Christmas candids

I love Christmas, I always have! I love reflecting on the gift God sent the world some 2000 years ago ~ and how very relevant Christ is to us today, I enjoy candlelight services singing Silent Night, and I absolutely cherish extra time with family.

And as if all that isn't enough, I also have the distinct pleasure of being a parent to pre-schoolers and watching the magic of Christmas through their eyes. (We also have the advantage of getting to watch their joy twice ~ we have our M family Christmas here on Christmas Eve morning and then head to Mama's later for our family fondue meal and then Christmas morning we start all over again...)

Anticipation of getting ready to open gifts.

A little momma is born. (You know you "hit the mark" when the stroller is in use before the rest of the gifts are open AND the beloved Christmas nightgown has been tossed aside in favor of the new one ~ that came with a matching gown for her baby).

First glimpse of what Santa left under the tree ~ any guesses?

Totally lost after gift one.

Anyone else want to come to Kylie's salon?

In a nutshell, we stayed up way too late each night, we laughed, we ate, we gave, we loved, we celebrated, we smiled...

Hopefully your celebration of the birth of Christ brought happiness and joy to your home too!

From our house to yours...

...Merry Christmas!

So the money shot finally came through. Better late than never, right? Maybe next year...

We've gone "...over the river and through the woods (or across the belt-line and down the Interstate) to Grandmother's house..." and will be back to Internet access land in a few days.

Our wish for you is that no matter what was (or wasn't) on your Christmas list, that you are able to realize the fullness of the greatest gift ever given. May Christ make Himself known in your life this year!

Another nativity addition

This time from my sweet girl.

This afternoon when she woke up I was finishing up my baking. She happily told me she'd play with her babies until I was done. From the kitchen, I heard her talking to her doll ~ perhaps she was sharing the story of Christmas with her...

Football in the stable?

Last year Caleb provided the Holy family with a new set of wheels, this year he apparently decided that Jesus the child (you know, before He was busy being the Messiah) would want to play a little ball...

Makes me look forward to his nativity additions next year!

It's beginning to look...

...a lot like Christmas!

This isn't all inclusive, but here's a peek of what this blessed holiday looks like in our neck of the woods.

We've baked,

sifting flour to make "Just like Starbucks Molasses cookies"

decorated,

Kylie had a bit of sprinkling help from Sophie

and eaten

My boy loves some sugar, what else can I say?

plenty of cookies!

We've examined decorations while putting up our tree

Both kiddos love to check out their own ornaments!

and come up with a few new and creative places to place some old favorites.

Ky was so proud of her new location for the angel bear!

Ian and I attended our first pre-school Christmas program to watch our little angel.

They sang a song written by their music teacher, Jingle Bells, and Away in a Manger. Both of my kids have been singing Away in a Manger ever since.

We've been Christmas caroling, just like in days of old.

The three amigos, Lottie, Abbey, and Kylie.

and had our hearts melted by this sweet, un-prompted show of sibling love while we were singing.

She is so protective of her little brother. Go ahead, I know you want to say "Awww."

We've used frosting to stick candies to a house of gingerbread,

"Hmm, where to place this gumdrop..."

sampled said frosting,

"Yep, still good!"

and admired the fruits of our labor in ginger bread house making!

Be sure to notice that Tow-Mater has a vantage point seat. He's a current favorite of Caleb's these days...

We've sat in our pj's on the couch and watched our share of Christmas specials ~ this time It's a Charlie Brown Christmas.

Two tired little angels.

while the lights on the tree glowed and warmed up the room.
This series of ornaments enjoy a prominent place on the tree. Funny how the trio ended up together ~ they summarize our family. The glass snowflake on the left is the Red Thread legend, the wreath in the center is one we picked up on our honeymoon in the US Virgin Islands, and the one on the far right was our ornament to represent 2009 ~ the year we had the gift of THREE children.

I hope that your Christmas is full of memories as well, but whatever you do, don't overlook that:

Yep, we live in the Bible Belt and are proud of it!

They call me Procrastination

Anyone else with the nickname out there? It's okay, I'm not here to judge...

Usually, the lifestyle works for me. I even won an award for it back in my days at Elon (in my class of Teaching Fellows I was named the "Most likely to procrastinate and succeed.") and typically I work best under a bit of pressure.

So my life looks a lot like hanging with my kids and friends enjoying myself and then a scurry at the end to get things that need to be done completed. I've even mastered the art of getting closer and closer to a deadline before one final burst of effort to be done.

Take for example getting Christmas to family outside of NC. Typically I wait until the lines at the post begin to get long before I show my face. But even I'm not crazy and I try to be done there before the days of December hit the two digit with a 2 in the tens place numbers.

And then my sweet little guy ended up with RSV. It was fast and furious coming on, going from perfectly fine in the morning, to a fever of 101.5 after nap, to a hacking cough and burning fever of 104.5 by 8pm. The on call nurse walked me through fever management to get us through the night and then I took him in the next morning. Not sure what I was expecting to hear as a diagnosis, but I know I wasn't expecting a "No, not the flu, it's RSV, keep him rested and hydrated and call us back if the cough doesn't go away within two weeks." And so we left. (Apparently while I've had several cousins and friends with infants who were hospitalized with RSV, it isn't such a scary thing in pre-schoolers).

But I digress...

By yesterday Caleb was feeling much better, not 100% mind you, but better. And I had some stuff that HAD TO GO to northern Virginia and Ohio. So on the 21st of December I loaded up my two three year olds, an arsenal of snacks, two kid backpacks of favorite small toys, the double stroller, an armful of packages, and my life savings and headed to the post office. There I paid dues for all the times I've procrastinated in life. I lost track of time at the 1 hour 15 minute mark.

Next year I VOW to have all out of town gifts in the mail by the 15th so that I don't lose another afternoon of my life listening to folks grumbling in line at the post office.

The sad thing is that the number of children in my life seems to be proportionate with the tolerance I have for procrastination. When it was just Ian and I, my mind set was that if we didn't have HANDWRITTEN NOTES inside EACH and EVERY Christmas card out the door by the first week of December then it wasn't worth sending them. Then Kylie came along and my idea changed to they must be at least postmarked by the 15th, and simply signing the card by hand was enough. Last year I at least made an effort to get "the money shot" for the card by mid-December, but when none materialized by the 20th, we decided to punt and ended up doing Chinese New Year cards (you know, to honor the kids' heritage and all) instead. And come to think of it, we ended up doing photo cards where all I had to do was address envelopes...

So with three pre-schoolers at home this time next year? Yeah, I'll be the one loaded with the same amount of stuff as above, just hopefully this time in a TRIPLE stroller.

And to the rest of my procrastinating peeps? See you there!

Abby and Kylie

Cousin Abby is seven; Kylie is three.
Abby is Caucasian, born in NC; Kylie is Asian, born in southern China.
I visited Abby at the hospital the day she was born; I met Kylie in the civil affairs office in Guangzhou when she was 10 months old.
And yet, despite knowing there is no way possible, I frequently find myself thinking that these two souls are indeed twins, separated at birth...

I was cleaning off my desktop this afternoon during nap and came across this one that I missed posting back in early October.