on Saturday. I took Friday off work - partly to prep for the party, partly just to spend a day home with the kids, and it was a wonderful day. There is just something so delicious about knowing that the rest of the world is continuing on without you and you are off doing your own thing. We went to to the grocery store for supplies, but aside from that one trip, we just puttered around the house. The backhoe was hard at work next door and about ten dump trucks of fill were delivered - that was entertainment enough for Liam (who kept running up to his bedroom, since the window there gives him a bird's eye view of all the activity) and Mallory (who discovered that she has the perfect vantage point from her seat at the kitchen table: "Backhoe! Backhoe!") It was snowing softly and we were decorating cupcakes and setting up the dining room with table cloths and paper plates; the preparation really was almost as much fun as the party.The final party tally was 11 kids under the age of 4 - and we survived! As much as I have loved our new house up to this point, admired the new colours and patterns and coziness they lend, enjoyed the new space and conveniences - none of it has made me as happy as being able to have this party. We would never have attempted something like it in our old house, and I am so glad that we can do it now. Liam was so excited to have all his friends come over. He talked about it all day Saturday after they cleared out - who enjoyed the crafts and who just wanted to play with his toys in the playroom instead, who ate almost nothing at lunch and who decorated the most cookies... it was priceless.We did do a craft - decorating little foam Christmas trees with stickers. I had a couple of other craft projects lined up and was worried that even that wouldn't last long enough to keep the kids entertained, but we never even got to them. Note to self: Liam loves doing little projects like this, but not all kids do... keep it simple next time. The kids don't need a lot of structure to be entertained!The other activity we did get around to was decorating cookies. Liam helped me bake and freeze all these cookies last weekend and he was so, so proud when we took them out of the freezer and let everyone decorate a few. This here is Mallory's handiwork...... and Liam's. You can always tell his work by following the jelly bean trail. :)

Here is our table full at lunch time (grilled cheese sandwiches: we made soup, too, then never wound up serving it, in part because lunch followed the cookie decorating, and we lost some appetites along the way.) Chad and I found this mammoth table at an antiques shop in the summer, and had them hold it until we moved into the new house. At the time, I never thought we would ever need a ten foot long table. But it fits the dining room perfectly and it held our crowd comfortably. So, so happy with it.Cousins Henry and Thomas came all the way from Toronto for the party, and spent the night with us. Henry and Liam are finally becoming little buddies - it's fun to watch.After the party, Chad and I both took a nap - we needed it! We'll be vacuuming little red and green sprinkles off the floors well into January I think, and the kitchen took the better part of the afternoon to clean up, but it was worth the effort. I hope this becomes an annual thing for us. Thank you to everyone who braved the snow and came out to our party. It meant so much to us to have you there!