Christmas Birthdays, Black Ice, & One Terrible Idea

Whoa. Haven’t written about my day-to-day in a while! Like I shared in my last post, I’m taking this blog in a new direction (for the time being)…or should I say old direction? Because when I first started blogging in the summer of 2011, I wrote about day-to-day life living in New York City. I started Shannon’s NYC because I wanted to keep my parents in the loop about my new adventure (and ironically ended up loving writing more than singing, which is what I was supposed to be pursuing). Instagram wasn’t a thing, so blogging looked very different at the time. This was before smart phones were even widespread.

To really paint a picture of these ancient days of yore, you should know that I looked up directions for the train on my computer and wrote them down on paper in order to navigate my way around the subway system my first few months living there. Yeah. Insane. Don’t remind me of the time my sister-in-law and I did 2-for-1 martini night and I got lost on the way home the next morning, so I sat on a step stool in the back of a bodega with a water bottle to my head until I could function enough to call my brother (and buy the empty water bottle I drank).

I know you’ll be quite disappointed not to get those kinds of stories anymore. (My liver is less disappointed.) Writing about life in the City at the age of 23 is a lot different than writing about life in Alaska at the age of 33. These days there are fewer Broadway shows, bodegas, and ridiculous stories of an aspiring singer. Now life looks more like kid birthday parties, motherhood insomnia, and ridiculous stories of bears bolting in front of my car. Still adventurous…but different.

Anders and Jo turn 4 and 2 on Christmas Eve, so this week has been celebration central. Honestly, I haven’t really done birthday parties since Anders’ 1st birthday in 2018. I gave birth to Jo on his 2nd birthday in 2019, and then 2020 was prime Covid. Plus I don’t think they really “get” it until they’re 3 going on 4, anyway. At least that’s what I tell myself. My children also don’t get Christmas presents until they’re 2, so maybe I’m just mean. But practical!

This year, Anders is in that enthusiastic stage of life where he fully embraces the magic of childhood. All week, he’s been telling me “Mom, you can come to my birthday party!” which works out nicely since I’m the one throwing it. I love this age. The other day when the UPS driver pulled into our driveway, Anders asked why he was there. I meant to say he was dropping off “packages” but I slipped and said “presents.” Anders said, “No mom, Santa delivers presents. Not that guy.” He put me in my place. I quickly apologized for making such a silly mistake. Of course “that guy” doesn’t deliver presents!

Be it Christmas or birthdays…he’s just that prime age for enchantment. I absolutely love seeing the world through his eyes, immediately transported back to some of my own first memories. So putting together birthday parties this week has been a blast, knowing how much he’ll enjoy them. We decided to do a party at school during lunchtime and then a tiny party at our house tomorrow. (Or today when you read this!) We don’t have many venue options for large gatherings here in Ketchikan, especially with a few still closed due to Covid restrictions, and our house is only 1500 square feet, so we had to get creative. He is good friends with so many of his classmates that we figured splitting things up into two parties made the most sense.

I spent 1.5 hours of my precious life painstakingly drawing/cutting PJ Masks masks out of art foam yesterday during nap time to use as toppers for the cupcakes we brought to school. We passed out masks for all the kids, played a game, sang Happy Birthday, and put a little Mio “fruit punch” in the kids’ water cups so it looked yummy but I wouldn’t feel quite as guilty giving kids who aren’t my own added sugar on top of the cupcakes. Such a millennial mom move. Proud of it. Side note: Did I accidentally purchase magic re-igniting candles? Yes, yes I did. Turns out those do not go over well with 4-year-olds.

How many mom points do I get for this? In all fairness, Aaron actually made the cupcakes…

Anyhoo, it was a perfect little lunchtime party, and Anders felt so, so special. At least that’s what his face told me. Oh, and don’t worry, we included Jo but she had no idea what was happening other than it meant she got a cupcake, which pleased her greatly.

The party tomorrow is just 3 other families and ours. Piñata, cake, and costumes. It’ll be ridiculous and perfect. Aaron even bought some normal candles at the store tonight because apparently I cannot be trusted with the most basic of purchases.

This week was also the kids’ school Christmas Program! They attend a Christian school, so we get a mini-pageant of sorts each year, which is the best! They put angel wings on Jo and she danced around the stage in all her red-headed cherub glory and it was everythinggg. Anders recited what seemed to be half of the whole New Testament for memory with his classmates, too, which was impressive.

On the drive home, Jesus literally took the wheel when our 4-Wheeler spun out on some ice. It’s been super snowy and cold here the last week or so, and black ice is pretty prevalent. Thank GOD no cars were coming the other direction because we ended up perpendicular to the road in the oncoming lane. Absolutely terrifying, but we’re all okay.

Welp, that’s what’s going on in the Land of the Leykos! Next week we’ll continue the insanity with doctors appointments, dog appointments, and all-around preparation for our big trip out east for Christmas! Three kids and a dog traveling in public for 18 hours still terrifies me when I think about it, but we’ve got a plan, so all I can do is put it in motion.

Did I mention we’re doing “Christmas morning” the MORNING we are leaving on our trip? It’s a terrible idea, I know. But we have no other choice. At least I wrapped all the gifts earlier this week so that’s off my plate.

PS- What is sleep?