December 2015

Christmas 2015

After coming home from Thanksgiving break, we hurried and put up the Christmas Tree.  It is the same small-tree that we got from our wedding, so the lights are half broken and the limbs hang low.  But, our home-made-kid-proof ornaments fit just perfect.   We also made lots of new crafts this year to help fill the tree.   This year we also got a smaller white Christmas tree that became our 25 days of Christ tree. So each morning is busy in our home.  The kids wake up and then look for Buddy the Elf.  This year Buddy the Elf wrote them notes about good behavior he observed the previous day.  Since each night he has to tell Santa how they were.  After finding Buddy, we eat chocolate out of our advent calendars.  Then we get to pick an activity of another advent calendar.  And lastly we put an ornament on our "Christ Tree."And all the is done before the twins leave at 8:30 a.m!!! 

This year Leif had to work on Christmas.  So we asked Santa if he could come to our house a little earlier.  Sunday the 20th was our Christmas Eve.  We made snowman pancakes, and put up the last Christ ornaments.  Then we read Luke 2, while the kids acted it out with stick people.  The kids then got to open up one present.  Both Micah and Savannah had special trips to the store this year and got to pick out presents for everyone in the family.  So the presents this year were more about giving.  After opening presents, we all played games upstairs and then had a big slumber party in our room.  The next morning was December 21 and it was magical!!  Santa brought remote-control cars and blocks.  We played these all morning then went swimming as a family.  That night for dinner we had turkey and potatoes.  It really did feel like Christmas. 

Then on the "real" Christmas we served others.  Daddy went to work and we woke up early.  By 8:00 a.m we were walking down to the nursing home with a basket full of candies.  The kids each wore a bell around their necks and a Santa hat.  We sang Jingle Bells to each resident and gave them a candy.  And it was so much fun.  Even Eli was getting into the giving spirit.  By the time we left, most residents had 2 candies!!  We then came home to eat lunch and were off again to spread Christmas joy.  This time we filled our basket with oranges and headed to the Hospital.  The kids sang more songs and passed out our treats.  It was nice to visit with the nurses and see Daddy. 

Leif had to work until Dec 28.  We therefore left the next day for Spokane and got to spend New Years with Grandma and Papa.  Mat and Daryn were there as well.  We had Christmas the first day we got in.  Grandma was so cute about getting everyone something they loved.  Grandma even cooked a turkey and we acted out the nativity.  The rest of our time was spent in the snow.  We build and an ice-cave outside and even had a picnic in it.  We went skiing once and sledding twice.  Micah was in love with knocking off icicles.  Even little Eli was enjoying snowball-fights.  It was fun seeing little Millie and Eli play together.  I also got to meet Hattie for the first time.  We sure do love Christmas and family.