It feels like I’ve been missing the holiday spirit for a long time.  That’s probably because I have been.  Ever since getting that call a week ago, it’s been hard to focus on the fun stuff.  Our Advent projects came to a halt and we went into “fix-it mode.”  Well, we couldn’t fix it but we could make things a little easier, and that’s all I can expect in such a situation.

Now that things are settling down (for us, not them), it’s time to get back into the spirit.  It feels weird, but we have to do it for the boys.  I texted Hottie yesterday and said, “the holiday season returns to our house TONIGHT.”  I picked a super easy project for yesterday because I KNEW they would LOVE it.  It involved laser-cut wood ornaments in the shapes of race cars and trucks and… markers.  Slam dunk!  I even did a set  😉

Tonight, we trudged forward with making paint-filled ornaments for ourselves, family members, and Hottie’s work friends.  I did this project at Matthew’s preschool Christmas party today with TWENTY kids and it went perfectly!  I planned ahead and had the drying cups with names on them ready to go, the ornament tops removed and bagged (and then taped to each cup), drying instructions written up for each child, the paints unsealed and ready for use, and Hottie employed to help me.   It was so fun having Hottie there – he is so great with kids and with two of us helping the kids pick paints, shake them, and get excited about the end result – well – it was fun!

So much fun that I brought the boys home and we got to work on the GLASS ones for ourselves and loved ones.  They had a great time making specific ones for Grandma, Grandpa, and SANTA (yes, we are leaving one out for Santa) and when Hottie’s friend’s daughter came over to hang with us for the night, we made some for her parents too.  It was seriously fun!