Christmas Day!

Well, Christmas Day was another geteverythingtogetherandgo kind of day. We got up around 8am and then got dressed and headed for Ontario. We had a wonderful breakfast of Egg Puff Casserole, scrambled eggs for the kids, cinnamon rolls, scones, sausage (both reg and maple), coffee, juice and eggnog. We were all nice and full and ready to open more presents. Kaleigh and Cole received gifts from Carl's sister and his brother. They also received gifts from Scott's dad who they call Uncle Erwin (Carl's sister's husbands father). Kaleigh absolutely loved the really really soft elephant that she received from Uncle Erwin. Cole got a Crocodile that looks more like a green armadillo, but he liked it just fine. Christmas Day is also the time we take family photos. Each family, all of us together, the kids with Grandparents and so on. It is always difficult, especially with the littlest ones, that one being Will, Kaleigh and Cole's cousin (Carl's brother's little boy). As you can see by the photos (which I cannot seem to put in any kind of order) there is Grandma and Grandpa, Carl's sister and family(with dog), Carl's brother and family (with little Will) and our family. Merry Christmas!

All is Calm

After all is said and done, we take some time to reflect...or is it relax? Definitely relax. It has been a fun evening, but now the kids are in bed, and I am having a nice hot cider and dipping into my plate of cookies. And Carl? Well, he is playing with Cole's Transformer, which he thinks is pretty cool and very well put together (says the engineer in him). It is a nice time, this calm after the ripping of paper the laughter and the chaos. We relish it and then it is time for us to go to sleep too, another big day tomorrow!

The Aftermath

As you can see, the period of time between opening gifts and cleaning up the next day is rather chaotic! The kids play with the toys and open EVERYTHING! In this photo you can see some of the Chevron Cars, Capsters craft, Rescue Heroes, the movie Ant Bully etc. They barely touched their plates but that isn't too unusual, they get to that in the morning. Here Jackie is being shown most of the Chevron Cars. Jackie is Kaleigh's cousin, Carl's sisters daughter. She is great with the kids and was easy to buy for this year. She is into purses and music, so she got a gift card for ITunes. Her brothers received Best Buy gift cards because they want to buy a Playstation 3. Good luck guys! Our livingroom doesn't look like this anymore, we got everything put away. Every year we have the kids pick something they don't play with anymore and they put it away for next year to give to an Orphanage in Mexico. Our church makes gift boxes with new and used gifts and the young people take all the boxes of toys and clothes and some cookies down right before Christmas. The kids are so thankful and we get rid of good toys that the kids don't play with. This years choice for Kaleigh was her Barbies. She doesn't much play with them anymore and so she kept just a couple with some clothes and the rest, all 8 barbies and 2 Kens got put in separate baggies with clothes and accessories and they will go down next year to the Orphanage. A good way to clean out and make a child happy.

And then The Opening of the Presents!

This was a good year for the kids, they got a lot and they were very aware of who the gifts came from and were very thankful. That is important as they do get too many gifts, I admit that, but at least they are interested in getting gifts for others too. Kaleigh picked out a beautiful bookmark for me and a nice bird calendar and I love them both! They had a really good time opening, and would yell out every time they got something. Kaleigh is very excited when she receives money too. That is her in the photo getting a card from a great uncle that gave her $20.00. Kaleigh and Cole also pick out the spot for their presents and they usually like being right next to each other! It makes for an interesting photo opportunity. This year there was no rivalry and they received some similar gifts. For example, this year they both wanted a bunch of Chevron Cars (toys) and they received quite a few! Kaleigh also received some Magic Treehouse books, some Easy Bake Oven mixes, Littlest Petshop stuff , Polly Pocket and some modeling clay (she already used it to make Gumby and friends, photo will come when they are all done). Cole received Transformers, Rescue Heroes, Cars (the movie) die cast cars, and some cool little magnetic cars that will go up anything metal! They had a blast!

Sharing Their Gifts

This year we did something a little different. Usually Kaleigh reads the Christmas story, but this year she had something else in mind. She shared a little box that was a gift that told the story (abbreviated version). There was straw to signify the manger, a star to show what led the people to the stable where Jesus was born, a heart to show God's love for us, and a present to let us know Jesus is the greatest gift of all. It was neat and she did a great job. Helped her to memorize John 3:16 too! Cole was going to sing at first but then he changed his mind too. His class put on a play (same one Kaleigh did) where the kids talk about the Nativity and what happened that first Christmas. It went something like this, "What are you doing there? We are playing with the Nativity, what is the Nativity? Every figure tells a story. Will you tell me the story? Let's tell everyone the story! A long time ago in a town called Nazereth, there was a girl named Mary. Did she love God? Yes, with all her heart." And so the story continues..He remembered almost the whole thing! He stopped when Jesus was born. That was their gift to Jesus. It keeps the focus (at least somewhat) on what Christmas is all about.

Christmas Eve 2006

Christmas Eve was always a special time in our house growing up and I like to keep that tradition going. It actually makes it easier on family because whereas Carl's family celebrates on Christmas day, I do Christmas Eve. I have Carl's parents and his sister and family come to our house to celebrate the German way and then the next day we go to Carl's sister's house for a Christmas breakfast! It actually gives the kids two times to open presents! They really like that. I know at this age Kaleigh and Cole are more into the gifts but they really enjoy the atmosphere of Heilige Abend (Holy Night) Kaleigh has never bought into the man in the red suit, but Cole still thinks that someone (in his mind St. Nikolaus) comes and puts everything out. It is a very vague belief though. He is pretty certain that Mommy does it, but I think because of all the talk at school he wants to believe what his friends believe, sort of... Now when Tina and I were young we were banished into mom and dad's room to watch "A Christmas Carole" but both Tina and I have small houses and the kids would go nuts stuck in a room. So we send them out to look at lights, it is a nice tradition, although this year Cole was getting a bit impatient. "All I want to do is go home and open presents"! Pretty funny. So this is what the room looked like when everyone walked in...except a little dimmer.

My First "Teacher" Christmas Gift!

Well, this being my first year teaching, I have never received a Teacher-themed gift before. But this Christmas, one of my students gave me this beautiful bracelet with a Teacher's prayer on it that says, "Lord, let me be a teacher of knowledge who will guide our youth and grant them the necessary understanding." The apple charm simply says, " Teacher's Prayer." I love it and haven't taken it off since I got it this morning. Tomorrow my 6 little friends will be performing in their Christmas Program and I pray that it will go well! They are so cute and have been practicing very hard! So if you have a notion, keep them in your thoughts and remember when your kids (if you have any) when they were on stage the first time! They are sweet and cute and I couldn't have asked for a better first class!

I Guess I Take After My Dad!

Well, not to be outdone by my sister, with her yummy table full of goodies. I just had to get my two cents in too! I made 6+ varieties of cookies this year. One was a recipe from a 1978 cookbook that I had given my mom. Those are the Chocolate Gingerbread cookies on the lower left. Then I tried a couple of new cookies, Hazelnut stars (in the middle) and Lime Crescents (on the right). Some old favorites (namely mine) are the spritz cookies (upper right) and the Filbert Fingers (top). The tiny stars are just the hazelnut star cookies without sandwiching and without the jam. Instead I just drizzled with choc. Oh and not to forget my Candy Cane cookies that came out of a Canadian Cookie cookbook. In addition to these I also made some thumbprint cookies with jam that were made with Splenda for a couple of Diabetic friends and relatives. They were actually very yummy! So, as you can see, outside of teaching (only 2 days a week) I actually had some baking time. I worked last year everyday, so I was too pooped to bake! But I enjoyed it and Kaleigh and Cole helped a little. It got too hard for them at certain times so they kind of gave up on it. They did help with our tree a lot, they practically put up all the ornaments from the middle down. And Cole, as you saw earlier in my blog, got to put up the star. Other than the kids having a cold right now, things are good. The next update will probably be Christmas scenes, so enjoy!

Build-A-Bear = Big Business!

Well, last Sunday was Kaleigh's Build-a-Bear Birthday Party. These were the selected few who were lucky enough to get invited. No one usually turns down an invitation to a Build-a-Bear party, namely because you walk away with a $25.00 bear, bunny, monkey, dog, etc! Kaleigh had gone to one for her friend (the one with the black hair in the center of the shot) and she had about 12 girls there! Her parents of course can afford this. I told Kaleigh that 6 is the minimum and that is what she would have. We actually allowed 7 in case one child really couldn't make it, which happened. They were out of the state.

So you see, no one really wants to miss the opportunity. Well, it was a fun time for all and they truly did not notice the hundreds of people that were there! I mean the room above the main store is for parties only....usually. When they can't fit anymore people downstairs they allow them to come up as well. Well, that made for an interesting Birthday celebration! I was a little confused, but apparently everyone knew about it but me! So the "private" party room wasn't as private as I thought! They did however have a person with us the entire time, helping the girls (and guy, sorry Cole) pick out their animals, helping them get stuffed and doing all the normal party stuff. They even went so far as to take extra items for the parents that were there or extras the kids were paying for and instead of having to stand in a HUGE line, our helper went to an unused cash register and we did not have to wait at all. That was a biggie for us! I mean for a Sunday evening at 4pm, I did not expect that the place would be that bad! Wow, that place must really bring in the bucks. I mean each animal is anywhere from $10-$25 alone and then of course you buy the little outfits that range anywhere from $5-$35!

And then there are the accessories like cell phones or pom poms or even shoes! As you can see by the photo (that I tried to put here!) Cole is helping the lady stuff his dog, "Frank", she holds the dog on the machine and Cole pushes on a pedal with his foot. It is very interesting how they make it so interactive. The kids then put a little heart in it, but not before wishing on it, kissing it, hugging it, all sorts of things to make the animal their own.

Well, it was worth the money, for the most part, the kids love their animals, Kaleigh and Cole both got dogs and Kaleigh named hers Cocoa. Very fitting.

American Girl really has it good!

Well, Kaleigh had a really nice birthday, and the highlight of course was her gift from Omi and Opa, real theater chairs for her American Girl doll, Molly. Molly has a friend Chloe but she is not an American Girl doll, so Kaleigh felt it wasn't right for her to be in the photo. Along with the seats came tickets, popcorn and black licorice whips (you can see them if you look closely, except for the tickets they were too tiny). The outfit Molly is wearing is from the book that Kaleigh has.

I guess I should begin by saying Molly McIntyre is an American Girl doll, whose life takes place in the mid forties, during WWII. Her father is a doctor and is serving in England. Her mother works in a factory and she and Molly work hard for the war effort. One thing Molly's class does is put on a patriotic show at the local theater. She practices her tap dancing all summer and gets chosen to be "Little Miss Victory" in the show. The outfit she is wearing is the costume for the show. Kaleigh enjoys learning about history through the Molly stories and has a lot of questions. She would read more Molly books if more were out there! She has read them all! She has a lot of the accessories too, and just recently the American Girl Place in Los Angeles opened and we almost went there for her birthday, but she had already made up her mind to take some friends to the Build-a-Bear workshop, so that is tomorrow. Maybe next year, we will make the trip to LA.

But until then she is having a blast with her dolls and all her other toys! Whew, and a lot of toys there are!

Christmas Time! My favorite time of year!

Well, as you can see, our tree is up and Cole helped by putting the star on the tree! Last year he tried, but Kaleigh inevitably had to do it.

I think daddy's shoulders were getting tired! We are happy to be getting everything ready! Our lights are on the house, our big snowman and son are blown up in the front yard, and we have three mini lit trees in front of the house too. It all looks very festive. The month of course always goes by WAY too fast! Kaleigh's birthday falls in December and we do the party thing early then as soon as that is over, we get out the decorations and get our tree. Ain' it purdy?

Then all the Christmas gatherings, my ornament exchange with the teachers from school, Carl's company Christmas party and then of course Christmas cheer with friends at our house then Christmas Eve at our house and then, Christmas Day at Carl's sisters house....whew! Busy, busy, busy! I am tired just thinking about it...oh and in the middle of all that I have to bake 4 different types of cookies! Take after my dad of course!

Well, more later...