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Ask "theSwimMom" Holiday Edition

We are closing in on the big day. Just 72 more hours. Are you excited? I am way excited probably the most excited I have been about Thanksgiving in YEARS. That is almost sad, right?

Last week all of you Black Friday shoppers got me thinking about all the great sales. So I have decided to dip my big toe into the whole getting up way to early to shop mess.

I haven't quite figured out my strategy but right now I think it includes. Sports Authority and Old Navy. I'm still working out the strategy which I can't share online because my kids read my blog and I wouldn't want to give anything away.

Anyway, I am headed out the door today to buy a ginger bread house kit. Every year after Thanksgiving we sit down as a family and make a ginger bread house. I usually by the kit, I tried one time to make the ginger bread myself, well lets just say what happened is a really long story that involves a dog that can reach the counter tops. Did you know that dogs love ginger?

It is a fun time to sit down with every body and build a candy house.

Though I have a confession, whenever we build the house I do all the actual building. I let the kids point where they want things and then I put it on. If I agree! I really am quite the perfectionist about it and get really uptight when they try to do it their way. Not on my ginger bread house, no way.

Brent and I usually end up in a huge fight because he tells the kids they can take bits off the Ginger Bread House. Again, I say, "Not on my ginger bread house, no way." In the past he has been known to sneak some of the candy off of the house and give it to the kids. Which is why last year after my, I mean, the kid's ginger bread house was finished I sprayed it with glitter.

Brent was not happy, when he bit into the first piece of candy.

Guess it didn't taste that great.

"DON'T EAT MY GINGER BREAD HOUSE!" I mean the kid's ginger bread house.

So my question for you is what Holiday Tradition do you have that has to be just so? No messing around with letting the kid's do it. No standing back and saying oh well. What has to be just so in order for the holidays to be just right?

PS I have listening to the Twilight CD all weekend and even re-read Twilight and I'm thinking I may to go see the movie with all you again. :) So don't be mad at me.

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Angie said…
I am an absolute spaz about putting the lights on the tree just right. It's actually border-line insanity. I get so uptight about it that I just have to call my mom to come do it because she's as much of a perfectionist about it as me. BUT I finally have a pre-lit tree this year so I don't have to deal (or should I say my family doesn't have to deal) with my OCD tendencies.
November 24, 2008 at 9:18 AM
Heather Bowles said…
I am a freak about my tree I like everything to look just right. I let my kids put stuff on and then when they go to bed I fix it all. I just about kills me to wait that long though.

So I went and saw Twilight on Saturday and it was good but I think it was kind of one of those things were it had been built up so much I was a little disapointed. I did like it though I just did not love it.
November 24, 2008 at 9:45 AM
Me, Myself and I said…
Google coupons for the places you intend to shop before you go. The silver lining to the bad economy is that there are good deals out there.

Holiday traditions? We set out wooden shoes and Sinter Klaas fills them with Dutch Chocolate and gingersnap windmills, since my family is from Holland. Imn Holland they actually do it earlier than Dec 25, but we just do it on Christmas Eve. Next to the plate of cookies for Santa. Does the name Hollie make sense now? Anyway, know where I can buy some wooden shoes?

We also open a present on Christmas Eve. Could it be pajamas? Hmmmmm, I wonder.

Oh, and the bear chairs. I don't even know why I brought it up... yet, I keep typing... Okay, when we were little we wanted to make SURE Santa knew where to leave OUR stuff and not mix it up with our sibling's stuff. So we designated our own areas each with a chair from a set my Mom made of Goldilocks and The 3 Bears. I had Goldilocks, and my four siblings each had a bear chair. Anyway, Paul and I have carried it on, as one year for Christmas, he got a bear chair. Hmmm... we better start working on Hollie's bear char, since we're in the next generation of the 3 Little Bears.

Now, since I typed so much, I am going to have to copy and paste this into my own blog post.
November 24, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Me, Myself and I said…
Okay, so I just realized you asked what traditions are you "just so" about. Meh, you just got a dump load of traditions in general from me. Oh well. Way to go me, I can't read, apparently.
November 24, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Scott and Stacy said…
Okay Krissi, you sound like the little monsters I've created with this Twilight thing. The girls listen to the cd everyday, all day long, they want to go see the movie again, they have the posters from the cd and the premiere up in their room. Teryn wears her Team Edward shirt every other day. She sees a magazine with anything to do with Twilight and she has to have it. I catch her looking up all kinds of Twilight stuff on the internet. Maybe I'll send her up there to you until this Twilight thing is over.

I totally agree about the ginger bread house, I do the same thing. :)
November 24, 2008 at 1:35 PM
Willow said…
In general, I am wacky about decorations; specifically garland needs to look spectacular. It is no easy feat to artfully weave 30 yards of wide wire-edged ribbon into 6 feet of garland. The kids are welcome to help stick flowers and faux berries into the garland, but I do the ribbon. Our tree also has an obscene amount of ribbon on it... I do that also. Then the kids can place the Christmas balls that Russ insisted upon several years ago. (FYI: In my family the tree was decorated with white lights and ribbon only. Russ grew up with ornaments, colored lights, and more traditional tree decor. It was a bit of a struggle getting me to be okay with glass balls on the tree. ;)

Also, with Thanksgiving fast approaching we have firmed up plans for this weekend. I thought of you when my friend and I were discussing our menu and dividing assignments. Four adults and 6 children (two of the kids are1 and younger) will be at Thanksgiving this year. On the menu... 5 different pies. More pies than adults! If things don't work out the way you hope with Sharonda, feel free to drive to pie mecca.
November 24, 2008 at 4:11 PM
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