Christmas Report

I've been on a bit of a blogging sabbatical.  It is partly due to the fact that Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are completely jam packed with family gatherings and I didn't have time to write.  And it's partly due to the fact that after Christmas day was over, I was enjoying spending time with my guys and wasn't inspired to write. 

But it's mostly because of this.....

My new toy.

I don't remember spending so much time with a new Christmas gift like this one since I was a kid.  I love, love, love my new Kindle Fire.

I gave so many hints that I wanted one, that I actually got two.  I got a Kindle from my Mom for Christmas and a Kindle Fire from my sweet hubby. 

I also scored some new shoes....since my pinky toes were sticking out of my old ones....and a super awesome North Face backpack, made for hiking.  I got several other goodies, too.

I am loved.

But enough about me.

Here is the our Christmas report 2011 via way of photos.....

Christmas at my Granny's came first.  My granny gave birth to 2 kids....my Mom and my Uncle Randy.

My Mom had 3 kids....my older brother (Jeffrey), me, and my younger sister (Jamie).  My Uncle Randy had 2 sons....Rodney and Ryan.

Between the five of us grandkids....so far, we have had 11 great-grand kids.

There is nowhere that my Granny would rather be, than to be surrounded by her greatgrands.

On Sunday night before Christmas, the kids had their Christmas program at church.  There is nothing more precious than toddlers and preschoolers portraying the manger scene.

My boys have outgrown the manger scene and are instead assigned speaking parts, but it's precious all the same.

My mother-in-law's Christmas came next.  Christmas at her house is always so casual with easy conversation.  Here the kids are wild, but it is somehow acceptable at Meme's house.

Christmas with our friends was next.  We have a long history with the Adams.  They are our oldest friends.  We have been celebrating Christmas with them since each of our first children were born.

It's hard to believe that these two.....

Now look like this.....

These friends deserve their own blog story.  I think I'll write one soon.

But for now....back to Christmas.....

The boys look forward to Christmas at Bradley's grandparents because of this......

The football tradition.

They call it "The Amos Bowl".

I reminded the boys before we arrived that we didn't swap gifts at Bradley's grandparents house.  Their reply was...

"Who cares about the gifts?  We get to play FOOTBALL!"

On Christmas eve, we spent the evening at my Mom and Dad's house.  It's my favorite part of Christmas.....except the part at my own house....with my own kids.

I love Christmas at my Moms.

The boys were pumped that they got new hiking boots from their Nana and Pop.  They are all set for our big trip out west next year.

On Christmas Eve, the boys were giddy with excitement.  They begged to open some of their gifts early.  But, I am hardcore.  I made them wait until Christmas morning.

Their pile from Santa looked small this year, because little things cost big money.  All the boys were thrilled to find Ipod touches under the tree, along with cases and chargers for them, some movies, flashlights, K'nex, and a football.

The Ipods have been hours of fun since Christmas morning.  They are a mega hit.

Everything else was wrapped under the tree.

It took all of 5 seconds for them to tear through all of their packages. 

This year, they had 7 packages each to unwrap.  Believe me....they kept an accurate count.

The Ipods definitely ranked as their favorite gift.  But each one of the boys have spent time with other gifts, too over the past couple of days.

Carter has enjoyed his real artist sketch pad.

Sawyer and Carter have both enjoyed the K'Nex sets.  They even connected the 2 sets and created one giant coaster.....with their Dad's help.  It's actually very impressive.

Tucker has spent most of his time on his Ipod, but he has also taken some time to read through this snake book.  He even altered his snake tank after reading about what would make the habitat better.

After waking at 5:30am and spending a couple of hours at home with the boys enjoying our gifts, we got dressed and attended our Christmas Day church service.

(It wasn't actually snowing this year on Christmas.  This photo was taken last year on Christmas Day.)

Our Christmas Day service at our church is always especially meaningful.

The church was packed.  The music was sweet.  The message about the gift of Jesus was beautiful. And the communion portion of the service is always moving.

Christmas for me this year was perfect.  Everything about it.

I am certainly a summer time type girl. 

Winter is blah.  Everything is cold and dreary.

The daylight hours are short.

The school days are long.

Winter is my least favorite time of year.

But Christmas is the bright spot of the winter.

It's my favorite day of the year.

And this was one of my favorite Christmas' ever.

In Hopes That Saint Nicholas Soon Would Be Here

 The stockings are hung by the chimney with care....

Well, actually, they are kind of precariously hung with tape, because I never went to the shed to get our stocking holders out.  And they won't hold up any gifts at all.  Santa will have to take them down and set them on the floor to fill them.  But they are hung....at least.

The reindeer have been fed their magical reindeer food (compliments of Nana and Pop).......

A Christmas Story has been watched.....

The cookies and milk have been left out for Santa.  Along with a note from Carter.....

I sure hope Santa poots his mark in the 'yes' box.

 

The children are nestled, all snug in there beds.....

In hopes that Saint Nicholas, soon would be here.

Merry Christmas to all....

And to all a good night.

Mrs. Claus

  I was raised by the most optimistic, selfless, joyful, kindest Mom in the world.  As a child, her joy absolutely oozed from every pore in her body during the Christmas season.  All of the holiday traditions seemed magical to me when Mom was around.

And she is no different today.  I called Mom early this year on the day after Thanksgiving.  She answered the phone with a gleeful "Merry Christmas!" instead of the typical "Hello?"  My Mom is the epitomy of Christmas spirit.  Her face lights up when a Christmas carol comes on the radio.  She does silly dances.  She likes to shake her gifts and guess what might be inside.  She does holiday baking.  Her house is decorated beautifully.  She is a very grateful recipient of gifts, yet she delights most in the giving of them.

  Her Christmas spirit is definitely contagious.  As I type this, the boys are getting dressed and ready to go to my Mom's house for our Christmas.  We are all so excited.  The kitchen table will be adorned with some sort of "theme".  The Christmas dishes will be set out.  There will be a display of some kind in the middle and we will each have an ornament at our seat that accompanies the "theme" for the year. 

We will have a spread of food that is making my mouth water just thinking about it.  Pancakes, bacon, sweet rolls, ham, sausage, gravy, biscuits, grits, eggs, jellies, and a variety of syrups.  We will each have our favorite soda waiting for us to drink and there will be all sorts of desserts.  We will walk away from the table stuffed to the max. 

  We will sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and the little kids will even blow out the candles on His birthday cake that she makes every single year. 

Gifts will be overflowing from under her tree.  Everyone will have several gifts to open that will be just the right thing.  Mom will sit back and watch and savor every single second of it before she opens her own gifts.  She will smile and giggle and even clap her hands.  She lives for this moment with her family.

My Mom has more Christmas spirit than Mrs. Claus herself.

The Status of My Christmas Readiness

  We had a play today at school performed by some of our students, therefore, we had parents buzzing around.  At the end of the play, I was leading my kindergarteners back to class when a parent met me in the hall.  He smiled and casually asked,

 "So, are you ready for Christmas?"

I wasted no time in my negative answer...

"No way! Not at all!"

But then, it dawned on me that the man that had asked me the question was a new minister in our community, and my answer might have come out wrong. He could have taken my snarky remark the wrong way. So, I tried to fix it.  I was backpedaling, big time.

"I mean.... I love Christmas!  I really like it.  It's not that I'm not ready for it.  I mean....ummm....I'm not finished shopping.  And wrapping. And, It's not that shopping is the most important thing about Christmas, but.....I.....uh......"

I sounded like an idiot.

It was a very simple question, after all.  He probably didn't expect a novel about the status of my christmas preparedness.  So I tried to wrap it up....

"...um....I mean, I just still have a lot to do."

And I smiled.  And pretended that I hadn't just blabbed on and on like a moron.

Here is what I was trying to explain.....

My tree is up, but the only decorations on it are some ribbon and the ornaments that Carter made at school this week.  Nothing else in my house is decorated.  The village isn't out.  The lights aren't up outside.  We have no stockings.

These are the gifts that were bought on Black Friday.  They are still under a blanket....not wrapped.  And not all bought.

This is how far my holiday baking has gotten. 

So....there you have it.  The status of my Christmas readiness is a big, fat flashing

NOT READY!!!

AT ALL!!!

Uhh.... I mean....

It's not that I don't like Christmas.

A Santa's Village With No More Magic

 

The boys and I trekked about an hour north from our house to visit Santa's Village this weekend.  I knew that if we were ever going to go to Santa's Village again, that I better carry the boys this year.  The boys have gotten so much older that the idea of Santa has kind of lost the "magic".  To me, the prime age for the magic of Santa is around age 5.  Even the smallest things are discovered with such wide eyed amazement at that age.  My boys are almost 13, 9, and 7.  They have passed the magical stage.

  Thankfully, I have children who do not want to break my heart. So, despite their lack of wide-eyed amazement, they participated in all the Santa's Village activites.

 They dutifully posed for all the pictures I wanted. 

They decorated the cookies.

They played with the toys in "Santa's Workshop".

They all made the little Christmas tree ornament craft.

And they even played in the fake snow...... well actually, Tucker drew the line at the fake snow.

The boys had a good time, but when we walked around the compact little village and Sawyer said, "Is this all of it?".......... I knew the magic of it was gone.

Even though I know that we will never make the drive to Santa's Village again, I'm not really bummed about it. 

There is still magic all around us.  I still see wide-eyed amazement over other things.

The magic now comes when one of the boys make an amazing play in sports.

Or, when we come to an overlook on a hike that is beautiful beyond words.

There is magic in the moments when one of the boys does something really kind for the other one.

There is magic in their smiles.

Our life is full of magic moments....

...They just no longer involve the North Pole.

The "Real" Christmas

I had a 'first' today in my classroom.  Each year near Christmas, I always ask the same question.  I have asked it every single year for 12 years.  Just to get the ball rolling.  I ask...

"What is the real reason we have Christmas?  Why did it all start?"

Every single year.....until this year....kids start shouting about it being Jesus' birthday.   They know about Mary and Joseph, the barn, the manger, the wise men, the shepherds, the star.....most could go on and with the the beautiful details.  Of course, there are always some that aren't familiar with the story, so the kids who know the story backwards and forwards are able to give all the details so that the story gets told to the class.

I am usually just the moderator.  The kids can almost always tell the whole thing.

But this year, when I asked the question...no one mentioned that it was Jesus' birthday.  The kids excitedly exclaimed that Santa would come.  I wasn't shocked initially by the responses.  I am talking to five year olds.  So I reworded the question.

"Yeah, I know that Santa comes and brings gifts...but what else?  Why do we celebrate Christmas?  Why did Christmas ever get started?"

The kindergarteners excitedly proclaimed that we have Christmas to open presents and get surprises and have a Christmas tree.

Oh dear.

I tried several other questions to draw it out of them with no success.  I was thinking by this point that they obviously are not understanding my point here.  It's gotta be that I am saying it the wrong way.

So as to not confuse them any further, I asked.....

"But whose birthday is it on Christmas?"

Finally, finally, a little girl answered that it was Jesus' birthday on Christmas! 

I sat shocked at how far down the list the real meaning of Christmas had fallen.

And since we were discussing it and they asked questions.....of course I was obligated to tell the whole story.  Thankfully, after I started telling the story, several of the kids memories of the story woke up and they were able to add in some of the details and events of the birth of Jesus. 

All the Christmas 'stuff ' is fun.  The crafts, the gifts, the food, Santa, stockings, the songs, the lights and decorations....I love it ALL.  But I hope, that we aren't burying the real Christmas under all the other 'stuff'.

All They Want For Christmas Is.....

Today is Black Friday. 

Black Friday holds years and years of hilarious and fun memories with my Mom and sisters.  We go together every year.  We go to the same town, the same stores, and eat lunch in the same restaurant.  By the end of the day each year, we have Mom's van packed to the ceiling with Christmas gifts.

Three of the four of us do not like to shop.  At all.

I would even say I loathe it.

But on this day.....this Black Friday....

....and ONLY this day....

I LOVE it!

I love laughing with them.  I love when one of us finds a good deal that we know someone on our list will love.  I love the thrill of scratching someone's name off the list because their gift has been bought.

This is just a teeny part of my list. I am happy that lots of names are already scratched.

I love spending the day with them.  I love every minute of it.

Although I was able to conquer a large portion of my list already,

I still have all of this to go......

The boys lists have no scratches.

And they have a BIG list.

It's beginning to feel a lot like CHRISTMAS!

Christmas at Nana's House


Sharing in that Christmas Spirit with Mom




Christmas Morning

Christmas morning we surpised Mom, Granny and PawPaw by having a devotion and singing Christmas carols at their house. It was a very sweet service and I will always remember it, since it was one of the last moments I spent with PawPaw. He passed away on January 2nd.

Sawyer trying out his new electric scooter.

Christmas at Nanny Heptinstall's

Tucker and Lauren dressed up as Hillbillies for the Church Christmas program


Christmas with Granny and PawPaw and all the cousins

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year. I guess the enthusiasm my Mom always felt during this season rubbed off on me. She still answers the phone during the Christmas season with "Merry Christmas" instead of the expected "Hello". My mother instilled the magic of Christmas into me early on and I still feel the magic today. Christmas time brings carols, hot cocoa, snowy days, gifts galore, special church services, twinkling lights, Santa and wish lists. How could you not love Christmas season. Christmas 2009 was perfect for the Heptinstall family.