Karissa decided that we should celebrate Christmas in August, since we missed it in July (which we don't usually celebrate it then either), because hey, these are different times!
I wasn't sure about it myself because I didn't want to put forth the effort with December only 4 months away, but I told the kids that they were in charge.
So, about 2 weeks ago I was on a Relief Society meeting, when I gotten off the meeting, the house had been decorated. Luckily, they only had one bin and a handful of things from that out. Karissa also had some of her own decorations that she used which she stores in her room.
That evening we drew names for Secret Santa and we had two weeks to get them a gift and perform some secret service for them. Austin and Erik put together the Christmas Yoda puzzle in record time.
They were pretty excited for Christmas. Erik changed the advent calendar every day. They talked about it constantly and then finally Christmas day came a couple of days ago.
I wouldn't allow anyone to wake up too early, so they woke up much earlier than normal, but not the crazy Christmas early. I made pumpkin waffles and we had fruit with it. Since most of them awoke around 8 or a little after, we ate and then waited for 30 minutes for Jason to complete his Bishopric meeting before opening our gifts.
Let me tell you: it was nice to just listen to Christmas music and wait to open our one gift each. We also appreciated our one gift much more than normal!
Ironically, Austin had Victoria, I had Austin, and Victoria had me. Erik had Karissa, Karissa had Jason, and Jason had Erik. By the end of the two weeks I knew who had me because enough people told me who they had to get gift ideas, so I figured it out, but it was still fun!
Victoria treated me like a queen and helped out a lot, did my hair, and made my bed one day. My one gift was actually a collection of a few beauty products: a new razor, shaving cream, mascara, toner, and pokey.
Austin gave her a shirt she really wanted from Target. He argued less with her and made popcorn for her, her favorite daily snack!
I gave Austin a Minecraft Lego set and took the trash out for him and put his clean sheets on his bed for him (something I really don't like doing now because of the huge box on it that he refuses to move, and his bed is the top bunk!)
Erik gave Karissa a little backpack purse she wanted and some candy in a Pusheen case.
Karissa gave Jason some candies and special notes on his desk throughout the two weeks. She cleaned out the litter box for him and gave him Michigan socks, smarties, and WD40 for his gift.
Jason spent an evening out with Erik. They got ice cream together, among other things. He gave him a Harry Potter Quidditch Lego set. The boys have been playing with their sets non-stop since putting them together!
Jason roasted chicken for dinner. We had roasted potatoes and cauliflower with it and the kids made Christmas cookies. We watched the Grinch and really enjoyed our Christmas in August.
(Last stipulation was that the kids put away the decorations, which they did!!)
Hopefully I can still enjoy the actual holiday season in a few months!
What a great idea! Sounds like a blast.
ReplyDeletemerry Christaug
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