Fourth Day of Christmas

On the fourth day of Christmas my children gave to me... an evening of complete chaos opening presents!

Yesterday we opened presents with my family. I was the only person sitting on the floor helping the girls with their gifts. After every gift I was left with wrapping paper and an empty box piled in front of me. They were also handing me the new toy and requesting "open please", which led to more trash surrounding me. I didn't have a trash can near me for awhile. Eventually I got one, but it got too hard to keep up with the girls. At one point I wondered if I could hide behind all of the mess and read my new book in peace and quiet.

What a chaotic, but fun time.

*Picture to be added after Mom gets home with the camera.

Third Day of Christmas

On the third day of Christmas my children gave to me... a semi-peaceful time at church and a peaceful 2 1/2 hour drive to my parents' house. Yay!

It's quite clear that Julia understands the concept of gift-giving now. Once we got into the living room she looked under the Christmas tree, gasped, and exclaimed "Presents!". Luckily she had no problem waiting to open them until the next day.

On the Second Day of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas my children gave to me... an extra hour or so of sleep. I awoke to find everybody cozy on the couch reading their new books.




They also gave me time alone in the house while they went to the bank, post office and video store. They braved the cold weather to take a walk there. I was offered the opportunity to take a walk too, but I decided to stay home and clean. Here is Julia all bundled for her trip. Yes, she's wearing three hats. She was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, her winter hat, and the coat's hood. Probably overkill, but I didn't do it. I don't think she could turn her head without turning her whole torso.

Doesn't it look like a lot of work to get Chloe ready for a walk?

You might not think it would be fun to clean the house while everybody is gone, but I loved it! I got done in 1/3 of the time I would have otherwise. And the toys stayed right where I put them because there weren't two little girls running around behind me taking them out again.

On the First Day of Christmas

Dressed up for Christmas Eve service:

Christmas morning service:

the meal: chicken cacciatore, peas, wine, and red velvet cake for dessert

the tree:

and not one picture of children opening presents!

On the first day of Christmas I asked for peaceful children during the church service. I received peaceful children during the opening hymn. What more should I have really expected during the third church service in three days? The service at the other church was cancelled on Christmas day due to inclement weather. So we got a couple extra hours to spend with Kevin.

On the first day of Christmas my children gave to me... a day filled with precious memories. Chloe seemed to understand every aspect of the day this year. Julia enjoyed opening presents. I had more fun watching them open gifts than I have in past years. We played games together later in the day. The day ended with French toast for supper and a phone call to Michigan. One more Christmas story read before bed, a movie after the kids went to bed, and the day was over. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable day.

God's blessings to you all during this Christmas season!

Plan for the Day

It's not feeling especially Christmas-y around here with all of the rain we're getting, but it's Christmas Eve nonetheless and we have a few special Christmas Eve activities planned here. Note: After Kevin reads this, he'll once again tell me that it's not Christmas Eve until the sun goes down. Another note: Sorry the paragraphs have no spaces between them at the bottom. For some reason blogger takes all of the spaces out after I add pictures. Grrr.

The girls are decked out in their light-up Christmas sweatshirts their grandma sent them last year.

My, my, isn't Julia looking very grown up in that picture?

Every day in Advent, we've let Chloe open a little envelope I've had hanging in the dining room. Inside each envelope is a special activity to do that day. Some of them have been quite simple -- drink hot chocolate with supper. Some of them have been a bit more time consuming -- help bake and decorate cookies. Today she will be helping me make a red velvet birthday cake for us to enjoy tomorrow.

Aside from that, we'll be having a pretty normal day until we head to church. We'll be going to 5:30 service. While Kevin is at the second service, we'll be making homemade pizza. We had homemade pizza last year on Christmas Eve. I liked the idea so much, it might become a tradition for us.

After supper we'll let the girls open two presents -- matching pajamas and their new ornament for the year. Then it will be time to head to bed; we don't want Santa to skip over our house because the children stayed up too late!

Our local video store is having a "rent two movies, get one free" special today. We will head up at some point to pick out two movies for the adults for tonight and tomorrow night and one for the children to enjoy tomorrow.

So there are our exciting plans for the day. Hope your day is relaxing and exciting as you await the time for the full-blown celebration of our Savior's birth!