Christmas Party #3: An Evening of Pampering

So Monday night started my week with my day job's Christmas party with an evening of elegance and I ended my week with an evening of pampering at my marketing job's Christmas party. 

In my marketing job I work for my sister Rachel, and when I say an evening of pampering, I mean she knows how to pamper myself and the rest of our staff. Arriving to an excellent meal of her homemade white chicken chili, cornbread and appetizers made dinner casual and relaxing sitting around the table enjoying laughter and fun filled conversation.

Now to the pampering part:

Each year Rachel treats us to thirty minute professional massage by a massage therapist that comes to her house and transforms a room into a tranquil and relaxing atmosphere. If you have never had a massage...I highly recommend it. I guess in my 34 years I have now had five massages, each a gift, and each making me question why I do not spend the money on myself and treat myself to one more often. There is nothing like the complete relaxation of highly skilled and experienced hands working out painful muscle knots while simultaneously eliminating the stress and tension that we carry on a daily basis. 

Not only does the massage therapist massage, but she is also a NuSkin representative who gave me a facial too. A massage and a facial left me completely relaxed and refreshed. No, I don't look like a different person or movie star, but the treatment gave me an instantly noticeable cleaner face. 

Another great evening with great company, food, and the pampering of a massage and facial. I went home and melting into bed with my body feeling completely relaxed leading me to a great night's sleep and thankful for an evening of pampering.

Christmas Party #1: An Evening of Extraordinary Women

December is not only the month of Christmas preparation, but Christmas parties. In the past two weeks I have had four parties and am beginning to feel the burnout. The saving grace is that each party has had a different group of people, location and theme. So this is the first of four postings of each unique party.

My first, a week ago Tuesday, was our Zumba Christmas Party. Yes, Zumba, that workout that I had only heard of a few times before I attended my first class almost a year and a half ago. The first class where I tried to hide in the back of the room so no one would see me as I tried to maneuver and contort my body in rhythm and motions that looked nothing like that of my instructor. I thought I would never be able to learn or keep up, but instantly fell in love with it just the same. With each weekly class I learned a little more and moved up another row or two until I reached the front which is where I always stand now.

I love Zumba, not only for the physical workout, but the mental one as well. It's my me-time that I'm not a wife, mother, employee or responsible to anyone for anything. I do it for no one but me, and no matter how many people are in class, it's just me and the music working out my stress and frustrations while having fun. While I know my body is in a high intensity toning session, I also know that each drop of sweat from my body includes a drop of my daily weights.  It's good for my body, mind, and soul and has become my non-negotiable appointment. While the scale still makes me a little frustrated, I know that muscle weighs more than fat, and I have definitely shed some fat on my Zumba journey. My body is not yet where I want it to be, but is much better toned and my clothes tell me this as they fit differently than a year ago. While I would love to get in a few more classes than once a week, my one Tuesday night is what I am able to realistically commit to. It gives me something to look forward to, but not get burnt out on by doing it too much. Of course I always try to make it to the numerous Zumba parties promoted in our area too as they are an easy and fun way to raise money with a few entry dollars for the many good causes they support. 

Our Tuesday night class began in our church youth room but quickly grew so much that we changed locations to the larger gymnasium of our local recreation center with the largest one night attendance being up around the count of ninety women. While we meet weekly, it's hard to really get to know these ladies during a hour of high energy aerobic dancing followed up by a grueling fifteen minutes of abdominal work out. That said, it was great to meet these ladies for out of the gym for a night where we traded our workout wear for real clothes, sweat for makeup and the workout for a little time of appetite indulgence. An evening where we each brought a food to share, an ornament to exchange and some time where we could actually meet the women whom we have been dancing and punching the air next too. A few stood up with a picture of what they looked like before they fell in love with Zumba. While they were beautiful before, as they are now, they were minus forty pounds here, another forty pounds there and one woman had lost over eighty pounds in just the past eleven months. It was an inspiration to me to hear these women share their stories and commitment to make positive lifestyle changes and see the results they should be so proud of. Each story of endurance and success brought a tear or two to my eyes and caused me to not only see them as my fellow work out mates, but as the extraordinary women they are.

Christmas Party #2: An Evening of Elegance

If you know me, I work two jobs. My day job is in a financial planning office specializing in life insurance and investments and my second job, I do from home in internet marketing. So again, I had two work Christmas Parties this week, the first one being for my day job which I am entitling "An Evening of Elegance". In the past, we have always had our Christmas parties at my employer's house which included a catered meal and a gift exchange of playing dirty Santa. While these evenings have always been excellent and enjoyable, my boss changed it up a bit and took us out to dinner at a fancy shmancy restaurant about 45 minutes away in the neighboring city of Anniston. The restaurant is the Classic on Noble, and while I have heard of it's exquisite atmosphere and palate pleasing food, I had never been myself. Luckily, we were let off work an hour early so that we would have a few minutes to get home and freshen up for our evening out.

After detoured routes around Christmas parade traffic and finding as close a park as possible we set out down the street obviously overdressed for the parade watchers of the evening. Finally, we walk up to the most beautifully Christmas decorated windows of silver and white and upon entering our destination are escorted to our reserved table upstairs. I'm a little slow to the table as I love the walls adorned with hanging art and am trying to get a look at everything as I pass and am keeping up with our hostess. Our table is topped with a cloth top, centerpieces and actually "set" with more than one fork and knife and complete with bread plates, glasses and a full dinner setting that would have Emily Post exceptionally proud and that you just don't find at any of our Gadsden restaurants.

I scan the menu in a somewhat panic at the prices and the fact that it is riddled with seafood of which I am not a fan, and am left with the only choice which is a steak fillet. I did mention the prices already had me in a panic, right? To be specific, I ordered the 8oz. Angus beef fillet served with pommes lyonnaise and topped with Cabernet sauvignon glazed mushrooms and onions. Sounds good right, oh, and "pommes lyonnaise" is just an expensive term for "fried potatoes". No matter the beautiful menu description or price attached, the meal was of generous proportions and absolutely amazing! Yes, very good and I managed to clean my plate and still have room to split a dessert of peanut butter pie which was equally amazing. It was a wonderful evening in a delightful atmosphere, great company and amazing food. I highly recommend the restaurant for those special occasions or when you are just in need of an evening of elegance.

Elfcapades!

I recently read a hilarious blog by a lady explaining her disgust of the over achieving moms who spend countless time and energy to rearrange closets, undecorate Christmas trees, bake cookies and create unfathomable messes by their Elf On The Shelfs....I am not one of those mothers. I am a wife and mother who works two jobs, has a busy schedule and I an actually life. My Elfcapes are not elaborate, but it hasn't taken exotic measures to excite my children every morning with their elf Ashley. I posted Ashley's first four days in a previous post and here are the rest from her vacation from the North Pole.

Day 5: Friday
The girls had been given a large bag of candy that Ashley stole away from the kitchen and spread out all over the living room.

Day 6: Saturday
Ashley, who apparently has a little streak of kleptomania, stole my husband's hats from our closet, stacked them into a pyramid on the coffee table and hid from underneath them.

Day 7: Sunday
After we spent hours putting up and decorating our Christmas tree on Saturday, we awoke Sunday to toilet paper hanging from it's branches. When I lived in Iowa, we called it T.P.ing, here in the south, we call it Rolling....yes, Ashley rolled our tree. 

Day 8: Monday
Ashley took a little longer to find this morning as she had somehow made her way into our refrigerator. I finally found her hanging on the ketchup bottle of the refrigerator door.

Day 9: Tuesday
We woke to find Ashley having had made a snow angel in a pile of flour on our counter.

Day 10: Wednesday
Ashley wrote her name in toothpaste in the sink of the girls' bathroom. It took a few days afterward of them using my sink before we could convince them to let us clean it.

Day 11: Thursday
Ashley knocked all the movies out from within our T.V. cabinet and spread them all over the floor.

Day 12: Friday
Ashley helped herself to an individual cup of our cherished Blue Bell Sundae ice cream, ate the last Oreo cookie that the girls saved for me the night before, was drinking coke from a little Christmas snowman mug and had surrounded herself with a few Christmas globes that had been in the girl's rooms. Yes, Ashley obviously spent the evening binge eating.

Day 13: Saturday
Ashley found a box of Dots candy and wrote her name with them on our kitchen counter.

Day 14: Sunday
Ashley wrapped herself up in a string of beads. This was probably a good thing being that she didn't make a mess with her arms confined.
Day 15: Monday
Though she took a little longer to find, we finally found Ashley sitting atop an arm of our kitchen chandelier.

Day 16: Tuesday
Ashley found our mismatch sock bin and dumped it into a small pile in our living room floor. After a thorough search, Ashley was found beneath the pile. 

Day 17: Wednesday
Apparently liking not only making messes, but just hiding, Ashley was found amongst the leaves of an indoor plant. 

Day 18: Thursday
Elves Rock The House! Or at least that's what Ashley thinks as she wrote it out in Cheerios.

Day 19: Friday
Ashley stole some of my lipstick and painted her nose. The girls woke up to tell me that Ashley had made herself to look like Rudolf. I happen to know that Ashley not only painted her own, but also lipsticked the girls' noses in the middle of the night. However, my children not being the stillest of sleepers, had no evidence of Rudolf noses in the morning. 

Day 20: Saturday, Christmas Eve
Ashley moved all of our wrapped presents from beneath the tree, pulled out the wrapping paper, tags, boxes, tape and scissors and had cut a row of paper elves, instead of dolls, out of the wrapping paper. This gave McKenna something to work on all day as she wanted to make her own paper elves.

It's Christmas Eve and Ashley won't be making any messes tonight. This is her last night in our house and with the entrance of Santa's gifts comes the exit of our little mischievous friend. The girls will wake up in the morning to what Santa brings them along with individual personalized farewell letters from Ashley. Within the letters Ashley tells them how she had to go back to the North Pole for the yearly birthday party they have for Jesus on Christmas Day. While she is excited to get back home and get a start on preparing for next Christmas, Ashley explains that she will miss the girls so much and can't wait to see how much they have grown when she returns next year. She gives the girls instructions on what behaviors to work on and to show a little more patience to each other as having a sister is so special and closes each note by telling them how much she loves them.

While having an elf adds a bit more to the nightly routine of a parent, I have to admit that it has been fun having Ashley around. Some nights I have racked my brain to stretch my creativity for her elfcapades, while some mornings I have woke in forgetful tooth fairy mode as I hurry to do something quickly before the girls wake up. Either way the girls' giggles and smiles have made each morning with Ashley a rewarding experience. While I am not the over achieving Elfing mom, I am the mom that has thoroughly enjoyed making this Christmas memory for my children.

Our Family Addition

Last week I posted a blog entitled "We're Expecting," a title I thought would generate some interest which the blog stats confirmed as it is my highest viewed post thus far. While it does thrill me to see the stats and know that I have readers, if you are just joining me, please continue reading as I believe there are much better posts. Yes, the title was a little deceiving, but does prove the power of how important a good title is to generate interest. No, we are not expecting a baby as I'm sure this is the conclusion many a readers would jump to, but if you read, we were expecting an Elf On The Shelf to come stay with us until Christmas. When I posted last week, I had an Elf waiting for me on hold at a local gift shop until I could make it in and was in a desperate search for an Elf Skirt which turns this elf into a girl with the simple cling of Velcro. In a score for the mommy team, I found the skirt four and a half hours away at the Christmas Tree Shop in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. No, I did not drive all the way there for an elf skirt, nor would I, no matter how many mommy points that would generate. No, we were there for the weekend and as my determination was quickly turning into desperation, a Google search of Elf On The Shelf retailers led the way and the skirt was purchased by my husband in a covert undercover mission while I diverted the girls attention to other areas of the store. While I toyed with the idea of letting our before named Ashley Elf appear and join us on our weekend away, I decided to wait until we returned home to as not lose her or have her to distract the girls from other weekend events.

Day 1. Monday
The girls woke up bright and early Monday morning with an Elf on our shelf. She was sitting on the tupperware container we had stored our Gatlinburg fudge in only the night before and had obviously ate a little bit. She also left a note in agreement to what Santa had told her of Gatlinburg fudge being better than any other fudge there is. The girls were ecstatic that their new friend had finally arrived and begged to take her to school with them, but of course I would not allow that.

Day 2. Tuesday
In an effort to make school mornings as easy as possible with two procrastinating girls, we have a nightly routine of selecting and laying out school clothes for the following morning. When we woke on Tuesday, the girls' clothes were thrown all over our living room along with books that had been knocked off a chair side table and scattered on the floor beneath.

Day 3. Wednesday
Ashley must have wanted to share a little of her home with McKenzie and McKenna because she created a winter scene in our living room. She took all the cotton balls from my decorative bathroom apothecary jar and had them covering the coffee table with Snowman Peeps scattered amongst her cottony snow. Ashley sat in the snow next to a peppermint candy themed Christmas tree ornament she brought back from the North Pole. Next to her was her written response on the same note the girls left the night before asking what she liked to eat in the morning. It turns out Ashley is very tired in the morning and doesn't eat during the day, but really likes the snacks the girls have been leaving for her at night. Again, the girls begged to take her to school, but again I would not allow it instead reaching a compromise to let Ashley ride to school with us. She staying in the back seat held up to the window so she could see our morning route, car line and the girls' school and was given to me to ride up front when the girls exited the car for school. She sat in the same place of my console all day with her eyes fixated in my direction, watching my every move.

Day 4. Thursday
Panties, panties...everywhere, well not everywhere, but in a trail between the girls rooms that would have Hansel and Gretel finding their way home with no problem. I woke the girls in a hurried rush as I had woke a little late myself and continued with our morning routine listening to the girls giggle at Ashley's nightly mischief.

While my husband keeps accusing me of having more fun with Ashley than the girls are, they are enjoying her much more. I will admit that it is fun tapping into the childlike creativity of being an elf. I never know what she is going to do until the girls fall asleep and I am forced to figure it out quickly before I go to bed each night. It is both entertaining and helpful to see what other's elves are doing in several of my friends' morning facebook updates. I find their posts give me quick and easy ideas where I may be over thinking and trying too hard to be creative thus making the elfing stressful. This morning I couldn't help but think that Ashley's notes could be very helpful in motivating the girls to get some chores completed without me having to nag them. Is that manipulative? Yes, maybe a little, but I'm not above a little manipulation if the girls will take direction better from their foot tall friend rather than they will me and avoid a argument or two in the meantime. If Ashley's going to live in our house, eat our snacks and make messes, I figure she could do something productive too and help the girls score some extra points with Santa by cleaning their room, fighting with each other less and taking some initiative in other areas where they are relying on us to baby them. Yes, Ashley is definitely going to explore this method and maybe December will be our month for some better habits to be born to usher us into the new year ahead. I'll update you on the progress or lack thereof.

Happy Elfing!

We're Expecting!

Yes, that's right, we're expecting in the Hodge house! We are expecting an elf to come stay with us until Christmas! Did you think I was talking about a baby? No, thank you, my hands are full enough as it is and my uterus has an aversion to such creatures growing inside of it. Sorry if I misled you, but I did get your attention, didn't I? So the real story is that we are getting an Elf On The Shelf to stay with us until Christmas. If you aren't familiar with what this is, don't worry, I didn't have a clue until last year when my many friends were posting about their elves's nightly escapades on facebook. An Elf On The Shelf is an elf that comes to stay in your home until Christmas. This elf's sole purpose is to keep watch over the home's children and report to Santa on how well they are behaving until Christmas. These little spies are also mischievous around the house, hiding, making messes and other creative little elf activities to keep them occupied when the children are sleeping or away at school. My girls were introduced to the elf last year by their teachers and would come home with giggles and stories of what the elf did in their classroom that day. We decided then that we would get an elf in our home this year, though I meant to pick one up on a post season sale, but unsurprisingly forgot. On a related topic, my sister is hosting a foreign exchange student from Thailand in her home, so I guess I could house an elf this year on the North Pole Elf Exchange Program, right? Yes, indeed, I'm not going to allow her to one up me on our ongoing parenting/humanitarian/super-woman sibling rivalry.

While I was planning on starting the elf inhabiting with the first of December, I'm assuming that other elf-participating parents began with the close of Thanksgiving. I say this because as soon as the girls returned to school from Thanksgiving break, they began talking about their elf and wondering when it would arrive. Thankfully, their best friend told them all they had to do was set out a glass of water, a few crackers, and a note to their elf and their elf would write them back with it's planned arrival date to their house. As efficient as they are, the note was completed before they even reached their bus stop and plans were underway for their elf to visit that night. Their note was left on the mantle next to a cup of water minus the crackers that their mom neglected to have in the house.

 

> Dear Elf

I really want an elf. I want 2 elves 1 good 1 bad. I want both that can be touched 1 baby 1 grown. I want the baby to be messy. Come even if we're not decorated.

From: McKenzie, McKenna

The next morning the girls were disappointed as their note and water were in their original place and there was nothing in return from their future friend. Turns out, our elf left it's note on the other side of the mantle >
 

Greetings from the North Pole!

Thank you for your letter. Santa gets lists and mail all the time, but us elves never get mail just for us. I have been picked by Santa himself to come to your house in a few days. Our elf records show that you have never had an elf at your house, so Santa won't let you have two elves this year. He said that if you take good care of me this year, maybe he will let another elf stay with us next year. So I am really busy right now in the workshop making toys and stuff. Santa won't let me come until I get all my list done. I think I will be all finished and packed to be at your house next Monday or Tuesday. I am very excited to get to come to your house. Santa told me you have dogs and I really like dogs. Please take very good care of me. I am used to Mrs. Clause taking care of me. She is really sweet and I have never left the North Pole before. Again, thank you for your letter. I have to get back to the workshop to get the rest of the togs made on my list.   

~ Your Elf

Well the girls were reeling in excitement and the morning ride to school was filled with questions and little known information about elves. They figured that their elf was probably at our house right that instant just to "check it all out Momma". Really? I being the "Google It" proclaiming person asked if they thought that our elf Googled where we lived. "Well of course not momma, they don't have wifi at the North Pole" answered McKenna. Elves have "Magic Powers" to locate your home and do all sorts of other things. I didn't even know my girls had all this elf knowledge, but I'm thinking I'm going to need to Google an 'Elves for Dummies' handbook to get me caught up on all the need-to-knows with having an elf in your home.

Now for all of you reading this and ready to call the Elf Gender Discrimination Hotline because I keep referring to our elf as an "it", please close the yellow pages and hang up the phone. The only reason I am calling it an "it" is because we are not yet sure if we are getting a girl or a boy elf. Of course my little ones want a girl, but all of the stores their mom has called is out of the Elf On The Shelf official Skirt that turns the initial boy elf into a girl elf. If a shipment doesn't arrive before Monday or Tuesday, the "it" is going to have to be a boy. Though it's been suggested that I make one myself or use baby clothes, my girls have seen the real thing and I'm not really sure if an imitation will be accepted. So at this point, we are going to let our elf's gender be a surprise.

The next night there were three notes left for the elf:

 > This one is McKenna's which apparently my computer and blogspot have joined forces against me to refuse to allow me to insert it any other way but sideways.

Dear elf,
You are very nice but can you please leave your note where I leave mine. I want to know if you are the baby before you come. Please tell me your name.


So I guess it's a little obvious that McKenna did not like the placement of the elf's previous note and she is taking charge of the situation to be sure it doesn't happen again. The concern of the elf being a baby or not determines if the elf is going to be exceptionally messy. (They are hoping for a messy baby, or at least something to blame their messes on....I'm onto them.)

This is McKenzie's in what I believe she must have really concentrated on her handwriting in because you can actually read it pretty well.

> And this one from both is just too sweet. The elf left a few notes again for the next morning and as requested they were left in the same place that the girls left theirs for easy finding. The elf also drank the water, ate the chips and really enjoyed the skittles that were left the second night. I can assure you that the elf is having just as much fun passing notes in the night with my girls as they are.

So as are expecting, you also can be expecting to read more about our Elf-scapades as Christmas approaches. As for me, it's late, I'm tired and I need to check and see what the girls have left their elf tonight! ;)

A Christmas List Defined

A call from the school nurse on Thursday brought my McKenna home, after a trip to the doctors' office on the way, for a diagnosis of Strep Throat. So, Friday she spent the day on the couch with a milder fever than the day before with my husband home to care for her while I went to work and made the numerous mommy calls to check in on fever and activity status. I had one of those full days at work, with an errand filled lunch break and got home just in time to rush McKenzie to gymnastics, finally landing us home around seven at night where I ate a few bites of oven cooked frozen pizza. I sat down to realize I had not sat down all day without being at my work desk or behind the wheel of the car racing the clock to make it to the next appointment. 

It was then I got to spend a few moments loving on my sick daughter who had spent the day watching television, reading books and making her Christmas list. As the stress of my day had just begun lifting, the mention of her Christmas list brought a new stress of obligation and lists of everything that I would have to do for the upcoming holiday only a little over a month away. I tried to brush it away, file it into my memory for another time, knowing it was just more than I could handle at the moment. This was a time that I needed to let go of the day, the week and all the weights that burdened me. So, focusing back on my daughter, I ask to see her list. She runs to get it, throws it in front of me and skips off into the next room to join her sister for a movie.

^ Do you see the list? I stare at the notebook in front of me and have more questions than answers as I try to interpret her list:

1. Peewee: What is that? All I can think of is PeeWee Herman from my childhood and she has not been exposed to that at all. 

2. Wugie: Yeah, not familiar with this term either.

3. Slepers (that pop out): Ok, I am thinking she means "sleepers" would that be like pajamas? And what is "that pop out"? I am what you call dumbfounded. 

4. DVD: I finally figured one out...she wants DVDs, that's easy. I am now at a 1 out of 4 score!

5. Raido: This is an obvious spelling mistake and was supposed to read "Radio". Ha, I'm at 2 out of 5 now, I'm getting better.

6. CD: That's 3 out of 6....go mom!

7. Rainx: What? Why would my child want Rainx? She must have really thought the commercial was cool. 

Todd and I look at the list to compare interpretations of what the 3 out of 7 questions were and to find out exactly why she would want Rainx for Christmas. Here are the findings when you have an answer key to decipher the Christmas list, or rather the creator of said Christmas list, McKenna:

1. Peewee: "Mom, that's a pee wee pillow pet. It's like a pillow pet only they are smaller and cuter."

2. Wugie: "Wuggles are these little stuffed animals, but they are flat. You know the fluffy white stuff that stuffed animals have in them to make them fat? Well you take the flat wuggle and put it on this thing that puts the white fluffy stuff in it and it blows up all fat and stuff." explains my child.  So, yes, apparently a Wuggle is like having your own personal Build-A-Bear Workshop and machine in your home. I am not even gonna google this one for the price tag or the follow up materials that you will need to make if fun past the first use. I am sure it only comes with one flat Wuggle and the stuffing to fill it. We consumer parents are probably forced to have to upkeep the toy with additional stuffing and a plethora of Wuggles to choose from for your child to blow up, each "sold separately". Go buy some stock people....this could be a money maker! And I don't even want to think of all the white fluffy cottony stuffing that will be found in trace amounts all over the house. I think this is when I turned to McKenna and told her she was no longer allowed to watch commercials.

3. Slepers (that pop out): This is supposed to read Slippers. And the pop out part, is that these slippers have animals on them and when you walk, each step makes their faces move, mouths open and such. McKenna described it as "they come to life!"

4.5.6. I got those right, no explanations needed. Score for Mom!

7. Rainx: I ask her why she would want Rainx. She looks at me with this half puzzled, half irritated look and says in that tone that every parent can identify with "Mom, that's PAINT!" Oh, whoops, that lower case "r" is actually an upper case "P" and what I read as an "x" is a "t". Ok, that makes sense now. 

She wants to make sure I will remember everything on her list. I tell her I'm gonna take a picture of it so I will have it with me and that way I can't forget. I actually wanted the picture to share here. Not only because I feel this need to deliver a post now that I have started this blog thing and I actually put pressure on myself to find topics, stories and insights to share, but because I thought it was funny and cute too. Some days are stressful, some weeks and months are stressful. Sometimes we have to shrug it all off, file it away for another time and get in the minds of a seven year old to de-stress. I'm glad a 7 item list could give me a laugh and a break in the complexity of it all. Hope your Christmas lists are equally as entertaining.