The Spirit of Christmas

I am convinced there are bloggers out there that have figured out how to manufacture time.  Not only do they continue posting 5-7 times a week, their houses look like the Pottery Barn catalog with every nook and cranny Christmas-ized, they find the time to take pictures of and post their decorating progress, post tutorials on incredible homemade gifts and decorations, AND repaint their kitchen or re-upholster a chair. (and sometimes I think those women don't have kids and then read they have 4 and homeschool them!) 

At any rate...........I just have a small story to share in the midst of the holiday hub-bub.  I know I've been a little short with my kids this last week as I think about and prepare for all the things I *need* to do for Christmas.  It kinda makes me scratch my head sometimes...like last night...I was stressing out about getting the kids to bed as it was 2 hours past their bedtime.  We were home late after our first (of many, I know) family bowling nights.  Everyone had a wonderful time, including my twin 3 year old daughters who insisted on bowling themselves...and actually beat their big brother to a spare!  (He then came back with a strike- so proud.)  Anyways, my point....we had such a great time bowling and hence were in bed waaaaay too late.  I had hours of sewing still to do to get my daughters' sheets/duvets/pillows made before Christmas. 

Here's the fabric I'm using. PB Kids' Ballerina sheets. (I'll post finished pics after Christmas!)

 At one point I snapped, yelling at them to hurry up and get in bed because of all the things I needed to do to make Christmas wonderful for them.  And then I caught myself and laughed (cause I wanted to cry but held back):

I'm yelling at my kids to get to bed so I can get to work on making their Christmas special...how ironic does that sound? 
At any rate...I was reminded of the spirit of Christmas this morning.  My first two kids woke up at 9am (bless their hearts for sleeping in after a late night) and as I was making breakfast I overheard them whispering under the Christmas tree.  They were looking at some of the wrapped gifts, deciding which to open first, seeing who they were from,poking, prodding, etc. 

My daughter says to my son, "But I only got you one thing." 

And his 6 year old reply,

"It's ok sweetie, it's the spirit of giving that counts." 

Ahhhhhhhhh, amidst all the chaos, THEY GET IT.  They get it and sometimes we need them to remind US, the adults, too. 

May the spirit of Christmas be with you all.

Countdown to Christmas: 2 Days!!!

And just so you know, I Haven't been on the couch eating Bon-bons....I do have some exciting projects to share with you in January. I just picked up some 100 year old reclaimed oak for my Restoration Hardware knock-off island!

And I scored a wonderful free dresser from Freecycle last week...not sure if it's gonna be white or black or something in between.