Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum 2011

A nice wordy blog post...

So many wonderful memories were created this Christmas. Right after Thanksgiving we started playing all the great music. (And for the record my new favorite song is this. I printed the lyrics and it's Christian's new bed-time song. Have you paid attention to the words?? Aw, melt.)

We were a little delayed on the decor, but picked the most beautiful tree at Church. I loved how our living room looked with the tree in the corner. So cozy and bright. The tree only had ornaments on the top half because of sticky fingers that pulled everything off. Not a single present was put under the tree until Christmas Eve because we were afraid Christian would start tearing them open. We couldn't even put stockings up because he would yank them and down came the heavy holders.

I love traditions...old ones and starting new ones.

I never cared about ornaments and now they are becoming so sentimental to me. We have a bride and groom ornament that my Dad found at a garage sale the year Michael and I were married. Think sort of gaudy. I love it because I can just imagine my dad at the sale thinking about us--it was the perfect gift and I love taking it out of the box every year. We have a Labrador ornament for Sammy, gifted ornaments from friends, the butterfly and "It's a boy!" ornaments from my sisters, the preschool ornaments, the Aruba ornament from our trip a few years ago, etc. My mom also gave us three new ornaments and by tradition we buy one that reflects our family for the year.

My favorite ornaments are the hand molds we make each year. I just use the Crayola mold and then color in their hand marks with food coloring. I can still see the little creases in Lulu's hand from 5 years ago. At some point we're going to need an age limit because our tree is filling up with hand molds! We're up to 10 (plus, we let Sammy do a few years).

Other traditions include apples and sugar cereal in the stockings, the prayer we say before heading downstairs before total hysteria breaks loose on our home, Christmas pj's,

a big ole Christmas morning casserole, the token picture at the bottom of the stairs before hitting the gifts,
and one of my favorite traditions, the book: each year I try to find a keeper for each of them. Michael and I write little notes on the inside cover in hopes that one day they'll remember all of our wonderful Christmaseseseses together. One evening, I went to Barnes and Nobles (with a Starbucks, of course) and lamented over a ton of books. I loved reading through all of them and if I had a lot of money that is where my money would go. Children's books. You know the purchase means there will be tooshies sitting in your lap and ear lobes to kiss while reading them. Here's Lucy's book. Emilia's book. Christian's book.

We started a new tradition this year, recommended by my friend, to take the children to see Christmas lights on the feast of St. Lucia. The name Lucia means light so the connection was perfect and they loved strolling around town with the music. God is so good in all His splendor. Looking in the back seat I was full of joy just seeing the happiness on their faces. On our way home (which was a little late) I was at a stop light and to my left was a sign that read, "LIVE NATIVITY". I thought, "what the heck?" so I pulled in and it was amazing. This little church gave us a CD to listen, follow and drive along to the different scences. Lucy and Emilia got out of their car seats and climbed to the front to see the animals, shepards, Mary, Joseph...it was such a sight. It delayed us about 45 minutes for Lucy's feast day dinner- her pick: Daddy's Spaghetti. I'm so glad we did it though- I'll never forget those two girls sitting in the front seat, eating candy canes, and staring at Mary.

The Children's Mass was nice, but I think Michael and I both agree that Midnight Mass is our preference. The quiet, serene, peaceful atmosphere....filled with people that want to be there. :)Be nice, Jacque. Although, I'm not complaining - it's nice to have the option....AND it gives us some time to get a self-timed Christmas picture. She's a real beaut, Clark. Baa!
Christmas Day:
Emilia kept screaming, "Oh my goo-ness!! Oh my goo-ness!" Oh my goodness is right. She couldn't control all her excitement in that little body. All she wanted from Santa were "candy cams."
Colored chapstick= big hit
Can't stop applying...all day. Thank heavens it mysteriously disappeared.
Bub's loved his new puppy from Emilia and Lucy.
They loved their gifts to each other, too...
Then off we went to Nashville for some really wonderful family time.
Cousin time is irreplaceable.
And 7 hours with my family is CLEARLY not enough time- and especially not enough time to get any good photos with 3 little ones running around a hotel. However, I love this photo for so many reasons. Look at Maria's sweet little piggies. Then, of course, there are the two bone-heads in the back that are so funny. They sat in that chair for an hour talking. David is in college, um, oh, let's say, only 5 minutes from Gabe! They are a little inseparable.

I heart them heartily. We aren't going to discuss David's sweater vest. At all.

More of a recap and who got the best Christmas gift: here.

Our visit to the Trailovs was priceless. The kids saw both great-grandmothers. How wise, tender, and precious are their souls... I could sit and listen/talk to them for hours.
Here have a bite- I have an awesome virus. :) Moms behind cameras screaming.

And, of course, everything is always so awesomely orchestrated and filled with lots of joy because of Mimi and Deda. There it is, Christmas in a nutshell.

To end, Michael usually takes down the Christmas stuff, but yesterday he took the kids and gave me some alone time to put the house back in order. I reflected on this past year and how our little family had some really good triumphs mixed with painful sufferings. Through it "we are all pencils in the hand of God." (Mother Teresa) I can't say I always tried my best, but I am thankful for the season of Advent to remind us of His birth. That he came to show us how to love more and deeper. I am so thankful for the sufferings he allowed to happen and how we grew from them. I'm looking forward to another great year with my best friend and little skittles. Life is sure to be very colorful!