A Little Christmas in January...

Who's with me that the Christmas season is just a little too hectic?
It's such a fun time with so many opportunities for fun activities, but there are still only 24 hours in the day, and plenty of mundane activities like laundry and cooking dinner to occupy them. Therefore, there are many fun activities left undone in our household. Like the gingerbread house kit a friend gave us.
Fast forward to this week. Trying to think of some fun things to do with Jadon to promote bonding in the midst of all the potty training stress, my eyes alighted on the gingerbread kit still sitting on our kitchen counter. Perfect! (Little did I know that it required an entire day between building the house and decorating it. Urg! But I guess that just gave us TWO days of quality time!)

Before and during the project, I had to keep reminding myself that this was about quality time, NOT a designer showpiece. Maybe that's easy for some of you guys, but for me, it was quite a challenge. But I think Jadon still managed to have fun. And the house still came out pretty decent in spite of me relinquishing some control. It turns out, Jadon's favorite part was just "painting" the house with watered down icing (he's been painting a bunch at my parents' new (old!) house).
Can you tell whose side is who's? (ooh, English teacher moment...I can't remember if it's"whose" or "who's." Ack!)

Christmas 2012

December was a crazy busy month for us, as it is for most people. But it was more fun than ever with Jadon this year. This is such a great stage of life! He was so much more aware of and interested in things.
Here are some more of our highlights:
Austin's 16th birthday:
We wished he was getting his license more than he did, but apparently that's not as much of the thing for teens around here. Go figure! So, no car, but his mom did come over and make him his favorite meal, her special wings and a red velvet cake.


Legoland with Grandpa and Grandma Sanders:
When we bought our passes, they got some, too, and we look forward to many more trips with them to Jadon's favorite park!

 Early Christmas at our house:
Since Jadon has no concept of dates, we did everything a day early at our house, celebrating our traditional Christmas "Eve" (with lasagna dinner and walking around to look at lights) on the 23rd, and then Christmas "morning" (with monkey bread and presents, etc.) on the 24th. This year, we got our first dose of extensive assembling of toys with the trampoline my parents got Jadon and the kitchen set we got him. Fun times!

 

 (Jesus' birthday cake...Jadon couldn't wait to sing him Happy Birthday and blow his candles out! We really emphasized that as the reason we celebrate Christmas this year, and we told Jadon (thanks to a great children's book we read nightly) that because Jesus loves us so much, he gives us presents on his birthday...and he'd even let Jadon blow his candle out.)

(Jadon never noticed the behemoth of his trampoline sitting just outside. If only he could stay like that...it would sure make keeping his gifts secret easier!)

"Real" Christmas up in Davis:

After our Christmas Eve services at church, we hopped in the car and trekked up to Davis to celebrate Christmas morning with Jim's family. We made amazing time, and the ride was much more enjoyable and stress-free in our economy rental car. (Jim's Jeep is just too small and my 16-year-old-200K+miles Saturn just doesn't run quite like it used to. Our original goal was to get a new car for Christmas, but hiring a new writer for our script wiped out that money (hopefully, good news on that, though, soon), so renting a car was an affordable slice of peace-of-mind.) 

(OK, I caved...I never thought I'd be the type of parent who would use the TV as a babysitter, but it turns out, it's pretty useful! So yes, we even got Jadon a portable DVD player for the long drive.)

 (It was so much fun to see Jadon and Kylie getting along so well. Jadon's language skyrocketed after just a few days with her!)

(I think Jim had more fun with the stomp rocket than the kids!) 

 

What a great season, and we feel so blessed by the wonderful family we have!!!

Christmas Festivities

Oh my goodness, this time of year is SO full of opportunities for fun. We have had so many parties and events to go to, that a night in with nothing scheduled is a special treat. Here's a glimpse at some of the fun we've had so far:

Women's Christmas Dessert:
Christmas started early this year at the New Song Women's Christmas Dessert. Two weekends before Thanksgiving, close to 300 women crowded into our open cafe area and sang songs, ate great foods served to us by the pastoral staff, shopped local home businesses, and had a great time. I hosted a table again this year, and after winning the "best use of theme" award last year, I went for it again. Our women's ministry theme this year is "Rise Up" (with the colors of purple and gold and a lioness' face). This table design came to me while I lay in bed one night:

(Get it? The balloons are making the tree "rise up"!) :)
(And I was so happy with my cute "lioness" cookies):

This feat of brilliance (okay, maybe I should just call it a silly mish-mash of fun) won yet again in the theme category. Yay! I have to be honest, there was only one other table who went for this category...but theirs was very beautiful and I would have voted for it had I not made my table. But I'll take the prize (it's a $25 Macaroni Grill gift card! Can you say "date night"?!). I also scored in the raffles, taking home an adorable bag handmade by orphans in Haiti (everyone knew that was right up my ally!) and a gift card basket (uh, Christmas gifts for Jim!!!). After being called up for the third time, though, it was getting a little embarrassing, but I'm full of gratitude for the little shower of blessings God rained down on me!

Neighborhood Boat Parade:

No, we don't live on the water, but every year, our extended neighborhood has a boat parade. I don't know who started it or gets it going every year, but it is SO cool. Fifteen to 20 vehicles (boats as well as other cars and trucks) deck themselves out in lights and all other sorts of holiday cheer and circle around about a mile or so loop. Last year there was a fire truck and a Marine tank, but this year was a bit more small scale. From the trailers they throw out candy, and Christmas music plays, and neighbors line the streets to watch. We love our neighborhood, and this little tradition makes us love it even more!

Living Nativity:
 Last night, I took Jadon to a living nativity at a local church. It was supposed to be a family affair, but I forgot Jim was preaching for the whole church this weekend, which includes the Saturday night service, so instead of pouting, I decided to just take Jadon on my own. It was so neat, even if I was exhausted by the end trying to reign my crazy two-year-old in! Hopefully next year, Jim can join in on this activity that helps focus on the real meaning of Christmas.
The church's multi-purpose room was transformed with over a dozen little booths reliving what it would have been like in Bethlehem. You walked in and "registered for the census" and then were given coins and your choice of "authentic" garb (Jadon refused to put anything on!)...
Then there were tons of activities kids could do for a coin, like make a mosaic cross (let's just say, Jadon's was a little more "artistic" than everyone else's!), make a leafy garland, make a toy spinning top or sheep, listen to a story, visit a synagogue, practice carpentry and leather-working (um...Jadon and hammers...a little intimidating to the poor souls working those booths!), bake bread, eat baklavah and raisins and other fun snacks...and a bunch of other options that we didn't quite make it to.

 

  

 I think Jadon's favorite part by far, though, (even more than wielding the hammers!) was the "stable" with Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus...and animals. Okay, so he couldn't care less about the holy family (dang it, that was what I had tried to prep him the most for so that it would be meaningful!!!). But he LOVED the animals. My crazy child was SO gentle, and his face was so precious as he held the tiny baby chicks and rabbits. One of his favorite Curious George stories is where George gets to hold a bunny and Jadon always pretends that he is, too. So to be able to actually do it seemed like a dream come true.

 I'm so glad I bit the bullet and took him!

Family Picture:
Okay, so what's the Christmas season without the infamous family pic? While we already had a good one of the three of us from this summer, we decided that we needed one with Austin. So between all the hustle and bustle of our chaotic schedule, we flung ourselves in front of the Christmas tree before running out the door to take Austin to his basketball game and Jadon to Legoland. All things considered, it turned out okay:

Except notice that Jadon isn't smiling. Half a million attempts later, this is the best face we could get from him. Most of the time he was just a blur. So I think this is actually my favorite realistic pic (notice all our hands pinning Jadon down):

I think this one captures our awesome crazy life perfectly! :)