::christmas report::

We had a great Christmas day this year. I've been struggling with a cold ever since the beginning of Dec, and up until Christmas I felt pretty bad, but luckily I felt good on the day itself.
Here are the boys at the table eating our semi-traditional breakfast of Captain Crunch. Kris told me a while back that it was a tradition in his family to eat that for breakfast Christmas morning, but his mom tells me that's not so--I think he was just trying to work captain crunch in to the deal somehow. I personally prefer German pancakes, but that's ok--I lean more towards my family's tradition of a big breakfast brunchy feast on Christmas morning. I'm thinking maybe one of these days we can combine all the traditions into one big wonderful breakfast buffet that includes chocolate.

They're wearing their Christmas eve PJs. Max's have dogs dressed as reindeer all over them, and Kris has Red Sox pants. Pretty fun. My mom got me some PJs too, but I don't have a photo of me, of course.
Max also has all his santa and stocking toys at the table--important to have entertainment while eating, naturally.

Sultan got in on the fun with a squeaky crawdad. He actually seems to like it which is surprising. He's not really a toys kind of guy.

Here's the little guitar that Santa brought to the family.

I think it's a half size little nylon string. We're going to give Max some guitar lessons starting next month, we'll see how it goes.
Santa also likes to leave notes with very elaborately disguised handwriting. I'm not really sure how long that's going to be feasible. Somebody should maybe take some calligraphy lessons.

We had a great morning. We gave Max a little clock and told him he wasn't allowed to leave his room or bother us until 7AM. He woke up right around 7 we think and was up and about at around 7:15. It was nice not to be waked at the crack of dawn.

Our families took good care of us. I wish we could've seen them all in person, but it was great to be able to open gifts from them even though we're so far away.
We camped out on the floor and had fun with the gifts.

Check out my awesome socks my sis-in-law and bro gave me.

This happens to be the only photo of me taken the whole day, so enjoy it.
Kelly & Lechelle sent us Lego Star Wars, which has been much enjoyed this week by the men of the house.

Max was finally given the whoopie cushion he's been dreaming of. Kris got it for him. I had told him I didn't want one in the house. But oh well, isn't that what dads do? Ralphie certainly wouldn't have gotten his red rider beebee gun without his dad. But Kris, don't get any ideas. If you get my son a beebee gun you're "out of the family."

We spent time in the morning assembling toys. Max got a fabulous remote control semi truck from his Grandma which took quite a while to put together. It's very cool.

After that we got to do some video chatting with both of our families.
Mine:

My family opened their gifts on the chat which was fun because then I could see their reactions and it was almost like really being there--almost.
Kris's fam:

Our chatting situation is always crowded and chaotic:

Max had at least one meltdown with screaming while "on air" and had to get sent to his room--but what would a true video chat be without that?

We had some friends come over in the afternoon and eat a late lunch. It was fun because their boys get along with Max well and we got to have a little grown up time. I didn't get any pictures of that though.
But I did get pictures of the yummy sugar cookies I made for the event.

And Max's favorites, the penguins. The other little boys loved them too. I would've made all penguins if I'd have known how popular they were going to be.

Max ended up with a lot of wheeled contraptions. He likes them.
We got a set of little cars at Disney World that are vehicles from a bunch of the popular rides. He really enjoys them.

It was a great day. It was nice to be together, to talk to our families. It was nice to feel the Christmas spirit and think about the Savior. It was nice to know that we're loved by so many wonderful people.
And it was nice to go to bed that night, well worn out.

::advent calendar(s)::

I meant to post about this before Christmas, but here I am doing it now.
We (and by we I mean Max) got to enjoy two whole advents calenders this year. And lucky little boy, he gets the whole thing all to himself--no having to give turns over to siblings. How would that be?
We have a really cute quilt that Kris's mom made for us last year. It has a little pocket for every day. We filled it with treats. What could be better?
We also had a playmobil calender. It took a lot of assembly but was worthwhile.

The playmobil calendar had a little box for each day. There was a little piece of a woodland scene in each box, ending with Santa on Christmas eve. The idea is that he's out in the woods feeding the animals for Christmas. I thought it turned out super cute. I just put it away today, maybe we'll use it again next year.



I think the calendars add to the magic of the Christmas season. I'm a fan.

::ornament wrap up::

So to wrap up our ornament posts I'm going to show you the rest of the photos I took--for potential blog posts.
Turns out it's basically a timeline of my mom's adorable little molded creations.
So these two here--the camel and the flying heart are both vintage. They're from the early eighties, probably around 83 or so. I'm guessing the camel was made at about the same time as the little me.


They're both salt dough and I love them.
Next my mom moved to using clay. At some point anyway, I'm not sure what that point was.
I remember her working on little things--using a garlic press to make hay and hair for hobby horses. It was so fascinating to watch.

Isn't this the sweetest baby Jesus you've ever seen? He's tiny too--the length of the little manger isn't more than about an inch.

The little guys keep getting more sophisticated, like this raccoon holding an ornament:

I think I got to choose which animal I wanted and she made it for me. Yes, my mom is amazing. I love the texture in his fur. So detailed.

This jumping sheep was made pretty recently. I'm not sure what year though. The quilt he's wearing is beautiful, and I just love the little star. You can also see half of a stained glass star with a little sheep in the middle in this photo too. It's nice to be reminded of the Good Shepherd.
And to finish off, here's the Mama Fish.

I think I've posted about her before, but she's just so fabulous I can't resist. My mom made her for Max a couple of years ago--I think it was the last christmas we've been able to spend in UT. Max was so excited when he saw it. He's almost the age now where I can actually let him touch her. He likes to kiss her. You can see in the photo that he placed a pinecone and tree right next to her to keep her company.
We love the mama fish ornament. What a treasure.
Like my mom, a treasure.
Love you mom!

::pretty much the cutest thing ever::

Max's school had some sort of little market. I can't remember what it was called, but it was an opportunity for the kids to "shop" at school and buy presents for family members. I guess this is something that always/often happens at elementary school. (I am such a newbie at this).
So I sent Max with like $12 and told him to pick out a present for Kris and I. He came home really proud of himself. He had gotten a present for each of us, and the best part was he only spent like $2.95. Such a funny little boy.
But I'm very impressed with him. He picked out things for both of us that were good presents--like he really thought about it.
He got Kris a big football magnet for his car. Kris is definitely a football fan, and he loves cars. So it was perfect.

He got me a little candle that smells really good. He said "because you like candles and stuff...." which is totally true. I do love candles!

It was fun to see how excited he was for us to open the gifts, and it was really fun to see what he had picked out. It's so important for little people to learn the joy of giving. He gets a lot of practice with the joy of receiving, so this was great.
And he's just so stinking cute.

I know I've said it before. I'll probably say it again too.

::::

It's fabulous when my husband gets me pretty nail polish for Christmas. Fabulous.

It's even better when he throws in a Christmas night pedicure. What a man, right?

(yes I have sock impressions and funny looking feet. Oh well.)

::merry christmas::

My little brother Murphy is on his mission in Argentina. He sent me this picture he drew for christmas when we got to talk to him on the computer today. Technology is amazing--my entire family got to talk to him, even us here so far away in RI, all at the same time.

I'm so proud of him and the good work he's doing. He's an inspiring and wonderful example to all of us.
Merry Christmas!!

::ornament 7::

Here's another mom ornament!
This is one of the earliest I remember her making. I remember there was a whole flock of these little guys by the time she got done.

Isn't he adorable?
He reminds me of a song she wrote for her christmas pagent. "We like sheep so far from home, wandering in the world alone, when the night comes still we roam, waiting for our shepherd to lead us home."
I'm racking my brains to remember the next verse and I'm only getting about half of it. Somebody's going to have to comment and remind me!

::ornament 6::

This is one of my favorite guys my mom has made (there are so many favorites though...).

He's a little porcupine that walked through a holly bush.
He makes me happy.

::ornament 5::

Every year since Max was born I've made a little ornament with his picture in it. OK, so that's an exaggeration. I haven't MADE them every year. Usually I just end up buying a little frame type ornament and sticking his picture in. But I do assemble them. And I do always have plans to make one, it just doesn't usually work out.
But I did make the ones for 2004 & 2007:

The 2004 one was a little wood frame that I got at the craft store and painted. The one from last year I actually made this year (trying to play catch up--that's what happens when you paint yourself into the corner of a "tradition"). It's a bottle cap (It's from some Steven's orange soda that we had for Thanksgiving that year). I cut his little photo and stuck it in there, and then I poured a bunch of mod podge on top of it. It took days, but it ended up drying clear with a little shiny finish to it. I like it.

I've given the same ornament to each of Max's grandparent's every year too. They're always very grateful and it makes me happy. Give us a couple more years and the theme of our tree will just be Max.

::two trees::

So it took us a while, but about a week or so ago we the tree was finally out complete with lights and ornaments.
There were two obstacles to getting it up on time--1. It was in the "attic." Since I didn't know we had an "attic," I couldn't find the dang thing. 2. We had to move furniture out of the living room in order to put up the tree. Our living room is weird shaped--It's really long and narrow. So any of the normal places I would think to put it would basically be in the traffic pattern. And since we've got a speedy 5 yr old and a humungo dog, the traffic pattern seemed like a bad idea.
So I had to wait for poor Kris to move everything and get the tree from the silly "attic."

And the ceiling is too low for our star. Arrgh. Oh well. All that matters is that it's up and it's fun and (knock on wood) none of the light strings have quit working *yet*.

I thought it would be really fun for Max to have a little tree in his room. I found a teeny white one at Target for like $7 dollars and I just couldn't resist. I stood in the aisle for probably ten minutes trying to decide if I should get it or not, and finally just bought the dang thing.

He loves it. And when we were putting the ornaments on the big tree he kept trying to poach them and put them on his tree. So I let him take a couple of his favorites.

Appropriately sock monkey is the topper. And he has lots of fish. I bought a bunch of red jingle bells back when Max was about two, and used those mainly to decorate the big tree that year. I knew that he wouldn't leave the tree alone no matter what I did, so better safe than sorry. So a bunch of those bells went to Max's tree this year. I think they look really cute.


Pretty cute huh? Just like the little guy himself. Such a cutie.

::ornament 3::

Alright, so this one is ornament(s). And these are some of the few ornaments on my tree that haven't been made by a member of my family.

I got these two little guys on my trip to Russia and Siberia in the summer of 1998. I went with BYU's jazz band Synthesis and it was quite the experience for me. My first international experience and definitely my first experience anywhere that wasn't a first world country. I learned a lot on that trip. We were usually very uncomfortable (complete lack of air conditioning everywhere), thirsty (no clean water), sick from the greasy food and none of us could understand and thing anybody said. But we did meet some interesting and wonderful people, and got to help strengthen the church out there. It was an experience not to be missed.
And I don't think these little minarets were supposed to be christmas ornaments, but that was the first thing I thought of when I saw them. And I think they're perfect.

::ornament 2::

The ornament for today is an old favorite. My mom is going to have to comment and tell me what year she made it.

It's me! It's me at about age 3 I think, wearing my "dancing dress" which was a dress my mom made me around that time. I loved dresses and dancing and hated wearing pants.
Isn't the little me adorable? It reminds me so much of my mom and my whole family when I was little. I love it!
What would my tree be without my mom, honestly?

::ornament 1::

Kris had a bright idea for me. He thought it would be fun to have a little feature of one Christmas tree ornament a day until the day itself.
So the first:

My Grandad made this for me. It's wonderful. I don't know how long ago it was that he made it, but I seem to remember having it forever. He made one for each of us kids (at least I think everybody has one.) My mom has one as well and it really confuses Max because her dad likes to call her Kris, so that's what her ornament says. Max thinks that one belongs on our tree rather than hers.
What it comes down to is that I just love the shape of the letters and how the whole thing makes me think of my marvelous woodworking Grandad. And it always will.

::card(s)::

When I was trying to decide what to do about Christmas cards this year I suddenly realized that I have some photoshop skills. That instead of picking somebody else's template I could make up my own! I got excited and went to work.
Here's the first draft I came up with.

I like it. It's fun and busy. I never know where to stop when pictures are concerned though, so I think this card may have had a few more pictures than were really necessary.
Then I worked up another one:

This is the one we sent out. Simplicity and bold colors won out. I love it. It's fun that I get to claim credit for the design. And plus I found a place that printed them for about .50 apiece, which made it so we could actually send them out.
Christmas cards are fun. I love getting them and I enjoy sending them.

::house::

On monday evening we got together with our good friends to make "gingerbread" houses. The gingerbread is in quotation marks because we really made them out of graham crackers. But that's A-OK.
So I brought my big heavy camera all the way over there and got it out and started taking photos. I was more than a little dismayed to see the camera flashing it's "NO MEMORY CARD" prompt at me. ARGH.
So no pictures of all the construction and candies, smeared up little faces, excitement, dads trying to build impressive structures and having them flop all over the place.....etc.
But I did take a couple of pictures of our finished product the next day.



So three photos may be more than a little silly (not) gingerbread house deserves, but there you go.
I designed it and I think it turned out pretty cool--kind of modern, kind of southwestern. It looks like the roof should be made of solar panels rather than candies, right?
The house was actually more impressive at one point. It had a snowman, two more trees, an intact fence and lots more candy on the roof. But unfortunately Sultan decided to sneak around, and at 2 in the morning we heard a tremendous crash, and Kris ran in to see the house face down on a chair and Sultan chasing chocolate candies around the floor. Needless to say Sul got in trouble. My architecture held up pretty well though, don't you think?
Christmastime is fun. We're so glad to have good friends out here!

::hilarious::

Max I watched Elf today. The part where he's at the doctor is just so hilarious. Anybody that's spent any time with a little kid will appreciate this.

The rest of it's great too, of course. If you haven't seen it you'd better!

::busy::

Busy assembling advents calendars, addressing christmas cards, packing packages, sending packages, digging out decorations, listening to festive music, enjoying christmastime!