Christmas morning

It was really a joy gifting to our boys this year. We kept it on the small side, I think. But we really put thought into what each of the 3 little personalities would like. These 3 boys are all unique and different with different interests. We bought the big boys their first sleeping bags and I "made" Abe a fire truck fleece blanket. That word made...use it loosely in that sentence. I tied two pieces of fleece together. So we had the sleeping bags and blanket sitting out when they came downstairs. 

 

 Abe's main gift from us was a big firetruck. He's been begging for one. He likes to build. So I would have loved to have gotten him some Lincoln Logs. But I knew he would be most excited about a big noisy firetruck, with a ladder (that was part of his request), so that's the route we went.

 

 Pax got to hunt down a few riddles from around the house to find his big gift. In the end it was in the garage but the journey to find it was especially fun. On Christmas Eve I called on my dad for a riddle. I remember riddle gifts somewhat often growing up. That's how I found my Nintendo one year. :) And how my mom found a beautiful ring in his tool chest one year. So Papa J came through with some riddles for me. Pax thought this was really fun. 

 And the gift in the garage was pretty awesome. Jeremy stayed up until 6am Christmas morning working on it. That's right. He barely slept a wink the night before Christmas. But he built this awesome lego table. In the picture above it is still not quite finished. I need to get some better photos now that it is complete. But the top piece spins. And it's ginormous. Daddy did good!

 And for my super energetic active boy, he got a spooner board. When you google "gifts for active 7 year old boys", the spooner board comes up. Holden had no clue what it was. But it didn't take him long to figure it all out.

The boys each bought gifts for one another. Pax and Holden did the shopping for those. I want them to learn early about giving. I want them to be thoughtful in that process. We're not there yet. But I still feel like it's a good practice and hopefully one day they'll get it.

Christmas fun.

December was another season of fun with my family. The big boys definitely have down our traditions by now. And there is often an eagerness over what each day will hold. I look forward to the day when there is that same eagerness for Jesus and the story we celebrate. But for now they are young, and though they really do get the meaning of Christmas, it hasn't pierced their hearts yet. So we have fun with our family traditions, while trying to continually remind them of the deep joy in our celebrations. We started by decking the halls and trimming the tree. One of the most fun nights of the year for our family!

 At least half our lights don't work on our 12 year old tree. Dang the pre-lit trees! And I had to rearrange some ornamanets since all my little helpers found one sweet spot to hang the majority of them. Not to mention our tree went topless this season because I'm not crazy about the star we've had for 12 years but I never went shopping to replace it. So it goes.

I love to see that mantel full of stockings. Just another sweet reminder to me of what God has done.

 

We had our annual picture made with this Santa character and spent some time playing at Bass Pro's Winter Wonderland. By far, this is a favorite tradition for my boys. And it's completely free.  

 We went caroling with friends at a nursing home where they don't get many visitors.

 I loved watching Holden walk into dark rooms of strangers lying in bed to hand out our handmade Christmas cards. It is such a sweet memory in my mind that I definitely will take with me from this year. He was so nervous with the first one. We had to really encourage him to do it. Then he was hooked and really enjoyed talking to the people and giving them each a card.

Later that same day we spent the afternoon/evening with the Myers. We decorated our first gingerbread houses together. And had a great time with these friends.

 

Some friends hosted a Christmas party. You could wear Christmas pajamas or ugly sweaters. Some of us wore both. :)

We made Christmas candy for neighbors and trash truck/recycle truck guys. Pax is the brave little hero of this house that will chase a trash truck down, even if it's cold and he's barefoot and still in his jammies. He never ceases to amaze me.

We painted new ornaments for the Christmas tree.

 We toured our church's Christmas festival. Jeremy was in the Life of Christ cast this year. He's in the picture below. He was the wedding host (with his glass in the air). Jesus had just the water into wine.

Of course, we decorated Christmas cookies.

 

It was a wonderful season. And it was full of memories and fun for our family.

Merry Christmas!

What a celebration! He came to earth, in the most humble fashion, to walk among his creation and save his people. Sometimes it completely overwhelms me. I hope you can reflect today and be completely overwhelmed by your Father God's love for you!

 

Christmas 2014

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration. I think we went a little overboard with the boys this year. Considering that last year all we did was stuff their stockings, this year we did more and it was fun. After years of not "getting" boys and sometimes being at a loss of what to buy my boys for gifts ~ because I've never really seen the appeal in boy toys (maybe because I'm not a boy!)....well, I finally get them! I know what my big boys will love. They are two very different boys. Yes they have some similar interest (like Ninja Turtles and soccer), but all in all, they are very different boys. And now at ages 5 and 6, I can easily pick out gifts that they will love. So shopping for them this year was a lot of fun. We spent the morning at home. They woke to a new train set in the dining room under the tree. We did a big gift for all 3 of them to share this year. They were excited about it. It was so much better than the $12 Ikea train they've been playing with all these years. After a little train time, Jeremy read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Then, they each opened 2 gifts plus 2 new books and a gift from their brothers. Jeremy and I exchanged. (I'm super excited to get my hands on my Fitbit Charge HR!!! I'm still waiting on it!) And we relaxed all morning at home. Around lunchtime we went to my parents and celebrated with my sisters and their families. It was complete joy to see the 8 cousins playing together and running around like crazy. They are all growing up so quickly. My boys adore their cousins and they had a fun 3 days of playtime with them all.

Pax picked out this Ninja Turtle watch for Holden. He loved it!

Holden chose this car for Pax.

 

Pax was so excited about Mouse Trap and both boys have loved this new game. They want to play it everyday! 

 Holden got a remote control car that flips and lights up

Abe got this cool Melissa and Doug toy. So far he has no interest. Don't worry buddy. Give me 3 more years and I will nail your gifts! ;)

 Stocking time.

 

The kid table at my parent's house. These sweet cousins. I love each and every one of them so much!

 Remember how fun it was to be at the kid table? Abe thought he was big enough for it. He was pretty quickly moved to the high chair. Nice try, two year old.

 This was the crew the day after Christmas...lined up in order of age (Almost 12, 11, 8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 2)

And a silly picture.

It was a really nice few days with family. We all soaked it up!

Christmas Traditions

We have several Christmas traditions that our family loves. Here are a few that I captured on film this past holiday season.

Each boy picked out a new Christmas ornament to represent this past year for them. A puppy for Abe...because of his deep love for puppies.

Pax got a "New Reader" ornament since he learned to read this past year. And he is an incredible reader. It's insane. His first choice was a lego ornament because legos are a big favorite with Pax. But we couldn't find one, so we went with our 2nd best option.

 Holden chose a Ninja Turtle ornament. It has been a huge obsession for the past couple of years.

I can't call this one a tradition yet, but I'd love for it to be a new one. Our church had a little hayride to go on that would display Jesus at his different stages in his life. It was a lot to take in for my big 6 year old. We were happy to do this activity with some friends. 

I hosted 3 extra brothers at my house for a little Christmas party one morning. Six boys. Ages 8, 6, 6, 5, 4 and 2. It was loud. And it was fun. They jumped on the trampoline, made a Christmas ornament, read some Christmas books and shared lunch together. Here is the crazy crew showing off their snowmen ornaments.

We spent a morning at Outdoor World to get our free picture with Santa and have some playtime with all the cool toys.

 

 

 

The boys put on their Christmas jammies and we loaded into the car with snacks one night to go Christmas light looking. Such a fun tradition!

There were other memorable ones that I didn't get on camera. I think that I will have etched into my memory forever the night the 5 of us sat around singing Christmas carols by candlelight. Or the pride Pax had delivering Christmas goodies to our trash truck and recycle truck drivers. And one of my absolute favorites this year was Christmas caroling at a local nursing home with some others from our church. Those dear people just loved seeing children! It was definitely another season full of memories and celebrating the One that came for each of us. 

Our halls have been decked!

This past weekend I decided we would decorate for Christmas. With Thanksgiving falling a little later, soon to be followed by a certain little guy's birthday and a half marathon for us, I knew early December would be a little busier than normal. And I wanted to enjoy this time with the tree up. I love our little tree all lit up in front of our front windows. Even if the neighbors are cursing us for doing so before the turkey has thawed, much less been cooked and eaten. So Saturday afternoon, with the boys still in their jammies we decorated the tree and put most of our Christmas decorations up.

 

 this guy loved helping the most.

 And this guy is holding his precious little ornament from last year. It's a brown baby angel. Soon after this picture was taken, he threw it for fun and broke the poor angels wing off. So it goes in the pile of ornaments to repair because I can't bare to let go of them.

 The completed tree

Obviously Abe still needs a little work on his stocking to make it match the others. And we need one more hook. Hopefully this will be the year I make those things happen. I remember thinking that last year...

This year I'm using our tiny tree for all the boys homemade ornaments. And I anticipate we'll be making a few more in the coming month to add to it.

My smiling trio in front of the tree. I love this picture. All three in their reindeer/moose Christmas jammies. My long and lean 6 year old is outgrowing the cutesie jammies so this was our alternative this year. I'm looking forward to a memorable holiday season with my crew.