Top 5 Reasons Why My House is a MESS

5. Parties, Parties, Parties...  we were invited to four school, PTA and/or neighborhood parties where they asked us to bring our children.  I had Todd call them three times to be sure they really wanted all of our children.  Plus, the kids had 4 school parties that all began at 9am on the Friday before Christmas.  9am was also the time that Todd had invited one of his friend and the missionaries over to our home for a discussion.  We had one Christmas assembly Wednesday at 9am, and one eat Christmas lunch with your child Thursday at 11am.  The young women, meaning Jen, were in charge of decorations for a dinner that we put on for the elderly the Wednesday before Christmas.  So, we spent the week before Christmas, finding tights, bows, shoes, socks, curling hair, buying 22 stocking stuffers times four children, a white elephant gift, a wrapped Christmas ornament, 12 juice boxes (that come in packs of 10) for one class and 22 juice boxes for another class, white icing, 4 christmas desserts, 3 hostess gifts, cute pjs before Santa brings new ones for the pajama Christmas party, gifts for their 3 music teachers and 5 school teachers, and a partridge in a pear tree.

4. Holiday craft projects... gingerbread houses, Christmas quilts, painted ornaments, taggy dolls, gingerbread men- for Santa, and lots and lots of chocolates...  We mailed 100 christmas cards and bought 40 tins to fill with candy for our friends and neighbors (I'm not sure how many we actually delivered).  We wrapped and wrapped... we mailed and packed.  11 out of state packages, one out of the country package and a whole car full of gifts going to grandmother's house with the gang... 

3.  Each of our 5 kids bought gifts from the dollar store for the 7 in our family, my mom, 2 brothers and sister.  That is 55 dollar store gifts that we wrapped and put under our tree, not to mention any mom, santa or family gifts...  Todd got a great new hat, drew got some groovy glasses, the girls got some pretty lipstick and grandma got bathsalts... It's amazing what you can find at the dollar store.  We got gifts from grandmas and grandpas, lots and lots of christmas cards from friends, gifts from cousins, aunts and uncles, friends, neighbors and teachers.

2. Santa- he makes a mess.  Between stockings, presents, new pajamas Christmas Eve and leaving leftover half-chewed carrots for leah to eat all Christmas morning...  he needed to bring us a sleigh to pack home all that stuff...

Thank you to all of you who help make our seasons bright... we are so blessed and so grateful.  I have a quote hanging by my sink that says, "Thank you Lord for dirty dishes, for we have had something to eat."  After writing this blog, I feel the same way...  Thank you Lord for messy houses, for we have truely been multiplied, blessed and filled.  Life is good.

(I'm sure the fact that I've just spent the last hour on the computer can NOT contribute to the fact that my house is messy... but in case you're wondering I am currently conducting an experiment to see if my house will actually be dirtier if I don't clean it then it is when I do clean it... this may seem odd to many of you, but I did spend most of my morning cleaning and you can't tell.  Perhaps cleaning the house while the kids are playing is like shoveling the snow while it's still snowing.)