12 Days of Christmas and 7 Days of New Years

This has been a journal entry in progress since Monday, December 13th! You'll see why as you read.

I love Mondays! Seems odd, right? Most people dread them. I love the weekends because Matt’s home and we can spend time together as a family, but come Monday morning, I’m ready for the week! I heart Mondays mainly for 2 reasons…

1. My kids and I enjoy the day much more when we have a routine (okay…me more than the kids).

2. I also love Mondays because I get to spend the afternoon at Nate’s school, thanks to the most awesome babysitter. We love you, Elise!

What could make a Monday any better, you ask? Well, a 2 hour delay to start! So, instead of starting our week at 6:30, we didn’t have to get up until 8:30. And believe it or not, my kids stayed in bed until then! Wow!

After a morning at home, getting back into our regular routine, Elise showed up, releasing me for an afternoon of making copies, hanging up vocabulary words, using the laminator, and smiling at kids in the East Elementary hallways (and high fiving a few that think I’m really cool)! I walked into Mrs. Ryan’s class and she presented me with a Christmas gift. It was a sweet basket with ‘Martin’ embroidered on the side. She said something to the effect of how thankful she is that I donate my time to help her and it was all I could do to keep from crying. Seriously? She’s thanking me? I need to be thanking her for letting me be a part of her classroom. There isn’t anything I’d rather be doing when I’m there! I enjoy getting to know the teachers and students at Nate’s school. I did manage to hold back the tears while in the classroom, but shed just a few on the short walk to the workroom. At this point, I was floating and didn’t imagine that my day could get better!

After school was out, Nate had play practice and I had some elf costumes to drop off on the stage. While there, one of the elves said, “Thank you for doing this. You’re awesome!” I was wrong…the day did get better!

When I got home and was opening the front door for Elise as she was leaving, I noticed a package on the front porch. It read, “Miss Amanda. Do not open until Tuesday December 14^th!” As I type this, I’ve managed to refrain from curiosity and not open the gift. Not sure if I’ll make it, or not!

I eagerly woke up this morning anxious to see what unwrapping the package would reveal. The note explained that the large package held several smaller packages…one for me to open each day leading up to Christmas and then 7 more to open leading up to New Year’s Day. There were three rules. 1. Do no discuss with anyone outside of my immediate family (I hope my mom counts because she knows about the secret delivery and won’t let it go unless I share my findings with her). 2. I can guess who the giver is, but can’t say anything until I know for sure. 3. I can only open one gift per day. This is gonna be fun!

December 14, 2010 (day 1) 6:39 am: Are you kidding me? It’s one thing to ask me only to open one gift a day, but not talk about it? You must know how difficult this will be for me! I think it could be Elise because of the obvious…she was the one here when the package was delivered. And I checked the snow for footprints…I didn’t notice any up the walk, so could it have been someone that came in through the garage? And because the money still hasn’t been spent from our November BUNCO pot, I’m thinking it could be a BUNCO babe! Which leads me to wonder…how did that money get spent? So far, I’m still following the rules! I’ll admit, the ‘Miss Amanda’ thing is throwing me off a bit. No one refers to me as Miss Amanda except for the kids in the nursery and preschool classes at church. Since gift #12 was the big bag including all gifts, I’m very curious for tomorrow…will there be clues to help me guess the giver in each small package? It sounds silly, but this is the most excitement we’ve had in our family in a LONG time! Is it tomorrow yet?

December 15, 2010 (day 2) 6:23 am: Today’s package was a Glade Plug in. Very nice…definitely a scent I would have picked myself. I must say, I’m a bit disappointed. I really thought there would be some clue giving me a hint as to who this secret giver is. I still think it’s my BUNCO babes. It has been really easy to get out of bed the last few days. I could get used to this!

December 16, 2010 (day 3) 7:01 am.: The gift for today was a hand towel…very cute… has Christmas stockings on it. I still can’t get my thoughts off the fact that Elise was here when the package was delivered. She MUST have something to do with it…at least I think she does. In all seriousness, I have no idea who this giver could be!

December 17, 2010 (day 4) 6:14 am: Christmas socks! One can NEVER have too many Christmas socks! I think I’ll wear them in celebration of the holiday with the shirt I found, which says, “Tis the season to be moody.” My grandma oughtta like it!

December 18, 2010 (day 5) 12:34 am: It was a busy morning. We had to be out of the house by 7:45. For a weekday, this is late…for a Saturday…it was torture! Things settled down after lunch and the present for today was discovered to be icicle ornaments. The kids loved them! The curiosity leaves me wondering again…who could this Secret Santa be? And what did I do to deserve this thoughtfulness? Whoever you are, I am certainly enjoying a prize, just for getting up everyday!

December 19, 2010 (day 6) 9:10 am: Holiday socks

December 20, 2010 (day 7) 8:11 am: I must confess…this is quite fun…another Christmas tree ornament!

December 21, 2010 (day 8) 8:07 am: This giver must know how much my kids love to display their projects on the refrigerator because the gift for today was refrigerator magnets.

December 22, 2010 (day 9) 7:14 am: Apparently, there is a lot that my children and I have in common. I think the most visible thing that Gabe and I have in common is our love for socks! I have a thing for them and LOVE to buy them for no reason for the kids and for myself. Gabe is usually the only one that gets excited when I come home from an outing with socks for him in tow! This special person who’s been giving me gifts must know about this love for foot coverings…hmmmm…still thinking it has something to do with my BUNCO babes or Elise…I know…I’m not broadening my spectrum much, am I?

December 23, 2010 (day 10) 3:07 pm: Holiday Socks…I’m lovin’ this!

December 24, 2010 (day 11) 8:34 am: a heart trivet…I’ll use this tonight!

December 25, 2010 (day 12) 9:51 am: The gift for today was a Christmas photo album. I can hardly stand it anymore! Only one more week! I’m wondering about how this secret gift giver will make himself or herself apparent. There haven’t been any clues in any of the packages and since I’m not allowed to talk with anyone about it, I can’t ask around to get my clues. Maybe it will ALWAYS be a secret??? No…that’s just plain mean!

December 26, 2010 (day 13) 8:12 am: I now have 7 more days of gifts and have to wait another whole week before finding out who the secret giver is…the annoying part….there are NO CLUES in any of the gifts! I still think it’s BUNCO related or Elise knows something…hmmm…she must. If it’s not either of them, I’ll be REALLY SURPRISED! The gift for today is MORE SOCKS!

December 27, 2010 (day 14) 9:58 am: More socks!

December 28, 2010 (day 15) 12:22 pm: This gift is pretty cool…an emergency contact info sheet that you stick to the refrigerator. Ok…I’m sure the giver has kids!

December 29, 2010 (day 16): 9:22 am: I’m starting to get curious and even more frustrated that there are NO clues in any of this stuff. The gift for today is a candle…the house smells sweetly of vanilla sugar, toasted coconut and hazelnut toffee.

December 30, 2010 (day 17) 12:40pm: If my secret giver is Elise, the worlds best babysitter, this gift would be quite appropriate for me…although, I think I’m pretty clear when I leave the kids with her…at least I think I am! The gift for today is a Babysitter info sheet to leave on the refrigerator.

December 31, 2010 (day 18) 8:09am: A bird feeder…does the giver know my kids…we love to watch birds!

January 1, 2010 (day 19) 11:44 am: The last gift of the 12 days of Christmas and 7 days of New Years was a friendship plaque…the secret giver is Nancy! Thank you so much Nancy for the thoughtfulness and caring gesture! You are awesome…no wonder your kids are awesome, too! We are so thankful for your family and giving nature.

In honor of the wonderful Miss Nancy, I want to share something that happened a few weeks back. Mrs. Ryan, Nate’s teacher, asked if I would come in and help the class with a Christmas project the week before Christmas break. She gave me AMPLE notice and I asked Matt if he could take the morning off. Sharing in this with Nate was important to me. I LOVE helping at the school and his classroom. The day before, Matt informed that he had an important meeting that he couldn’t miss and was unable to stay home that morning with Adrianna. I called Elise (the worlds best babysitter and most incredible young lady) to see if she was available and unfortunately, she wasn’t. Shortly after, I got a text from Elise saying that her mom was available and the tears started to fall! Like I said above, this is an AMAZING family! For the past few years, Elise, and sometimes her brother, Steven, have watched the kids while we’ve gone to church on Wednesday nights and often helped on Mondays when I go to school with Nate. The boys love them…and when Adrianna isn’t asleep or hot tempered because Mommy isn’t nearby, she loves them, too! They are patient with the kiddos, kind, and great examples of what it means to be responsible young adults…these are just the kind of people you want your kids to look up to. We consider ourselves HONORED to have them spending time with our children. Something funny that I’ve never shared with Elise is that she always says, “Thanks,” when she leaves…seriously? I say thank you, too, but I’m the one that should be thankful!

After returning home on that Wednesday afternoon, I told Nancy how appreciative I was of her willingness to help out. She responded with something like, “Consider this my Christmas present to you because you do so much for our kids.” Again…seriously? They’re ALWAYS doing things for us!

A few years back, Nancy lead a Mom’s Bible Study that I participated in, while going through A LOT of emotional stuff in my life. We were having infertility issues (I know that’s hard to believe now with 3 kids) and I was really struggling with the isolation I felt as a stay at home mom. Nancy was always there, with kind and encouraging words, reminding me that no matter what I was going through or how I felt, I wasn’t alone! That group got me through a really difficult time and I don’t know that I ever thanked her for initiating that study!

When I talked to Nancy this morning, she said to me, “I am so BLESSED by YOU and your family!” Did I tell you how awesome this family is?

We had an AMAZING Christmas! We have been blessed with family, friendship, and each other!!! Thank you to my friend, Nancy, for giving me yet, another reminder, of what the season is really about…giving to one another, counting your blessings, and LOVE!