Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays 2024 Edition

 How are you all doing, now that the Big Holiday is behind us?  Anyone else feeling like Christmas (and any other holiday you want to throw in here) is a BIT too commercialized?  Too  scripted?  Too many expectations?  Honestly, we have scaled back a lot on what we do or don't do, what we buy, where we go, who we interact with.  It's a relief, honestly. Sure, there are a few things I wish we had more time to do this year, but overall, nah!

 We *used* to send out about 100 Christmas cards.  We meant *me*, on behalf of the whole family.  I diligently kept up with all the snail mail addresses and contacts of all of our family and friends.  I had it all in the Outlook program, where I could put each person in a category, like "Christmas Cards 2009" and then extract all of them to a database file, to then print all the fancy labels, or to print fancy To and From names and addresses onto the envelopes directly.  It was actually a lot of fun, that part! But then to write in each card, as we/I wanted to do.  That part took a long time.  Sometimes it meant that the cards were late.  Or, then not at all.  Until one year, we/I just stopped buying and sending cards, or making custom cards, even.  It was not without a big twinge of guilt the first few years.  But now, we only get literally a handful of cards, and we talk to those friends and relatives all the time :)

So...No More Christmas Cards! Check!  A tradition from my childhood, but watch us breaking tradition, ha ha!

One of our newest traditions, well, "new" but also over 20 years old in many aspects.

 

Santa Claus!  My husband is the best Santa Claus, hands down!  

He started before he ever knew he was Santa! 

Kids have been attracted to Mike from way back! I know it was his Santa-looking face, even back when he was still in his 20's when we first met! I got him his first Santa Suit in 1998, and he's been Santa ever since! 

He  has learned the tricks of the trade, and I have honestly never met a better Santa! Kids love him, adults love him, pets love him!

We do lots of community engagements, and events, where Pics with Santa is much anticipated!

This year, Mike did Santa meetups with the Residents from The Arc in two of our counties. 

He met the SAIL students at I-Hop in California, MD, when they were having a Holiday Lunch, as a surprise guest!

Mike joined in at On Our Own of Calvert for the 3rd year in a row! 

He also does arranged gigs, such as for company parties, for private homes, etc.

We do a couple of community Pics with Santa events, with our photo booth setup, for instant prints.  SOF Market in Leonardtown was on Sunday, December 15th, where he gave out hundreds of candy canes and listened to many requests for Santa! The SOF Market gave out lots of hot apple cider and an assortment of yummy cookies!

 

Then we went to The Dixon Family Farm in Mechanicsville, Maryland, on Saturday, December 21st.  Let me tell you...whoa! It was COLD, as in Freezing COLD, and WINDY!  It was so freaking windy, that our space in the barn was a challenge to setup our space for Santa, and we were unable to setup our photo booth.  The wind tried to knock over all of our setup, and it made our "final setup" look quite like we had not freaking idea what we were doing!  We do of course, but this was a challenge between us and the Weather.  The Weather...WON!  But, we still took pictures on our cell phones, over 400 of them, to be exact, and finally got them loaded up into their gallery for the visitors.

Now, this year, we had a few teenager Elf Helpers, who we 100% appreciate! We Love our helpers!

 

This year we also had a FOUR-HUNDRED (4! lol!) Elf Athena!  She has been preparing for a long time to go work with her favorite Santa, Santa Mike, who she knows well.  She picked out her Elf design of an outfit, then even assisted in helping put it together!  Yes, it was COLD, we figured she would last about 30 minutes.  Girly lasted over 3 hours, playing, running around, helping comfort other children who were not too sure about Santa.  She made a crying lil girl stop crying!  She helped comfort a few kids who just were not sure about going to see Santa.  She was perfect!  

We had a baby goat in our booth in 2023.

He was back this year...but a LITTLE bigger!

  

Wnen we finished up at The Dixon Family Farm we went out to dinner in our Claus gear, and it was fun, as usual!  We took a lot of pics with restaurant guests, with folks walking thru the parking lot on our way inside, folks in the parking lot, on our way back to the car, lol! This year, one couple stopped to get pics on their way out and chatted awhile.  They said thank you for our community contributions, which we are very happy to give.  Then, we found out after they left, that they had picked up our tab!  Sweet!  And, thank you! 

THIS...THIS is what I love about the holidays, all of the above, plus!

Making cookies with my cookie crew!

Making holiday decorations with my lil Elf gal and her family!

Exchanging gifts with my guys, and with my 2nd Family here!

Playing Mrs. Claus to my personal and most awesome Santa Claus!

Being with my family!

Putting out luminarias in our driveway and down the street!

 

Attending a few holiday parties, when they work out!

Putting up a tree, when it happens.  It did not happen this year, but we are okay with that. 

Putting out lights outside, when it works!

Sure, some of the other traditions are awesome and when they work out, great.

BUT...Keeping things LOW STRESS and FUN are the main goals! 

Merry Christmas!  Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanza!

Happy Birthday to my hubby, Santa Claus!