What Christmas Looked Like Around Here

With my husbands family, we alternate between celebrating on boxing day and Christmas day.  We also rotate whose home it will be held at.  This year Christmas was at my sister-in-law's home.  I really enjoy eating her cooking.  It's more family style than fancy, her food always leave me feeling completely nourished and comforted.  Her meals are great, but usually she creates chaos in the kitchen.  I was so impressed with my in-laws this Christmas.  They made turkey dinner look easy, no chaos ~ easy peasy.   

   

After the gifts were unwrapped, we quickly rearranged the furniture for dinner.  The boys table was set up in the living room, and a folding table was brought into the kitchen for the adults.  Dinner was a hoot.  Everyone wore their paper crowns the Christmas conversation starters were passed around.  I am not sure what we were laughing about, but I am sure Grandma was certain it was because we were all drunk.  - wait, maybe she was right.  After dishes and coffee, we went to play a game of Just Dance on the Wii.  The boys and I did an okay job. We had finesse but did not get too many points.   Kenzie and her Aunt rocked at it.  We were having so much fun, we stayed later than we should have.  Thanks guys!

I hosted  boxing day for my side of the family.  I had lots of help.  Mom brought her "party potatoes" and my father's partner brought a cow, a roast.  I made coleslaw, veggie trays, cheese trays and appetizers.  We served the roast as sandwiches.  I rarely get a chance to visit with my family, so it was nice to see everyone together.  It was a little overwhelming, but good. 

I have been thinking a lot about how lucky we are to spend Christmas morning with our children.  In a few years (and I know they will fly by), Christmas will be just my husband and I.  Maybe that is why instead of just going crazy with the presents, we did things differently and unwrapped one gift at a time.  To savour it.  I loved every minute of it. 

Over the years, what we do on Christmas eve has changed depending on the circumstances.  There are a couple of traditions that have not changed.  One is that we put magic reindeer food on the lawn for Santa's fleet.  Another, John reads the kids "T'was the Night Before Christmas." This story only gets read once a year on Christmas eve.  While he is reading, I am madly trying to get a good shot of them.  The last tradition is that we put out cookies and beer for Santa.  Everyone else gives out milk, but we like to stand out.  Don't worry about Santa driving drunk, surely one beer wont put him over the limit, and besides it's the reindeer fly the sleigh.  Once the kids are in bed, hubby and I sit down to watch It's a Wonderful Life.  This year Kenzie watched it with us.  Sadly, she did not like it as much as I had hoped.  She thought that the tittle was a bad match for the plot.  ~ kids, go figure.  Maybe she will grow to like it as she grows up a little more. 

365 Project - December 22 - 27

Arggh, for some reason I had lots of trouble getting my pictures up on the blog today.  Here they are for the past few days, out of order, but up.  Click on image to view the picture larger.  I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas.

December 24 - Traditions - I love that the holidays are full of traditions.  One of my favorite is my husbands annual reading of  "The Night Before Christmas" on Christmas eve.  The other part of the tradition is me taking about a hundred pictures trying to get just the right one.

December 25 - A Boys Delight - It was so hard to pick just one picture to encapsulate Christmas for my 365.  I ended up choosing this one because of the expression of delight on Charlie's face. I am going to share more of my family's Christmas in another post.

December 26 - My Side - I hosted boxing day for my family this year.   These people have shaped my life. And even though sometimes they can make me feel like a insecure twelve year old, I am thankful that they are a part of me. 

December 27 - Breathing Space - I need to catch my breath today.  Take some time to unwind and rejuvenate.  Find peace, reconnect with my favorite people, and just breathe.

December 22 - Cookies - I am not a Christmas baker.  At least not this year.  In the past I have participated in Cookie Exchanges, heck, I even organized one.  But not this year.  This year I stopped by the bakery and bought some pretty cookies.  Know what?  They tasted just as good.

December 23 - Best Brother Ever: snow edition - I love that my boys are buddies.  Even with the eight year age gap between them, they are close.  Charlie looks up to Josh, and Josh is so patient with Charlie.  You would never know that seconds before this picture was taken that The Little Man threw a huge mitt full of snow into his brothers face.  See?  Best Brothers Ever. 

365 Project December 14 - 21

December 14 - A Dose of Sunshine - My kids and husband love clementines.  They will sit down and eat three or four at a time.  Clementines remind me of Christmas, the paradox is that they also remind me of summer days at the beach. 

December 15 - Away in a Manger - Last week when we were visiting Grandma, I set up her nativity scene.  We never had a nativity scene when I was growing up, but I am certain if we did, I would have gotten in big trouble for playing house with it.  We didn't have a manger, but I remember the year that my Dad set up the microphones and I sang "Away in a Manger" into it, recorded on cassette tape. 

Away in a Manger

no crib for a bed

the little Lord Jesus

lay down his sweet head

December 16 - Happy -weekly self portrait - I realized by looking through my selfies that I look like a miserable person.  Never smiling.  This week, I made an effort to smile.  "cheese!"

December 17 - A Visit With Santa - The Little Man doesn't want to go visit Santa.  I brought him to the mall last week hoping that he would change his mind.  Nope.  So instead, I sent an email off to Magic Santa.  Santa sent a magic email back to Charlie.  He was very happy to get this "visit", and bragged all about his email to his family when they got home. 

December 18 - Snowman Sleepover - Actually, it was a cousin sleepover.  My nephews, Cole and Jack slept over Saturday night.  We made a snowman craft out of socks. I really enjoyed having the boys, and so did my kids.  Even The Kid, my teenager, dragged her mattress and blankets out to the family room to sleep with the boys.  I loved hearing the kids giggle and talk into the wee hours of night.

December 19 - Building - We ended the sleepover with gingerbread house building.  Yup, I'm the Cool Aunt.

December 20 - Eating - In the last 24 hours, I think I was asked at least 24 times if they could eat their gingerbread houses.  I gave up.  Sure, go for it kiddos, enjoy!  And to the poor homeless Gummy Bear, I apologize. 

December 21 - Welcome Winter - Today is the first day of winter.  Although I am not looking forward to the next few months of cold, shovelling snow, and extra layers of clothes, I am so happy that after today, the days will be getting longer.  As of today, the worst is behind me.  Let the light shine in. 

morning sun through evergreen

a crow flying overhead

frost on the car window

365 Project December 8 - 13

December 8 - The Tree Is Trimmed - We decorated the tree tonight and it went surprisingly well.  In the past I have gotten stressed while the kids grabbed the ornaments and (not so carefully) thrown them at the tree.  Now, we have a system that works.  I sit and pass out the ornaments.  This gives me a chance to look at each ornament and reminisce. I even let the kids put the ornaments where they want them.  It was decided that these jingle bells should hang out beside each other and be friends.  There was one causality though.  A plaster penguin fell to the ground and lost his flipper while we were doing our version of the Charlie Brown dance.   

December 9 - Lips - weekly self portrait - Growing up my older sister teased me that my lips were too big.  She had all sorts of nasty names for them.  I thought they were ugly.  Looking at them here I think they are full, pretty and nicely shaped.  Acceptance of my body is the best side effect of my weekly self portrait. 

December 10 - The Gift of Light - We were invited to John's aunt's home tonight to visit with his cousin who lives on the East coast.  Auntie Dianne's home could be in the pages of Better Homes and Gardens.  It is beautiful, every ornament is placed just right.  My home on the other hand - every ornament begins to look like clutter.  But hey - I have other skills right?  It was one of the best nights out I have had in a long time.  Sharing stories, laughs and wine. 

December 11 - Sick Day - I woke up today sick.  Actually I woke up hungover and by late afternoon, I realized that I had The Little Man's stomach flu.  Lovely.

December 12 - Night Snow - Finally we got some snow!  It rained all day, but the temperature dropped and it turned to snow.  Yipee!  Can't wait to play tomorrow.

December 13 - Snow Angel - The Little Man and I played outside today in the snow.  I did not take him to the hill during the day. When his big brother and sister came home, they all went to the hill.  I can see the hill from my backyard so I felt pretty safe with this.  The kids weren't gone more than a few minutes when I got a call on my phone.  Apparently the kids choose to go down the hill that has the high school at the bottom of it.  Headfirst.  Guess what happened?  Yup- Charlie hit it head on.  No blood, but a nasty goose egg and bruise.  I was at the hill in two minutes.  Piggy backing The Little Man home took a little longer. 

365 Project November 30 - December 7

November 30- Sparkle - I loved the way the light sparkled off these raindrops, but I think that I wouldn't mind some snow soon.

December 1 - Remember When -

December 2 - Smile - Weekly self portrait - Getting ready for the big day, and another order came in from Amazon!

December 3 - Knitted Cat - My first completed knitting project.  It was supposed to be a bear, but the ears turned out a little pointy.  I am so proud!

December 4 - Christmas Conversation - Remember the conversation starters that I made up last month?  Well, I thought that it would be fun to make a list of Christmas conversation starters for the month of December.  I put them in a mason jar and gave this to a friend for a hostess gift. 

December 5 - Christmas Lights -  Confession time: When you see a night time photo in the 365, it is because I have not gotten around to taking one during the day.  It is just so much harder now that the days are getting shorter, and life in the month of December is so busy.  Regardless, I do like how cozy my home looks with the lights on it. 

December 6 - Paper Snowflakes - The little man and I spent hours today cutting paper snowflakes.  He loved this craft.  I think it was the surprise of unfolding the paper to see the magic inside. 

December 7 - O Christmas Tree - Hubby and two of the kids went out to get the Christmas tree last night.  We used to be the kind of family that would go cut one down.  But after the year where Hubby had the flu, and took the kids to two different tree farms to chop one down- he decided that going to the local nursery to pick one out was just as good.  I don't go.  To me they all look the same, and I stress over the decision.  I love that we are not so tied to tradition that we forget what works best for us.