Reflections On Christmas Day 2010

It was a year for the Family Records. A real White Christmas! We tried to make the children understand how very monumental this event was. Granny proclaimed it her very first White Christmas in *number she would kill me if I said* but it's a smidgen more than the '69' she likes to tell people.


Just keeping it in perspective, Granny!

They nodded and listened and I totally don't believe they grasped the history they were witnessing. But they are six and five and three and two. Who cares what day it is? There is SNOW out there!


The snow did not eclipse Santa, though.

The children managed to keep to their beds until just before seven, a pretty decent hour in my way of thinking. Thomas came creeping in our room with excitement beaming from his young features and whispered that Santa had come! Santa had come!!


The girls were awed by the doll house and all it's wonderfully fun parts. Thomas was entranced by the train he has been pining after for three years. They loved ripping into the gifts under the tree and delighted in the baby dolls, the nerf guns, and the new pajamas!

Check out that adorable toothless smile!

After all the gifts were opened and taken from their boxes and played with for a bit, we started on breakfast. Monkey Bread is a Christmas Breakfast Must at our house.


Next year, I think the kids are going to be in charge of making it. I'll just put drop cloths all over the kitchen...

Thomas scrambled up some eggs while Daddy cooked some bacon, and we all feasted on the yumminess!


I was out-voted on the 9AM nap, so the kids instead bundled up and went outside to play in the wintry whiteness.


Here's hoping that your Christmas day was filled with as much fun, love, and laughter as ours was!!

The Santa Secret

When the older two kids were about three and four, we put some serious thought into how to handle the whole Santa thing. We spoke with families who had gone before us in this decision. We prayed. We discussed for what seems like ages.

We finally made the decision to just be up-front. We wanted to be truthful with them. In our hearts, it was huge to us to make sure that our kids believed us when we told them about Jesus and the Bible. We had a real fear that if we led them to believe in Santa and all the many books there are about him, they would mis-trust us on the bigger issue: Jesus the Savior.

This isn't an issue for every family. We know that. But we had to follow in obedience what God laid on our hearts.

Santa is just a very fun play-pretend. So is the Easter Bunny. And the Tooth-Fairy.

For a couple of years, I seriously think they doubted us. After all, Santa and the Easter Bunny were out there to be seen! How could you fight that kind of visual proof?

Eventually, they settled into acceptance. To our relief, they (so far) have kept this to themselves. They don't go touting to all the kids they know that Santa is make-believe. They rather encourage other children, stating how much fun Santa is. At some point, we did actually talk to them about how some families choose to play this fun game, and that they should respect that and not ruin it for others. Somehow, it clicked.

Whew.

Despite their knowledge, we still play the Santa game in our own way. The kids look forward to seeing what Santa brought to them on Christmas morning. We tell them, as many other parents do, in the weeks leading up to Christmas that maybe they should ask Santa for this or that or the other.

While Santa remains mostly traditional in our home, the Tooth Fairy is a whole 'nother ball game. When Elizabeth had her teeth pulled due to her trauma back in March, she started a new fad in the Freeman Home. She requested that her Tooth Fairy be Thomas. And so Thomas was the one to replace her two front teeth with two crisp dollar bills. Now the children are all about making future plans as to who will be their Tooth Fairy for each tooth.

It's one of those little things that really makes my heart leap with a special kind of joy.

As for Santa, the kids are busily anticipating his arrival this weekend. I was so afraid of ruining this childhood pleasure for them by being truthful. To our knowledge, it hasn't phased them one little bit.

How does your family handle Santa?

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's my first successful year with this whole Christmas decorating thing. There was the colossal failure of 2007. Then in 2008, Christmas all but took a back seat because we had a brand new baby to celebrate! I can't remember much of 2009, just a blur of some kind of activity.

And that brings us to Christmas Present.

I've had fun, y'all. I haven't decorated every little nook and cranny, but I have rejoiced in having children who are old enough to appreciate the season and enjoy the festivities.

Starting with the adorable little Christmas calendar my mom scored for us at a yard sale!

Each ornament is magnetic and has a number (1-25) on it that corresponds to a specific spot on the tree. The kids take great delight in taking off all the little felt ornaments and 'redecorating'. I call it Numbers Reinforcement. Voila! School.

Then there is the wreath craft that I teased y'all with way back when... Turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. I'll try to find the tutorial and link to it.

*****EDITED*****
FOUND THE TUTORIAL!

I cut out a few more circles and made this garland for our tree. Good thing, too. Talk about things that get redecorated frequently. The only things that are in the same place are the lights, the garland (mostly) and a few glass ornaments I hung high at the top. The rest of the tree is entertainment for the kids.



Also, take note of our borax crystal snowflakes. Yet another school aspect of our Christmas decor.

Another wreath I made from yet another blog. What would I do without the blogosphere? My house would be naked!


Then there are the stockings hung on the chimney with care...


And the Little People Nativity set that the children adore. I love how everyone crowds in to be a little closer to Jesus. The police lady, the kid in the rain gear, and a couple of princesses for good measure. I think Noah even made it out this year!

Oh, come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

An Early Christmas Giggle

I love that music is such a part of our home. I love that my husband randomly sits at the piano or pulls out his guitar. I love that my children pull out all manner of percussion instruments and jam along with him. It makes for a cozy, happy home.

Naturally, Christmas carols of all kinds are at the top of the play list right now. For instance, laugh along with me as you enjoy this master piece. Forgive the occasional bounce in the video-ography, as I was desperately trying not to laugh out loud.



While not as cultured, and possibly not at funny as this video, it was considerably less practiced. Add-libs were completely off the cuff and totally their own.



Happy start to the Christmas week!

It's Possible Even MacGyver Would Be Foiled In My Kitchen

It's the holiday season. And now that I am finally coming out of the fog of The Worst First Trimester I Have Ever Experienced, my kitchen fairly sings for me to come in and play.

And so, I do.

It is through this playing that I have come to realize how ill prepared my kitchen is. Y'all have to remember, I've lived with my mother-in-law for two years, and when cooking inspiration hit, I had her fifty-plus years in the making kitchen to dabble in. There is nothing that woman doesn't have.

Except a potato masher. After grousing about this abominable over-sight for most of my seven years of marriage, I bought her one. So she even has that now. I doubt that she uses it, but it's there for me.

My kitchen, on the other hand, boasts of sticky floors, an unusual assortment of small appliances, and a liberal helping of stashed chocolate.

But not a mixing bowl big enough for half the recipes that I take on, due to my habit of doubling and tripling recipes. I resort to mixing things in my stock pot. It's awkward when I attempt to use the mixer.

I have only one spatula. How my life has dwindled down to one measly spatula, I will never know. But it's a truth that smacks me in the head nearly every time I start baking.

I have never owned one of those little egg separator things. They aren't impossible to live without, but I am betting I'd make less mess.

A garlic press. It never occurred to me to register for one of those handy little gadgets. But stupidity is born in the hearts of ecstatic brides-to-be everywhere.

I have one Pyrex casserole dish. It's a travesty and I have no words for it.

Sharp knives are a myth.

We have only four tall drinking glasses. The rest have been, shall we say, put to rest. I am known to serve from Mason jars.

The salt and pepper shaker set we were given when we got married? It bit it. My mother in law replaced it. A week or so ago, Thomas told me he had broken one of them, but the tape made it keep working. He didn't take into account where the little shards of glass had gone that were missing from beneath the tape. I keep meaning to go to Target and find a set that isn't so pricey, but that pregnancy thing keeps my brain from working.

Do you know how many baking recipes ask you to sift things? I keep pretending that just stirring really well with a fork will take care of it. Then I pretend I don't see the lumps.

None of this, however, prevents me from happily sprinkling flour about and getting my beloved aprons dirty.

Oh, speaking of aprons... isn't this one adorable???

Anna Joy - 2 Years!

Sweet mercy, how the time has flown. It seems like just yesterday I was cuddling a brand new sweet bundle of good smelling baby girl. Her story, of course, is her own. One she is still writing. Her personality is also uniquely her own. And we are enjoying it to the fullest.

Happiest of birthdays, my sweet little 2 year old!