Christmas Countdown

Well, before we ring out the old year and ring in the new, I should probably back up a bit and recount a little of our Christmas happenings, don't you think?? Hahaha. Here we go:

The Decorations --

For the first time ever (I'm pretty sure) we went and got our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. This was partially due to the fact that we spent Thanksgiving at home (which we haven't done in a while) and partially due to the fact that I wanted to make hay while the sun was shining, so to speak. I have to admit that as odd as it felt to be outside choosing a tree at Home Depot while the temperature was in the mid-60's, it also felt really good. The kids were my helpers and for the 3rd year running we went with a Fraser Fir. For the traditional decorating of the tree, I decided to completely turn it over to the kids this year. I have to admit I was a bit surprised and impressed that they managed to do a fairly decent job of spreading the ornaments throughout the tree. And Jane super surprised me by not really wreaking havoc on the lower limbs throughout the Christmas season. The majority of ornaments and branches remained intact in the weeks leading up to the big day!



In an historic first this year, Ethan managed to finally wear us down to the point where we agreed to hang outside lights. And Scott even let him help with the hanging! Hahaha. I wouldn't say the final effect was anything too spectacular (I didn't even take any pictures), but I do have to admit that it helped to create a Christmas-y atmosphere that was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.




An Early Christmas Present --

Surely I can't be the only person in the world to do this, but this year I took matters into my own hands and bought my own Christmas present and told Scott it could be from him. I've had my eye on a portrait lens for my camera for a while now, and when I saw it go on "sale" at the beginning of the month I went ahead and ordered it. And opened the package as soon as it got here and began using it almost immediately. I guess I'm not really one for waiting. Hahaha. Part of my sense of urgency came from wanting to get Alex's 3 month picture taken before he was no longer 3 months old. I've had each of the kids pictures taken at this age and I didn't want to break the streak with baby #5. So, with just a few days to spare, here is Alex at 3 months (and some random pics of the little girls as well):

This picture is funny because it reminds me a lot of Grace's 3 month picture. His looks have changed a bit since the beginning, but I would say he still is mostly a combination of Sophie and Grace in the looks department.

Jane in a moment of sweet-ness came to give Alex a kiss.

The End of an Era --

The biggest news of the last few months that has not yet been documented is a passing of the torch from Scott's old car to his "new" one:

"The Deathtrap" -- AKA a '96 Eagle Vision which I refused to drive because it scared me so much...

and "The Blueberry" -- a 2000 Ford Focus won at auction with a little (okay, a lot) of help from a friend at church. Unfortunately, I still can't drive this one because it's a stick shift. (But perhaps I smell a little new year's resolution coming along...). Hahaha.

Santa's Workshop --


In preparation for the holidays my dining room was once again turned into my personal crafting studio. To be honest, the Dining Room table has been used more for my sewing machine, etc. this year than it has been for actually dining. The two main projects being worked on this year were some last minute teacher gifts and the kids' new ornaments. When I asked Grace what we should do for the teachers this year she said, "you know -- those cup things you always do." Fair enough. It is a bit of a "go to" move on my part. Hahaha. And it doesn't get much easier. I found some plastic tumblers at Target, filled them with candy, wrapped them with cellophane and slapped a bow on them. Because everything looks classier with a bow. Haha. In the end, I felt like they needed just a little bit more to them, so I ended up throwing together some ornaments to tie with the bow and getting some gift cards to beef it all up.

Finished product.

And in case you're wondering just how I was able to get any of this stuff done when I'm supposed to be taking care of a Full House of children, HERE is your answer:

These pictures sum up so much of Alex and Jane's relationship.

Alex has been rocking out in the jumperoo these days and Jane has been getting a little bit better about not mauling him when no one's looking. Now she waits until we ARE looking. Hahahahaha. Just kidding. Kinda. Hahaha.

The other major craft item being thrown together were the kids ornaments. Although, considering the casualties we've had with them, I probably shouldn't be using those terms. Hahaha. I got the idea from Pinterest and was initially just going to do an ornament with Alex's handprint for his first Christmas, but then decided it would be fun to have each of their little hands documented this year. So, I took 4 inch clear glass bulb ornaments, stamped their hands with an embossing ink pad, sprinkled some embossing glitter on top, (used a q-tip and cotton ball to clean up any excess sprinkling), and heated it into permanence with my embossing heat gun. Voila!

Let's just say that I ended up buying 3 packs of these bulbs before finally having all 5 hands ready to hang on the tree.

One More Christmas Photo Shoot --

While we were at Jo-Anns on one of our crafting runs, Grace found the "perfect present for dad!" To her credit it was the perfect idea for a Christmas present -- a 5 picture folding picture frame. I made the kids pose after church one day to get some wallet-sized pictures for the frames, and now Scott will have these cute little faces staring at him from his desk at work for the next year. The perfect present indeed!








Another ER Trip --

And not to be left out in the emergency room department this year, Grace decided it was her turn to give us a scare. Apparently, Grace is severely allergic to pecans. And probably other tree nuts as well. A neighbor made us a plate of cookies and without thinking anything of it, I gave Grace the go ahead to eat a couple before dinner. She chose a pecan sandy and immediately after eating it started clawing at her tongue saying it was itching. "Great" is what I was thinking and whipped out the Benadryl hoping that would be enough to keep things from getting out of hand. It wasn't long before she started to complain that her stomach was hurting and she continued to look sicker and sicker until about 45 minutes later she threw up all over the place. Throwing up is usually the end of the road -- at least for Sophie and Jane when they've ingested something they're allergic to -- but for Grace it didn't stop there. After noticing that her face was still red with some hives and a bit of swelling around the eyes, we gave the after hours nurse a call and kept an eye on her for a bit longer. When the hives started to spread and overtook her whole body from head to toe, we figured it would probably be best to get her to an emergency room and have her checked out.

The pictures really don't do the rash justice, so suffice it to say that her skin was one big mass of connected red hives. Here she is getting ready to leave for the hospital and what ISN'T pictured is Sophie freaking out in the background because SHE wanted to go to the hospital, too, and it wasn't fair! Hahahaha. What is wrong with these children??






Christmas Eve is Family Present Time! --

One of my favorite Christmas traditions that I've forced Scott to accept in our little family is the opening of all family gifts on Christmas Eve. The kids are huge fans of this tradition as well and were super excited to open up the presents that were sent from grandparents and aunts and uncles. The games were all a big hit and we were able to add a few more books to our Christmas book stash which was really fun!






Secret Santa --
Another tradition we started a few years ago was a sibling Secret Santa. After making the kids wait until December 23rd, we let them pick names (about 5 different times before finally just resorting to letting them pick who they WANTED to have for their Secret Santa in the hopes that it would end all of the fits and melt-downs) and took them to Target with a 5 dollar limit to pick out a toy. Ethan wanted to open his present as soon as we got home, but we managed to hold them off until the next day. It was a lot fun and this was the first year where only one of the kids picked out a gift that they really wanted for themselves. Let's just say that Jane really has no use for Webkinz...


Sophie picked Ethan --
Jane picked Grace --




Alex "picked" Sophie --





Grace picked Jane --

Doesn't she look enthused about her Webkinz? Hahahaha.

And Ethan picked Alex --

A Christmas Pageant --


Last but not least we had our annual family Christmas Pageant. Since we didn't have any family in town this year we thought it would be fun to invite some friends from church over for Christmas Eve. We decorated Gingerbread Trains (all the house kits were sold out by Christmas Eve. Go figure.) and then used their kids' help in acting out the familiar story. It was really cute. Here are the kids posing before we started the production. It's hard to see in the pictures, but Grace got really creative this year with the costuming and created sheep out of white garbage bags with holes cut out for the head and arms. It was fantastic. Although my personal favorite is the "wise man" with Ethan's blanket for a robe and a turkey headband for a crown. Or perhaps it's "Joseph" in a camouflage robe. There's really just too many favorites to choose just one. Hahaha.






And that is that. In closing I'll leave a little quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf that we've been using for our Scripture Time this month:

"May each Christmas season remind us to lift up our voices and fill our hearts with joy and gratitude that Christ the king has come. Christ lives! He is real. He is our Redeemer at Christmas and always."

Merry Christmas!

{photo courtesy of ward Christmas party}