A Christmas Recap...A Little Late

We had a good holiday this year.  Charlie and Sammy are at a fun age (and I love that at Christmas time, they are both the SAME age!  This year they are 5!) where they are full of belief in the magic and wonder of Christmas and Santa, but they are also beginning to have a solid belief and understanding that Jesus is the reason we are celebrating.  I love watching their faith emerge, and see how important it is to them.  It's one of the many times I am glad we made the decision to send them to a private, religious school.

Here are some highlights from our Christmas celebration:

This is one of my ALL TIME favorite pictures of my boys.

I love getting the boys all dressed up for things.  I need to be better about making sure they have dressy wardrobe options.  It's something that I find easy to overlook with boys.

Jeff and I on Christmas Eve

Jeff hates having his picture taken, and rarely lets me get him in a good shot.  (This one was taken by Evan!  It helps to have someone else in the house who can click the shutter in an intelligent way.)  I am always a little sad when I see slideshows of couples at weddings, because pictures of Jeff and I are few and far between.  Our slideshow would have maybe five pictures.  So, I am super thankful to have captured this. 

It's a girl!!

My brother Creighton and his awesome wife Lindsey are expecting a baby in July.  This is my Mom discovering on Christmas Eve that IT'S A GIRL!!  We have 6 boys and now 2 girls as grandkids in our family.  This was a huge Christmas gift for all of us.  I can't wait to see these two become parents.

Sammy feeding "Elizabeth"

Someday Sammy may kill me for posting this picture, but I love it.  This year, my Sammy who is my rough and tough football obsessed boy, asked for a Baby Alive.  Jeff was slightly horrified and asked him why.  Sammy said, "I want to practice being a good Daddy!"  And how does that not melt your heart?  I love this about him, so Santa was on a mission to find a Baby Alive.  He named her Elizabeth, and I love watching how careful and gentle he is with her.  He is going to make a FANTASTIC husband and father someday.  You're welcome future daughter in law!!!

Evan's favorite gift of 2011

This year, despite my protestations, my brother Creighton and my BIL Luke bought Evan a TV for his bedroom.  Creighton also gave Evan an XBox 360 to go with it.  Evan loves his new additions to his bedroom...I'm just sad we may never see him again, as it's hard now to get him to come out of his room! :)

VERY early Christmas morning

This year my choir at church sang at midnight Mass, so this picture was taken very early on Christmas morning, after "Santa" had made his delivery.  I love this moment...everything frozen in a cozy Christmas scene, before the fun begins.

I hope all of you had a great Christmas too...I'm just sad we have to wait a whole year for it to be back.  I truly believe it's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Wrapping Frenzy!

I am done with my Christmas shopping, but I haven't wrapped ONE.SINGLE.THING!

All the gifts are piled up in my secret hiding spot, just waiting. Have I ever told you that I don't have much patience for jobs that take a long time? I have lots of kid patience. Give me a room filled with kids, and I can wade through the worst of problems with buckets of patience. Give me a lot of vegetables to chop, cookies to bake, rooms to paint, or lots of presents to wrap, and I want to pull my hair out. I feel so overwhelmed with jobs that will take more than an hour, that I don't even want to start.

Which is why my secret hiding spot is making me anxious. The thought of all that wrapping is making my skin crawl.

I know what some of you are thinking...use a gift bag Christy.

But I just can't.

When I was little, the big magic of Christmas morning for me was presents to unwrap, all in a jumble under the tree. My Mom, God bless her, was much more practical with four kids. She used a lot of gift bags, and when we woke up on Christmas morning, each child had their own very organized pile of presents set somewhere in the room to make for easy opening.

As a Mom myself, I can understand where she was coming from, but I have this compulsion to give my kids that jumble under the tree, and the unwrapping experience. (Don't get me wrong...I know the presents aren't the most important part. But they are fun, right?!)

Tonight, after my little munchkins are tucked in their beds, I am going to make myself tackle that pile. I wish I could ask Jeff to help, but he has always wrapped his gifts in garbage bags. Unfortunately, I am not kidding. He's lucky I found him to be the nicest, smartest, most handsomest man otherwise that first Christmas we had when we were dating when he gave me a diamond necklace in a garbage bag might have been the end. Instead, I laughed and laughed. And I still laugh when he gives me his gift every year.

And so this is Christmas...

I have been missing my little blog. I didn't mean to neglect it this month, but December? It's been crazy.

I know it's crazy for everybody, and I shouldn't complain. Not all of it has been bad crazy. There have been good moments, like Evan singing in a trio at the 6-8 Christmas concert at school.

Or when Charlie and Sammy sang their preschool Christmas program, and neither were scared to perform. Sammy now loves to walk around the house singing "Up On the Housetop", which is cuter than anything.

Or when my aunts, mom, and sister and I all got together and baked our brains out, and made hundreds of Christmas goodies, all in one day.

Or when I sang with the choir at Mass for my first performance sing my Dad died. Music lifts my spirit, and singing in church makes me feel surrounded by God's love. It's been so very healing.

Or when I got to spend my very favorite three weeks of the year with my class at school. There is nothing more magical than spending time with small children in December. I love my 1st graders. They've helped me to heal too.

Or when I got to go out to dinner with a good friend, and just talk. I love girl time.

There have also been ear aches, sinus infections, bronchitis, and crazy schedules, but I guess in looking back, I notice the good makes up for the crazy.

The good also helps to make up a little bit for the grief. I miss my Dad. SO much. Of course, it is harder around the holidays, but the every day things are so much harder to me. I wanted him to see Evan sing (and I prayed like crazy that he could peek down from heaven and see Evan, so brave up on that stage...and I really think he did). I want to call him on the phone and ask him a question. I want to see him at church. I want to drink coffee with him at breakfast on Sunday. I want to tell him I love him.

I'm getting by. I'm still excited about Christmas, mostly because my kids are excited. I still feel joy and happiness in my life and my family. But December would be so much better with Dad here with me. Maybe that's selfish, because I know how much joy he must be experiencing in heaven. The glory of Christmas in heaven must be incredible! I just wish we had gotten to have a little more time together here on Earth first.

Christmas Party

We had a grand old time last night at our house. I had my grandma, 14 of my 15 cousins and their families, my parents, and my aunts and uncles over to celebrate the holidays. Good times were had by all. It was nice to talk with everyone, especially since this is the only time I may see some of them this year.

We even had a visit from the Sheriff (that hasn't happened at a party that I hosted for a GOOD long time, let me tell you...at least it wasn't for rowdiness!!) One of the guests parked on the street, which made travel down our snow packed, dumb one lane roads tricky, so one of our more friendly neighbors called the sheriff's office. Didn't even bother to come talk to us first!! I may or may not have told the sheriff that this wouldn't have been a problem if the streets were plowed a bit better. *cough*

I made this pie:



And it was delicious, if I do say so myself!

My handsome brother Creighton, and his lovely lady Lindsey were there. I love this girl. I hope Creighton makes her an official member of the family very soon. That was just a subtle suggestion, dear brother.



This is me with my mother (in red) and my Grandma Rose (in black-I am named after her!). God gave all of us the exact same face, so I am relatively sure of how I will look at 57 and 88.



And this is Grandma Rose with 14 of her 15 grandchildren. Of the 15, only 3 of us are girls. There are WAY TOO MANY BOYS at our family gatherings. Also? All of those boys are VERY VERY TALL. Just look at them...



Too bad the three tallest are seated. They are all over 6 foot 6. No kidding!

This is me with my best cousin pal growing up, Jeremy. He and I are the oldest grandkids, and we kept everyone in line when we were younger. Which is a nice way to say, we were very very bossy. And of course, I am not bossy anymore. Oh no! (Jeff is laughing because he knows the truth!)



We had lots of good food, including a monster 14 pound ham I baked. Somehow, we planned the food very well, and there was plenty, but not gobs of leftovers. Which is nice for my waistline.



The only downside to having a party in December in Nebraska is this:



A pile of shoes at the door, all of which are coated with a thick layer of sand and ice melt. Makes for fun cleaning times in the morning!! But it was worth every grain of sand. I wish Christmas came more than once a year so that we could see more of these wonderful people.

Christmas Blizzard 2009

Christmas was a wild ride around here, due to the 15 inches of snow we received from Christmas Eve through Saturday night. Jeff's family Christmas celebration was canceled entirely, and the one I am hosting has been rescheduled to tomorrow. In preparing for the 40 people who will show up at my door tomorrow needing a place to park, I called the Douglas County engineer, and begged them to plow more than one lane through each street in our neighborhood. They did come and plow for quite awhile this afternoon, and I think it is the best it can get, but there is just so much snow and nowhere to put it. Parking will still be dicey. We have received 22 inches of snow in December here in Omaha, and it is all still on the ground. To illustrate:



This is the back of our neighbor's house. As you can see their back door is almost completely covered with snow.

I feel that we have been transported to Alaska.

I would like to go home now.

Normally, I enjoy winter and a good snow. Now? I AM SO.SO.SO.SICK OF IT!!!

Our Christmas in Pictures

Evan teaching his brothers how to use their new Leapsters on Christmas morning. (This is by FAR Charlie's favorite gift!!)


My big boy Evan on Christmas morning, enjoying one of his many new DS games.


Charlie next to his haul from Santa.


Sammy got this football uniform and helmet from my Mom on Christmas Eve. He loved it so much he wore it to bed that night, and insisted on opening most of his presents Christmas morning with his helmet on.


Our tree after Santa arrived.


Evan's big present this year...a new bike!! He was thrilled! Too bad he can't ride it in all this snow.


Sam in his new uniform on Christmas Eve. I will never forget his excited gasp as he opened his present. He had to put it on RIGHT.AWAY.


Jeff and my Dad


The table at my Mom's house-delicious lasagne!!!


My handsome three dressed up for Christmas Eve services!


Have you heard of The Elf on the Shelf? (If not check it out at Amazon-great tradition to start with your kids!) We started this this year at the suggestion of my sister. The kids named ours Santa Elf. We were sad to send him back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas!

Once again, I am up before the rest of my family this Christmas morning. Not sure why this is an annual occurrence, but I think it has something to do with how much I enjoy creating a wonderful Christmas morning for my kids.

It is a bona fide blizzard here in Omaha. It wasn't snowing yet yesterday when we decided to leave for Christmas Eve services. The weather people were initially calling for just a couple of inches to fall by 6 o'clock, so we thought we could make it to church and to my parent's house for our annual Christmas Eve celebration.

Church started at 4:00 (and I am, so , so glad we got to hear Evan's choir sing. They were beautiful!) but by the time we walked out at 5 we were stunned at the amount of snow that had already fallen and was drifting against the cars. We decided to head over to my Mom's anyway, and I am glad for all of us that we did. It was nice to be with family. It just doesn't seem like a holiday if you can't do the same traditions you have every year.

We left my Mom's house at 9:00, and I was really worried we might not get back. The snow was coming down hard, and the blowing and drifting was awful. We actually live outside the city and have to depend on county snow plows, which often seem to be MIA. The county streets were AWFUL. Completely snow packed. Thanks to the help of the good Lord, we got to our own driveway where we finally got stuck in about 8 inches of snow. I had to get out and shovel the tires out, and then push the van the rest of the way into the garage, but we made it!!!

Now I am eagerly awaiting my kids to wake up so I can have a cup of coffee and enjoy my family while the snow still swirls around us. (That's right! It's still blizzarding, and is not scheduled to stop until tomorrow morning!)

The only bad thing? I don't think Santa brought me that snow blower I asked for.

Merry Christmas everyone!!! Enjoy your day.

The 23rd

December 23rd is so bitter sweet.

So much excitement over the events of the next two days, but sad to see the season coming to a close. This is truly my favorite time of the year, especially with my boys, and I am so sad to see it coming to a close.

This is the year that Charlie and Sammy are 3 for Christmas, and everything is magic for them. They are anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival, services at church, and going to Grandma's house. I love watching everything through their eyes.

Evan, despite being 11, is just as excited. I love that he is helping me to pass traditions on to his little brothers.

We are forecast to get over a foot of snow Christmas Eve into Christmas Day, but I think we will at least be able to sneak in church and my mom's house on Christmas Eve before things get too bad. And then we will snuggle down in our warm winter beds and wait for reindeer hooves to sound overhead. I've bought steak for a special Christmas Day dinner, and we will celebrate snow bound with our own little family.

I hope all of you have a very blessed Christmas, and that you are safe, warm, loved, and surrounded by family.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Holiday Stress

I am not usually a person who feels a lot of stress during the holidays. It is really and truly my favorite time of the year, especially after my children came along. I love the lights, the decorating, the baking, the events, and the shopping.

This year? Different story.

Remember that blizzard a couple of weeks ago? It was a lovely three days of being snow bound at home with my family. I loved snuggling on the couch and taking a break from life. But taking a break in December means that you are creating a pile up of chores to accomplish during an already very busy time.

Three days last week had me going, going, and going some more until 10:00 every night, hardly sitting down the entire time. So, last Wednesday, I took a personal day from work. I never do this. Usually I save my days and use them as sick days when I have to be caring for sick little ones. I am so glad I indulged myself this year with time. I finished my shopping. I ran errands. I went to the doctor. I wrapped gifts for three hours.

I was by no means done with my holiday chores when the day was done, but I felt so much more in control. I may make this an annual tradition. Sometimes Moms just need time to do some uninterrupted work.

On Thursday, I did something else I have never ever indulged in.

A cleaning lady.

I have always felt that the cleaning is something that I can easily and cheaply do myself. And most of the time? It is. I also feel like it is part of my duty as wife and mom to my family; to make our home a clean and organized space. Maybe it sounds silly, but it is truly something I think God wants me to do to minister to my family. But since I was drowning in chores and jobs this month, I thought...just this once.

Heaven is coming home after working all day to a house that smells fresh and clean. Every surface was shining, the appliances were gleaming, the beds were all made, and it was so beautiful I almost felt like we were in someone else's house. (Which perhaps says something about my cleaning abilities). Evan walked into his room and breathed a reverent "Wow Mom! This is AWESOME." The only downside? It was so clean, I didn't want the children to move or touch anything. Ever again.

I have had such a great weekend as a result. Since everything is clean, I have been able to get to other chores that have long been residing on my to do list. I feel energized by having a fresh start. So while I can't justify it being a regular occurrence, maybe I was wrong about the just this once part.

I am feeling better about Christmas being in 5 days. And I am over feeling guilty for helping myself out. I guess I'm not Super Mom after all, but that's okay.

Blizzard!

In the wee early hours of Monday morning, it snowed 2.5 inches here. It was just enough to make everything look festive, and to make driving a bit tricky. We still had school on Monday though, and the kids were full of snow excitement.

Monday night, the snow started coming down thicker and faster. By the time we woke this morning, our driveway had a fresh 3 inches on it, and school had been cancelled. So, we spent the day snuggling on the couch and watching movies.



Even the cat.

We went outside to shovel and play around 11 o'clock. The driveway was now covered with about 6 inches, so I put a shovel in everyone's hands. Evan is getting to be pretty good, but lets just say Charlie and Sammy were *not* very helpful. The boys had a great time zooming down the slide in the backyard to land in the huge pile of soft, new fallen snow underneath. We were very chilly when we came back in, but it was nothing a good hot bowl of mac 'n cheese couldn't handle.

After lunch we all got down to the business of napping under our electric blankets, and when we awoke, this is what it looked like outside:



Snow, snow, and more snow-still falling quickly in thick, busy flakes. And this is my driveway, only 3 hours after I shoveled it:



Can't even tell we were out there, can you? And even though it is only 4:00 in the afternoon, school has already been canceled for tomorrow as a result of the blizzard warning which will take effect at 9 PM. That's right-the snow is expected to start falling in even heavier amounts. I may give up on the whole shoveling thing until this is over.

Thank the Lord Jeff was able to work from home today, so I didn't have to spend any of my delicious day worrying over his safety.

I think tomorrow I am going to lay in another batch of sugar cookies and make the boys help me decorate. One of the best parts of being a teacher? SNOW DAYS!

Cookies Galore

It's been a sugar filled weekend around here. My Mom, sister Sarah, Aunt Connie, and I all got together on Saturday and baked, and baked, and baked. For 9 1/2 hours we baked. Until cookies were coming out of our eyes and ears! We made sugar cookies, peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies, a candy we call Ella balls, peppermint cookies, turtles, and chocolate peanut clusters. And now our freezers are stuffed with Christmas goodies for our families and our children's teachers, and our Christmas guests.

It is soooo much work, and my feet and hips hurt today, but it is lovely to see everyone, drink coffee, and munch a broken cookie here and there. To be truthful, it is a task that tries my patience. I don't mind making one batch at a time. I really do love to bake. But I do like tasks that take a small amount of time and then are done, so I feel a sense of accomplishment. Being with the women in my family makes up for the never ending work though. As you know, I don't have nearly enough estrogen in my life, so a big dose like this is great.

We were sad that this year my Aunt Julie and Grandma weren't able to join us though. Grandma went back into the hospital for the third time in less than a month, and Julie toughed out the whole day with her, getting her seen in the ER and eventually admitted. To top off her bad day, Julie's car wouldn't start when she finally went to leave the hospital for the day. I hope the huge pile of cookies waiting for her at home made up for it a little bit. We missed both of them bunches.

My kids also got to play with their cousins while we baked. Some of my favorite memories as a child are of playing with my cousins, especially during the holidays. I love seeing my own kids develop that same relationship with their cousins. Although wan't it just yesterday that I was their age?!

I hope that all of you have a chance to do some of your favorite holiday traditions this year!

Seeing God in the Little Things

Today Rachel Anne over at Home Sanctuary asked the Company Girls:
How is God working in YOUR life? Do you sometimes miss the quiet presence of our amazing God in the hustle and bustle of life?

(I have been reading her blog for a long while now...I love her inspiration and advice, and the motivation to get things done around my home-but this is the first time I have participated in the monthly point challenge and the weekly company coffee!! I'm very excited!)

The thing I am really loving about this holiday season is that I have had the chance to see and feel God through my children. We have made time this week to pick out a holiday movie or book every day after bathtime, and then we all pile onto the couch (even the cat!), turn out all the lights except the Christmas tree, and snuggle in together. While my children enjoy Rudolph and the Grinch, I have loved having time to just stare at their beautiful faces, full of holiday wonder. I have had the chance to kiss their sweet cheeks and smell their freshly washed hair. I have been so thankful for God giving me the honor of raising these children, and the joy of being the mother in this family. I love where I am in my life, especially with my family, and I am SO thankful that the holiday season has provided me with the chance to stop and really experience that joy.

I hope that all of you have the chance this holiday season to love on your family, and to reflect on the blessings on your life. It's one of the best gifts of all.