The Christmas Season- Part Three

Christmas Morning, in pictures

The Christmas Season- Part Two

Christmas Eve, at home, was eventful. Sarah took the time to draw pictures for Santa. She laid out the cookies strategically and poured the milk carefully.

Then the boys came.
In their most sincere desire to drive Sarah nuts please their sister, the plate of cookies was over-turned.

Nathan, surveying the damage

"Uh-Oh, Mama!"

The boys, trying to soothe Sarah by picking up the remains of the cookies.

Reading The Night Before Christmas.
All Is Well.

The Christmas Season- Part One

As the last of my out-of-town siblings are traveling back home today, and as Matt returns to work this morning, I am able to take a breath and re-live the precious moments we had over Christmas Vacation.

Matt's brother, Mike, started off the gift-giving. He stopped by one day on his way to work. He gave the children a book about the true meaning of Christmas...and even stayed to read it to them!

 Nathan was excited about the book also, but probably would have tried to eat it. We kept him in his booster and he appreciated the gift from a distance.

We went to the Pernot's house for the Christmas Eve activities. This includes, but is not limited to, gingerbread house making, the Feast of the Seven Fish, gift-giving, a Christmas Concert/Sing Along, and watching Christmas Specials.

Our gift to Matt's parents

Teaching Sarah the intricacies of holding together a gingerbread house

Joseph, my little engineer

Nathan, enjoying his favorite gift:
Tissue paper.

Just a glimpse of the gifts given to the babies.

The Pernot's house is on a street that is documented in the newspaper most years as the place to take a drive during the holiday season. Crazy! The girl across the street sells popcorn and hot cocoa for motorists each weekend. There is so much traffic during Christmas, that we have to triple the time it takes to get to the Pernot's house for a party.

Christmas Is Coming...

I walked into Sarah's room, where all the children were congregated, early one morning.

This is what I found.

 Sarah tells me that Mrs. Claus went along for the ride. Do you see her?

Poor Polly Pocket didn't have enough time to brush her hair or change her dress for this trip. Or maybe her hair is just fashionably wind-blown.

I guess they didn't have enough reindeer/My Little Ponies to pull off this flight. Scaredy, the black Halloween cat, was a last-minute replacement.

Tommy says that cats don't fly and that is why that black one looks so scared. They are about to take off.

The Hunt for a Tree

Matt came home early from work last week to lead us in our quest for the perfect Christmas tree. We have been going to Pete's Tree Farm in Chili for a couple of years now. We always come home with a beautiful tree and exhausted, muddy children.

Thomas is deciding which type of tree feels the best.

"Thomas, please stop running around. Stop running around. THOMAS! YOU ARE GOING TO FALL IN THE...

...nevermind."

Thomas decided after this picture was taken that he was afraid of all Christmas trees...so we finished up as quickly as we possibly could.

Victory, outside the car.

Victory, inside the car. I know it looks like they are in pain. That is the way they smile. I am told this is just a phase.

Sarah was so pleased. She picked out the tree! She couldn't wait to get home and "accessorize" it!

Love this boy. Seriously. Look at that face. His joy is contagious.

Sinterklaas

Joseph has been learning about the different types of holidays that happen this time of year for all different types of families. His school has been reading about Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) and Joseph latched on rather quickly. If I am remembering correctly, he came off the bus last Thursday saying something like, "And I need wooden shoes so I can get coins and candy!" Like this was just a continuation of a conversation we had been having all day.

Saint Nicholas comes on the Eve of his Feast Day and brings coins and candy to the good little children of the world. Joseph says, "No, only in Germany. I hope we live there this day." He fills their wooden shoes with lovely things and then rides away on his white horse. So Sarah says, "Ha! Santa comes to our house TWO TIMES this month!" She gets it.

Thomas starts crying, with Joseph, because they don't have anything close to wooden shoes in the closet.

We have traditionally celebrated the Feast of St. Nick each year, but it looked like this was going to be a little tricky. EXPECTATION. My worst enemy. The children had a very specific idea of how this was all going to go. Saint Nicholas did not disappoint them.



Digging deeper

"Just what I wanted ever since I was a baby!"

"See! I knew we were good!"

Christmases Past

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

We've been talking this Advent about Christmases past and how we would have this Christmas go, if by any chance we get some type of control over our children in the next 4 weeks.

Top 10 reasons I know that nothing will change:

1) Last night, during a family car ride to check out all the Christmas lights in our town, the children fought over whose "favorite" song was on the radio. Having a favorite song playing means that no one else can sing it, cheer because it is on, show any kind of emotion or breathe until the last note has played and the radio station has announced, officially, that the song is over,

2) The children have 47 1/2 favorite songs, apiece.

3) The children have been looking through book catalogs, picking out presents for one another. I gave them each a Scholastic catalog and a crayon. I believe my exact directions were: "Please think very carefully about what each of your siblings would like for Christmas. Circle one book for each sibling and the bring your catalog to me and we can order them."
-Sarah circled three books in record time. All of them were pink with sparkles. One of them had something to do with a princess candy castle. She had written "Joseph" next to it, indicating that she HAD given it some thought and her darling brother would appreciate this type of thing.
-Joseph circled EVERY SINGLE BOOK in his catalog and put a "J" next to each circle.
-Thomas circled each book that had a train on the front and crossed out everything else. "This is so we don't get books that are bad," he says.
-We can't find Nathan's catalog. We think he ate it.

4) In addition to the Advent wreath we normally do, we made a Jesse tree this year. This is to help us refocus each evening by tracing Jesus' lineage and remembering the real reason for the season. We will be on Day 6 this evening, and at 7am this morning I am already dreading the argument that will happen over who gets to put on the ornament for the day. Sarah has disowned her brothers three times over the Jesse tree. We might not do this next year.

5) Toys R Us, Target, Walmart, Sears and JCPenney HATE ME! They sent their toy catalogs early this year...before Thanksgiving. Normally I send the children out to the garage to get the mail. I know when the catalogs are coming this time of year, so I sneak out early and confiscate them before the children get an opportunity to even see them. Not so, this year. Sarah intercepted one and she has been sleeping with the Toys R Us catalog under her pillow ever since.

6) Joseph hid all the instruments at school during music class a couple weeks ago. I got a note from his teacher. I cried. Matt said, "That's my boy!" When Sarah found out, she told Joseph that he would get coal for Christmas. Joseph's reply? "I like coal. Trains like coal."

7) The children watched "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" this week. I am under very stern orders to call my first born, Clarice...my second born, Comet...my third born, Rudolph...Nathan likes being the Bumble. He likes how everyone screams and runs away when he comes near. I have messed up their reindeer names so many times that I am not allowed to play any reindeer games.

8) The children have a Little People Nativity set (yay Fisher Price!!!!) that they can play with, instead of the beautiful, heirloom Nativity from our last parish priest. These plastic pieces are durable enough for Nathan to chew on and are still very sweet looking after 5 years. I keep finding the camel in the manger... and the wise men stacked up like a totem pole... and that poor sheep is constantly on top of the scene where the angel is supposed to be. Is this sacrilegious?

9) We have been trying to pass along some of our over-abundance during this season. St. Theodore's Church has a St. Pauly's box that accepts all sorts of clothes and things for the needy in our area. We went to drop off some gently-used clothing recently and Sarah and Joseph became very upset after we put our bags into the shed. When I questioned them, they told me that they wanted to meet the people that were receiving their clothes. I told them that the people lived all over our city. Sarah said, "No, you just threw clothes on top of them. They live in that little house." Next time, I will properly educate before we do service.

10)  I am trying to teach the children about seasons. Pictures of spring have flowers and rain, summer has a hot sun and a swimming pool, fall has leaves on the ground and bare trees, winter has snow...lots and lots of snow. It is December 2nd and there is no snow, which is unheard of for where we live. The children are struggling. Seasons coincide with Holidays. They sit at the front window and my drama queen says things to rile up her brothers: "If there is no snow, there can be no winter. If there is no winter, then Christmas will NEVER EVER COME! Cry now, boys. Cry now." Oh, Bean! Really?!?!?!

Short Stories

Matt took Nathan outside on the front porch to check out the rain this week.  Sometimes I forget how exciting and new everything is for our babies.  Matt was very wet when he came inside, but it was worth it. Nate didn't stop smiling.

I cut the boys' hair this week. What a production!

The meter reader from RG&E came into the house and said how he just read in a magazine that red heads are a minority, and soon red hair will cease to exist. Ummmm....

Brave Boo. Sick again. We now refer to him as "Fireman Tom" or "Fighter Pilot Boo".  The children are actually jealous that he gets to have so many breathing treatments and colorful medications.  Nebulizers and Antibiotics are my life. Some people ask if I will ever "go back" to being a nurse.
I never left.
(Side Note: Thomas has also memorized each medication, by name. You know it's bad when your two-year-old can ask for Albuterol and Tylenol.)

Nathan can't sleep at night. The coughing begins the moment he lays down. He has been sleeping in the stroller.
 Didn't I just leave this party??