Christmas Greetings

We just got our first Christmas cards today!  Seems like the first one comes a little later each year, but we got 4 today, so maybe it just means they come in bigger batches. 

I'm not complaining because we decided not to do cards this year at all, so I completely understand anyone else who has gone that route.  Seems like every 2-3 years, we just can't get it together.  This year, between a vacation the last week of November, major changes to our family responsibilities at church this month that have taken up a lot of time, and then the fact that the last few months have just been rough on us, I couldn't see doing a card.  And honestly, the letter I was writing in my head was not sounding fun or cheerful as I recounted the most memorable moments of our year, so I don't think anyone will be missing out reading that.

So here's the picture I probably would have wanted to use:

 

And I can just say 2012 has been a crazy year full of tough decisions.  I hope we are stronger for it and have learned something useful (its a little early to tell still on most counts), and hope for a fantastic 2013, with a little more sleep, patience, good health, and plenty of quality family time.

 

For now, we're enjoying the holidays and trying to bring the spirit of Christmas to as many people as possible this month.

 

 

It's Christmas Eve!

And we're busy with last minute wrapping, visiting, laundry folding, napping, and eating too many sweets.  So I'll leave you with this car we saw last night while out having some Christmasy fun.

Time is Ticking

Still left on the to do list as of today:

Find an ornament for Peanut's first Christmas
Finish up the last couple gifts
Finish wrapping
Make sure everything is properly tagged
Plan Christmas Eve dinner
Grocery list
Shopping
Bake cinnamon rolls
Make grain-free crackers and scones
Laundry
Quick pick up
Vacuum (the dog is shedding like mad so this is almost a daily occurance)
Mail Christmas Cards!!!!
Go see lights and the singing bears


Good thing there are a couple days left!

Only Four Sleeps Left

And we're busy wrapping gifts,

being goofy (and just a little Christmas crazy),

baking goodies,

practicing our supermans,

holding secret, closed door conferences,

working on puzzles,

pushing the unfinished crafts off until next year,

hoping for a tasty morsel to fall our way,

wishing we had more time to play outside (and dogsitting),

and photographing it all!

(Blogger wasn't cooperating last night, so I'm a little behind with this post.)

On the Eighth Day of Christmas

I know.  Technically, the 12 Days of Christmas start with Christmas day, but we wanted to do the 12  Days for a neighbor--leaving her gifts on her porch each night, knocking and running away.  And it always seems like a lot more fun to build up to Christmas with the fun little surprises.

The kids have been having a blast with the sneaky part of it, although it took until just last night to get one of them to knock on the door.  They prefer to be the ones setting the item down and then start running while Daddy-o or I stick around for the knocking.  But Bug finally braved it and I think he's hooked on the adrenaline rush.

We've been giving gifts that match the number of the day--one mug, two jars with hot cocoa and marshmellows, nativity of three people.  Some have had to be a little more creative.  Today's was a loaf of bread made from 8 ingredients, and for day 10, we're giving her Christmas socks, to keep her 10 toes warm.  We're still debating whether we will stick around the last night to sing a carol.  I think as sneaky as we've tried to be, the neighbor knows exactly who we are, so we might as well actually visit with her for a minute at the end of it all.

Either way, this has been a really fun Christmas activity for all of us--I'm hoping it will become a tradition.

Dear Santa

Santa,

I know I'm really lucky.  My life is good: we're safe, warm, fed.  My family is healthy and relatively happy.  I mean, I get to see this smiling face all day long.  Sometimes all night long, too!  That's actually why I'm writing. 

There aren't too many things I really need, or want.  And my family is always good about surprising me with thoughtful gifts.  But there is one thing they can't give me and that is where you come in.  All I really want for Christmas is a few consecutive hours of sleep from the little guy so I can get the same.  I'm not even asking for a solid 8, which would be unheard of lately, but the 6 or 7 he was doing a couple months ago would be nice.  If I could just sleep from 10-3 one night, I think I'd feel pretty amazing.  I know when we had to keep him up late a couple weeks ago and I went to bed at 11, right after he did, and then he didn't wake up until after 5, I felt like a new person.  But its been a couple weeks and I'm feeling a little rundown again.

So nothing that will take up too much space in the sleigh, or be too heavy and strain the reindeer.  Just a little of that Santa magic for a a night where "not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse",  (and he even looks like a little mouse).  That would make this the best Christmas ever.  Even better than the one where you brought me a guinea pig.

Thank you in advance,

One Tired Mama

What's Cookin'?

The holiday treat making has commenced--cookies, caramel popcorn, and plans for fudge, more cookies, and some breads and pies. But we're still working on the plan for Christmas dinner, and this year will be a little different.  Actually, we don't have a traditional set meal that we always do. In fact, some years, Christmas Eve is our special meal and Christmas day is just lots of snack foods and leftovers.

But this year, because my mom and I both have limits on what we can have, we're trying to plan accordingly and fix a dinner that we can all enjoy.  I felt like I had to skip out on most of Thanksgiving, so this time we're cooking things I CAN have.  Probably a kosher turkey (one of the few not injected with broth, of questionable origin), some cauliflower "mashed potatoes", Pioneer Woman's butternut squash puree with a couple adjustments, green beans with olive oil and slivered almonds, some sort of salad.  And I did find a coconut flour "brownie" recipe that I can have which is pretty good if you think of it as chocolate cake and not so much brownies, so I can have a dessert that night while everyone else is gorging on sweets.

Our one firm tradtion is the cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning.  I will be making those for the family because I can't really imagine Christmas morning without them (I don't think I've had a single Christmas without them since I can remember) and won't make anyone else miss out on that, but I'm pretty excited to get to try these almond flour scones:

Food should be plentiful for everyone, I think, and I can go to sleep with visions of next year's treats dancing in my head.

Hide and Seek

(picture courtesy of kentucky.com)

My shopping is pretty much done (thank you, Amazon!).  I've started wrapping (and love wrapping gifts, so I'm looking forward to spending a couple hours finishing up this week).  I even got a couple gifts this year that I think will be surprising and fun for the receipients, always a challenging task.

Only problem is my mommy-mush brain.  I can't find all the gifts!  Most of them are accounted for, but there is one in particular that I just can not recall.  I have this memory of seeing the return address on the package, and walking in through the garage and then slipping it in somewhere, but that somewhere just won't come to me.  And I actually can't even remember if I'm looking for a box or a padded envelope.  I emailed the company to see if they could clue me in on that fact, but am still waiting for an answer.  My guess is they are busy enough with normal Christmas orders that they don't have time to deal with this pathetic inquiry.

If anyone wants to share their best hiding spots for their Christmas gifts, I'd appreciate it.  Maybe that will jog my memory . . .

Gratitude

Today, I'm grateful for. . .

 Bean getting to go to a school we love, and with friends she has so much fun with,

warm enough December weather that said friends could go play in the backyard for an hour, giving us a little reprieve from the LOUD chaos during a 5 hour playdate,

 my boys.  Daddy-o took half an hour out of his work this afternoon to make cornflake "krispie treat" wreaths with all the kids, and Bug spent the afternoon playing with the girls (who were actually pretty nice to him).

not being stuck watching all the fun from behind a window,

this season when we get to celebrate Christ and Bug gets to dress up as a donkey.

Visitors

We've already had a week of Christmas visitors this year, and now that school is winding down, we're ready for non-stop holiday celebrating with my mom and brother.  The kids are always so excited for a visit from family which means new people to play with.  Its nice to have our adult to kid ratio flip--easier on all of us and lets us enjoy the kids in a different way.

Gifts of the Season

The gift giving has begun.  We've been busy making, wrapping, shipping and giving out presents the last couple weeks. Besides the gifts for family, one of the things we always try to do is to find a couple charitable opportunities.  It just feels good to give gifts to people who aren't expecting anything and to let people know they are being thought of.

Our church does an angel tree each year for those who may need a little extra Christmas cheer.  This years focus was on the older, single women so we were asked to put together baskets of a few fun little gifts or treats. We made up this basket with a couple Christmas decorations, a candle, cranberry chutney, a hand towel and a plate of cookies.

This little nativity was one of the decorations--another Pinterest find (directions are in the link).  This project was one of those that actually ends up being easier than I was planning on (except I might have broken the miter saw, or it just needs a new blade.  Let's hope it's the second one.)  I'll have to keep this in mind for a future Souper Saturday craft.

I made up a second nativity to give to the neighbor we're doing the 12 days of Christmas for.  I've done this a couple other times as a teen and always loved getting doorbell ditch presents.  This is the first year we've done it as a family and the kids are having fun dropping the gifts and running, although they're a little scared to be the one to ring the bell.  Once they're out of school at the end of the week, I'm also going to get them involved in helping me make the rest of the little gifts or treats.

And then, we made the teachers' gifts--crayon monograms (directions in the link).  It was Pinterest to the rescue, once again.  Have I mentioned how much I love that site.  I have found, and used, quite a few ideas from other peoples' pins, and also just love having a place to visually bookmark my favorites, wherever I find them.  This project took a little longer, but the kids were able to help snap the crayons after I scored them, and they picked the crayons and order they went in, so it was a nice way to keep them involved.

I have several other half finished projects that I'm hoping will get  finished next week when we're not running so many places, but I have a feeling that I'm going to have some carry over to next year. 

And finally, it has nothing to do with gifts, but I just thought these 4 boys eating their popcorn on pajama day was too cute not to share.  They wore their pj's to school, had hot cocoa and popcorn and had a great day.  I think Bug would be happy to wear his pj's every day.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

(Christmas, 2009)

Okay, so we may not quite sound like angels, but there has been a lot of singing going on in our house, and the car.  The kids, especially Bean, turn on the radio at every possible moment, play Jingle Bells on the keyboard, and we all burst into song at random times through out the day.

A couple years ago, I asked everyone what their favorite songs were with the plans to make a family Christmas CD.  Only problem is, some people's favorites are on other's "Most Annoying Song Ever Recorded" list.  Like Bean's favorite that year--Do They Know It's Christmas?  It would be bad enough if it wasn't so overplayed, but then there's the fact that our Christmas radio station seems to have a playlist of about 15 songs on repeat from Halloween until New Years.

Luckily tastes change quickly (and Pandora is set to *my* preferences).

Favorites for this year:

Bug:  I can't pick- I like all of them!  (He's an easy one to please.  I have noticed his face lights up when they play I Want A Hippopotomus for Christmas.)

Bean: O Holy Night & Jingle Bell Rock

Daddy-o:  Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas & O Little Town of Bethlehem

Me:  Silent Night & Walking in a Winter Wonderland (Although I'm with Bug on this one--I love almost all of them!)

A Little Poem

Posting this a day late because I didn't end up having time last night for my Monday post (we were off playing Santa's elves and then trying to finish up a couple gifts).

Today's post is actually brought to you from Bean, who has gotten really into writing poetry lately.  (I did contribute a little editing, just in the way of spelling).

Snow

Falling, falling in the sky

Going down from very high

Now down into a blanket of white

Angels, snowmen, snowball fight

After awhile covered in snow

I think we better go

Sitting by the fire with hot cocoa

As we go up to and say "Hey!"

Maybe tomorrow will be another snow day

There's snow flakes in the sky

Definitely puts me in the Christmas mood--it almost has me hoping it will snow.

O Christmas Tree.

We've had a variety of tree types over the years.  The first few years, they were all real trees.  We didn't have the money for an artificial one, and after growing up with fake trees, I enjoyed the scent of pine in our home.  I remember especially liking it our first Christmas when I was very nauseous from a little Bean growing inside and that was one smell that I really liked.

The trees varied a lot in size.  The year Bug was 1, we went for the table top size because we didn't think there was much chance of him listening to the "don't touch the ornaments" rule.  When Bean was 18 months, we had had a full size tree and after telling her once that the ornaments weren't toys and could break, she didn't bother them, but that was Bean, not Bug.

Then, in 2009, we bought our artificial tree.  At 9 feet, its the tallest tree we've had, and that first year, the decorations were pretty sparse.  Even though we've added to them over the years, they're still on the light side.  But we have quite the eclectic collection.  There is no question that our tree is of the sentamental type--no one will mistake it for one of the coordinated trees in a store window.  But the ornaments have been collected or made with love.

Some of the favorites:

 Daddy-o's pick last year.  We try to get a new ornament for the family each year, as well as a new one for each of the kids.  I think someday it would be nice to have a tree that is at least a little coordinated and this one is a fun style.

 Bean's current favorite--she actually got me this hummingbird 2 years ago, and then last year, we couldn't find it anywhere.  It was the strangest thing because we have managed to package up all our ornaments for years without losing anything.  And then, this year, she pulled out a little ornament that happens to be a box and actually opened the box and there it was. 

 I think this is Bug's favorite right now.  He made the Rudolph candy cane at the holiday sale and party that a local nursery has each November.

And while I can't quite pick a favorite our of all of them, this dove has a pretty funny story.  When I was probably 8 or 9, I remember my mom taking me to Mervyn's and letting me split up with her and my brothers to do some Christmas shopping, I think for her.  Well, instead of buying a gift while I was gone, I found this glass dove which I thought was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen and bought it for myself.  And for years, I would pick a special spot each year where the most lights possible would shine on my dove, enhancing its beauty.  Now, I look at it and a feel mildly guilty for the selfishness that I exhibited, but its too much a part of my Christmas tree history to feel too badly about it all.  As my mom said, it can remind me of how far I've grown (or at least what I don't want to be these days.)

Old Traditions Made New

Since we moved to Charlotte, early December has meant the annual neighborhood holiday brunch at our good friends' house.  Great friends, great food, and great music--It's been a tradition we all look forward to each year.

And then, in June, our host family moved.  We all miss them, but decided that we should carry on the tradition. 

 So the party moved a few houses up the street, included a few new faces to incorportate the neighbors up this way, and was lacking the festive piano playing, but we think the spirit was still the same.  It really is fun to be able to share this time of year with the people who have made living away from our families a little easier.  And next year, we're going to have to get the C. family to come back for the party!

Traditions

It can be difficult to start new traditions.  We're met with resistance from the small folk who cling to their memories, which is a little ironic considering they have been alive so few years.  But it only takes doing something once for it to be claimed as "tradition."

This year, we have managed to make a few changes that everyone is happy with.  First was the formation of our "Christmas room."  It's been so named because until a couple weeks ago, our living room had no furniture in it.  Then, we acquired couches from the neighbors moving away, relocated a table and decided that maybe the Christmas tree would look better in there--and the Christmas room was born.  (And quickly became everyone's favorite room in the house--I knew those red walls had some unrealized potential.)  It's really fun to pull up to the house at night and see the tree sparkling through the front windows.

Then, the new advents we started this year have been very popular, so I think those are going to stick around as yearly traditions.  The kids look forward to finding out what activity we get to do and to opening a book each night.

And the rest will have to wait until tomorrow to be updated because another change at our home is having a baby, who at the moment is NOT happy.

Sweetest Sights and Sounds of the Season

Bug and Bean singing together, especially "Feliz Navidad" with the radio.  Bug is always about one beat behind--it's so cute to listen to.

Peanut "talking" to Bug when he gets in the car after school.  Peanut has the sweetest coos anyway, but its even better after he's been seperated from the kids for the morning.  He's so earnest--it really sounds like he's trying to tell Bug all about his morning.

Bean's laugh when Peanut does something cute or funny.  She tends to find everything Peanut does cute, so we get to hear her giggle a lot these days and I love it.

Peanut's laugh.  He thinks his brother and sister are pretty much the funniest people ever.  And the dog, too.  Everything they do makes him laugh.  Really, there is just a lot of laughter going on at our house lately.  It is a nice balance to all the crying which has also been going on.

Making A List,

Checking it twice.  Or three times. Or four.  I'm pretty forgetful these days.  I keep waiting for the newborn haze to clear, but its only gotten worse, probably because my sleep has been more interrupted than ever lately.

So lists are saving Christmas this year.  To Do, To Buy, To Make, To Call, To Look-up.  Lists of all the errands to run.  Lists of what gifts I've already found (I have a bad habit of picking up little bits here and there and hiding them away, and I certainly don't trust my current state of mind to lead me back to all those places without a little bit of a clue).  Lists of ideas for charitable gifts.

Judging by the length of my shopping list and To Do list I made today, it would seem I haven't really gotten very far on Christmas preparations.  But I'm actually done with the majority of my gift shopping, our house is pretty much decorated, and our parties are planned.  More likely, the lists reflect the fact that I'm trying to do too much "extra" stuff this year. 

Last year, between being nauseous, and then traveling, I missed out on all the holiday crafting.  And last year, I hadn't heard of Pinterest yet, so my idea bank wasn't quite so full.  This year, I've got plenty of projects to play with--for myself, to do with the kids, and to use as gifts for some of our friends and neighbors.  Now if only I had started a little sooner.  But I'm plugging away at the list.

Today's work:

One ribbon tree t-shirt, inspired by Pinterst,

and one present t-shirt because Bug likes me to make him things, too.  I didn't get the third one done, but Peanut's onesie is next on the list.

And then I did some present organizing and even got one wrapped (but really only because its for a gift exchange I'm going to tomorrow night.)  Oh, and the kids made the wrapping paper the day before.  I've been wanting to have home-stamped wrapping paper for a few years now and they had a blast doing it.

I also started a couple other projects and crossed off a few shopping items.  Slowly, but surely!

Now and Then

(Christmas, 1980)

Christmas as a Child	Christmas as an Adult
December feels like the longest month ever	How on earth can it be the end of the year already?!
Christmas lists meant writing what I wanted for Christmas	Christmas lists are all my ideas for everyone's gifts, as well and the 1001 things I keep thinking I need to do
Full of the energy (read: bouncing off the walls) of the season	I don't really remember what it feels like to have energy
Couldn't get enough of the Christmas crafts and projects	Still would love to spend the month doing Christmas crafts and projects, if only we didn't have to eat and have clean clothes in December
Loved to read the same Christmas stories over and over—The Berenstein Bears Santa Bear, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, A Christmas Carol	Am loving sharing these Christmas stories with the kids
Waited impatiently for Dad to finish putting the lights on the tree so we could decorate it	Pre-lit tree!
Would snuggle up by the tree with a pen and notebook to write	Snuggle up by the tree with the laptop to blog
Wished I could find all the presents hidden in the house	Wish I could find all the presents *I* hid in the house.
Spent Christmas Eve plotting on how to catch Santa and what I thought he might bring	Spend Christmas Eve playing "elf", which is the best job ever.
Recognized the true spirit of the season when we were serving others and delivering meals to the needy	Try to find ways to bring that spirit into our home so our children can learn what the celebration truly is about
Spent Christmas day playing with new toys	Hope to spend Christmas day sleeping—the best (and most elusive) Christmas present there is.

Is It Christmas Yet?

We have a lot of different ways to count down to Christmas this year.  The matchbox advent calendar I made has been a lot of fun.  It has our daily scripture and Christmas song, which we do each evening, and then also has an activity for the day.  I keep trying to remember to have the kids pull that out in the morning so we don't get surprised at 7 p.m. with a "Make and send Christmas cards"  (that one was switched to a different day--no way we're getting into that right before bed.)

Another tradition, which a friend had told me about years ago, I just started this year: I wrapped up 24 Christmas books.  Some are old favorites, a couple new books, and then a bunch from the library to try out.  The kids were really excited to come home from school December 1st and see a bunch of packages under the tree and they are enjoying a new book each night.  I think this one is a keeper.

Another one we've had now for several years--Mary and Joseph make their way along the path to Bethlehem.  My mom made this one for us and its beautiful.  We just got it hung up tonight because I take it up to the Nativity Festival our church has each year at the beginning of December, so Mary and Joseph had a little catching up to do.

And then, I've got my daily Christmas journaling which has been a fun way for me to count down and get in the Christmas spirit for the last 3 years.  It's amazing, even with the house decorated, Christmas songs playing, and working on gifts and surprises, the stress sometimes takes over and I stop feeling very festive.  It's really nice to take a few minutes to sit quietly and write about one little part of our Christmas each day.

Christmas really is so much more than just the day.  In fact, Christmas day itself can be a little anticlimatic.  The lead up and anticipation and general feeling of goodwill all month is the best part in my mind, so we're doing what we can to enjoy the countdown to Christmas.