Christmas 2010: Blogged

We had a lovely family weekend and I took a few days off blogging or trying to sell hair clips, and it was wonderful to be together. Of course there are tons of pictures and I had to sort through a lot to get this post ready to go, but here it is. :)

 Ammy and Papa came in to town on Christmas Eve in time for the traditional Cookie Painting event. The girls actually cut out the cookies this time, too, and with Brad and I both tag teaming them and keeping things moving, most of the cookies turned out to really look like the shapes this year. :)

Carolyn actually had much more fun than it looks like she did in this picture. :)

 I think this is so cute of Nora peering up over the edge of the table for a glimpse of the cookies.

 That night Brad made shrimp etouffee for everyone and it was delicious. The family's coming back in to town next weekend to "have" Christmas (Shelly and Bryan and Elliot were busy on the other side of the family this weekend), so we're thinking about making the same thing again because it was so good. :)

 Christmas Eve night we had a "pageant." It was very funny. Everyone took a part, but I didn't get a picture of everyone. Here's Joseph (who looks like Obi Wan Kenobi) and Mary.

 Mary holding the frankincense

 One of the Wise Men holding up the Angel of the Lord (who refused to wear her wings)

 Girls wearing new Christmas PJs from Ammy.

 Nora sees the camera and wants to see the pictures of herself on the screen. 

 Ammy gives in and lets her fingerprint the lens. :)

 Christmas morning, gifts piled high under the tree. So blessed.

 Stockings hung by the chimney with care are full. 

 Nora munching on a banana and holding her stuffed monkey. 

 Carolyn's delighted with the "Cinderella soft friend" from Santa.

 Glow Sticks!!

 Sparkle princess crown and THE Tinkerbell doll with shoes that she asked Santa for. :)

 "Big" gift from Mom and Dad this year- a pink princess castle that's been a huge hit with both the girls!

 Christmas hugs.

 Papa's been sneaking the edges of the corn bread.

 See?

 Beautiful table, courtesy of Brad (who filled out my collection of Spode plates), Nana (thanks for the tablecloth) and "So Sarah Designs" who handmade the napkins and rings for me. :)

 I loved how it all came together!

 Carolyn was big enough this year to have her milk in a pretty crystal goblet.

 Carefully sipping.

Hearts full, we gathered to celebrate the Savior's birth and savor the joy of being together. I did a lot of thinking this year about perspective. About joy and contentment and thankfulness. You see, I really wanted there to be a fifth tiny stocking hanging above our fireplace this year- I imagined it and dreamed about it and even "hoped" myself into believing it might be true... and then it wasn't. I've been praying and asking for another little baby for months and months now... and it's a prayer that seems to keep on getting a "Not Yet" answer. But this year as we celebrated the Christmas season with SO many reasons to be grateful all around me- SO many, many blessings to thank Him for- the little miracles who are already in our life, for starters! I thought about how a downcast perspective- a focus on the empty "O" in our J-O-Y stocking holders- can ruin the beauty of the moment. And I resolved not to let it. And so I reveled in the joy and cheer of my children, I savored the preciousness of our family of four, and I thanked God for His many blessings. And we really did have a merry Christmas. :)

Critters and Cuddles

Today we took the girls to the Critter Barn, a local farm where they have lots of cool farm-ish animals for the kids to see and touch and play with. This time of year they also have a live Nativity scene in their barn. The characters weren't quite ready to play their parts when we got there shortly after they opened this morning, so we spent about an hour just playing with the animals, and the girls had a great time.

 The favorite part was the cat room, I think. Dozens of cats just hanging out- all very friendly and used to children. We do not have a cat, and most likely never will- and the girls are fascinated with them.

 I love Nora's expression here- she was just delighted.

 Carolyn had a wonderful time just being allowed to be so close to the animals.

Nora was so cute petting the cats!

Tonight after dinner we let the girls watch the Polar Express while I folded mountains of laundry and Brad took a last-minute trip to Costco (can't run out of toilet paper OR Diet Dr. Pepper this weekend! Either would be a disaster! ;)) After awhile, they wanted to cuddle on the same pillow while they watched the end of the movie.

Warms a mama's heart. :) Love these girls. :)

Videos

Tonight's post is a video post. Enjoy them! The one of Nora is cute and quick- Carolyn's Luke 2 video is a bit longer, but worth the watch- it's amazing how much she really knows!!

A Date with Daddy

I am so thankful to be married to a man who loves his little girls like my husband does!! The older Carolyn gets the more it becomes so clear that one of her love languages is quality time. She just thrives on having special time with Mom and especially Dad! Today Brad took her on a "date." They went and ate junk food at Red Robin for lunch and then he took her ice skating! I wished I could have been there but it was their special time. :) So he took a picture and some video for us to enjoy. :)

She really had a great time and was so proud of herself for learning to skate. :) Apparently the Red Thing was a lifesaver. :) I'm so proud of how big she is getting and glad that she and her daddy can enjoy such fun things together!!

Meanwhile, Nora was at Appletree today, and I spent several hours running around town, going all the "worst" places- like two different Targets, the post office, the grocery store, etc- BY MYSELF. The holiday craziness is indeed in full swing everywhere, but I was efficient and productive and got everything we needed. We are all ready now for Baking Day tomorrow and Christmas coming up. The only hitch in the plans is that when I went to pick Nora up at school this afternoon, they were taking care of a boy in her class who was throwing up... ugh... the FLU is going around again. Just in time for Christmas! So we're hoping that she doesn't pick this one up because NONE of us wants it!! 

It's been nice for me to blog daily again. The holiday Etsy-ness has backed off, and that's a good thing for now. I could not have sustained that pace without causing damage to my family long-term. Now I'm back to a few little things to do here and there, and a nice week of rest and rejuvenation. It's still what I WANT to be doing when I have leisure time, and I think that's a good sign that I'm doing something that's good. It's just a matter of balance. But it's fun to have so many cool things to put my hands to work on. However, it was kind of nice today to not make a SINGLE BOW. Not one. And I barely even thought about it all day, so it was a nice break. But tomorrow, I have so many ideas for new things to play with and try that I can't wait to wake up early and get down to it! :) 

Santa

 Today we took the kids to see Santa at the mall. Carolyn has been enjoying the fantasy more than ever this year, thanks to the Elf on a Shelf that my cousin Erica gave us as a present (thanks, Erica!) The Elf is supposed to observe the children's behavior throughout the day and give report to Santa each night, then return to the house to observe from a different location in the house each morning. Every morning when the kids get up, they look for the Elf everywhere. They get disappointed when the Elf has a lazy day (aka, mommy and daddy forgot to move him). It's been a fun tradition to start. Anyhow, Carolyn especially is VERY excited about Santa. We've made a real effort to make sure that she is amply exposed to the true meaning behind Christmas (this year she can recite nearly all of Luke 2 word perfect from memory!)- but we've played along with the Santa game as well, mostly because I just want her to have all the special and unique experiences of childhood. And the window of wonder is so small- she should keep that for as long as she can! 

So anyway, despite the music playing in stores and the undeniably cold (yet still not snowy!) weather, Christmas has snuck up on me this year, and this was the first chance we really had to go see Santa. I want to be sure that Carolyn does indeed get whatever she asks for from Santa... so I needed a few days to get that arranged. She asked for a Tinkerbell doll, a Vidia (other fairy) doll, and a Strawberry Shortcake figure. Doesn't sound too hard... I'm glad she doesn't have very expensive tastes just yet. :) I think she's been a good girl and it's likely she'll get what she wants in her stocking. :)

Nora asked for nothing, except to be released from Santa's clutches. :) Maybe next year...

After the visit with the Man in Red, we let the girls ride the merry go round. :) They did have a good time, even though their expressions in the picture are a bit awkward!

Kitchen Helpers

Somehow, I just love this picture because of their awkward, cute faces, and bare feet curling over the edge of the kitchen stool that doesn't really have room for both of them, but where they both love to stand when they "help" me cook in the kitchen. Today it was Nana's 7-layer bars we made for the Bible study Christmas party we had here tonight- the girls enjoyed scattering (read: eating) the chocolate and butterscotch chips all over the pan. I loved spending some fun time with both my favorite little ladies.

The Hols, Day One

Today was the first day of our holiday "stay-cation." Brad's office partners take turns running the office the week before and the week after Christmas- each doc gets one of those weeks off and pitches in to work extra hard the other week so the other group can have some time off. This week he has all week off of office hours (cheers!) but not off his pager (boo!)- so we again enjoy a lovely stay-cation. We have all been SO busy the past few weeks that it feels like we haven't had time to stop and enjoy the unique time of year, and to savor the wonder in our children's eyes and the joy in their hearts as they experience Christmas in new and different ways as they grow. So that's our focus this week. We have planned several fun and "Christmasy" experiences to enjoy together as a family- and also plan to spend time relaxing and remembering the true meaning of Christmas. With some of the distractions pushed away for a short time, we're hoping that we'll all be able to reconnect and make some fun memories together.

Today we went out for ice cream (even though it is 20 degrees outside) at a local restaurant that was donating a certain percentage of its proceeds to help my friend Linda and the rest of Ike's family. Ike is doing very well, but it is still a huge family shift to have a child with leukemia and he is still in the midst of a somewhat rigorous treatment schedule. Some of the chemo meds he's taking don't really agree with him so well, so he feels kind of lousy for a few days after treatment. But on a grand scale, he's really doing well. Anyway, here are the kids next to the Go IKE! sign that was outside the restaurant.

They enjoyed the ice cream, and also the running around like crazy people after the sugar hit their little systems. We had to make a relatively quick exit and then think up something for them to do to expend some of that energy.

 When in doubt, give them a bath. It always seems to break whatever crazy cycle they're in... whether it's a fussy baby or a pair of wild and crazy hooligans racing through the house.

 They were especially excited because I let them take their bath in my bathtub where they told me they were "swimming." They liked the jets on because then the bubbles got a lot bigger. :) This activity kept them both happy for quite awhile. :)

Finally Nora said to me, "NO Pictures!" and I stopped. Her language is really improving- she's putting lots of two-word sentences together. Often the first word in these small sentences is either "No" or "Mine."

Carolyn's talk is pretty funny lately too. At night she likes to tell us stories "about my castle" ("about my castle" is generally spoken in a whisper)- and often these castle stories seem to have reflections in books recently read in our house. Lately there's been quite a bit of discussion about opening the window of the castle after hearing a sound and finding a giant steam engine ready to take you to the north pole. Tonight she merged several stories. This version of the Polar Express contained the Grinch, the Wise men, and Baby Jesus as well. :)