The Taste of Christmas

It has been WAY too long, people.

I miss blogging. But with no internet I've found myself out at our house at night after the kids are in bed writing in hopes that one day I'll have myself gathered enough to put said writings on a flash drive, haul all 4 kids and Mark's laptop into town, and get on wifi to post.

Today is that day.

I may or may not have showered,

I may or may not have done my hair,

But by golly I have a post for the blog.

Enjoy...

I’ll never forget the first time I tasted the flavor that said, “CHRISTMAS” and yet it was July.

Christmas in Scotland

This post was meant for early December but alas December got in the way.
So like most Anderson things we're a leetle bit late.

While this is by no means all-inclusive, I thought I'd show y'all some of the unique (to us Americans) ways of Christmas in Scotland.

Things kicked off in November round these parts, 

although the city had the decorations on the light posts in October. 

So quit yer bellyaching about Christmas jumpin' the gun on Thanksgiving, 

they did it to Halloween here!

Also, please note Mark took this photo at 8:30 in the MORNING in December. 

Christmas in Scotland

I thought I'd post about our Scottish Christmas and fill y'all in on the last week and a half of December. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Each day of December began by opening our advent calendar(s). We had our traditional candy-filled calendar and a fun winter scene PlayMobile toy calendar 

(I saved it from the Christmas sale at Kroger last year--90% off BOOM baby!)

Cheater-Pants Post

This is a cheater-pants post because I'm a new mom and I ain't got the time (seriously) to sit and write posts and take pictures right now. We're watching other moms do fun Christmas cookies and parties and cards and I'm over here like, "I kept my kids alive today."

Since Mark ran back to the US the morning after Thanksgiving to see his dad in the hospital I've been running, running, running. In my week as a single parent of 4 I found that:

-I cannot sleep more than 6 hours at night not counting middle-of-the-night feedings. There aren't enough hours in the day to get things done so I have to borrow from the nighttime!

-Laundry never, ever ends. The washer and dryers here take about twice as long as the ones in the US so I'm half as efficient as I was (and to enlighten you; I am NOT laundry efficient).

-Plan, plan, plan. To get things done in a timely manner I have to lay out outfits for everyone the night before, set alarm reminders on the phone, make school lunches the night before, and even set out the toaster, Nutella, and bananas for breakfast to keep me on track!

-You might be an idiot to try and drag out Christmas decorations during all this chaotic time. ("you" means "me" in this case).

-I need lots of precious friends. People walking me home, helping me put kids to bed, doing my laundry (I know I just admitted I'm still behind despite the help, just some raw truth there). Caedmon's teacher even came and picked him up one morning for me when I had to get him to school and Nessie to her Highland Dance medal test at the same time. SO precious and SO telling that I'm not a great single parent!

So all that being said I'm telling y'all I'm going to do one giant post with lots of pictures and a few captions and say that's me done blogging for December!

Thanks for your understanding.

I'll do better when my 4 are grown and out of the house.

Maybe.

AirBear all dressed up (and hating it) at one month old.

She is a miracle and a living testament to God's goodness. 

We treasure each day.