Well Finn hasn't had any accidents in his underwear for 5 or 6 days now!
I think all of his naps he has come out with a dry diaper (he's only actually slept one or two of those days, but still)... one diaper was dirty though.
About half of his morning diapers are dry.
Normally he does a "poo dance" for awhile, and then has to sit on the potty about 5 times before he actually goes poo, but yesterday he went and did it on the first try!
I'm pretty happy about this right now!
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
I'm a planner - house edition
I like to plan. Sometimes WAY earlier than I need to! Conor hates it... because he doesn't like to even THINK about things until it's completely necessary.
Anyways, as I think I've mentioned before, I've been thinking a lot about our upcoming move to Australia. Pretty much since we left Australia and had the possibility put forth of returning.
What exactly am I thinking about? The biggest one is what suburb we want to live in. I've been looking a bit now at suburbs and their price ranges, and the pros and cons of different suburbs.
I've pretty much decided that I want to live in Doncaster.
It looks like you can get a decent looking 3 bedroom house, with an enclosed backyard, for under $1500 a month, which is probably the max that we will want to spend.
One potential bad thing is that there is only bus access in Doncaster. That might not sound so bad to anyone living where I currently live in the Lower Mainland BC, but in Melbourne many suburbs have bus, train, AND tram access. So just having a bus is pretty limiting. BUT we plan on getting a vehicle there, so that helps in one area, but if need be, there is a freeway very close, and that freeway runs very close to the school Conor will be teaching at, so even if he has to take a bus, he likely won't even have to change buses and one bus will take him RIGHT in front of his school.
A very GOOD thing about this suburb is that there is a big shopping center there. In general I don't think Australians do shopping centers. Maybe strip malls or streets that have shops, but I'm a shopping center type of person, so I like that there is one right there. For whatever reason today I started looking at what stores this shopping center have and it got me really excited! When we first moved to Australia I had no ideas what stores sold what, or what stores were more expensive. It's frustrating because you kind of just get used to knowing without thinking what stores have what you are looking for for the price you are looking for. Anyways, I slowly learned... BUT we didn't have kids when we were there last. Now we have kids and a whole other category of shopping to do. So, what stores does this place have that I like?
Anyways, as I think I've mentioned before, I've been thinking a lot about our upcoming move to Australia. Pretty much since we left Australia and had the possibility put forth of returning.
What exactly am I thinking about? The biggest one is what suburb we want to live in. I've been looking a bit now at suburbs and their price ranges, and the pros and cons of different suburbs.
I've pretty much decided that I want to live in Doncaster.
It looks like you can get a decent looking 3 bedroom house, with an enclosed backyard, for under $1500 a month, which is probably the max that we will want to spend.
One potential bad thing is that there is only bus access in Doncaster. That might not sound so bad to anyone living where I currently live in the Lower Mainland BC, but in Melbourne many suburbs have bus, train, AND tram access. So just having a bus is pretty limiting. BUT we plan on getting a vehicle there, so that helps in one area, but if need be, there is a freeway very close, and that freeway runs very close to the school Conor will be teaching at, so even if he has to take a bus, he likely won't even have to change buses and one bus will take him RIGHT in front of his school.
A very GOOD thing about this suburb is that there is a big shopping center there. In general I don't think Australians do shopping centers. Maybe strip malls or streets that have shops, but I'm a shopping center type of person, so I like that there is one right there. For whatever reason today I started looking at what stores this shopping center have and it got me really excited! When we first moved to Australia I had no ideas what stores sold what, or what stores were more expensive. It's frustrating because you kind of just get used to knowing without thinking what stores have what you are looking for for the price you are looking for. Anyways, I slowly learned... BUT we didn't have kids when we were there last. Now we have kids and a whole other category of shopping to do. So, what stores does this place have that I like?
- aldo - pretty much the only place I buy shoes
- target - I liked shopping in target when we were there before, I can assume that I can get good deals on kids clothes there
- big w - the equivalent to our Walmart, probably not the best quality stuff, but good prices :)
- sumo salad - the salad place I worked at in Melbourne, the only place to get a good cesear salad in Australia, everyone has weird sweet dressing
- toys r us - not the cheapest, but in a crunch at least I'll know where to get certain stuff... it also has a babies r us
- the body shop - i like their body wash
Anyways, there's a few more, but those ones got me excited :)
Well that's all of my blabbing for now... Australians if you think doncaster is bad for some reason, let me know! Obviously when we actually get there and look at places we might change our mind, but for now it looks promising.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Over it
7:30, 11, 1:30, 4:20, 6:20
Yes, those are all of the times Elle woke up to eat (actually the 7:30 was her bedtime feeding).... and then she didn't fall back asleep after the 6am one. As usual.
I'm so over it. I want ONE 5 hour stretch EVER from this girl. And even 7am would be MUCH preferable to 6.
Yes, those are all of the times Elle woke up to eat (actually the 7:30 was her bedtime feeding).... and then she didn't fall back asleep after the 6am one. As usual.
I'm so over it. I want ONE 5 hour stretch EVER from this girl. And even 7am would be MUCH preferable to 6.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Snow days
We have had a few snow days around here lately. Elle had her immunization appointment booked for today, and I was contemplating cancelling it on Monday, but didn't just in case.
Well it didn't snow at all last night and wasn't snowing today, but was very windy. We decided to go out anyways. Conor came with me because I have been having back problems the last couple days (yesterday morning it was spasmy all morning, it was horrible!!) and I didn't want to aggravate it again by carrying Elle's carseat, so we all went out to the appointment.
Elle did amazing, she didn't cry at all!!
Afterwards I had arranged to pick up a couple soother clips that I had ordered from someone - but the house was up a big icy hill and the car wouldn't make it up. I got out and said I would walk up, thinking it wasn't very far, but it was quite far up the hill, and I was FREEZING by the time I got up there. Just as I got there a van stopped in to deliver something, so I asked him if I could get a rid down the hill to my car. Normally I would never do that, but it was so cold!! Thankfully he wasn't some crazy person and he dropped me off at the bottom of the hill - and now Elle has a couple cute soother clips :)
Tomorrow night we are going to go to my moms for dinner, since she's going to Prince George for a couple weeks.
Well it didn't snow at all last night and wasn't snowing today, but was very windy. We decided to go out anyways. Conor came with me because I have been having back problems the last couple days (yesterday morning it was spasmy all morning, it was horrible!!) and I didn't want to aggravate it again by carrying Elle's carseat, so we all went out to the appointment.
Elle did amazing, she didn't cry at all!!
Afterwards I had arranged to pick up a couple soother clips that I had ordered from someone - but the house was up a big icy hill and the car wouldn't make it up. I got out and said I would walk up, thinking it wasn't very far, but it was quite far up the hill, and I was FREEZING by the time I got up there. Just as I got there a van stopped in to deliver something, so I asked him if I could get a rid down the hill to my car. Normally I would never do that, but it was so cold!! Thankfully he wasn't some crazy person and he dropped me off at the bottom of the hill - and now Elle has a couple cute soother clips :)
Tomorrow night we are going to go to my moms for dinner, since she's going to Prince George for a couple weeks.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Snow!
Wow - we have a lot of snow right now, and it's still coming down!!
Of course this happens the week that I have Elle's 6 month doctors appointment and her immunizations.
I cancelled the doctors appointment for today - and I think I'm going to go ahead and cancel the immunizations for Wednesday :)
Enjoy your snow day!
Of course this happens the week that I have Elle's 6 month doctors appointment and her immunizations.
I cancelled the doctors appointment for today - and I think I'm going to go ahead and cancel the immunizations for Wednesday :)
Enjoy your snow day!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Potty Training Recap
First I'm happy to announce that Finn had his first poo on the potty today! haha
He has been waking up from every nap with a dry diaper, and this morning his diaper was dry for the first time.
Other than the first two days he's only had a couple little pee accidents.
So you all know that this was THE thing that I was NOT looking forward to with parenting. But actually, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be!
And I'm not kidding myself that it's over or anything, because I know it's not over, but we've made the first big step and it wasn't so bad!!
He has been waking up from every nap with a dry diaper, and this morning his diaper was dry for the first time.
Other than the first two days he's only had a couple little pee accidents.
So you all know that this was THE thing that I was NOT looking forward to with parenting. But actually, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be!
And I'm not kidding myself that it's over or anything, because I know it's not over, but we've made the first big step and it wasn't so bad!!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Elle - 6 Months Old
I just can't believe Elle is already 6 months old!
She contintues to be very good at GOING to sleep. But right now STAYING asleep in the night is the issue. She goes to bed around 7:30pm and then usually wakes up around 10pm to eat. And then from there it's every 1-3 hours... 3 if I'm lucky, but usually every 2 hours! It's so annoying. I've tried just patting her back to sleep, but she just wants to eat.
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| 6 Months Old with Teddy - it was really hard to get this picture because she kept grabbing it and trying to eat it! |
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| Someone else wanted to get in on the picture taking :) |
She is getting closer to rolling from her back to her tummy... but not quite there yet.
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| Being good at Mom's house - she sat in there for an hour while Mom made dinner :) |
- Finn never did figure out how to get from his tummy to his back, and Elle is already doing that.
- Finn was 6 months and a couple days when he rolled back to front though, and I think it's going to take Elle longer.
- Finn HATED the bumbo, and Elle loves it. Lunch and Dinner are so much more relaxing if she is sitting in it and not able to grab our plates!
- Finn would kind of just spin around in the jolly jumper, but Elle actually jumps - A LOT!
- Finn loved rice cereal - Elle hates it (I hope she doesn't turn out to be picky like me!)
- Finn didn't really play with toys much at this age. A little bit, but Elle really grabs at toys and likes to chew on the teething parts. Finn never actually chewed on teething toys, just chewed on other random things (actually, mainly his hands)
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| So she looks hungry - right?! |
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| Hungry - but NOT liking rice cereal! |
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| Sitting up in bed - she is sooo cute!! |
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Little boys
Finnian is definately in that age where inappropriate things are funny.
Mainly things like poop.
He's learning that if he says poop in the wrong context he will be punished.
So what does he do? He says "poop" with a mischievous look on his face, and when I start walking towards him he says one of the following: "remember when Finn poop in his underwear?", "remember when horsey poop?", "remember when baby Elle poop in her diaper?", etc.
He knows that there are certain contexts in which I will let him say poop without disciplining him, and now he's learning how to use this system to his benefit!
Argh!!!
Mainly things like poop.
He's learning that if he says poop in the wrong context he will be punished.
So what does he do? He says "poop" with a mischievous look on his face, and when I start walking towards him he says one of the following: "remember when Finn poop in his underwear?", "remember when horsey poop?", "remember when baby Elle poop in her diaper?", etc.
He knows that there are certain contexts in which I will let him say poop without disciplining him, and now he's learning how to use this system to his benefit!
Argh!!!
Saturday, January 07, 2012
Bedtime Prayers
Normally when it comes to bedtime, Finnian is Conor's responsibility and Elle is mine. Lately, however, we've been having issues with Finn. Issues of the leave-the-door-open, crying, stay-in-bed-with-me variety.
So two nights this week I have put Finn to bed to see if that distracts him or something - who knows?!
The first night it totally worked and he went right to sleep... didn't wake up until the middle of the night. Then last night it didn't work out as well. Hopefully this is just a phase!
Anyways, since Conor has been doing bedtime with Finn, they have started saying prayers at night. Finn would never say prayers with me - see they allow different things from different parents.
Anyways, I didn't know exactly how the prayer went, but had a general idea. Finn seemed to sense this, so both nights with me this week he has started the prayer.
"Dear Jesus, thank you for the nice day..."
The first night he then said something really funny and I told Conor about it later and we laughed about it. Unfortunately I can't remember what it was! Probably something about Thomas the Train.
Then last night he did the first line and then said "Finn pee in potty... get chocolate chip". Yes, Finn gets chocolate chips when he pees in the potty, so funny, he enjoyed telling Jesus about it!
Then he looks at me like he does when he can't remember the color of something, or the next line of a song, or the next number, so I say the rest of the prayer he repeats after me.
"... God bless Grandma and Grandpa, other Grandma, daddy, and baby Elle. Help me to have a good night sleep, with no bad dreams, and a good day tomorrow. In Jesus name, Amen"
So two nights this week I have put Finn to bed to see if that distracts him or something - who knows?!
The first night it totally worked and he went right to sleep... didn't wake up until the middle of the night. Then last night it didn't work out as well. Hopefully this is just a phase!
Anyways, since Conor has been doing bedtime with Finn, they have started saying prayers at night. Finn would never say prayers with me - see they allow different things from different parents.
Anyways, I didn't know exactly how the prayer went, but had a general idea. Finn seemed to sense this, so both nights with me this week he has started the prayer.
"Dear Jesus, thank you for the nice day..."
The first night he then said something really funny and I told Conor about it later and we laughed about it. Unfortunately I can't remember what it was! Probably something about Thomas the Train.
Then last night he did the first line and then said "Finn pee in potty... get chocolate chip". Yes, Finn gets chocolate chips when he pees in the potty, so funny, he enjoyed telling Jesus about it!
Then he looks at me like he does when he can't remember the color of something, or the next line of a song, or the next number, so I say the rest of the prayer he repeats after me.
"... God bless Grandma and Grandpa, other Grandma, daddy, and baby Elle. Help me to have a good night sleep, with no bad dreams, and a good day tomorrow. In Jesus name, Amen"
Friday, January 06, 2012
Potty Training day 4
So last night I was thinking about today and hoping that Finn would have no pee accidents... and maybe even a poo on the potty.
When I got up I put him in his underwear and asked him if he needed to pee and he said no. But then a few minutes later he said he had to pee. This gives me great hope for the day, because normally all of his accidents have been happening in the morning. So to use the potty first thing before an accident is a big step.
Then a little later I saw him doing his poo dance downstairs (it's quite the spectacle to see!) so I told him we should run up to the potty and try there. Luckily he really likes the new seat with handles that I got him, so as soon as I said he could sit on the potty with handles he ran upstairs to the potty. He didn't end up doing anything but sitting and reading for awhile - but that's also a good step.
I think mom's should get a reward for potty training - it's hard work!! Right now I give Finn chocolate chips when he uses the potty... three for him and one for me, because I deserve something too!
When I got up I put him in his underwear and asked him if he needed to pee and he said no. But then a few minutes later he said he had to pee. This gives me great hope for the day, because normally all of his accidents have been happening in the morning. So to use the potty first thing before an accident is a big step.
Then a little later I saw him doing his poo dance downstairs (it's quite the spectacle to see!) so I told him we should run up to the potty and try there. Luckily he really likes the new seat with handles that I got him, so as soon as I said he could sit on the potty with handles he ran upstairs to the potty. He didn't end up doing anything but sitting and reading for awhile - but that's also a good step.
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| Conor's Grannie and Papa gave Finn this book when Elle was born. He loves to read it on the potty now :) |
I think mom's should get a reward for potty training - it's hard work!! Right now I give Finn chocolate chips when he uses the potty... three for him and one for me, because I deserve something too!
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Holiday of sorts
On Monday Conor's family left to go to Sunpeaks for 3 nights, leaving us at home having a little holiday of our own.
I really wanted to get Finn potty trained, or at least have a good start, while they were gone. And we also wanted to work on a few issues with him, the biggest one being dinner time. He usually comes to the table kicking and screaming, we MAYBE get two bites of food into him, and then we eventually give in to the kicking and screaming and let him leave the table. It is NOT pleasant for anyone. Actually breakfast and lunch are kind of difficult as well... no one really eats at the same time, and at lunch some people eat in the living room or somewhere else, which makes Finn want to eat in the living room, but I want him to eat at the table. This results in him only eating a couple of bites.
Anyways, they left Monday mid-morning and as far as issues with Finnian, the day was AWESOME!!! I started the potty training, and the morning was pretty miserable with many accidents, but by lunch time he was able to hold it in and start showing signs of having to go, to which I would remind him to tell me when he had to go to the potty and off we would go. Oh, and he ate all of his breakfast and lunch and then some! Then in the afternoon he was a happy chearful guy, even though he didn't have a nap. We sat down to eat some lasagna and he came right up to the table and ate nearly EVERYTHING on his plate, except a bit of cabbage and brussel sprout. I couldn't believe it. Not only did he eat it all, but he fed it to himself. Generally we have to put the food on the fork and somehow trick him into eating it!
That night Elle and Finn went to bed like perfect children - no crying, or stirring, or anything (except Elle waking up a few times to eat). It was a glorious day.
Then Tuesday happened. Blah! Morning of potty training started out the same as Monday... with an added bonus of poo in the underwear! Breakfast and lunch eating were good. Then Conor went out to get some groceries for dinner and do some work at Starbucks. Cue Finn turning into a monster! haha. He wouldn't nap, but was also NOT cheerful about it. He did the same as Monday with the potty, getting progressively better as the day went on. But he was just plain grumpy. My mom was coming for dinner, so that cheered him up a bit. But then shortly after she got here he started getting grumpy and asking to go to her house and just FLIPPING out when we said no. Then he hurt his knee. It's really frustrating because his knee has been hurting on and off for a couple of weeks. It will be fine and then he'll do something to it and complain about it the rest of the day. And he's not just faking it, because he'll be preoccupied playing, forget that it is sore, and then as soon as he gets up and starts walking again I can see him limping and then eventually remembering that it hurts.
We eventually just put the kids in the bath, but Finn pretty much hated it the whole time and complained about his knee. Finally at 7:20 we decided to put both kids to bed, and mom went home. I put Elle to bed, and Conor put Finn to bed. And Finn started crying as soon as his door was closed and was difficult for the rest of the night. Conor and I took turned trying to get him settled, and we would for half an hour or an hour, and then he would be up crying again (not necesarily knee related, because he just does this sometimes)... but Elle decided to join in as well, fussing every 30minutes to an hour. It was the worst evening with pretty much no relaxation. I had a bath just before bed, that's about the extend of my evening.
Elle and Finn also kept waking up every couple of hours in the night, Conor ended up just spending the whole night in Finns room.
After that evening I needed a morning off! Even though Conor is working hard to get his thesis done this week, he let me go out this morning. I had to take some stuff to MCC and look at some pants for Finn (he is busting through the knees of all of his pants!), pick up a couple potty seats from people, get more underwear for Finn, and a starbucks date with my friend Sylvia!! It was a good morning for me!
Conor said that Finn had one accident and a couple of little pees in the potty. At naptime he didn't nap, and Conor left him in his diaper which kind of upset me. But when I woke up I put on his underwear and his diaper was still dry, and he went right to the potty for me... so it was okay. And just before nap time I had showed him one of the new potty seats I got him, so he wanted to sit on it right away! We had only got him to sit on the potty once before (he stands to pee)... so that was a good sign that he might train better soon!
Anyways, now it's dinner time, still only one pee accident and one poo accident today!!
I didn't want to tell anyone that I was potty training in case I decided I couldn't handle it! haha... guess we're in for the long haul now... my big question is, when can Finn leave the house again? How prepared do I have to be when I leave the house with him?
I really wanted to get Finn potty trained, or at least have a good start, while they were gone. And we also wanted to work on a few issues with him, the biggest one being dinner time. He usually comes to the table kicking and screaming, we MAYBE get two bites of food into him, and then we eventually give in to the kicking and screaming and let him leave the table. It is NOT pleasant for anyone. Actually breakfast and lunch are kind of difficult as well... no one really eats at the same time, and at lunch some people eat in the living room or somewhere else, which makes Finn want to eat in the living room, but I want him to eat at the table. This results in him only eating a couple of bites.
Anyways, they left Monday mid-morning and as far as issues with Finnian, the day was AWESOME!!! I started the potty training, and the morning was pretty miserable with many accidents, but by lunch time he was able to hold it in and start showing signs of having to go, to which I would remind him to tell me when he had to go to the potty and off we would go. Oh, and he ate all of his breakfast and lunch and then some! Then in the afternoon he was a happy chearful guy, even though he didn't have a nap. We sat down to eat some lasagna and he came right up to the table and ate nearly EVERYTHING on his plate, except a bit of cabbage and brussel sprout. I couldn't believe it. Not only did he eat it all, but he fed it to himself. Generally we have to put the food on the fork and somehow trick him into eating it!
That night Elle and Finn went to bed like perfect children - no crying, or stirring, or anything (except Elle waking up a few times to eat). It was a glorious day.
Then Tuesday happened. Blah! Morning of potty training started out the same as Monday... with an added bonus of poo in the underwear! Breakfast and lunch eating were good. Then Conor went out to get some groceries for dinner and do some work at Starbucks. Cue Finn turning into a monster! haha. He wouldn't nap, but was also NOT cheerful about it. He did the same as Monday with the potty, getting progressively better as the day went on. But he was just plain grumpy. My mom was coming for dinner, so that cheered him up a bit. But then shortly after she got here he started getting grumpy and asking to go to her house and just FLIPPING out when we said no. Then he hurt his knee. It's really frustrating because his knee has been hurting on and off for a couple of weeks. It will be fine and then he'll do something to it and complain about it the rest of the day. And he's not just faking it, because he'll be preoccupied playing, forget that it is sore, and then as soon as he gets up and starts walking again I can see him limping and then eventually remembering that it hurts.
We eventually just put the kids in the bath, but Finn pretty much hated it the whole time and complained about his knee. Finally at 7:20 we decided to put both kids to bed, and mom went home. I put Elle to bed, and Conor put Finn to bed. And Finn started crying as soon as his door was closed and was difficult for the rest of the night. Conor and I took turned trying to get him settled, and we would for half an hour or an hour, and then he would be up crying again (not necesarily knee related, because he just does this sometimes)... but Elle decided to join in as well, fussing every 30minutes to an hour. It was the worst evening with pretty much no relaxation. I had a bath just before bed, that's about the extend of my evening.
Elle and Finn also kept waking up every couple of hours in the night, Conor ended up just spending the whole night in Finns room.
After that evening I needed a morning off! Even though Conor is working hard to get his thesis done this week, he let me go out this morning. I had to take some stuff to MCC and look at some pants for Finn (he is busting through the knees of all of his pants!), pick up a couple potty seats from people, get more underwear for Finn, and a starbucks date with my friend Sylvia!! It was a good morning for me!
Conor said that Finn had one accident and a couple of little pees in the potty. At naptime he didn't nap, and Conor left him in his diaper which kind of upset me. But when I woke up I put on his underwear and his diaper was still dry, and he went right to the potty for me... so it was okay. And just before nap time I had showed him one of the new potty seats I got him, so he wanted to sit on it right away! We had only got him to sit on the potty once before (he stands to pee)... so that was a good sign that he might train better soon!
Anyways, now it's dinner time, still only one pee accident and one poo accident today!!
I didn't want to tell anyone that I was potty training in case I decided I couldn't handle it! haha... guess we're in for the long haul now... my big question is, when can Finn leave the house again? How prepared do I have to be when I leave the house with him?
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Christmas Decorations
Well this will be my last post for the year 2012, and I'm happy to say that I once again exceeded the number of posts I had done the previous year! Some day I'm going to have to post everyday, or even multiple times a day, in order to keep exceeding :) haha
Anyways, onto the topic for this final post: Christmas decorations. I was just reading a blog where the woman was pronouncing that it was "tacky" to leave your decorations up into the New Year.... and also I've read many people on facebook excitedly announcing that all of their Christmas Decorations were packed away for another year. So what do you do? When do your decorations go up, and when do they come down?
Growing up I remember always putting up the Christmas decorations on the first Sunday in December. I don't remember exactly when we took them down, but I don't remember it being too soon after Christmas (definitely not boxing day), but it was probably on the Jan 2nd or sometime around there. And that was totally normal to me.
Then I started dating Conor, and his family introduced me to a whole new idea (new to me, that is) of the Christmas Season. I'll honestly say that I used to hear the song "The 12 days of Christmas" and had no idea what it meant, or that it actually had any meaning. And I kind of always assumed that the 12th day of Christmas was Christmas Day. But I was very wrong!
The twelfth day of Christmas is supposed to be the day that the Magi (wisemen) came to Jesus. It's also known at the Epiphany (which is also a holy day of obligation for Catholics in some countries), which is when Jesus was supposed to have been revealed as the Son of God. Some traditions even have people giving gifts (like the song) for every day of the 12 days of Christmas, others just for the 12th day of Christmas.
So back to Christmas Decorations. For Christians, the primary "decoration" should be the Nativity scene. BEFORE Christmas, it should be Mary and Joseph in the stable WITHOUT Jesus in the manger. Then on Christmas Day Jesus comes. And then on January 6th, the three wisemen come. Therefore you just shouldn't take down the Nativity scene until after the epiphany :)
I guess then for the rest of the Christmas decorations it doesn't really matter. But generally we take down all the decorations after January 6th. Last year when we were in Italy we kept them up a lot longer, just because I like them! haha. There's just something about cold winter evenings in the living room with Christmas lights that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
I found it kind of funny that on the previously mentioned woman's blog someone commented saying something about leaving "winter" decorations up but that Baby Jesus can come down. That just seems so backwards to me. Jesus JUST got here on Christmas Day people! haha.
Regarding the tree though, if you put up your tree really early (like November? who the heck does that? But I've seen it) than your tree is going to bed dead and a fire hazard so I guess you have to take that down as soon as possible after Christmas. At Conor's house they only get the tree up the week of Christmas, so it stays up :)
Alright, so that's my rant... what do YOU do?
Anyways, onto the topic for this final post: Christmas decorations. I was just reading a blog where the woman was pronouncing that it was "tacky" to leave your decorations up into the New Year.... and also I've read many people on facebook excitedly announcing that all of their Christmas Decorations were packed away for another year. So what do you do? When do your decorations go up, and when do they come down?
Growing up I remember always putting up the Christmas decorations on the first Sunday in December. I don't remember exactly when we took them down, but I don't remember it being too soon after Christmas (definitely not boxing day), but it was probably on the Jan 2nd or sometime around there. And that was totally normal to me.
Then I started dating Conor, and his family introduced me to a whole new idea (new to me, that is) of the Christmas Season. I'll honestly say that I used to hear the song "The 12 days of Christmas" and had no idea what it meant, or that it actually had any meaning. And I kind of always assumed that the 12th day of Christmas was Christmas Day. But I was very wrong!
The twelfth day of Christmas is supposed to be the day that the Magi (wisemen) came to Jesus. It's also known at the Epiphany (which is also a holy day of obligation for Catholics in some countries), which is when Jesus was supposed to have been revealed as the Son of God. Some traditions even have people giving gifts (like the song) for every day of the 12 days of Christmas, others just for the 12th day of Christmas.
So back to Christmas Decorations. For Christians, the primary "decoration" should be the Nativity scene. BEFORE Christmas, it should be Mary and Joseph in the stable WITHOUT Jesus in the manger. Then on Christmas Day Jesus comes. And then on January 6th, the three wisemen come. Therefore you just shouldn't take down the Nativity scene until after the epiphany :)
I guess then for the rest of the Christmas decorations it doesn't really matter. But generally we take down all the decorations after January 6th. Last year when we were in Italy we kept them up a lot longer, just because I like them! haha. There's just something about cold winter evenings in the living room with Christmas lights that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
I found it kind of funny that on the previously mentioned woman's blog someone commented saying something about leaving "winter" decorations up but that Baby Jesus can come down. That just seems so backwards to me. Jesus JUST got here on Christmas Day people! haha.
Regarding the tree though, if you put up your tree really early (like November? who the heck does that? But I've seen it) than your tree is going to bed dead and a fire hazard so I guess you have to take that down as soon as possible after Christmas. At Conor's house they only get the tree up the week of Christmas, so it stays up :)
Alright, so that's my rant... what do YOU do?
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