Wow. Did December really just happen? Felt like a blur to me, but then again so did the past year. Quick shout out to all the single parents out there!  Operating as both parents is twice the craziness and triple the exhaustion. Thank goodness I snapped a few pictures here and there or else I’m not sure how else I would have remembered it!

New Christmas Tradition – This year we started a new Christmas decoration tradition. We decided to put personality over presentation and will now decorate our tree with whatever the kids are really into that year. This way when we look back at photos years later, we can reflect over that time when the kids were obsessed with xyz. Make sure you stick with 1-2 themes or else it’ll look like you dumped the entire toy bin all over the tree. For 2016, our home was transformed into a winter dinosaur wonderland! I mean seriously, who needs a star at the top of the Christmas tree when you can have a giant 4-ft tall inflatable t-rex instead??

Santa’s Instant Chimney – After being interrogated by my 4-year old son all morning, I finally came up with a solution that would allow Santa to enter our chimney-less apartment. Behold! Our zero-budget Christmas chimney portal all thanks to Melissa & Doug’s cardboard bricks we always have laying around. The set up was convincing enough for Austin to believe Santa now had access to deliver his toys.

DIY Santa’s Workshop – Probably my proudest DIY to date, I think I may have just cracked the code for parents everywhere on how to get their kids to actually WANT to clean up their toy mess. It wasn’t even intentional, but somehow me failing at a DIY toddler-size gingerbread house worked in everyone’s favor. For those interested in recreating this DIY as well as witnessing how the magic came about, please read here.

DIY Ghetto Wrapping Paper – Now before you think I’m totally on top of my Christmas game, please know that I completely dropped the ball with gift wrapping this year. I waited last minute to wrap, which means I also went to the store last minute for wrapping paper. No bueno. Target’s decorations aisle was completely empty. COMPLETELY. I went to 2 other stores in my neighborhood with no luck. After kicking myself, I realized there was only one thing left to do: make ghetto xmas wrapping paper with festive hand drawings. Definitely buying my wrapping paper months in advance next time!

Dear Santa Rap Video – I joked that if sending a letter to Santa is anything like sending a resume to a recruiter, then the kids better get creative beyond the letter to grab the jolly guy’s attention. Feel free to watch their “Dear Santa” letter via rap video.  I’m really happy at how this video turned out, especially since it took less than 20 minutes to make! The secret is an app that can turn any speech into rap within seconds :). You can read more here on how you can do one yourself!

Santa’s Letter To The Kids – You can imagine how tired I was scrambling the last few hours before Christmas morning trying to get everything ready. I was about to go to bed at 3:00am when I realized I completely forgot to write the kid’s letter from Santa. As much as I wanted to scribble something quick and rush to bed, I knew the importance and the power behind this letter. It’s not just a letter where Santa thanks them for the cookies and to be good next year. No, it’s more than that. It’s the one time in the year where the kids will listen to and most likely obey 99% of what’s written on that paper because their future toys are at stake. I knew I had to lie wisely and strategically because I only have one shot until next year.

and here’s what I wrote…definitely longer than I wanted it to be, but the kids just took it as something Santa felt strongly about haha

Turning Into My Mom – So Christmas morning was a success and the kids loved every second of it. They believed Santa made it through the magical chimney after receiving their rap video and then left behind all those gifts. It wasn’t until I starting cleaning afterwards that I noticed I was turning into my own mother. With every shoe or clothing purchase, I made sure to purchase a size or two bigger to ensure maximum wear and use. Not sure if it’s an Asian thing or my mom’s thing, but it was kinda sad to say, “Do you love it?! Ok, put it aside until you can fit it later.” That’s what I get for trying to stretch my dollar and save money. Sigh. We’re all allowed a few #momfails per month, right?

We did manage to sneak in one more activity and that was snow tubing! I’ll write a separate post because this is already long enough. This is why the month of December was a blur to me! Until next December y’all!

Cheers,
THM