Grant Wrote Me A Note

(Mom and Grant love each other.)

An Old Fashioned Christmas

 More than any previous Christmas since I left home, this year reminded me of my childhood.  I can't quite put my finger on what exactly brought back the memories, but some of it is certainly due to incorporating old family traditions.  As a kid, I didn't realize these were traditions.  I ignorantly thought that the way we did things was the way that everyone did things, especially when it came to our Christmas routine.

First of all, we always get dressed; no matching PJs on Christmas Eve for us.  I think this is a tradition that was started by my mom, and to my knowledge has been adopted by all of her children.  Secondly, the kids lined up, in order from youngest to oldest and approach the Christmas tree.  This tradition has been traced back to my dad's childhood where he was one of eight children.  I'm not certain if it was practiced by previous generations.

In our little family this year, Scotty wasn't sure what was going on exactly, so he held back at first.  Nicole and Grant waited for him ...

but still he didn't come until he spotted the unwrapped gifts under the tree.

My parents used to leave gifts unwrapped on Christmas morning as well.  Some items, like bikes, skis and gigantic fish tanks can't be practically wrapped.  Also, I think in theory the unwrapped items were supposed to signify the items brought by Santa.  Now that I'm all grown up, I think my parents just got sick of wrapping presents at the end (or ran out of time/paper).  At any rate, Clint and I always place the "big" items unwrapped so they can be easily spotted.  It's fun to watch the kids recognize which gifts are for them.  This year, for example, Scotty had no doubt that the green garbage truck was meant just for him.

And, oh! how he loves that truck!

And his book about trucks.

And his train.  (To be a child again ...)

Scotty took the train to Clint and said, "Daddy, train OUT!"

For a while, Scotty was so occupied with his trucks and trains that he was satisfied without opening any more presents.  After Nicole and Grant had opened all of their gifts, they persuaded Scotty to finish opening his remaining gifts.  Scotty actually found delight in the process once he got going.

We also left the wii unwrapped, thereby leaving its ownership vague (i.e., to be shared).  Plus, we didn't have to figure out who would get to open it. Grant appeared a little happier/shocked about the wii than Nicole.  Grant actually said, "I can't believe we have a wii -- it's a miracle!"

Later on, after Grant had opened all of his presents, he was looking over his stash with amazement in his eyes and said, "Thanks for all of this stuff that I didn't have before.  I really love it!"  It was very cute.

Grant and Nicole had asked Santa for Webkinz and a snow globe.  I'm not really a snow globe fan, but since they asked Santa ... 

Nicole also got some unsolicited gifts from Santa (*wink, wink*).  Nicole had fun talking about Santa to Grant this year.  She's such a good big sister.

Nicole lamented over finding the perfect gifts for Clint and me.  She's been told that handmade gifts are special, but she's grown up enough to think that's not true, and not grown up enough to know she's wrong.  I did eventually offer to take her shopping for Clint, but she couldn't think of anything special to buy either.  Having very few options before her, she decided that she would make a book of stories for Clint. 

She wrote down stories from books, movies and our family history that we laugh about at dinner time.  It was all very clever, and provided many laughs again on Christmas morning. 

 

At the end, she wrote her sweet testimony.  I was so jealous that the gift was for Clint. 

It was the best present under the tree this year.

The runner-up for best present goes to my brother Denny.  He and my mom mailed Clint a letter that arrived on Christmas Eve.  We didn't get the mail until midnight, and not knowing what it was, we opened it right away.  So it was technically the first gift of Christmas.  Some people put "Welcome" mats at their front door.  Here's a picture of our front door:

Isn't it warm and inviting?  Actually, our neighbors were robbed a couple of weeks before Christmas and the whole neighborhood (which is full of wanna-be cowboys) was on alert and a little nervous.


I was not forgotten in Nicole's thoughts, however, and Nicole made me a handmade card with a tender-hearted message. 

She also gave me some magnetic picture frames for the fridge that she "bought" with her "piano bucks" at her last group piano lesson. 

I was surprised to see them because I had just seen some at a friend's house a few days prior and wondered where she got them.

This was my favorite Christmas with our kids.  The whole day just felt special and sweet.

Another year

The boys turn 3 and 5 next month.  Nicole is newly 8.  We're happy, healthy and together.  We couldn't ask for anything more. Here's our year-end report:

Scotty loves ... cars, trucks, trains, tractors, planes, jets and anything that moves and makes noise (including dogs and other children)

Grants loves ... COMPUTERS, video games and numbers

Nicole loves ... everyone and everything!

Annual Family Christmas Eve Party

I love Christmas Eve just as much as Christmas (maybe even a little bit more).  The magic and suspense of Christmas still looms in the air, and the excitement is almost tangible.  

When I was younger, we started a tradition of eating homemade ravioli for Christmas dinner.  I believe I have my brother Eric to thank for this.  All of us love ravioli, but Eric has a way of getting what he wants.  So when he requested ravioli one year, it was done. (I'll note here that Eric was the only child -- of seven -- who got ravioli for his birthday dinner every year.  I'm not bitter or anything, though.)  We may have skipped a few years, but this was, by far, the most consistent dish served.  

To carry on the tradition, last year we made ravioli for our Christmas Eve party in Arizona.  We were supposed to make ravioli again this year, but we all got caught up in last minute whatever and ordered pizza instead.  It's still Italian, though, right?  

Here's what we did instead of make dinner ...

Hung out with Uncle Gary (a huge favorite with the kiddos).

Hung out with Uncle Gary's dogs.  By the way, did you know dogs can unwrap their own gifts?

Made our own red felt Christmas stockings.

Made Christmas tree ornaments.

Had fun with cousins.

Played games together.

and exchanged gifts.

Maybe we'll be really busy again next year ...

Getting Ready for Christmas

Every year I make candy for family, and sometimes neighbors, if I'm feeling especially ambitious.  I like to deliver a trio of fudge, caramel and divinity.  I like the monochromatic color scheme, and I also appreciate how the candies taste fresh all the way until the last bite (unlike cookies -- unless they're delivered and eaten the same day).  While everyone likes fudge, Clint favors the caramel, and the kids and I favor the divinity. I cannot imagine how Grant and Nicole were elsewhere engaged, but this year, Scotty happened to be the only "helper" in the kitchen when the first batch of divinity came to fruition.  Lucky break!

Those of my neighbors who didn't get candy got this cute ornament: 

 I came up with the idea several months ago, and the hope was to get it all ready for Christmas in October or November so as to lessen the stress of the holidays.  However, it got pushed back to the first week in December, and was finished (80 of them between my sister, my sister-in-law and myself) only with the help of my darling nieces.  Phew!

Next year I'm going to start in January, and I'm going to make this:

Grant's primary teacher sent him home with this reindeer cookie:

Before I had kids, I used to think that trees decorated with kids' ornaments were lacking taste.  Not only have I since outgrown that pathetic sentiment, but I have adopted a completely opposite one.  For many years now we have proudly displayed the kids' handiwork, and I have let them place it on the tree according to their wishes.  This year we made fresh gingerbread folk.  This is one of Nicole's couples:

I made a few men myself.  This one was too irresistible for Scotty (see the foot?) ...  Good thing we used a real cookie recipe.

The whole gingerbread process took an entire day, and it was so much fun with the kids that we have made it our newest tradition.  Each year we'll make new ones since the old ones cannot be stored long-term.  Grant made cookies as well, but his went into his tummy instead of onto the tree.  That's more progress than Scotty made, however -- Scotty preferred the dough!

Nicole made a countdown chain at a church activity and placed it on the tree.

This was in addition to the advent calendar that I made when Clint was in medical school.

We have always filled each spot with three pieces of chocolate, one per child.  Sometimes Scotty took his candy out early.

A friend of mine introduced us to one her family's traditions, which is to give each child a new ornament in his/her stocking each year.  I know a lot of families do this, but we have NEVER bought special Christmas ornaments (Baby's 1st Christmas, travel souvenirs, etc.).  It sounded fun, so I tried it out this year.
Nicole's ... because she plays the piano and because we love the movie Corpse Bride (it's an acquired taste, I'll admit).

 

Grant's ... I was hoping to find a Mario Brothers ornament, but all the ones that I found looked very cheap and not at all cute.  I thought of buying a plastic figurine and installing a hook into its head, but I couldn't find one at several stores.  So, I resorted to a Santa, in honor of his first "believing" Christmas.  Grant was actually very happy with his little Santa.

Scotty's ... It was hard to pick one for Scott.  Nicole and I saw many cars, tractors and trains.  I finally decided upon this one because The Little Engine that Could is one of Scotty's favorite books.  This ornament is fashioned after the original book, which we don't have, but which I find so sweet.

I bought an ornament for Clint, but only because I couldn't believe my eyes!  Apparently Hallmark has a series devoted to A Christmas Story, the infamous movie with Ralphy and Randy.  We watch this movie nearly every December (and sometimes during off-season when the kids whine loud enough) because it's a favorite of Clint's.  So here is Triple Dog Dare.

I also bought an ornament to commemorate our 10th wedding anniversary, just for fun.  I thought of looking for a horse ornament, but this one was just plain sweet.

That was a long detour all to say that because I bought all of the ornaments from Hallmark, they gave me another advent calendar.  Three for one house is plenty!  At least the kids kept track of them all.

Now, back to our kid tree.  Everyone was encouraged to help decorate.  Scotty's decorations stayed in place all month and made me smile each time I saw them.

 

Nicole thought it didn't look proper enough and asked to change it several times.  I adamantly refused her requests.  Besides, I think her taste might mature in twenty years, give or take.