Christmas Vacation

{This post is brought to you by Netflix}

Clark sits in his place of honor atop the mantle

I'm officially on Christmas vacation until January 2, 2014! This, kids, this is what makes it the most wonderful time of the year! Sure - gifts, family, baby Jesus, etc etc etc, but really it's all about the break from work!

Do I have a million things that I still need to finish now that I'm on vacation? Yes. Duh! But... why start immediately? If I get it all done ahead of time, we have to skip that whole family friendly screaming hissy fit where I say things like "If I want it done right, I have to do it myself so can you just keep these 3 occupied!" and "Well guys, I'd love to make you a sandwich, but Mommy's in the middle of a nervous breakdown right now!"

Day one of vacation, all the kids wanted to do was play outside!

As a reminder, we live in Missouri and this is what it looks like in Missouri right now:

Menacing ice daggars on a child-sized picnic table? Deep. 

All 3 kids have just gotten over a gross bout of coughing/feverish/throwing up, so Bad Cop Mom laid down the law and temporarily broke their little hearts. The same hearts that were soothed a short time later when I pulled out the fleece blankets, popped 4 bowls of popcorn, poured fizzy mugs of rootbeer before firing up the AppleTV and our Netflix Kids app.  

My kids absolutely love all of the Buddies movies and since they're on Netflix Kids, we can watch all of them any time we want - Air Buddies, Space Buddies, Spooky Buddies, and of course Santa Buddies. We watched Santa Buddies and The Search For Santa Paws.

A few friends joined us as well...

Yep, I'm the sucker mama who buys any movie that comes with a toy...

After our puppy fix, we tuned in for a sneak preview of the new Netflix original series, Turbo FAST. Turbo FAST picks up where the DreamWorks film left off, following Turbo the snail and the rest of his FAST (Fast Action Stunt Team) friends on their racing adventures.

The girls, here's a shocker, loved Burn - "da pink one, Mommy!". Mommy's more of a Smooth Move fan, herself though.

Turbo FAST will hit the Netflix screen on Decemeber 24 but you can watch the trailer now by clicking here. Just in time for your holiday drive over the river and through the woods. Charge your tablets, laptops, and cell phones parents because nobody wants to hear 3 hours worth of "Are we there yet?" 

And for those of you who are traveling sans children this year (lucky bastards), this is the perfect opportunity to binge watch a series you've been meaning to check out - 

• House of Cards - Are Chris and I the only ones who are Team Doug? Doug is a BAMF. Yes, I abbreviated because my 8 year old occasionally reads my posts. New season premiers on Valentine's Day, so you have just a few weeks to wrap your mind around everything that happened in Season 1.
• The Killing - Holder, yo! Every time a season ends, I feel a little empty inside. Thankfully, Netflix is bringing it back for a 4th and final season in 2014. Maybe season 4 will find Holer and Linden as more than popo partners? "Dial 1-900-Linden...." Watch it!
• Lost - Don't tell me you don't like Lost because we both know that NOBODY can resist Lost. Sure, we all hate Kate but you get Sawyer to make up for her skankery and that's worth it. Trust me. 
• Scandal - We've recently started watching this each night before we go to bed. It's kind of like a little mini date and it's wonderful. I want to be as lovely as Olivia Pope one day... one day when I'm no longer responsible for dressing 3 small children and I can wear white with confidence...

Or get yourself into the spirit with one of my favorite holiday movies - 

• White Christmas - The epitome of Christmas perfection. The finale rendition of White Christmas brings tears to my eyes every time I see it. It's beautiful.
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - You can relate. We can all relate.
• Love Actually - Go ahead and try not to fall in love with Hugh Grant. Resistance is futile!

Happy watching and safe travels to those of you making holiday journeys in the next few days!