Christmas 2013

Christmas morning! After a traditional breakfast of sweet rolls and orange juice (via my family, only we've upgraded from Tang) and breakfast casserole (via Caleb's family)...

Caleb took the girls "Jingle Bells" caroling all around the house and then we settled in to open presents and raid our stockings for all sorts of normally forbidden goods (cheetos...carbonated beverages...sugar cereal...mmmmm).

The sweetest moment of all of Christmas for me was this one: Emme absolutely adores Malan's glitter puff (backstory here). She tries to get her hands on it every chance she can get and Malan has been quite frustrated with Emme for never asking permission. The puff means a lot to Malan as she worked very hard to earn the money for it herself.  Malan and I have talked about how happy it makes Emme when she gets to use it, and that she's still learning all the sisterly protocols.  Well, I tell  you what, my eyes teared right up when on Christmas morning I saw Emme open a carefully wrapped package from Malan containing the cherished puff. It was the sweetest, most sincerely heartfelt offering of Christmas.

 A bit later, the Hale's came over for casserole and the showing off of gifts and we all enjoyed the morning and then went to see Disney's "Frozen" in the afternoon. Just a great day. Hope your day was merry, too.

Christmas Eve

With all the business of the season out of the way (finally! I really hope to simplify next year, or at least finish the necessary tasks a little earlier...) we were able to spend Christmas Eve making our gifts for each other and a few friends, and it was my favorite day of the whole month. Here are some tidbits:

Olivia and Emme helped make "socktopuses" for each other and Caleb helped Malan make a night light cover for Jane that throws little stars and constellations on the walls and ceiling.

 

Caleb honored my request that he not spend any money on me this year but made me the most fantastic bedside table and an industrial lamp out of my old garden pallets and somebody else's garbage. Only cost him $free.99 and I love them. And him.

Jane made a washer and thread necklace for Malan and wrapped it sweetly. It did my heart so much good watching the girls plan what to make for their sisters and get so excited about giving each other their gifts. More of this next year, please.

The dear Hales joined us for our Christmas Eve program, singing, and reading of Grandpa Hale's Christmas skits. Such a sweet night, with music and scripture and stories about the Savior.

Then the traditional opening of Christmas Eve books and jammies...

More to come... hoping your Christmas Eve was wonderful, too.

Hunting Trees

The wonderful Hales joined us at the tree farm the day after Thanksgiving (which we actually held on Friday this year to accommodate Caleb's schedule. Kind of fun!) on a hunt for Christmas trees.

Here we see Emme coming to the rescue of Malan, who is under (mostly friendly) attack from cousin Luke. I guess Emme didn't know it was all in good fun, because poor Luke ended up with Emme's BOOT PRINT on his face. Ah, cousins.

Caleb and Jane staked our claim, just in case those sneaky Hales tried to snatch it out from under us.

There was a bit of a mishap when cutting down the Hale's tree and poor Joey was nearly crushed to death. But his cries of, "Leave me! Save yourselves!" brought Malan, Luke, and Emme to his aid and he was pulled from under the weight of the piney limbs just in time.

Finding just the right tree was trickier this year, mostly because that used to mean I picked the tree, but this year both Malan and Jane had strong opinions about which one each thought was best. I think we struck some sort of deal and bribery was likely involved, but we finally reached consensus and Caleb got to work cutting it down for us. Trees in the south are of different varieties than those we're used to from the colder Northern/Western climates. We chose a Virginia White Pine with beautiful long, soft needles, about 11 feet tall, and I think it is my most favorite tree ever. The boys hauled our trees back to be shaken and loaded on the vans while the kids played on the farm toys and took a barrel train ride.

At home we heated up some hot chocolate, found our favorite Pandora Christmas station, and set up the tree. I love this tradition so very much. For us, it's the perfect start to the Christmas season.

Sure hope you are enjoying this time of year, and all the traditions and grateful feelings and good family time that come with it. It can be a stressful time too, so here's to taking some deep breaths and trying to enjoy the hustle and bustle. And here is some good advice along those lines from a very wise friend of mine.

past hunts here, here, and here.

p.s. Thank you Katie for snapping some pictures with me in them! Looks like I do in fact exist.