Christmas Memories 2013 Part 1

Before I go back in time, I wanted to share that this week our family eagerly awaits the arrival of our newest family member and my first niece...Avery Jo.  Family has flown in from out of state and everyone is on alert.  It's an exciting time!  I will be snapping some newborn pictures of her at some point and I look forward to sharing them with you all.  I'm also so proud of my sister-in-law, Jessica.  She's made it to the home stretch! 
   
Here are a few random Christmas memories in no particular order.  These shots are all snapped through the lens of my handy dandy iphone which is my primary camera 99% of the time.  As I have shared before, I print this blog into book form and keep it as a running family journal.  I think that is probably why I put so many pictures up...it's really the only way these memories will live on.  I certainly won't remember much of anything in the years to come.  Have I mentioned that I have the world's worst memory?  I really do.

Moving on...:)

(this picture below was taken while I was waiting for some clients to arrive for their Christmas session.  It was super chilly, so me and my little one snuggled on the bench together while Daddy cast a line in the lake:).  I love my little girl so much.

This is Daisy with her friend Isobel from preschool.  For about a month prior to their Christmas preschool performance the girls would sing the songs that they were learning to us when we picked them up.  It was SO cute.  They also loved running around the tree in the lobby:).  Christmas is such a fun and festive season.

We made lots of fun holiday crafts.  I actually got this one years ago from Oriental Trading company.  I saved them and was so happy to make this one with Daisy.  "Rejoice, for your savior has been born!  He will save the world from their sins.  He is Christ the Lord!"

I treated myself to a Christmas coffee mug, with polka dots of course (not shown in pic).  Coffee makes me happy.  Christmas makes me happy.  Cute mugs make me happy.  Happy.  Happy.  Happy.

Daisy decided that baby Jesus and all the animals were hungry one day, so she fed them a box of raisins.  I LOVED it and actually left the raisins there for a few days because it was just so dang cute and I didn't want anyone to be hungry after all.  This nativity was set up in our entry way and Daisy got to play with it to her hearts content.  She moved the characters around and would talk to them and tell them stories.  It melted my heart and was one of my favorite memories of this past holiday season.  And yes it is glass but, it's pretty sturdy and I really don't care if a piece gets broken at the hand of a child's curiosity.  Well worth it. 

She LOVED loved loved shopping in the Christmas aisles this year.  She touched every ornament and sparkly thing she saw and oood and aaad over them.  She marveled at the twinkly trees on display.  It never got old for her or for me.  One day at Target a older boy knocked over not one but, two trees on the display...me and Daisy were able to save him/help him and it was pretty funny actually.

She loved smelling the Christmas trees whenever we went to Lowes or Home Depot...girl after my own heart:).

We had more play dates than I can count...SO many...but, it was fun and well worth it.  This is Daisy with sweet Alivia.

I was SO SO So not on top of anything this year and that is a first lemme tell yah.  I don't like being stressed out so I have learned (in the past) to stay on top of things by doing things early.  Well, this year I just couldn't do things early and thus I did everything at the last minute like most every other person on the planet and whew...what a whirlwind December was.  Shopping at the last minute is not my thing but, we enjoyed some coffees and silly moments in between that made it all worth it:).

 In the process of shirt shopping for family members I will often try things on myself first.  All of the gals in my family are about same size more or less.  This particular outing was actually at Wal-Mart and the outfit didn't make the cut but, I was pretty impressed that I could actually pull an entire outfit together that I liked from Wal-Mart.  Well done WM! 

My kiddo peeled oranges for the first time and did a great job if I do say so.  It kept her busy for a good half hour.  I love when we find new activities that she enjoys( and that give me a break)...hey, just being honest. lol

This kid wears me out most days...only in the sense that she is 3.5 and so ridiculously full of energy and chats NON-STOP!!  On the other hand and more importantly...she cracks me up all day long each and every day.  She is so full of joy and passion and I literally see how wonderful life is...how fun it can be, how each moment is a precious gift and life is what you make it...yup, I see all that in the eyes of my child.  I am beyond blessed.  She gets a kick out of sticking her head under the driers.  Cracks me up every time.

oh and have I mentioned already that she had her very first dentist appointment in early December? She did AMAZING.  She really didn't say a word.  She just nodded her head and smiled a lot.  She is such a big girl and I'm so proud of her. 

 We visited the nativity again this year and it was a treat.  This is a tradition that I look forward to each December.  The church actually had the manger out this year and Daisy enjoyed talking to "baby Jesus." 

Daisy picked this container out at the 99 cent store and she put all of her jewelry inside.  She carried it around for days and even wanted to sleep with it in her bed.  It was pretty precious.  He painted red nails are pretty precious too if I do say so:).

Some friends of ours put a little tree in each of their kiddos rooms at Christmas time and I always loved the idea.  Well, this year Daisy got her very own 4 ft Christmas tree to put all of her personal ornaments on.  She LOVED it and she got to plug it in (supervised of course) each night before she climbed in to bed.  I unplugged it each night when I went to bed.  She loved the twinkling lights in her room and I think this is my new favorite tradition with her.  Can't wait to bring it out next year and put the new ornaments on it:).

We watched the Christmas parade with our good friends again.  I think this was our 3rd year doing so.  It's always a pretty chilly night but, the older Daisy gets the more she loves it and it is becoming a tradition that I delight in as well.  Daisy especially loved all of the dancers and high school bands.  My favorite too:).

A movie theater held an awesome outdoor light show throughout most of December. We went with our friends and it was really neat!  They had snow machines set up everywhere and offered free train rides.  It felt like a magical night.  Daisy was in Heaven. 

Daisy had a lot of fun at her friend Isobel's house.  I loved that the music book was open to this sweet Christmas song while they pretended to play and sat dressed up like princesses.  So sweet. 

The week of Christmas Daisy was SO amped up and thus we were all a bit exhausted.  She wasn't napping and she was staying up super late because she couldn't unwind.  One day I got her to rest with me on the couch and she crashed hard.  She has never fallen asleep on the couch....at least not in 3 years! lol. 

Daisy had her first preschool production.  It MELTED me.  She did such a great job with all the hand motions and sang the lyrics at the top of her lungs.  She even took a bow at the end...she was the only kiddo to do that and I have no idea where she got the idea or how she knew the right timing.  Future broadway star in the making it would appear. lol  Here she is after with her four pack buddy Raelyn.  They are so cute together.

Daisy has become a fairly decent and mellow shopper.  It used to be impossible to take her anywhere but, she is definitely coming around.  At this particular store she shopped by herself for clothes for a half an hour and walked up to the mirror each time to see what things looked like....I didn't get anything done because I couldn't stop watching her and giggling.

I went to a random stylist one evening for a "trim" and she proceeded to hack off four inches.  She clearly had a long hair vendetta.  No big deal to anyone else of course but, I was SO bummed.  I love having extra long hair and especially didn't want my hair chopped right before the holidays...on the other hand my hair does grow rather quickly so I can deal with it.  I know it's not bad but I think everyone has a hair length preference and this just isn't mine is all.

 My hubby rocked our Christmas lights this year.   Here they are bokeh style.  I loved driving home at night and seeing our house all lit up:).   My friend Elissa gifted me with the supplies to make the star (a pinterest idea) for Christmas.  Joey ended up making most of it and we decided to hang it outside instead of keeping it indoors.  I'm glad we did.  The star was probably my favorite feature of our lights.  For me, a star symbolizes the bright star that shone above the stable where Jesus was born.  It's special.

We love driving around and looking at other people's Christmas lights all December long.  I think we went out 5 times a week...no joke.  This guy goes all out with musical lights.  It was pretty awesome.

We dressed up a bit for our chilly Christmas Eve service.  Our family was on our own Christmas Eve night and it ended up being a very peaceful celebration of Jesus and family. 
It was a blessed evening.  We went to sushi dinner after our candlelight service.  That was awesome and I wouldn't mind doing that again next year!

I love celebrating Jesus with my family at Christmas time.  It is so peaceful.  So refreshing. 

I have a second post of pictures that I will be sharing in the next day or two from my other camera.  So if you thought this post was long...stay tuned for another doozy. haha   

Thankful Trees and Thanksgiving Memories

As Daisy is gets older, my desire to create holiday traditions with her grows.   I have so many fond memories of making Christmas count down chains, setting up Nativity sets, creating advent calendars, teddy bear cookies, thankful thoughts in a jar etc. with my Mom. 
  

 This year I made a thankful tree with scrap book paper that I had lying around and I taped it up on a bare wall in our dining room.  I cut out dozens of colorful leaves and kept them on the table all November long.  Each morning Daisy sat on my lap (by her choice) at the dining room table and I wrote what we were thankful for on two leaves and then she got to stick both of our leaves on the tree.  She loved sticking the tape on the leaf and then smacking the leaf on the wall with her fist...lovely.  She is three after all.  What I especially loved about this daily ritual was hearing all of the adorable things that she came up with..."Thankful for baby Jesus because he was so cute.  Thankful for Minnie because she is my friend.  Thankful for pencils because I like them.  Thankful for God because he is with Jesus.  Thankful for Disney because the princesses live there.  Thankful for Vince (her neighbor friend) because he is my husband...(LOL)"  And so on.  I LOVED starting each day off doing this activity with my daughter and focusing our hearts and minds on thankfulness.  After she scurried off to watch her morning show, I would continue to sit at the table and read my Jesus Calling Devotional, while sipping my coffee and have a quick moment alone in prayer.  It was such a peaceful routine (and fun!) and that peace carried me through each day.  So thankful.

As I am writing this post, Christmas is rapidly approaching.  Now more than ever, amidst all the craziness and business I want to remember how powerful it is to start each day off in praise and thanksgiving.  I sat in a sunbeam in my living room this morning (I'm like a cat or a dog that way) and made a point to tune out the ridiculous to do list, all the presents that still need to be purchased, all the parties that we need to attend, late nights ahead, lack of sleep, all the baked goodies to be made, all the errands to run, packages to mail, extra phone calls to be made and so on.  I breathed in gratitude and exhaled praises.  Thank you Jesus that I already have all that I need.  Thank you Jesus that we have food and shelter.  Thank you Jesus that I am warm on such a chilly morning.  Thank you Jesus for loving me today and giving me peace in the midst of the hustle and bustle.  Focus my heart on what really matters this holiday season.  Focus my eyes on all that I have and not what I think I need.  I have you.  I have all that I need.  Thank you Jesus.  It's rather miraculous that a few minutes of giving thanks and praising can turn an entire day around. 

I took these pictures below right before we took the Thankful tree down at the beginning of December.  Daisy asked if she could be in the pictures and she brought her hot chocolate along.  Her expression had me busting up.  There is never a dull moment when this girl is around! 

she totally jumped in my shot...little stinker.  But honestly, it's much cuter with her hot chocolate face in there right:).

We had the special treat of having Uncle Jeremy, (my brother-in-law,) in town during Thanksgiving break.   He lives out in California and we see him once or twice a year usually.  Daisy went through a good three year long phase of being very wary of any man besides her Daddy.  But, it appears that she has finally turned a new leaf because she was all about her Uncle Jeremy this visit.  She wanted him to hold her non-stop and she asked him to do everything with her.  He bought her a Snow White ornament which she pretty much carried around for 3 days non-stop  She was pretty happy as you can tell.  

 We also dragged Jeremy out to Christmas tree hunt with us.  We went to 3 different places and we kept striking out.  We finally went back home treeless and took a lunch break.  Jeremy was a trooper and helped to entertain Daisy which was awesome. It's always such a treat to have extra set of helping hands around to keep our lively girl entertained.  It's always hard to see family go but, we look forward to seeing Uncle Jeremy again early next year when he flies back out to welcome his second niece who is due late January.  We are all very excited to meet Avery!

One of my favorite traditions is getting together with our good friends, The Morris Bunch, on Thanksgiving.  I think we have spent about 5 Thanksgivings together now and it's been such a blessing to have friends on the East coast that we can spend a special holiday with.  We met the Morris family about 10 years ago when we lived in California.  We were all newlyweds and we all attended the same church.  It was a fun life season.  The military brought them to the East Coast and our family moved this way to buy a home and settle down.  We are a few hours apart but, we've been able to get together a few times a year and they are always good times.  I love watching their kiddos grow up and Daisy has so much fun playing with their three boys now.  I am so thankful for good friends.  The kind that you can roll out of bed in jammies and bed hair and feel comfortable around.  The kind that you can have deep talks about life, marriage, family, faith and God and no one gets ruffled or takes anything too seriously.  The kind that have seen you at your best and your very worst over many years and have loved you through it all.  

Yes, so thankful for good friends and I know that Daisy loves the extra attention she gets from three charming boys.  

The kids took turns playing a game or two on the ipad with Mike. 

I made Elissa do all the cooking...because let's face it, she actually enjoys cooking. I wasn't completely useless. I took pictures of her slaving away. And I am kidding, sort of. I did make the mashed potatoes and popped the lids off the sparkling cider. Elissa came up with this amazing brine mixture and then the brine bag basically ruptured and all the liquid spilled everywhere. Not fun (though it was hard not to giggle at all the commotion from the sidelines...eek) BUT, the turkey still turned out delicious and moist! Yeah! That was pretty much our only hiccup over the Thanksgiving holiday so I'm not complaining:).

I like to stick the kids at a separate table in hopes that the adults might get more than two words of conversation in without being interrupted. I even covered the kiddie table with paper and set out stickers and crayons to keep the kids distracted and allow for a longer and more enjoyable meal time experience. The kids did awesome. The meal was delicious. The company was perfect.  Score!

Elissa tried out a new sweet potato recipe and it was SO SO good.  Definitely a new fave of mine. She also did a fresh green bean casserole and OMG so much flavor and so much healthier!! I really would like Elissa to be the permanent Thanksgiving chef going forward. :)  Thoughts, Elissa?

Might I direct your eyes to the marshmallow fruit salad up front on the plate below.  That was one of my Grandma's recipes and I spent probably 20+ Thanksgivings at her house eating that delicious salad.  It will forever be a staple in our Thanksgiving dinner as well.  Preparing it, looking at it and eating it all made me feel a little closer to her this year and I really needed that.  It's only been a little over a year since she passed and the holidays are especially hard because my life is saturated with her wonderful traditions.  I still haven't quite figured out how to move on without her presence and her at the center of the traditions.  It's hard to make a new norm when the old was so familiar and such a huge part of my life but, somehow we just press on, one day at a time.  But, oh how I miss you to the moon and back Gram.

And though it looks like we are miserable...with the exception of Elissa...:) I promise you that I was simply concentrating on how delicious the food was that I was stuffing in my mouth mid photo op.  I definitely killed the Norman Rockwell vibe that we could have created in this shot but, Elissa is on it!  hehe  The food was SO GOOD. I ate a lot, lot.

Happy. Happy.  And on that note, If I recall, we watched several episodes of Duck Dynasty together after the kiddos went to bed.  It was a great Thanksgiving!