Christmas 2011

Yes, I am well aware that Christmas was a couple of weeks ago, but I am just now getting around to posting some Christmas pics. Christmas Eve was much quieter this year than it usually is. We always get together with my family on Christmas Eve and with a total of 13 kids (plus 2 more on the way!) between us, it is always a fun night with a lot of chaos. This year was certainly still fun, but not nearly so chaotic because 8 of the 13 cousins weren't there. Two of my three sisters and their families weren't there, so it was much quieter than usual. Have I mentioned how much I truly hate that we are not all together anymore? I do.

But, we still had a great time. My parents gave Jake a Lego set, which is always a hit. He could hardly rip into the box and get it put together fast enough. Addi got the Josefina American Girl doll from them. She has started getting into American Girl lately and has been wanting one of the dolls, but spending $100 on a doll is just not something that we were willing to do. So, instead, I bought a used one from Craigslist for half the price, and Addi doesn't know the difference. The doll was going to be Addi's present from us, but my mom needed an idea, so it became her present from my parents instead. She LOVES her and takes her everywhere.

Then, Christmas morning started with our treasure hunt for Jesus that the kids really love doing. I tried to make the clues a little trickier this year so that "following the star" to find Jesus would be a little more challenging. We then ate a little birthday cake and finished reading our Jesse Tree book and the story of Christ's birth, and talked about what we were doing for Jesus for His birthday. Then, we headed out to deliver Christmas goodies to a few random families. We love this Christmas tradition that we started a few years ago and love that it helps the kids to focus on others first. We stayed close to home this year and delivered to a couple of neighbors that we don't really know and another family up the street that just had a baby (their 7th!).

On our way to deliver treats

Jake and Addi take turns, with one of them setting the goodies at the door and one of them ringing the bell, and then they both run and hide.

When we returned from that, it was Jake and Addi's turn to open their presents. First, they opened the presents that they had gotten each other. Jake picked out (on his own) an American Girl sewing project for Addi (so, in other words, a sewing project for me), and Addi got Jake a 5-in-1 survival tool, which he thought was pretty much the coolest thing ever. This thing is a serious tool with an ax, saw, hammer, etc. and Jake loved it. He spent the next couple of hours playing with that (he took it outside and chopped down a small tree in our front yard with it) and his new legos, while Addi played with her doll. Jay and I also got to open our presents from the kids. I got a new pair of flip flops and we each got some sort of craft that they had made.

Our neighbor, Jack, helped Jake to cut down the tree. I bought Jack the same survival tool that Addi gave Jake, so the two of them worked together. I don't think that his parents were too thrilled with my choice of a present though. They thought it was a little dangerous. Oops!

Jake would have been perfectly content playing with his tool and doing nothing else for the rest of the day, but Addi requested to move on. So, they then opened their present from Nana and Papa. Addi got an outfit for Josefina (if you know Addi, you know that she changes clothes about 10 times a day, so she is thrilled to have changes of clothes for Josefina as well) and the entire set of Josefina books. Addi has gotten to be such a good reader that she reads them to me sometimes instead of me reading them to her. Needless to say, she loved her gifts from Jay's parents and then spent the next part of the day playing with Josefina some more, changing her clothes, etc. She did that while Jake tried out his present from Jay's parents, which was a really cool Nerf bow and arrow that he loved. He set up target practice and was actually really good at shooting it. They then spent the next couple of hours playing with those things.

It was probably early afternoon sometime when I suggested that they open their present from us. They would have been perfectly happy to just keep playing with the things they were playing with, but I was excited to give them what we had gotten them. We got Jake a Red Ryder BB gun (that came with some very strict rules), and got Addi a weaving loom, which also goes along with the Josefina theme. (Josefina learns to weave blankets in the stories.) The goal will be for us to work together to actually learn how to use the loom and to make a blanket for Josefina. So really, it's a present that created more work for me. Not sure what I was thinking on that one. We knew that Jake would be ecstatic about the bb gun, and he was. As you can imagine, the rest of the day (and pretty much every day since) was spent alternating between various weapons and legos for Jake and in a make-believe doll world for Addi.

Poor little Tate got nothing...not even a picture taken. I take that back, he did get some cute clothes from Jay's parents and from Jay's aunt and uncle. And I always have some cute pictures of Taters...

Getting Ready For Christmas - Advent 2011

This year, I haven't posted any of the things that we do during December to prepare for Christmas because I posted most of it last year. So, I'll direct you to those posts instead. We are on our third year of eating rice and beans for advent. It's just such a tangible way for our entire family to sacrifice something in order to have more to give. The kids are able to be involved and they really get what it is we're doing. They are again choosing items this year from the World Vision Christmas catalog that they want to give. They take this very seriously and put a lot of thought into exactly what they want to buy with the money we are saving by eating only rice and beans for dinner each night.

This is the advent wreath that Jay made for me last year.

We did our annual St. Nicholas Day festivities with friends, but, unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from it. As I've mentioned before, Santa is not a part of our Christmas celebration. Our kids know that St. Nicholas was a real person who loved Jesus and gave generously, but that Santa Claus is not. You can read more about it here, but basically, we do not want Christ to be replaced by the jolly man in red. We want Jesus to be the reason we celebrate and the reason our kids are excited at Christmas time - because of the ultimate gift of Jesus, not because Santa is going to show up and leave presents under the tree.

Some of the other things we do during advent to attempt to focus our attention on Christ are posted here.

And, here are just a few pictures of our tree decorating night from a couple of weeks ago...

For some reason, Jay has loved doing this little balancing act with each of our children as soon as they can start to hold their heads up on their own.

Jake decided to write a birthday card to Jesus to wish Him a happy 2011th birthday.

A Recap of Advent and Christmas

I can honestly say that our Christmas was wonderful. And, I can honestly say that I am SO grateful to be done eating rice and beans for dinner every night. I like rice and beans. I do. But, after eating them for a month straight, the beans started to make my stomach churn a little. For some reason, it was harder for me this year than it was last year. The kids were amazing with it again though - not one single complaint out of them. They loved going through the World Vision catalogs each night as they ate their rice and beans. That was such a great addition this year and definitely one that we will continue. It made the "giving presents to Jesus" even more tangible, since they were literally getting to pick out their own presents for Jesus. Every night as we sat eating our rice and beans, they would explore the catalog, deciding what they thought would be best to spend the money on. They each had their own ideas and took their decisions very seriously. They loved it. On Christmas morning, I placed pictures of the things they had chosen around the manger. I was hoping to have them open the World Vision cards that were supposed to come, explaining the significance of each gift they had chosen, but those didn't arrive in time. It will still be fun for them to receive those cards in the mail though.

Another great addition this year was our advent candle wreath. I love that Jay made it for us, and I loved adding a candle to it each night. It made such a perfect centerpiece and was a beautiful way to count down the days until Christmas. I loved that it was a little brighter each night as we anticipated celebrating the coming of our Saviour. Jay spent hours and hours making some extra ones to give away as gifts, and I hope that those we gave it to will enjoy it next year!

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house with most of my family, and the kids had a great time. My parents had bought each of the kids some sort of costume, so Jake spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as a pirate, and Addi alternated between being a renaissance princess and wearing the new outfit that matches her new doll from my parents. She also spent some time in the new pink and black tutu from our neighbors. We were never sure which of the outfits she would come out in next.

Here they are with our neighbors, before heading to my parents house. This is Addi in the new outfit that she got as a present from them.

Jay's parents arrived Christmas Eve, and we were able to spend a little time with them that night as well. We then spent the rest of the night (until the wee hours of the morning) putting finishing touches on our Christmas Day plans - sanding candle-holders, preparing casseroles, decorating, getting the treasure hunt ready, etc.

Christmas morning went like this. It started with our treasure hunt, following the star to find Baby Jesus. The kids then got to open the presents that they had bought for each other, which was sooo cute. Addi had picked out a couple of coloring pictures for Jake and a whoopee cushion. The whoopee cushion was a huge hit and did not get old ALL DAY for them. Jake had chosen a little wooden car for Addi that she can put together (with Daddy's help) and paint. They were so excited to give their gifts to each other that they had picked out and purchased with their own money.

At breakfast, we finished up the final day stories for our Jesse Tree and advent calendar Christmas story.

We then did our Christmas morning ding-dong-ditch deliveries. This mostly included some cinnamon rolls to a couple of neighbors and a couple of advent wreaths that we lit and left on doorsteps. The ding-dong-ditch deliveries are a highlight of Christmas for us. It's such a fun way to surprise people on Christmas morning, and the kids love it. It's just fun to leave something for people and then try to run away and not get caught. I wish I had some video of it, but it's too hard to try to video, and run, and hide, all at the same time.






Jay's parents then met us back at the house for the rest of the day's activities, and the kids had a great time with them. When we got back, we gave each of the kids their present from us. Jake got an erector set, which is definitely JAY's favorite toy ever, and Addi got some Polly Pockets. Jake is REALLY into Legos and is amazing at following the directions and putting the sets together, so we thought that he might be ready to take it up a notch and try an erector set. He loves the idea of it, and is so excited to build things with motors, but unfortunately, they're not kidding about that age 8+ on the box. Those things are really hard to put together, even for Jay, who can put anything together. I thought that if there was any 6 year old out there who could do it, it would be Jake, but he will definitely need some assistance with it. He and Jay spent much of the day working on that together and Addi spent much of the day changing outfits and playing with her new Polly Pockets with Nana.




Jake did take a break to put together his awesome new Lego set from Nana and Papa which he, of course, loves. Once he started that, he didn't stop for anything until it was finished. Addi got some clothes from Nana and Papa, so she can add that to her rotation! We played out in the hood for a bit, having some marshmallow shooter wars and watching neighborhood kids fly by in their new go-carts. Yes, we live in Orange County, and children here receive as presents go-carts that go 35 mph...and had to be picked up in Las Vegas because apparently they are not "street legal" here in California.

So, that's it for now. We had a great time with the kids, a great time with our family, and a great time celebrating the birth of Christ. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!