Elf on the Shelf Schinagans

Yes, we had an Elf on the Shelf, his name is Reggie, and this was the first year that Reggie was at our house, he was really great at teach Gabriel about Christmas (and also, a behavior tool)...

Reggie was a lot of fun.

Holiday Bucket List - Update

An update on my holiday bucket list....

I know you have been dying to know what we've been up to here... and really we've been up to our eye balls in jingle bells, so I am happy to get back to blogging!

My Holiday Bucket List

Go to a Christmas Tree Lighting and Play in the Snow. So, this didn't happen... we tried, we waited for over 2 hours to get to a Tree Lighting with snow, by the time we got close both boys were tired, and hungry... the traffic was reeeee-dic-ulos, but we tried. So that almost counts, right?

Visit Santa with the boys This was a major score! Got some great pictures of the boys with Santa, a great one of Zachary screaming, which to me, honestly, is the best picture. Zachary loves life, and loves everyone and everything, so for him to cry, was really funny... to all of us. Santa included.

Help a Family in Need
Volunteer to help those in Need Unfortunately, we didn't get to help as many people as I would have liked. I wanted to cross this off the list more than anything else, and it just didn't happen. So, I vow to do this throughout the year, and not just at Christmastime.

Remind myself daily of the blessings I have. I made a point to make sure, I stopped at least one time a day, and take in what blessings I have in my life. I am so blessed to live where I live and how we live, and our boys, and our health... sometimes it's easy to take it for granted.  Not to say, that this Christmas was without illness, I found myself in the ER, and Zachary almost had to go to the ER not once by twice. But regardless, we still be abundantly blessed.

Make Hot Apple Cider at least once a week Okay, so we made it twice. But it was delicious!

Spend Time with my friends I tired, I really did. I went out once with my girlfriends and once with John. So that's more than usual, but not as many times as I had hoped.

Make amends with a family member Ummmm.... yeah, I need to work on my forgiveness skills.

Celebrate Christmas Eve with our Family and Friends Done. Not as many friends as I would have loved to celebrate with, but the ones that mean the most to our hearts were here.

Go to Midnight Mass Late. But we were there.
Drive around to see the lights with Gabriel. Yes and yes. We called it a Light Hunt, and he still wants to go one them. I hope the lights are as exciting to him every year. I will miss hearing "Wook Wook, WOOK WOOK!!!! MOMMY WOOK, WIGHTS!"

Make sure Gabriel understands the true meaning of Christmas I am pretty sure Gabriel sang Happy Birthday Jesus at least 876 times a day. And when I told him that "Tomorrow is Christmas Day, the day that we have been waiting for, Jesus' Birthday", he said "Mommy, again, we celebrated Jesus' birthday in school with Miss Joy"

Make sure our Christmas Cards go out on time Phew! Yes!

Spend Quality time with my husband I feel like we got some time together, but definitely not enough. Does anyone with kids feel like as hard as you tried to spend time together, it's just not the same as it was before kids? We really have to work at spending time together, and not time after the kids go to bed, and sit on the couch and fall asleep time.

Help the hubs get the outside Christmas Decor done I watched the kids, he did the lights.

Go to as many Christmas Parties as we can We went to, uh, none.

Move the Elf around every night (and make sure he gets into some mischief). I only forgot one night, and I woke up at 6AM and moved his happy butt. (Next post will be an elf montage)

Spend quality time with my kids Done.

Hold a Christmas Party for my husband's staff We did, had a great dinner at Dragonfly and got the staff, uh, tipsy.
Not worry so much about work, and focus on my friends and family I tried. Counts, right?

Bake Cookies and Treats for all of my neighbors I did, not as much as I would have liked, but I did.

Thank the person who made sure we had a Christmas last year (and pay it forward) I hope she knows what she did for us, means the world to us, and I have sufficiently thanked our personal angel.

Really take the time to "take in" what is around me Done.

Watch my Sappy Fa La La La Lifetime Christmas Movies with a box of tissues This got completely missed. And I'm okay with that, we traded this out for movies that will teach Gabriel about Santa... Totally worth it.

Make sure Gabriel and Zachary have the best Christmas ever.Mission Accomplished

I hope you had your own Holiday Bucket list, and really had the best Holiday Season EVER!

My Holiday Bucket List

My friend Amanda, over at Realistically Domestic just posted this idea of a Holiday Bucket list, and I was seconds earlier thinking I needed to do something similar. So, here goes.

This Christmas our family has so much to be thankful for. So.Much. As some of you know, Zachary (our now One Year Old) was very sick at Christmastime last year. In fact, the day after Christmas he was hospitalized for the first time after he was born. He was sick. Really sick. I only confessed to a handful of people how sick he was. I was scared. Terrified that he would be taken from us. And confused at why this amazing blessing we just had been given, would be given to us, just to be taken so soon.

At the very same time, my husband's business of 19 years was falling apart, our finances were a disaster, we could possibly loose our home, we had no income coming in, and had just started a new, brand new venture that seemed to be falling apart. All at one time.

It was a tough year, and this year carried over some of that mess.

Finally, this September things are looking up. We found out why Zachary had been so sick, and are working on getting our smiley little munchkin better, business is growing, and we finally have a steadying income from our new business venture.

This year has been tough.

But, even with all of this hard heart ache, I feel so beyond blessed. And that is why I am going to write my Holiday Bucket List, to hold myself accountable for all of the things that I want to do and give back, for all those that supported us this past year.

My Holiday Bucket List

1. Go to a Christmas Tree Lighting and Play in the Snow.
2. Visit Santa with the boys
3. Help a Family in Need
4. Volunteer to help those in Need
5. Remind myself daily of the blessings I have
6. Make Hot Apple Cider at least once a week
7. Spend Time with my friends
8. Make amends with a family member
9. Celebrate Christmas Eve with our Family and Friends
10. Go to Midnight Mass
11. Drive around to see the lights with Gabriel.
12. Make sure Gabriel understands the true meaning of Christmas
13. Make sure our Christmas Cards go out on time
14. Spend Quality time with my husband
15. Help the hubs get the outside Christmas Decor done
16. Go to as many Christmas Parties as we can
17. Move the Elf around every night (and make sure he gets into some mischief).
18. Spend quality time with my kids
19. Hold a Christmas Party for my husband's staff
20. Not worry so much about work, and focus on my friends and family
21. Bake Cookies and Treats for all of my neighbors
22. Thank the person who made sure we had a Christmas last year (and pay it forward)
23. Really take the time to "take in" what is around me
24. Watch my Sappy Fa La La La Lifetime Christmas Movies with a box of tissues
25. Make sure Gabriel and Zachary have the best Christmas ever.

Do you have a holiday bucket list? If you do, link up here!

This is the holiday bucket list linky. Only post links to your bucket list. NOTHING ELSE WILL BE ALLOWED. The bucket list runs from December 1st through January 31st and you can have as many items on your list as you'd like!