This morning I woke up to find my little Monkey on one side of me and my little Parrot on the other. I woke up to the sounds of fighting.
I have to tell you, I can definitely think of better ways to start my day. But fortunately, 10 minutes or so later, I had them out of our room, only to have them take 10 minutes at least to decide what they wanted to wear for the day. Then it took them 10 minutes to figure out what they were going to eat. Then another 10 minutes for them to get their spoon, another 10 for the napkin, and so on. Of course, it took them less than 10 seconds to start yelling at each other, but well... who's really counting... (besides ME!)
Maybe they are starting to feel the loss of the "Christmas high". I'll admit that even I had a hard time last night turning off the lights before going to bed. It just seemed so final, so quiet, so... over. Technically, of course, it's not. After all, December 24 and 25 are technically just days on the calendar.
Which reminds me... did you see the moon over Christmas? It was so big and beautiful!!!!
Anyway, to keep the kids going today, they didn't want to, but I dragged them out into the snow. Right before Christmas we had quite a rain storm which washed a lot of the snow away, sad to say. Today we had snow flurries and that was it, out we went. We had fun playing on the swingset and jumping off into the snow that was still around as well as going down the slide. Their snow pants are so slippery that they just zipped down the slide and landed on their bee-hinds before they could even catch themselves.
We also caught snowflakes on our tongues. We caught them on our dark clothing and studied all the different and beautiful patterns that a snowflake might consist of. I admit, I had forgotten how absolutely beautiful a snowflake can be. And to watch the look of excitment and amazement on the girls faces, priceless. I can't imagine all the millions of tiny snowflakes that spread out across the field turning it all white. Makes me feel very, very small.
The fresh air seemed to do everyone good, although maybe that's why I'm yawning so much tonight. They tired me out. The snow is such now that you may walk a few feet on top of it but then suddenly you sink down into it for a few feet before finding a hard part again so you can walk on top. This morning there were actually bare patches where the hard brown ground was showing through, but thanks to the falling snow, everything as of twilight was white once again.
I won't rush it, but I will be glad when things start to get back to normal after the New Year. The sunroom was completely cleaned out for Christmas and with Mom C and Papa planning to have family here over New Years, there's no sense to try and sort things through until after the sunroom can be put to right again. They have a long buffet table along the wall where all the girls toys are supposed to go. We need to figure out what goes into storage, what goes to good will, and where everything else goes. I hate it when things just don't have their place, not that things very often get put back into their place around here....
That's one thing that I am trying to work on better. Unfortunately, so far I sound a little too much like a bitchy, annoying scratchy record more than anything. To say it's not going well is very much an understatement. But, we'll figure it all out somehow. It's so bad that at times they would rather that I pick up and by doing so they loose those toys for a few days than just take the time and put them away. Sometimes they would rather leave the mess than get a special reward for cleaning up after themselves. Mom C says that in that regard, they are just like their father. Therefore, I blame this situation on HIM!!!!
Actually, I take it back that absolutely no progress with them has been made. I can go out and tell Monkey that SHE is responsible to pick up all the Barbies in a certain amount of time and Parrot is responsible to put all the matchbox cars away. If it's not done, then who ever is responsible pays the consequence of having to pick up not only what they were supposed to but more as well.... That works somewhat.
Well, I think that is enough rambling tonight. Technically there is a lot I could be doing right now as far as the house goes, but I just needed this 10 minutes (okay, okay.... it HAS been much more than 10 minutes), to sit and blab away. Believe me, all that other stuff will be there tomorrow. Right now, being able to sit and ramble over some of the loose thoughts in my head is worth it!!!
Cheers! ~MacKenzie
. When all was said and done, as absolutely excited as we were, we knew we'd better get to bed. Everything was quiet in the house and we began turning off lights, making sure the door was locked, etc. Well, we were standing side by side in the kitchen looking into the living room at the Christmas tree... sharing a bit of a moment, you know... 
What if I crept outside by their window and shook bells or something??? 
I'm just way too excited. I guess I could start cooking. Maybe if the scent of coffee and the spiced apple pasteries start to fill the air it will wake up everyone and they'll remember it's Christmas Day!!!! 
Because truly, I don't think I can sit here and wait much longer!!!!!
Now, however the scent of chocolate still hangs in the air.... it's all part of the smell of Christmas here in the MacKenzie household. 
I must admit, though that I'm nervous. It's not something I asked for or need, she tells me. 
