Pictures of Christmas

As I post these pictures I am reminded of a Christmas program our church did when I was a teenager. It was a slide show and my dad narrated and put music to it. Not powerpoint but with an actual slide projector. We listened to that recording over and over and each time I hear the music I can hear my dad's voice. "Christmas, what pictures that word brings to our mind. When we think of Christmas we think of many things at once...." Here are a few pictures that will always come to mind for me...my family.

Christmas brunch at the adult table.

For gift giving we exchange names adults and children alike and it is a lot of fun to find out who had who. Although, I knew who everyone had by the end and not by trying to figure it out as one of my children likes to do. When you have 6 children shopping for different people that takes a large part of the mystery away. And then others ask me what a certain person wants which takes more of the mystery away. But in the end it was so much fun!

To make it last longer we start with my Grandpa receiving his gift and working our way down to the youngest.

This year we were able to trick George and confuse him so thoroughly he had no idea who had him which was great!

I love when people say "Oh, ____ had me!" This year my nephew had me and he puts such thought into his gift. I got baking pans (that he reluctantly gave me) but he picked out two necklaces all by himself that had to be just so. He knew what colors I liked and that I didn't need earrings to match. So sweet! I even got a gift from the "Secret Shop" from school.

John was making fun of me as I wanted them to take their time giving the gift so I could get a picture. Love his expression! What a goof! 

Missy finally got the cash register she has been asking for. Now she can play store to her hearts content! And maybe learn some math along the way.

Tank and Seppy were there but I didn't think you wanted to see pictures of every gift exchange. :) Here is Zippy doing one of his favorite things this Christmas season. Reaching for the ornament. We worked hard with him so he is a little better at just touching with one finger. Of course there is still the occasional grab and throw.

When my sister and I were little girls we made up actions to the The Twelve Days of Christmas and liked to perform them each year. And for me it has to be to the Dinah Shore version my Dad always played from a record. We haven't done that for awhile but this year revived our act much to the enjoyment of our children. They cracked up on the 6 geese as we pretend we are laying eggs and plop our bottoms down and make a noise. Of course we were cracking up too and remembered what a workout it is by the end. John videoed it but I am not going to share that here. :)

Two turtle doves...

...and a partridge in a pear tree.

Our Christmas Part 1

I am going to start with the big snowstorm from last week which the kids were so excited for! Last winter was not very snowy so this year they are hoping for a lot. Well, they were not disappointed as we got dumped on. It is funny how only 20 minutes away from us they hardly had any snow. And as my Dad drove out here to check out our snow he said that we even had more at our house than in town. But John always says it has to do with us being up on a hillside and then down in the valley. No matter, it is amazingly beautiful! If I didn't mind the cold so much I'd be out in it as often as the kids. We no longer needed to dream of a White Christmas. 

This was Zippy's first time "playing" in the snow and he loved it! It certainly was a hard thing finding winter gear in his size among our collection. You can't see it but he is wearing a mix of things. One pink mitten and one blue mitten to say the least. That's what happens when you are the 7th child I guess. All we need are smaller boots so he can actually walk! :)

Christmas Eve began with a beautiful candlelight service. There is simply nothing like a congregation gathered together in worship adoring the Light of the World who came to save us. Heavenly!

I didn't dare hold a candle with Zippy around so I took a few pictures. I asked Missy why she was so serious and she told me she was concentrating and watching all around because she remembers the year her friend's hair started on fire. And here I thought something more profound. :) Glad she is aware!

Getting ready to blow out the candle

As always we gather with my Dad's side of the family. My Grandparents are no longer able to host us but I am so thankful they are still able to be with us!



Re-Pete and George practicing for a guitar duet.

My sweet sister and nephew. Can you tell they are related?

He thought it would be fun to act out the Christmas story with my kids and got together all of the props and such. As my Uncle read from Luke 2 the kids gave us a glimpse of the story. Zippy did not want to be left out and wandered in and out. He wanted to pet the "sheep".

Lest you think our family pictures always turn out here is a crazy one. It didn't help that everyone decided they needed to take a picture so none of us really knew where to look. I only got two with my camera so picked the one where my parents looked better.

By the end of the night and after countless amounts of cookies stolen Zippy was a little crazy.

And the celebration continues on this weekend when we gather with my Grandpa, parents and sister's family. Here is the winter wonderland out my window. Simply stunning!

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas from Our family to Yours!

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

The Perfect Tree

Over the years of having children I thought I had left my "perfect" tendencies long behind which reminded me of a post I did when I first began blogging. Times haven't changed as much as I thought they had. I usually try to set my expectations for things quite low so as not to be disappointed. But I am finding out that I still might have a bit of wanting everything to be just so.

We set out last Monday to find and cut down our Christmas tree. We decided to go back to a tree farm closer to home since I no longer need to have a huge tree (they don't have huge trees). John got off of work early to get there before dusk and we all were eager with anticipation. I cannot recall ever picking out a tree where the temperature was a balmy 50 degrees or so and we were wearing just a light jacket. The kids were excited as we got onto the tractor hay ride out to the field.

We watched all of the trees passing by pointing out some along the way. We had in mind to get a Fraser Fir this year as my parents always get them and they seem a little hardier with maybe sturdier branches than the typical Balsam we get. Well, this was harder than we thought. It seems everyone wants a Fraser and all of the nice ones we found were a bit small or misshapen.

John kept telling me he found some really nice ones already cut in the pole barn. You don't go to a tree farm to pick an already cut one! But after much walking and contemplating getting a funny shaped tree we agreed to go look in the barn. One of our boys was very hesitant about this. He was looking forward to the chance of cutting the tree this year. And I really, really wanted that for him. But upon entering the barn he looked at me as we knew that the best trees were in here. My heart sank. What do we do? We want a nice tree but I knew how much he longed to have his chance to cut a tree. We debated going to another tree farm but it was too late that day so we ended up getting the tree in the barn. His disappointment was great and I understood that and we talked about it quite awhile. Always a lesson to be learned. Life is not always what we want it to be.

The tree ended up being a bit smaller than I had wanted but it would do. George and Tank did pretend to cut it, although not quite the same. :) The kids had fun wrapping it in netting.

I was so thankful for my helpers with the lights this year. Pete and Re-Pete went through each set to make sure they were working and replaced bulbs as needed. (I should have taken a picture!) Then they handed them to me and kept everything moving. It made the task go much faster. The ornaments went on and soon we began to notice that our tree did not quite look the same as it had. The branches now hung low which made it harder to hang anything on. And so we didn't even finish hanging them because it doesn't really work. I skipped the beads too because it would add to the problem.

I saw my Mom and Dad's beautiful tree last night and I must say I was a tad jealous. It's branches hang straight out as they should and the ornament spacing is just right. Ahh, it may just be the "perfect tree". I have had thoughts of going out and cutting a new one but what is the point of that?

And through the past few days a song by Ray Boltz plays through my head about the "Perfect Tree".

The perfect tree

Grew very long ago

And it was not decked with silver

Or with ornaments of gold

But hanging from its branches

Was a gift for you and me

Jesus laid His life down

On the perfect tree

Christmas is not about the tree or decorations and many other things we associate with this time of year and I am glad my "weeping willow fir" as John calls it, has reminded of that! I know I can still get hung up on wanting things, especially at Christmas to be just so. I want to make memories that the children will remember. But I don't need to orchestrate each event and each story read or cookie decorated to make memories. All we need to do is live and love together. And to always put the focus where it should be. Not on ourselves and our desires but remember that it is all about Jesus. He needs to be our focus. Let's worship and adore Him!

With all the celebrations

Sometimes the truth is lost

That every step this baby took

Brought Him closer to the cross

December Happenings

December flew by so fast... for that matter the past four months have flown by so fast and my blogging is evidence of that because I never seem to have the time to update it. And too, having extremely SLOW internet service this past month means I cannot upload pictures. Today I am at my parents house where the wireless is so fast I don't know what to do first! :) Here are pictures of some of the happenings from the past month.

Luke lead the gang in making applesauce when I wasn't getting a move on it.

Our family with my Grandpa who still sits at the large red kettle at the mall during the Christmas season. As a little girl I always liked going to the mall to visit my Grandpa with his tape recorder playing Christmas music and handing out War Crys to the passersby. I have tried to continue that tradition with my children. The older boys and I also had a fun time ringing the bells with our 4H club.

Tank and Seppy getting ready to sing at the nursing home.

George playing his guitar at the nursing home.

Singing at the nursing home with other kids from church

My favorites that the children decorated.

All of us on Christmas Eve

Tank pouring sparkling grape juice for Grandma during our Christmas brunch.

Christmas day walking in a bit of a winter wonderland up the "rock road"

Merry Christmas

Wishing you and your family a Very Merry Christmas! Joy to the World -- the LORD has come!

Catch-up

I guess I have been on quite a long blog break here. I am not thrilled with the setup and some hang-ups of Homeschoolblogger and so it is not as enjoyable to blog. I am playing around with setting up a new blog on another site but that won't happen until sometime in the new year.

We have been busy as I am sure all of you are as well in preparations for Christmas.  We started off with walking with our 4H group in the Christmas parade the day after Thanksgiving. It went well but not sure if it is worth the time put into planning (I was in charge with another Mom) to walk down one street on a cold night! We were thankful to spend a bit of that week with John's parents before they headed south for the winter.

We have had the "fever sickness" moving through our house in various forms and various lengths of time for each. Unfortunately we did not all get it at once as I so hoped for. No, it lingered and passed on every 4 or 5 days beginning two weeks before Thanksgiving and the last person to get it (me) was last weekend.

We had a Nature Club field trip to a tree farm the first weekend in Dec. and learned all about evergreen trees. John met us there to cut down our Christmas tree. I think he enjoyed having us pick it out before-hand. Last year it took awhile for someone to find the perfect tree.  (me) It reaches our peaked ceiling and is quite beautiful and I absolutely LOVE the smell of a fresh cut tree in our home.

[caption id="attachment_782564" align="aligncenter" width="228" caption="I had to put this one in as it is so typical of the boys. I didn't use the most dramatic one so it doesn't look as bad. :)"][/caption]

We celebrated my Mom's birthday, and enjoyed having college students over.

I kept waiting for the snow to fall as I always want to try and get our Christmas card picture taken with a snowy background. We finally got snow and so we took our picture outside on the day the sky was heavy with an impending blizzard. Unfortunately the temps were also dipping low so we had to be quick. The last child I would think didn't feel like cooperating but it worked out in the end. I am finally getting our cards printed (after too much thought in designing it in Photoshop) so hopefully in the mail before Christmas Eve.

Our blizzard did arrive and we had a nice relaxing Sunday snowed in. We apparently got 7 inches but after all of the blowing it drifted in most places to 1 1/2 feet. It is SO beautiful and I debated trying to get another family picture with the snow piled on our pine trees but I thought better of that. Maybe next year.

[caption id="attachment_782565" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="This is the location of our Christmas card picture. So, when you see our card, just imagine the snowy covering."][/caption]

Friday the children and I dressed up with friends and went caroling at a nursing home and will go again this week. That was a real joy and a lesson in being a servant as one of my children initially didn't think it to be something he wanted to do. Afterward he realized how much joy it brings to others.

Last night we had our church Christmas Program and the children and John were all involved. I love to watch how the children change from year to year and gain confidence. Missy Blue was most dramatic in that the last few years when they would sing she would move in time to the music but had her fingers in her mouth or looked uncertain. This year she stood tall and sang out her best. She is growing up too fast! My boys are too but it seems more obvious in a girl. The program was a simple one with scripture recitations and songs from the children and then a play with a clear gospel message reminding us that Christmas is for sinners -- not good people as the hype of Santa and such leads us to believe.

And so we come to the final week and countdown excitedly to the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Here is a clip with Seppy and Missy singing "Gentle Jesus" with their group. I can't get it to embed here so click on the link instead. Watch as Seppy has to stop and swallow quite a few times. John and I thought he might throw-up he did it the whole time he was in front but he is still sweet as can be. Missy sings out her best although she said when she didn't remember the words her "mouth stopped moving".
Gentle Jesus

Advent - Preparing Our Hearts

We are now in the Advent season and I am always looking for something to make it more meaningful for our family. A time to reflect and prepare our hearts rather than get caught up in all the craziness that seems to come with the Christmas season. I want our children to truely know what we are celebrating at Christmas. And so I was thrilled to find two books that we will use this year. We have gone through the Jotham's Journey series in the past and I highly recommend them but being that we finished the third book last year it was time for something new.

The first book I found was written by a homeschooler. It is called Countdown to Christmas by Amy Puetz which has family friendly classic stories and activities for each day of December until Christmas Day. Being that I procrastinated, I haven't received the book yet but hopefully tomorrow. You can view a sample chapter online.

The second one is a free downloadable printable book from Ann Voskamp, a gifted writer who always points the way to the cross through her words. This is so easy to go through and we began last night. I went walking through our fields in search of red dogwood branches to use for our Jesse tree and there are printable ornaments at the back of the book. I love the symbolism and the visual of the tree for the children to see our family history -- God's family. I am so excited to have this resource!

[caption id="attachment_782556" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Seppy put our first ornament on our Jesse Tree"][/caption]

What will you do to prepare your heart?

Memories of Christmas

Every year it seems Christmas comes and goes so much faster than the year before. But each year the small memories become more precious than ever. 

 

Saturday we went to the Mall to see my Grandpa L. sitting at the large Salvation Army kettle in his uniform handing out "War Crys" and greeting people with his friendly booming voice. I have watched him sit there for as long as I can remember and wanted my children to have that as a memory as well. The boys enjoyed seeing all of the money collected in the kettle and Grandpa was delighted at our visit and treated us all to lunch. What a special treat!

Me and "Blue Eyes" at Opa's house

Christmas Eve at my Grandpa E's house, while never the same as when my Grandma was alive, still just as special because of the love he has for his children. Not overwhelming displays of affection or a lot of words spoken but just quiet satisfaction of having his child, grandchildren and great-grandchildren around him. The presents aren’t elaborate but thought is put into each item even down to picking out girly outfits for my precious little one.

Opa E. with Missy Blue Eyes

A candle light service at church is always a highlight. While I wanted it to be so meaningful my memories were made in another way. As “O Holy Night” was being sung, suddenly two of my boys whispered “OUCH!” as hot wax dripped down their fingers. I grabbed the candles and blew them out as images of the carpet on fire flashed through my mind. But the light was so enticing and they relit their candles just to repeat the scenario. It was still beautiful to see all of the little flickers of light encircling the sanctuary. Remembering that the One TRUE Light came into this world as a tiny baby.

 

We followed that by a family gathering at the home of my Grandparents. That is always a special time where we have a short program with the children singing or saying their piece from the church Christmas program, a time of lifting our voices together in worship to our God. As silent night was sung I watched as tears are wiped away from those missing a loved one. The traditional meal of barbequed beef sandwiches was shared and gifts were opened. Precious times, sweet memories.

Oma and Opa with the Great-Grandchildren (my boys are in the hooded towels)

 

Christmas morning we enjoyed new traditions of searching for the baby Jesus. And this year we gave each child three gifts to represent the gifts that the magi brought to Jesus and so read the account of that visit and talked about what each gift represented. Myrrh was a gift of covering (clothing) as it was a perfume used in covering the body. Frankincense was incense and was used in worship so they received a book bag to take with them to church with pencils, activity books, bible covers, etc. The last gift was the Gold gift which is something that is worth the most to them which of course was a toy. My parents and Grandpa were with us to enjoy Christmas dinner followed by a fun time of being together playing and watching movies.

Christmas Dinner with my parents

 

And yet Christmas continued on into the day after as we celebrated at my Mom and Dad’s house this time with my sister and her family. Eating, laughing, remembering things we did as children. A little bit of Chaos but the enjoyable kind! 

My Dad and my sister getting ready to make the "POP!" on the song "Frosty the Snowman" Something they have done for years! My Mom and I can't seem to figure out how to do it. :)

 

Christmas has flown by so quickly but the precious memories formed with family remain and they only continue...

Cookies, cookies, and more cookies!

It is an unseasonably dreary rainy day here in the midwest but we had fun making snowman cookies. The older boys favorite thing to do this Christmas season is making cookies. We typically do not have many sweets around the house but have more cookies now than ever. "George" my creative child requested that we make our annual snowman cookies today. While not my favorite to eat they are quite easy and fun to make, although now that I have four boys helping out that doesn't leave many for me to decorate.  "Tank" did his own thing but being the fourth child that no longer bothers me. With the first child I wanted everything to look like the picture but have learned to lighten up a bit and enjoy the child-like fun. (I still have my moments though!)

The Older boys and their creations.

Tank's "snowman"?

Our snowman cookies