Our Christmas

Christmas Eve was spent with my parents, opening their gifts, watching White Christmas, and chowing down on cookies, sausage and cheese, eggnog, and hot cocoa (ugh!  I’m full all over again just thinking about it!)  Surprisingly enough, we went to bed at a fairly decent hour.

Unfortunately, I woke up at about 5 am, feeling absolutely miserable.  I got up to get some water, hoping that I just had a dry, scratchy throat, but sure enough I just began to feel worse with every passing hour!  That aside, we had a great Christmas morning!

The older boys woke up at 6, along with Mom, Dad, and Grandma.  Sweetheart Girl wasn’t too far behind, and we woke the twins at about 6:30.  We were hoping that since we woke them up early, they would nap early so we could make it to dinner that afternoon at my grandpa’s.  It worked!

Grandpa was also feeling sick, and I didn’t have the heart to wake Twinkle, so we let them sleep.  I guess it’s kind of wrong to do Christmas in shifts, but that’s what we did!

By Saturday evening, I was sooo sick, and I had to go to bed.  Daddy-Man was SUPER Daddy-Man and gave everyone their baths and got everyone into bed.  Not only that, he got everyone ready for church the next morning while I slept away!  No kidding, that’s not a small feat for a pastor on Sunday morning!

I pretty much stayed in bed all day Sunday, but by Monday morning most of the achiness was gone.  Sweetheart Girl got strep Monday, and I’m fairly positive that’s what I’ve got, too, so we’ll see if it passes on down the line!

The First Christmas

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
                                       Luke 2:1-20

Merry Christmas

‘Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house
Not a creature was praying not one in the house
Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care
In hopes that Jesus would not come there.

The children were dressing to crawl into bed
Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head.
And mom in her rocker with baby on her lap
Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.

When out of the east there arose such a clatter
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter
Away to the window I flew like a flash
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash

When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But angels proclaiming that Jesus was here
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray
I knew in a moment this must be the day.

The light of His face made me cover my head
It was Jesus, returning just like he said
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth
I cried when I saw Him, in spite of myself.

In The Book Of Life which He held in His hand
Was written the name of every saved man
He spoke not a word as he searched for my name
When He said "It's not here" my head hung in shame.

The people whose name had been written in love
He gathered to take to His Father above
With those who are ready He rose with out a sound
While all the rest were left standing around.

I fell to my knees but it was too late
I had waited too long and this sealed my fate
I stood and cried as they rose out of sight
Oh, if I had only been ready tonight.

In the words of the meaning is clear.
The coming of Jesus is drawing near.
There's only one life and when comes the last call
We'll find that the Bible was true after all.

                              ~Author Unknown

As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, let us not forget that He did not stay a baby in manger!  He grew to be the perfect Sacrifice for my sin and yours, and He will one day judge the world!

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.            Philippians 2:10-11 

The Annual Christmas Photo

I think my children believe the camera will steal their souls or something!  This is what we came up with this year :)

I do what I can…

Uninvited Guests

It’s bad enough we put the wise men in our nativity scenes when they didn’t come around until a couple years after Jesus’ birth!! 

Who are these guys?!?!

Awesome McAwesome put his Mars Heroes up the other day (and they’re still there!), and he’s been quite pleased with himself since!

I feel I must point out that the Mars Heroes are good guys- two are watching the baby Jesus, and the other one is standing guard.

I don’t plan on them being a part of this scene next year!

Answers to Saturday Sillies

Here are the answers to yesterday’s Christmas Carol Trivia!

1. Nutcracker Suite

2. Little Drummer Boy

3. Deck The Halls

4. Silent Night

5. Noel

6. All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

7. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

8. Joy to the World

9. 12 Days of Christmas

10. Do You Hear What I Hear?

11. Up On The House Top

12. Away In A Manger

13. Go Tell It On The Mountain

14. Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

15. I Saw 3 Ships

16. Hark The Herald Angels Sing

17. Carol of the Bells

18. As Shepherd's Watch Their Flocks At Night

19. Let It Snow

20. We Three Kings

21. Oh, Holy Night

22. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

23. All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth

24. We Three Kings

25. Silver Bells

26. O Little Town of Bethlehem

27. We Wish You A Merry Christmas

28. God Rest You Merry Gentlemen

29. I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

30. Frosty the Snowman

31. Peace on Earth

32. Oh Come, All Ye Faithful

Saturday Sillies- Christmas Carol Trivia

Yes, I admit I’m one that would play Christmas music year round if I thought I could get away with it.  But alas, most of society doesn’t share this opinion so I hold back.

Can you figure out these popular Christmas Carols??

1. The apartment of 2 psychiatrists.

2. The lad is a diminutive percussionist.

3. Decorate the entry-ways .

4. Sir Lancelot with laryngitis.

5. A B C D E F G H I J K M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.

6. Present me naught but dual incisors for this festive Yuletide.

7. The smog-less bewitching hour arrived.

8. Exuberation to this orb.

9. 288 Yuletide hours.

10. Do you perceive the same longitudinal pressure which stimulates my auditory sense organs.

11. Stepping on the pad cover.

12. Far back in a hay bin.

13. Leave and do an elevated broadcast.

14. That exiguous hamlet south of the holy city.

15. Behold! I envisioned a trio of nautical vessels.

16. Listen, the winged heavenly messengers are proclaiming tunefully.

17. A joyful song relative to hollow metallic vessels which vibrate and bring forth a ringing sound when struck.

18. As the guardians of little woolly animal's protected their charges in the shadows of the earth.

19. Frozen precipitation commence

20. Monarchial triad

21. Oh, member of the round table with missing areas

22. Vehicular homicide was committed on Dad's mom by a precipitous darling

23. Wanted in December: top forward incisors

24. We are Kong, Lear, and Nat Cole

25. Cup-shaped instruments fashioned of a whitish metallic element

26. Oh small Israel urban center

27. Our fervent hope is that you thoroughly enjoy your yuletide season

28. May the Deity bestow an absence of fatigue to mild male humans

29. Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as a hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

30. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute crystals.

31. Tranquiltiy upon the terrestrial sphere.

32. Have hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.

Christmas Gifts- Episode Five

Whew!  It’s almost midnight, but I just finished Twinkle’s gift so I’m just going to post real quickly!

Deciding what to do for her took forever!  The only easy thing I could come up with was a blanket, but I happen to know that a friend is giving her a blanket so she hardly needs another!

I almost just gave up and went to the store to buy her a toy, but instead…

Click here for this tutorial.  The dress is made from a thrifted pillowcase, and I used ribbon instead of the bias tape.  I recommend using the bias tape!!  The ribbon was a pain.

And click here for this one.  I’ve made a few hair bows before, and I’ve been anxious to try this one out.  So cute!  This site has a couple more that I want to try out later.

Now…what to do for her birthday one week after Christmas…

Alright, one more Christmas gift to go…that one depends a bit on the hubby and he’s been incredibly busy, so I have a feeling it’ll end up being pretty last minute ;)

Christmas Gifts- Episode Four

Here’s one of the twins’ presents.  It’s a bean bag toss game!  One spray-painted cardboard box, some felt for the eyes and teeth, and some cloth and filling (I ended up using rice) for the ‘bean’bags equals a lot of fun…I hope :)

I’m still deciding if I should address this to either Minion 1 or Minion 2, or if I should address both gifts to both boys.  They are definitely entering a possessive stage so single ownership could lead to fights…but is it totally wrong to NOT give them individual gifts yet?  They’re only two…

…But my main dilemma with this gift is…

How do I wrap this?????

I Heart the Mail Carrier!

Don’t you just love getting packages?!  The FedEx guy just rang our doorbell, delivering the gift I bought for Daddy-man.  I LOVE it!!!

On the off-chance he’s reading this (he’s under orders not to), I won’t say what it is, but it’s one of the few times in our almost 10-year marriage that I saw something and knew right away that I wanted to get it for him!  Usually, Christmas, birthday, and anniversary times roll around, and I have no clue!!

While passing time on my flight to Hawaii, I browsed the Sky Mall magazine and found it!  I was able to get a little extra money, shopped on amazon, used two $5 amazon e-gift certificates (thank you Swagbucks), and got it at a steal!

If you’re really that curious, here’s the link to see it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001FVRUFQ/ref=sr_1_6_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1291787067&sr=8-6&condition=new

If you know my husband, you know he’ll like it!  I think it’ll be great in his office!  Because I don’t want it in my house :)

About an hour ago, our mail carrier rang the doorbell, delivering some way cute Croc shoes I got at a steal for Sweetheart Girl.  Two pairs (I bought a bigger size for later) plus a jibbitz (a charm for the shoes) for $9.48 shipped!  Here’s what they look like: http://www.crocs.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-crocs_us-Site/default/Search-Show?q=gabby

If you know Sweetheart Girl, you know she’ll LOVE getting new shoes…it really must be born into some girls- she’s loved shoes since she could make her opinion known!

I still have a few homemade gifts to post about, and I promise they’re coming!  I finished one more but still have two to go.

Pictures That Make Me Smile

One of the gifts I’m making for the twins is a matching game with pictures of our family.  So today I went through all of our pics from this year, and I came across several that just made me smile!  Don’t get me wrong- I love all the kids pics, but sometimes you get some that are just a little extra special!

We took the kids bowling for the first time ever, and Hero never could bowl without his mouth open!  Most of the time his tongue was hanging out!

Sweetheart Girl had so much fun tossing leaves, and the delight on her face makes me smile :)

Twinkle has been the happiest baby, and every morning we woke up to this face (but maybe not this hair!).  She’s almost one year old now, so her grin has changed a bit, but she still always smiles at us in the morning!

Awesome McAwesome accepted Christ on Father’s Day this year.  I love this pic of my husband baptizing his 2nd son!

This was the Minions’ 2nd birthday, and I just love the mischivious grin on Minion 1’s face.  He’s wearing orange.

Come on, this one’s obvious!

Sweetheart Girl’s first time singing in Patch the Pirate Club.  Tell me she’s not the most adorable sailor ever!!

This one was taken about 4 hours after Minion 2 fell and knocked his tooth out of his mouth!  It’s a miserable story, but he’s a trooper!

Twinkle spent at least a month doing this constantly!

They’ve only done this twice!

This picture makes me smile because of the story behind it.

The ‘men’ were out chopping down a tree, and McAwesome didn’t want to help.  This is his pathetic ‘Please let me in’ look.  I didn’t let him in.

Sweetheart Girl loves her boots!

There’s a story behind this one, too, but suffice it to say, McAwesome wants a mustache ;)

Minion 1’s arm around Sweetheart Girl makes me smile a mile wide!

Because Daddy-man and I so rarely get a picture together…though neither of us actually like the way we look in this one…

On the other hand, I actually like the way I look in this one…if I could photoshop the red nose :o)

And, finally…

This one was taken on my hubby’s cell phone camera and is a bit blurry, but if I could be left with only one picture of Twinkle, this is the one I choose!  Daddy-man and I smile and laugh every time we look at this face!!

Christmas Gifts- Episode Three

Alright, here it is!  Sweetheart Girl’s Christmas gift (well, half of it).  Click here for Episode One and here for Episode Two .

Eggs sunnyside-up, bacon, and silver-dollar pancakes

How about a sandwich and chips for lunch?

Mmmm…ham, turkey, and cheese with lettuce and tomato

And, of course, PB & J- a staple around here

All that and a bag of chips?

Ruffle Chips!

Drumsticks and broccoli for dinner

I’m loving it!  I freehanded pretty much everything, but got all the ideas from various websites:

http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-felt-food.html

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/03/09/felt-brown-bag-lunch-tutorial/

There are a ton of ideas out there- I could have made more, but Sweetheart Girl’s birthday comes up quickly after Christmas.  If these foods are hit, I’ll work on more for her birthday.  Maybe some of these…

http://www.onecraftyplace.com/2009/02/27/felt-food-tutorial-round-up/

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/build-a-cake-play-set-923565/

I stayed pretty two-dimensional, so maybe I’ll branch out next time around. 

Along with the foods, Daddy-Man and I are working on a little stove for her.  That will be another post…