Saying Good-Bye

It was inevitable.

The tree

and all the decorations

couldn't stay up forever.

They would have to come down

and be packed away

for 10 1/2 months.

Yes, it was all very lovely.

Yes, I missed out on some of the loveliness

while we were gone

and then when I came home sick and bruised

I was in bed for awhile

and still couldn't fully enjoy it.

But today had to come.

I couldn't put it off any longer.

This is the longest I've had Christmas up.

Good-bye

almost bare tree.

Good-bye all the pretty ornaments and decorations.

Good-bye 10 boxes of stuff

and two Christmas trees.

Hello regular house.

Hello open and airy feeling.

Okay.

Pause.

Here's the MAIN reason I kept everything up

for so long:

We never took our Sunday-best Christmas pictures

in front of the tree

and I needed one more Sunday

so that could happen.

This year there are only four of us.

Gasp.

But we took our pictures

in varying combinations

last Sunday.

So, can we really call these

Christmas Pictures

since they were taken

on January 11, 2009?

Well, regardless,

it was a lovely Christmastime.

(is that tree kind of tilting?)

Good-bye for now.

Merry! Merry? Not Quite Sure

So, this is being a rather different Christmas for us, and I'm still deciding what I think.

A few months ago Doug and I started talking about Christmas this year and thought that perhaps the family would like to go adventuring instead of getting "cheap plastic toys made in China", as Nick likes to say. We thought San Diego would be a fun (warm) place to take the kids and they were ALL on board with the idea.

We made sure they understood that THIS would be "Christmas", they would get their Santa gift and that would be all. Okay, they said. Sounds great, they said.

So plane tickets were bought. A rental car was reserved. A beach house was decided upon. And no shopping was done.

A very strange feeling. I realized how much I enjoy Christmas shopping. It has been kind of hard to NOT be in the hustle and bustle. And what about all the deals I'm seeing on the news! I haven't been a part of ANY of that. It kind of hurts.

Today we drove down the mountain to go to a family party, which was wonderful fun. (No pictures. duh.) Tonight we are at Gramma's because tomorrow, Christmas Day, we fly to San Diego.

Gramma's tree

Our tradition, born of my Danish roots on my Mom's side, is to have a smörgåsbord on Christmas Eve with lots of food. Then nobody has to cook on Christmas Day! I have fun childhood memories of our Christmas Eve festivities, helping my Mom get the food ready.

So what did we do tonight, on this night when Sam and Fred had been busy at the mall selling stuff to other people out catching the great deals? And they still had to go pack? And by the time they got to Gramma's it was close to 9:00? And all the good eating places were closed?

This is so funny!

We had BETO'S Mexican 24 hour food for Christmas Eve!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

This really is pretty funny. Good thing the food is pretty darn good.


Well, along the lines of something a bit more in keeping with the holiday...we have been doing a "Secret Santa" thing for a young family that is new to our area. Abbie had the fun task of running to the porch and placing the gift, ringing the door bell, and running for her life!


Last night Abbie biffed it in the snow bank. I think she may have done it on purpose because she knew there was a camera watching her. But I could be wrong...


And just to show the mound of snow who is really the boss, she played "I'm the King of Bunker Hill" for a moment (does anyone know that game?).

Doing the Secret Santa was fun and we did get to buy SOME stuff!

So back to tonight...

The stockings are hung...


The cookie and milk are placed just so...

(eh hem, the cookie was purchased at a gas station store around 10:00 tonight. One cookie. That's all the jolly elf gets. That's how nutty this night has been.)

I sang Christmas songs to Abbie while she fell asleep, just to help her remember what this is really all about. And I talked to her about Mary holding her new little baby, and about Jesus and why He came to earth and the gift He gave to us.

We are having a different Christmas this year, and that isn't a bad thing. We get to be together as a family for 8 days and I expect there will be tons of laughter and lots of good times.

And you know all those winter-snow pictures I've posted? I did that because I knew we were heading towards the sand and the sea and I'm going to love the contrast!

Merry Christmas!

Lurking Outside My House

And what do you do

on a bitter-cold

Winter's Eve

when it is around 0* outside?

Why...

go outside into that

bitter cold

and take pictures

of course.

And then

come back into the warmth

and drink some

herb tea.

Sugar Fest

It took awhile
but Jake finally had a day
with a big enough chunk of time
to make his
Gingerbread House.

I think he did a pretty good job...

for a teen-age boy!
And really,
he did enjoy doing it.
He just looked up when he heard my camera click
and that's the look he had:
"You're interrupting my concentration."

***************

Abbie took her role as
#1-cookie-baker-helper
seriously

And I've already told you
how good those cookies were.

And I'll show you
how cute Jake's house is...

It is with Abbie's now
on Aunt Sadie's Hutch.

You just can't have enough sugar.

***************

SUGAR COOKIES

1 cup margarine (I used butter)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teas. vanilla
2 teas. baking powder
1/2 teas. salt
3 1/2 cups flour

Cream sugar and butter until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Refrigerate 1 hour. Roll out 1/4 (at least) inch thick and cut. Bake at 350* for 8 minutes.

Fast.
Easy.
Good.
Have fun!

My Christmas House

Welcome
to my Christmas House.

I had a goal to have everything up and decorated by the end of the week.
I meant Friday, but Saturday will do.

This is how it pretty much looks
every year...

This is the entry hall.
Yes, those are Santas underneath the picture of Christ.
If you don't know the book
"I Believe In Santa Claus"
you need to.
And when you do then you'll understand
why it is okay to me
to have Santa and Christ
together.

(you really can't see the Santas too well)

Then this is my holiday shelf by the front door.
There are four bears on this shelf that are for my four sons.
I bought them a long time ago
before I knew I would some day have a daughter.
Just "cute" stuff here...

(Oh, the white bear has a key around his neck for Santa to use to get into our house.
Of course, we'll have to put him outside on Christmas Eve.)

On top of the piano...

(Yes, that is music for "The Muppet Christmas Carol"
We really like that movie, one of the best versions of Dicken's story.
Go figure.)

This is our living room window.
This is where I put our various Nativity sets.
When we lived in Virginia I made a fabric Nativity.
I wanted the boys to feel like they could touch it
and tell the story while they moved everyone around.
I didn't want to have to worry about it.
Also, instead of putting a bunch of lights on our house
I just put a candle in the windows
like they do back east.
Keeping it simple.



This is where the stocking get hung
(not by the chimney)
with care.

(There are also some examples of the Scherenschnitte I learned to do in Virginia.)
(I loved living in Virginia.)
(Also, the stockings are really red stocking/socks. I sewed the boy's names on them.)
(Abbie inherited her stocking from Aunt Sadie.)


AAAAAAACCKKKK!!!

What is this picture doing here?

Oh boy! Jacob is not going to be very happy about his messy room
being viewed by others.

OH NO!!
It is one of our laundry baskets
spilling over
with dirty laundry!!

Get me out of here!
Show me something pretty!

Okay. Okay.

Here is our living room Christmas Tree.
This is the tree with ALL the ornaments on it.
Fancy-schmancy to 3-year-old-hands-using-ribbon-and-glue.

(I never thought I would have a fake tree.
But then I got older.
I'm all about keeping it simple[r] now.)

A shot down the stairs with the (fake) garland and bows.

This is the skinny "themed" tree in the family room.
I was the highest bidder for this tree a few years ago
at a fund raiser for our local
Children's Justice Center.

It is a cute snow-themed tree
and it fits nicely into a
small space.

Here is Aunt Sadie's hutch
(that is always how we refer to it)
with Abbie's gingerbread house and other things.
In the lower shelf I have my Christmas dishes
washed and ready to use.
Don't be too impressed...
A few years ago I was at K-Mart
(remember: we don't have many choices out here)
after Christmas
and they had these dishes marked down to
four bucks a set!
I bought two sets and now we use these for the month of December.
If they break...oh well!

OH NO!!
NOT AGAIN!

How does this happen? I want you to think that my house is all lovely
and beautiful.
WHY do you have to see the real-life photos???

*sigh*

Woo-hoo!

What a day yesterday was! Crazy busy it was.

But last night. Well, last night was fun.

We started a tradition many years back that I really love, but it became harder to do as the boys grew older and became busier. I think it will be easier to do this year because we only have Jake and Abbie at home now and they aren't so busy that they're gone almost every night.

This is the tradition: I wrap all our Christmas books in Christmas paper and put them under the tree and every night (or almost) we open a book and read it together. Sometimes, if I'm really on top of things, I'll have a fun treat to nibble on while we read. This is an especially great tradition if it is snowing outside and we read by the fireplace.

The plan last night was for Doug to read to us while we decorated the tree. After dinner Doug hurried upstairs and came down dressed in the white, fluffy robe Nick and Sam gave him last year for Christmas. It takes a real man to wear a white, fluffy robe-I can tell you that much for sure.

Before he read, Doug participated in a little tree decorating.

I think he was going for the "soft Santa" look, with the robe and hat and all.

He was cozy, to be sure.

I was all about the business at hand: getting the tree decorated before midnight. I didn't even think about taking any photos. If I didn't have Abbie around, none of these shots would have happened. Not even the "soft Santa" ones.

She has an eye for detail, that girl. I wouldn't even have considered these shots.

I'm glad she did.

I'm guessing Doug took this shot of Abbie arranging the tree skirt. This is how it is done. The smallest person has to get down there and do it.

We're in trouble when Abbie is all grown up.

Doug read. We decorated. It worked well.

Last night's book was "Red Ranger Came Calling". If you don't know this book you need to.

When it was all said and done my uber-focused mind relaxed and I realized I had no children-in-front-of-the-just-decorated-tree pictures so I called Jake and Abbie back and they, of course, knew right away what I wanted.

And they obliged.

The "don't we love each other?" pose:


The "Jake! Your eyes were closed!" shot:


The "Jake! You look goofy!" shot:


The "Jake! You were looking away!" shot:


The "Okay. This is good enough" (translation: I'm tired of this. We can try again another time.) shot:


And then Abbie, who wasn't quite tired of the moment, wanted her own shot...

...with Santa. And it was just fine.

But the main point is that the tree is up and decorated and our first book read and all is well with December.