December Arrives in a Flurry

The calendar turned to December, and we were off to the races! Very telling of the month of Christmas craziness that was to come...

Of course, one of the most important parts of any day in December is the Advent calendar. The girls look forward to it each year, and wake up and race downstairs to discover what's hiding behind those tiny doors. So on this first day of the month, they were excited to find out that they were going to see Santa today!

But first- one additional bonus tailgate party and game. Because the hurricane wiped out a game in September, State added an unusual December game against ECU. The fans were excited for one more party. I was excited to make two of my most favorite holiday treats- chocolate peanut butter balls and molasses cookies. 

 

 

 

 

Fun tailgate, but we quickly moved on because we had important business to attend to...Santa of course. We had changed into our Christmas best, and rushed over to Ace Hardware (where we always see Santa) only to discover a Christmas disaster. 

Ace had changed things around this year because our Santa visit had always been in the middle of the week. This time it was on a Saturday. We expected big crowds, but when we walked in the store, no one was there. Santa was not in his normal place up front with a big fancy seat surrounded by decorations. There was no line to see him, there was no food display with punch and peppermint bark. There was nothing to see at all. We were very confused. Then we walked to the back of the store, and we saw a tiny table of food and a single office chair that was empty. A worker told us that Santa was taking a break. I got a bad feeling right then and there...

I went and looked for some Christmas lights when Collins came running up to me saying, "There's a problem! Santa's a fake!" She said his face looked wrong, and his boots did not have buckles, and he was wearing gardening gloves! I went with her to see Santa, and saw in horror that she was completely right. A KID was playing Santa. Gone was the sweet old Santa we had visited for the past 6 years. Gone was the man with the kind voice, and the big belly and soft red suit. In his place, was a kid with a fake beard, gardening gloves, and an office chair. TERRIBLE!! I was mad and at a loss at how to explain this situation to my children. But there was no getting around the fact that this Santa was a FAKE.

Turns out the Seaboard Ace had changed owners last year, and apparently they did not feel it was necessary to bring back the real Santa. The whole experience was a huge disappointment- one that I was going to have to make up to these sweet faces.
 

After the Santa bomb, we came home to regroup for a bit. Then were off again because this December I decided I wanted to try a few new activities. I had always wanted to visit the Moravian Church's Candlelight Tea. So I took the kids, excited to show them another church's version of Christmas. I was impressed by the gorgeous sanctuary, and the kids were impressed by the Moravian sweet bread, but Luke was not behaving and we got out of there ASAP. Oh well, now I know what it's like and can check it off the Christmas list.

One final Christmas activity for the first day of December- our first holiday party! We went out to dinner with our Zero Heavy friends and had a great time.

But wow, what a day. Only one day in, and the Christmas craziness had officially begun.