Christmas 2013

This year we tried something different.  We decided to make Christmas Eve our secular holiday and try to keep Christmas Day more focused on Christ.  It went ok.  I thing we need some refining of details and more of a plan of what to do on Christmas Day.

So, that being said, Santa came on Christmas Eve to our house.  Luckily, our kids are small enough that they sleep in to their regular times.  Yay!  I know, we won't have that for much longer.

I ran down to get the cinnamon rolls out of the fridge and into the oven.  Unfortunately, they were still rock solid from being frozen the day before.  I crossed my fingers and put them in a warm oven, praying they would defrost and rise while we opened presents.

Stockings were first, of course.  Matthew got toothbrushes and toothpaste as well as some stacking cups.  Anna got some lacing cards and a princess calendar that is hanging on her wall.

The first then Anna saw when she came into the living room was the trampoline.  She was so excited and started jumping on it right away.  Score 1 for Daddy!  It was her favorite gift that day.  Anna got some clothes, a crocheted hat, a new piggy bank, some Sunday movies, and children's scriptures, along with the trampoline.

Matthew also got a crocheted hat along with a new blanket, a toy car and boat, and a little baby.  Daddy got him a big Tigger.  It's almost as tall as he is.

Steve got us all a surprise gift.  It turned out to be a bike trailer.  It's supposed to be for me to take the kids around, but I'm too short for Steve's bike, so he takes them out when he exercises.

We spent the rest of the day playing with our gifts and hanging out in the backyard in our PJs in the 70+ weather.

That evening we had our fondue dinner.  I tried something new, a Christmas tree salad with kale, lettuce and lots of fruit and nuts.  It was delicious and even Steve liked it!  We also had homemade rolls and yummy meats.  I even found bockwurst!  This year I made plans to use up all the meat and nothing went bad.

On Christmas day, we had a short devotional about the shepherds and how we can be like the shepherds, too.  We then Skyped with as many of our extended family as we could.  It was nice to spend part of the day with family even if we couldn't be there with them.

The Christmas Season

Anna working on her gingerbread house

Steve's decorating efforts on his side of the house.

Please excuse the wonky picture placement.  Blogger wasn't working for me.
We had a great Christmas season this year even though it felt a little more rushed than usual.  In years past, Steve and I have had a goal to have all Christmas gifts bought and Christmas letter written and sent out by the last day of November.  With the move to Morgan Hill in early November, it just didn't happen that way.  We didn't even mail out a letter; we just emailed it!

We started off the season with St. Nicholas day on December 6.  Anna and Matthew left their shoes outside their bedroom doors.  In the morning, they each found a candy cane, a winter book, and a little St. Nick.  Anna's St. Nick is a little wooden peg person, while Matthew's is a stuffed round gnome.

My decorated half of the house

This year's ornament, pinecone gnomes

Both kids with Santa, Matthew didn't last long.

On December 13, we had St. Lucia day.  This year, that just consisted of eating baked Lussekatter and reading a little picture book about a family celebrating it.  After reading the book, Anna says she wants me to make her a Lucy dress and candle head wreath.  I told her that would be fine as long as she remembers that means she has to make breakfast for everyone!

Anna with Santa at the ward party.

Making Christmas sweets with Anna

We finally got down to some serious Christmas preparations.  First up was decorating houses- our house and gingerbread houses.  We bought 2 house kits, one for Steve & I and one for Anna.  She had so much fun decorating that house!  She concentrated hard and had her little tongue stuck out.

Anna with her house.  She was so proud.

I got most of the decor set out on a Sunday afternoon while the kids were napping.  It will Venice when they can help, but now they are more likely to break something.  I love having a mantle and being able tout stuff up on the acoustic piano that was here was nice, too.  I think the downstairs looked very festive.

My three merry snowmen.

Sawing away with the stupid, ineffective saw.

We waited a little before getting our Christmas tree this year.  The last couple of years our trees got so dry that we were afraid we were going to start a fire.  This year, we went to a real tree farm and cut our own.  They don't have local evergreens like fir or spruce.  Instead there was a pine with really long needles or cypress trees.  We chose the cypress.  It was...interesting.  The needles are more like a cedar, flat, and the branches were very bendy.

We got 2 trees, a little one for the kids and a big one for the family.

Cutting the tree was the biggest pain.  The farm provided this saw on the end of a long stick.  It was like trying to cut through the trunk with dental floss.  Steve and I both worked at it for a good twenty minutes with no real progress.  Luckily, we brought a saw with us from home.  We got that out and were through the trunk in 3 minutes!

Decorating the big Christmas tree the first time.

Anna loved decorating the tree.  I love getting out the ornaments and looking at all the things we've made.  The tree was beautiful!  Anna went down for a nap and I started working on dinner.  Suddenly, I heard kind of a rushing sound.  I turned around just in time to see the entire tree topple over.  Oh dear.  Steve grabbed the tree and I mopped up the water all over the floor.  After getting everything all squared away, we sat back and admired our work.