christmas

I love Christmas and I love memories of Christmas growing up....the morning excitement of seeing what Santa brought, being surrounded by family, listening to holiday music all day, watching "It's a Wonderful Life," and HUGE dinners.  Being so far from family and not being able to get home for Christmas means holidays are a much more quiet.  While I also enjoy a quite holiday, I still LOVE being surrounded by family during such a special time of the year.  This year, we were spoiled and my family came join us for the special holiday!  And even more fun...our holiday was spread over several days (due to all the various travel and work schedules).
My brother, Sean, arrived first on the 20th, then my parents on the 23rd, and lastly my "baby" brother, Ryan, on the 26th!  Talk about a full house!!!  IT WAS WONDERFUL!  We made cookies, went on walks, read books, played games, did projects, sang songs, watched movies, went to mass, ate too much....and that doesn't even include our "Christmas"!

On the evening of the 26th, Bryce and Zoey had their first "sleep over" away from the house!!!  They went with Mimi and Papa to the hotel while we all set up for Christmas.  The next morning Bryce and Zoey were SO excited when they got back to the house to tell us about the hotel and see what Santa brought.  They were surprised by an indoor trampoline, character dolls (toy story and frozen), books, "How to Train Your Dragon 2", new shirts, and a stocking each! 

When it came to opening gifts our family tradition of starting with the youngest and going one at a time to the oldest and repeating til the gifts have all been opened quickly was pushed to the side with these two excited three year olds.  They were so excited to open gifts...it didn't matter whose they were!  When it came to their gifts they took the time to play with each new toy, try on each new outfit, or try to put every puzzle together. It was so much fun to watch how excited they got about each item and watch the joy in their eyes.  I will not say it was a fast process, quite opposite actually, but it was so much fun!  Everyone was spoiled with so many fun things...we had everything under that tree to include a plunger, t-shirts, beer jelly, pottery, photography cards, tools, camera equipment, sheets, and a smoker!!!

It was wonderful to have everyone here with us and enjoy such a fun week!

Zoey and Bryce keep asking if it is time to put the tree back up so they can come back.  We are looking forward to next year when we can hopefully all be together for Christmas again!
.katherine.

santa

It is almost Christmas!  Families are coming together, cookies are being made, gifts are going under the tree, and carols are being sung.  The most exciting part of this holiday season is the joy and excitement of children, not just my own but all children.  I do, however, love seeing this this season through the eyes of my children.  I have always loved Christmas but having children makes this holiday so much more fun.  They are excited about the family coming in, Santa coming to our house, and Jesus' birthday.  That's right, our family includes both Santa and Jesus in our Christmas!  This year the Santa discussion has com up several times and I have been asked if we, as a Christian family, "do Santa."  I can tell you whole heartedly yes, we "do Santa" and I LOVE having him as part of our Christmas!

Santa is a wonderful way to show the joy of this special holiday and celebrate giving.  Yes, he is a "fictional" person but the spirt of Santa is so amazing.  He is a person filled with happiness, love, forgiveness, and giving.  He spreads Christmas cheer across the world, adds more celebration to the birth of Jesus Christ, teaches us how to be good people, and to believe.  With the assistance of Santa children learn if they are good through the year they make the "nice list" and are rewarded with gifts on Christmas morning.  Sounds similar to the teachings of Jesus - if we are good here on earth and follow his teachings, we are rewarded by being with our holy father in heaven for eternity.  Santa's reward is a much smaller scale but one that children can understand at a very young age.  He also teaches us to believe - in something you can't see, in people around you, and in Jesus and God.  Believing can be a hard concept for children to understand but they see the proof and therefore start to learn what believing means.    Santa is so much more than just the parents filling a roll of placing gifts in stockings or under the tree - he is the magic, love, and humanity of this special season.

My children love seeing Santa and hearing that he will bring gifts, but they also love that we will celebrate Jesus' birthday!  In our family we balance the true meaning of Christmas with the magic of Santa.  Christmas is truly about giving - God gave us his only son but how easy is that concept to understand for a young child?  Why not put this wonderful gift into a way that they can understand?  Bryce and Zoey are learning about giving to others and what that truly means.  This year they each chose a child off our church's angle tree, went to the store to pick the gifts, and took them into the church to deliver them.  We wanted them to be a part of this so they could experience giving to someone else.  However, the joy the had about the entire process was so much more than I could have anticipated.  They were beyond excited to do something for children who may not otherwise have gifts during the holidays - not once during the shopping trip did they ask for a single item for themselves.  They were truly happy to be buying items for these friends and were proud of the gifts they chose.  At mass when they saw the gifts surrounding the tree they lit up: "mom look at all the gifts for the friends!  They will be so happy."  They are absolutely correct, those children will be happy but more importantly my children learned how to give in such a joyous way and have built a foundation of a giving heart.

Bryce and Zoey are in such an impressionable age; an age where the magic is real and an age to learn and grow.  It isn't just Santa - they learn from everything around them but especially from things that are magical and exciting: sibling love from Frozen, how to explore their world from Dinosaur Train, the alphabet and reading from SuperWhy, and so much more.  I love that they can be excited about and learn from an old man with a white beard who brings joy and gifts on Christmas.  We choose to add Santa as part of the ways they learn about the birth and gift of Jesus Christ and the wonderful gift he is to us and the world.  So yes, as a Christian family we "do Santa" and choose to continue because there is nothing more beautiful to us than kids learning to give, believe, and have joy.  One day Christmas wont be as magical, but until then we will go visit Santa, feed the reindeer, and sing all the Christmas songs we can!  Christmas in our home will always include learning about Jesus' birth, playing with nativity scenes, and singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, even with Santa around.
.katherine.

christmas pageant

It is that time of year - the time for every parent to share photos and videos of their children singing off-key Christmas songs along side their classmates.  Last week Bryce and Zoey's school put on "The Christmas Story," the story of Jesus' birth.  The school is both a preschool and mothers day out and all the children participated!  Bryce and Zoey's class and other three year old classes did two songs, "Christmas Tells of Jesus" and "Jesus was a Special Baby" and then joined with the entire school at the end to sing "I am Happy, Happy, Happy at Christmas" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."  It was an adorable production of the Christmas story!

During Bryce and Zoey's pageant I desperately wanted to get videos and photos for the grandparents and Matt who were all unable to attend.  However, the kids didn't stand next to each other, parents kept jumping in front of me, and the kids never looked in my direction.  After capturing the same lady's head about 15 times I stopped trying!  It was ok!  Yes, I would have loved to capture that amazing photo to share with the family but that wasn't what this day was about.  My kids were singing their hearts out, sharing joy with everyone in attendance, and loving every minute of being on stage.  Instead of getting upset I put my camera down, sat back, and enjoyed watching my kids, this was a one time moment.

These pageants are about so much more than the parents and those of us watching.  It is about the children.  It is a way for them to share the holiday spirit, the birth of Jesus Christ, and their joy.  They get to show off and enjoy singing with their friends.  It really is ok that the little four year old who was playing Mary was picking her nose, or the little guy ringing the bells did his at the wrong time, or that the two year old would only sit instead of stand with his class during his songs.  These pageants are an amazing way for children to learn the real meaning of Christmas and spread the holiday cheer with everyone around them!

After the pageant, Bryce and Zoey were so proud of themselves and their school.  The moment I saw them afterward they asked "Did you see me mommy?  I do a good job?"  They didn't stop talking about their songs for days nor did I want them to.  No, I didn't get a great photograph of either child during their pageant nor did I get a great video.  However, no photograph or video will replace they joy my children had while singing and being a part of their pageant or come close to living up to that excitement that I was able to share with my children.  I will take the memories over a good photograph any day!

.katherine.

making ornaments

Bryce and Zoey's favorite part of decorating for Christmas is helping with the tree.  They are able to get on Daddy's shoulders to put on the top piece of the tree and the star, they help fluff the branches, they watch with excitement as the lights turn on, and they help decorate with the (unbreakable) ornaments.  This year they were thrilled to see the ornaments we have made in past years.  Each one was carefully examined and discussed, it was so neat to see them excited that we still have these treasured pieces.  Every year we have made a special ornament for our tree and the grandparent's tree - handprints and footprints for the first Christmas, their first paintings, and thumb print string of lights.  It has become something we all look forward to, so this year was no different!

We actually made two sets of ornaments this year - Snow Globes and Ruldoph hand prints.  The kids enjoyed both of them but these two love a good project!

I was inspired by my friend's snow globes last year and wanted to make our own.  Abbey keeps an awesome blog at There's a Dino in the Dryer with great ideas for projects with toddlers and home schooling activities.  She did the globes with her boys last December and after seeing them I was excited to try them this year.  We decided to do four, one for each of us, and put something in them that represented each of us from this year.  To make them we needed clear fillable plastic ball ornaments, fake snow, and our items - we used small toys and a pendant.

I glued the items inside the globe using hot glue while Bryce and Zoey helped hold the ornament.

Then the kids filled them with fake snow.  They loved being able to put the snow in the ornaments and it was a great way to get them to calm down after a crazy morning.  They only put in about five pieces at a time but they were so intent on doing it without help from mom.

To finish them I put a dot of hot glue on the seam at both the top and bottom, snapped the pieces together, and put a ribbon on the top.  The kids were so proud of them and love seeing their toys on the tree.  The only thing I would change if I did them again is to be more aware of how the seam will effect the way you see the toy but overall we enjoyed making them!  It is a great project for little ones to help with and document their interests for the year.

The second ornament we made were Rudolph handprints!  I saw many examples on pinterest and the internet so I took elements from several of them and figured out what supplies we already had to make ours.  For this ornament we needed clear glass ball ornaments, paint markers, brown paint (I used acrylic but any that will stay on glass will work), a paint brush (a paint sponge would also work), googly eyes, pom poms, hot glue, and a filler for the ornament.

 

I started by painting each kids hand, minus the thumb, with the brown paint.

Then they held the ornament so the paint transferred the hand print on it.  It took some focus to make sure we didn't smear the prints but I think they did a great job.

After we were all cleaned up and the paint was dry (you can use a hair dryer to assist with this step) the kids picked which eyes and noses they wanted to use and placed them on the dots of hot glue I put on the ornament.

We could have been finished at this step, they looked adorable.

Even though they looked great, I wanted to make the Rudolph pop a little more and make sure the names I would write on the back didn't distract from the Rudolph so I stuffed each ornament with poly-fil stuffing, although if you had extra "snow" from the globe ornaments that would also work really well.

I finished them by writing each kid's name on the back along with the year.  These were such a great way to document the kid's hand size this year.  I love how they turned out and I hope the grandparents will enjoy them just as much!

Enjoy making your own ornaments this year and let me know how yours turn out! 

.katherine.