353 Days

For the most part our calender is extremely mellow. Other than the occasional birthday or crazy weekend, the Petersen household is a very laid back place to be. We have it planned that way, we don't entertain at home and we rarely go out. We have 2 wild days in October (my birthday and Halloween, the 2 greatest days of the year!) but our December is chaos!
I know, I know, "EVERYONE is crazy in December", you say. And that is so true what with family get-togethers, work parties and school functions. It's no wonder people get depressed at that time of year. I think my December is just slightly more crazy than most. Call it bad planning on our part!
Let me take you on a tour of December 21 through December 31 at the Petersen's.

December 21: Shane and Alese's Anniversary. Not a huge deal, but I do like to celebrate it.

December 22-23: Getting ready for Christmas. We all know how this goes. Quite frankly it's a bit of a blur sometimes. There's baking, cooking, cleaning, wrapping, scolding, threatening, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

December 24: Christmas Eve and Schianne's birthday. More celebrating. Lot's of unwrapping. Extended weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

December 25: Christmas Day. This is the most mellow day of the week surprisingly!

December 26: Typically we have Shane's kids either coming or going. If they're coming it's more unwrapping. They usually hate what they got and so the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth (henceforth known as WWGOT) continues. Ah, the sweet sounds of Christmas!

December 27-28: Presents trickle in. Late Christmas /Early Birthday. WWGOT!

December 29: Bella's birthday. MORE PRESENTS! Very little WWGOT, she just loves being the center of attention!

December 30: We call this Birthday Part 2: The Sequel. We take Bella to a movie or out to dinner or something like that.

December 31: New Year's Eve. General Lawlessness and Drunken Disorderly Conduct! Ha Ha I wish! Bed by 9:00 PM Happy New Year! I'm Freakin' Tired!!
This year, with the advent of Kindergarten and the addition of tons of new friends, we have added one more day to the mix. We call it :
January 6: Birthday Version 2.0! Since Bella's birthday will always be during Christmas Vacation she gets her un-birthday after they go back. We have Bella's special day spotlight(I have to make a poster), cupcakes all around(I ordered those!) and after school, (what else?) a birthday party! This year we had a tea party and (I must be insane) I let them use my china to eat off of! It's all ok though, no casualties, the china made it and so did I!
It's been fun and crazy and I don't think I'd change it, but boy am I glad when it's all over!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!