The Stockings Were Hung

When I was a child Christmas wasn't Christmas without a certain record full of children's holiday songs. I have looked and looked for a recording of this record, but I don't think it exists. I used to turn off all the lights in the house except for the Christmas tree lights, listen to that record and squint my eyes while I looked at the tree until all those little lights turned into dancing stars.

One of my favorite songs on that record was called "The Chimney and the Fireplace." I wish so much that I could remember all the words, but this is all I can bring to mind anymore:

The chimney and the fireplace
Were good friends 'til one day,
"I'm more important than you,"
The chimney was heard to say.

(Here the fireplace retaliates, but I don't remember the lyrics)

The chimney fired right back and said,
"Without me you would choke,
It's scientific knowledge,
I take away your smoke."

"On Christmas Eve," said the fireplace,
"It's hang the stockings on me."
"You're lucky I'm there to give you air,"
Said the chimney angrily.

The fight was getting hotter
'Til Santa came along.
He settled this big argument.
He said, "You both are wrong.

"A fireplace needs a chimney
Just like a fish needs the water.
A chimney with no fireplace
Couldn't function like it ought 'er.

"You both need each other,
This fighting is a sin.
It's Christmas day, I'll be on my way,
Open up, I'm coming in."

Isn't that a fun song?

Well, anyway, the magic of stockings has always been a favorite part of Christmas for me. I remember getting up on Christmas morning and excitedly finding my over-flowing stocking that just hours before had lain flat and empty on the couch.

When T was just a baby I decided to get family stockings. I would get several matching ones so we would have enough as our family continued to grow. However, all the stockings I liked were about $15 - $25 each and I wasn't about to spend that kind of money on the limited budget we had back then.

So I headed to Wal-Mart, checked out their clearance fabric and with nothing but an idea and a borrowed sewing machine came up with five stockings for less than $10. That first Christmas we used three of them.

I was excited when R was born to stitch another name onto one of those stockings, but now to have all five stockings in use, stitched with names, gives me a very special feeling. I used to look at those nameless stockings with anticipation and wonder. Now I look at all five hanging in a row and realize how far we've come in a few short years. I'm so excited to watch my own children experience the wonder of the stocking on Christmas morning.

(T, R and E's stockings are angels, snowmen and gingerbread men, respectively.)

What's better is that this is the only house we have ever lived in with a real fireplace. It gives it all such a feeling of authenticity. We've never used it, though, because we're kind of afraid we'll do it wrong and burn down the house. As you can see, however, we got some firewood which we are saving for Christmas Eve and we're going to conquer our fear of the fireplace. Pray for us. :)

Little Toy Rant

Hello, faithful reader.

As Christmas comes tip-toeing up behind me ready to pounce I realize that for the first time I'm beginning to feel the Christmas panic come upon me. Last year I had nearly all of my Christmas shopping done before Halloween. Of course, last year I was afraid I may not be able to walk further than eight steps without having to sit down by Christmas, so it was foresight espoused with fear.

I've always been an early shopper. I detest shopping in crowds. Yet here I am, feeling like autumn was a rug someone pulled out from beneath me.

Despite all these frantic feelings, I am enjoying the holiday season OH SO much more than I did last year. Even though I'm in a little bit of a frenzy (and it really is quite little) it feels nice to be physically up for the challenge.

I'll tell you one challenge, however, that always seems to best me.

Little Toys.

My children have a thing for little toys. All the toys they want are little toys. Polly Pockets. Matchbox cars. Things that come with many, many pieces.

So what's wrong with little toys? Easy to store, easy to transport. Not taking up oodles of space in your home.

I'll tell you what I hate about little toys. Every single day I find little piles of strange groupings. For example, on my kitchen table at this very moment there is a bag that is supposed to contain Polly Pockets, yet it contains none. Currently inside it are a board book, a finger puppet, a bracelet, a baby bottle, a tea cup and one of those little half-sphere toys that when turned inside-out pop off the floor. How all these things were being played with together I do not know. What I do know is that there is a specific place for board books, one for finger puppets, one for jewelry, one for bottles and one for tea set items.

Keeping all the toys that belong together, together is the bane of my life as a mother of small children. That and keeping all of these chokable items away from an ever more transient baby.

I try my hardest to make sure each of these little items has a place, but they never stay in those places. My children absolutely will not sit and organize every little piece. When they clean up they take those eclectic little piles and dump them in toy bins, which completely ruins the system. Then R is looking for "Chocolate," (his favorite matchbox car) and T can't find Cinderella's blue dress because one is the Potato Head basket and the other is in the crayon bag.
OY VAY.

I give up.

Maybe it's just as well. I know once those Littlest Pet Shop and Bakugan packaged neatly under the tree are opened I will have no hope but to retreat. Long live the little toy.

I have to admit though, it's pretty cute when Buzz Lightyear and Tinkerbell go for a ride together in Polly Pocket's car.

~^* DISNEYLAND! *^~

I have SO much I could elaborate on, but since this is going to be a long post anyway, I'll try to condense as much as possible.

Our trip to Disneyland was the MOST. FUN. EVER.

Aside from a 200 mile traffic jam from Vegas on that caused us to stay in Barstow instead of making it all the way to my sister's house near Anaheim, everything went very well. (Note: NEVER travel from Vegas to California on a Sunday evening, especially after a holiday!)

We spent five sunny, fun-filled days at Disneyland and California Adventure, staying in one of the Disney hotels. We waited for melt-downs and were prepared for hitches, but really never ran into any. The biggest problem we encountered was when our kids just got too tired to party.

When we first walked into the gates of Disneyland I surprised and embarrassed myself by breaking into tears. This trip was so long in coming, and was post-poned because of sickness. I was just so grateful to finally be there. It was a new feeling being a mother taking my kids to Disney for the first time. It just overwhelmed me.

First ride was Dumbo, followed by Small World. All of Disneyland was decked out for Christmas, a couple of rides completely transformed for the holidays. One of these was Small World. It was fun for all of us to be able to ride together.

E was so great the whole time. She fussed very little and spent all of her time either napping in the stroller, going on rides with us, or being mesmerized by the sights and sounds.

Things have changed since I was a kid. Now you have to wait in line to see the characters. We waited to see Mickey, the princesses and Tinkerbell.

Our first night there my sweet niece (who lives close) came to the hotel and watched the kids so DH and I could go on some rides together. We hit the Haunted Mansion (transformed into Nightmare Before Christmas), Thunder Mountain and Matterhorn. We even saw a woman pumping her breastmilk in line. Awesome.

I love this guy.

Tuesday morning Santa showed up at our hotel. The kids were first in line.

I just had to include this pic of R trying on hats. Look at that smile!

That morning we had "Breakfast with the Characters." We had a yummy buffet while Minnie and friends came to visit. T and R loved it. E, not so much.

R even pulled out some break-dancing moves for Minnie. I was very proud. ;)

We purchased a meal plan ahead of time which included a ton of snack vouchers, so we tried out many tasty wares. T's favorite were the giant pickles. She had two.

The turkey leg was a favorite as well. Even the kids liked it.

R was enthusiastic about EVERYTHING. He was just tall enough to go on most of the rides and showed almost no fear (although Space Mountain ended up being a bit too much for him). I got to go on Soarin' over California with him after he'd already been on it once but I had not yet. He held my hand and just kept saying, "Mom, you are going to LOVE this. It is so cool. You will just love it." The first time we went on Pirates he was sitting on my lap and shaking. He informed me that he was just shaking because he was cold, NOT because he was scared. I love this kid.

T and R really wanted their faces painted. I told them if we paid for that then they couldn't get mouse ears. They still chose the face paint.

By Wednesday we were getting pretty tired. Having all five of us sleep in the same room made it difficult to get all the sleep we needed. E liked waking up in the night and making raspberry noises for long stretches.

We had reservations for dinner at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. R was asleep on his chair before his food even arrived.

This trip was our first time at the California Adventure park. We saw a lot of Pixar characters and tried some new fun rides. T especially loved taking a drawing class from a Disney artist and drew an awesome Goofy.

We discovered upon arrival that we had somehow not packed socks for E. We eventually found a cute pair, but had to improvise during the first chilly night. She was unfazed. She was a happy girl for most of the trip. I love this kid.

On Thursday we made sure to get good seats at the Jedi Training Academy in hopes R would get chosen to get "trained." T got chosen right off the bat.

R jumped and shouted trying to get picked, but after they'd picked about 2 dozen kids they said they were done. R's little face just crumpled and he was SO disappointed. One of the women in charge of choosing the kids saw him and said, "Dry your tears, we've got room for one more." I was so grateful! T and R both got to do it! A Jedi gave them robes and light sabers and taught them a set of moves. Then Darth Vader and Darth Maul showed up! They each got a turn to fight Darth Vader.

It was AWESOME and DH was so proud.

Each night before the parade they lit up Sleeping Beauty's castle and made it snow on Main Street USA. It was so cool.

One of the highlights for DH and me was spending quality one on one time with each of the kids. This trip showed me just how grown up my T is. She was so fun and had the best attitude. She even gave up waiting in line to see Cinderella because she thought it would be more fair for R to choose what to do next. DH and I were so proud of her.

For some reason she got really silly during our potty breaks. One day she handed me her jacket as she went into the stall and said, "I wish you the best!" It cracked me up. I love this kid.

T loved seeing Tinkerbell.

The timing of our trip could not have been more perfect. The weather was great, only getting chilly at night and having everything be festive for Christmas made it even more magical. We were lucky to go while T was off track and the rest of the world was in school. The longest we EVER waited in line for a ride was 40 minutes and most of the time it was less than 10.

R loved the ride "Astro Blasters," designed around the Toy Story II story. The cars have laser guns attached to them and you spend the ride trying to shoot aliens. He probably went on it 7 or 8 times.

T really liked Pirates and seeing all the princesses. She got her picture taken with Ariel, Mulan, Snow White, Jasmine and, of course, Tinkerbell. Her least favorite experience of the week was freezing her tongue to her popsicle.

DH's favorite ride was California Screamin', the big roller coaster in California Adventure. My favorite was Soarin' Over California and Space Mountain.

DH and the older kids got to see the fireworks show twice and on Friday the last thing on our agenda was to see the Christmas parade. It had started at 5:30 every night, so at 3:00 I decided to camp out with a napping E and get a good spot while the others did Star Tours again. I got a nice spot, then found out that the parade started in just a few minutes! Turns out they do it twice on Fridays. So I called DH, they went on the ride, came to my spot and we watched the parade without waiting for hours. Once again, serendipity smiled upon us.

It was a truly magical week. The lights, the music, the rides, the tastes, the feelings. I feel so grateful for it all. I love my family and loved having this experience with them. The icing on the cake was when a friend overheard R tell a friend on Sunday, "We spent five holy days at Disneyland!"

It almost did feel sacred.

Thanks, Magic Kingdom. Until next time. *sigh*

As a side note, we were able to stay with two of my sisters during our travels and I managed, AGAIN, to not get pictures with either of them. Sorry. It was delightful to see them and their families, however. Thanks for letting us stay. We love you!