And All the Rest

Starting with the stockings

Joseph's first set of Legos. Really exciting for Matt and me. Joseph has incredible amounts of patience for things like this, sitting for hours at a time to accomplish a model.



Everyone had oranges in their stockings. Nathan walked around, got each one and threw them...at people, at the tree.
You name it.

Sarah gave Matt his first set of slippers since he was a child. She picked them out herself and was so eager to give them to Matt that I thought she might explode!

Nathan's favorite gift of all was this spatula.
Matt quickly Christened it the "Ginger-Whack".
He spent most of the morning torturing poor Matt.

Joseph's present from Santa was a tractor that he has been asking for since the summer.

Thomas floated around from gift to gift...mostly everyone else's.

Here he is, opening his gift from Santa: The ORANGE tractor that he asked for. Santa must have some serious connections. Orange tractors are hard to find.

Sarah was so excited that Santa came in the first place.

The dollhouse kitchen set was exactly what she had been hoping for. So much joy!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

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!"