Taking down the tree and santa mouse

We are going out of town for the weekend so today I wanted to get some cleaning done and a head start on the "undecorating" that needs to happen around here. First I spent a while helping the girls really clean their room. Their idea of clean and mine are totally different and I have not been there helping for a while so there was a lot of cleaning to be done. Then I started taking the ornaments off the tree. This year I did not decorate that tree - our family tree. I was behind I felt with the decorating because of working on my other projects so I let the kids decorate it totally on their own while I finished decorating other parts of the house. That was big for me. They did a great job - again not done the way it would have been done if I was there - but for them it looked beautiful. When I hang the ornaments I am always taken back to the people or places I got them from. I love the memories every year. I did not realize how much I had missed out of that part of my Christmas until this afternoon when I was putting them away. I have always loved decorating the tree - I remember back to when my mom would hand each of us an ornament and we would get to place it on the tree. It was magic for me. I do not have a themed tree for our family tree. I have other trees I decorate around themes but this one is filled with handmade ornaments, ornaments from family and friends and mixtures of fancy, vintage, and plain. I laid them all out on the floor as I put them carefully away and thought about where each one had come from and what it meant to me. It was wonderful! I again felt the magic I had felt as a child. That magic I felt also a couple of days before Christmas with Autumn. Because we did Christmas different this year we did not do "Santa"gifts under the tree. I know that is weird but we were trying to have a simple Christmas and things centered around family so that is what we focused on on Christmas day. But a couple of days before Christmas as we opened our "twelve days" present Autumn said "We could make that for Santa - he is going to love it!" I said, "Autumn you know that Santa probably is not coming to our house this year, there are so many houses and other kids who need him more than us." Autumn replied, "I know, you say that but I have been praying for Santa to bring me something and I just know he will". Well, I got to thinking about this. This child has great faith - how do I handle this and the one thing I did not realize was that she still "believed". So I asked her what she wanted Santa to bring and she told me she could not tell me and if he brought her a "homemade" gift then she would know it was me and there was no Santa. I asked the kids to help me find out, finally Chloe got it out of her what she really wanted - a dog that walks on a leash. (Not a real dog - thank goodness- but a toy one). Chloe and I had a long talk and she said I had to get it for her. Christmas would be ruined if we let Autumn down. So I took all the bottle money I had and some other cash I had for something else and went and bought her that silly dog. That evening I read her a cute book about a Santa mouse who falls out of the sleigh and finds his way to a lighted Christmas tree with his gift waiting for Santa to find him. The gift was wrapped in a yellow ribbon. And the story says if you find a present wrapped with a yellow ribbon then you know that the Santa mouse came with Santa. I had bought a cute mouse to go with the story because I had intended to use it for something else. I showed her our Santa mouse and she hid it in our Santa tree. I told her he would be watching her all of Christmas Eve so she had to be good in order to get a present from Santa. She promised she would and also asked if we could keep it a secret - she did not want Hayden to know for some reason. I had a talk with Hayden and Taylor about it and they agreed it would be great fun to do this little surprise for Autumn. Sure enough she tried really hard to be good all day. She was the first one up Christmas morning and found the gift under the Santa tree wrapped with a yellow ribbon. "Mom, mom guess what - the Santa mouse came just like the story said - but I know if the present is "homemade" then you did it!" I acted like I had no idea that it was even there. It killed her to wait until everyone got up (another advantage to our "twelve days" was that everyone slept in!) Sure enough Santa had brought her the exact dog that she wanted. She was in so happy and sure now that Santa was real! What magic this time of year brings to all of us. We had as much fun watching her be excited than if we had each had a gift under that tree. It started our day out just perfect. I will remember this story and how I felt today as I put the tree away for a long time! Santa at our house has always been the spirit of giving and I feel we did that this year! Santa was still a part of our Christmas!

Day 12 - Twelve Days of Christmas

So for our final day of the Twelve Days of Christmas David and I wanted to give something that would really let our children know how much each and everyone of them mean to us. Hopefully we succeeded. David and I have kept a family journal since we got married in 1980. David has been the keeper of the "plates" for the most part. Over the the past 30 years he has recorded all of our family happenings. This was a big project for me because David does not type and so I had to type up the three volumes of journals he has kept. There is a fourth one and when I was getting close to the time of needing to be done with this project we made a decision to do just the first 25 years - a volume one of our family life. He summed up pretty much all that we wanted them to know in the introduction -

"Life is an interesting pathway through time. It's like walking gingerly on stepping stones, some are rock solid and some are loose and unstable.

I find that decisions I've made have shaped me into the man I am and that the choices all of you have made have helped shape you and placed you on the spot in the world where you now stand.

In our family journal I've tried to capture moments in our lives that were defining for that time and place. It's about who we are and how we got there!

Ashleigh, Toshia, (Andrew, Adrian, Luke, Jonathan, and Reagan), Chelsea, Seth, Paige, Chloe, Chad, Noah, Taylor, Hayden and Autumn, we dedicate this work to you. Enjoy. Read it and learn more about yourselves, each other, mom and dad and what it means to be family."

I guess this gift has been in the making for the last 30 years and continues on. We will someday complete volume two and add to what they have gotten this year. I hope as they read they really can feel and know the love that we have for them. As we celebrate the birth of our Savior this year I hope that we have been able to capture the pure love of Christ through our gifts to our children. They were only small tokens of love to help remind them that to us our family is the most important gift we have.

This has been very fun for me this year. I don't think I can remember a Christmas that I have enjoyed so much and not felt the pressure of the season. This Christmas is definately on my top ten list! Merry Christmas to all!

Day 11 - Twelve Days of Christmas

What would Christmas be without new pajamas! I do have to confess I only made the little girls pj's this year - but I did add to my list my four sweet grandkids so that was a lot of pajamas to come up with and when I was sewing lots of other stuff I treated myself to "black friday" specials:) Maybe next year I will treat David and myself to some new pajamas - boy would he be surprised! Happy eve of Christmas Eve!!!!

Day 10 - Twelve Days of Christmas

Day ten brings this cute tree with lyrics from one of my favorite Christmas songs. David and I put these together one Saturday afternoon. He is so handy with a saw. Now this might seem a little boring of a gift for the littlest ones - so I was prepared that under the Christmas tree was another gift for those with small ones. At Toshia's house they got some games and books; at our home there was a gingerbread house kit. Now we do gingerbread houses almost every year - you know graham crackers with frosting and candy - this year I thought it would be fun to do a large one from a kit. I will post pictures of the completed project later. As we wanted this year to be about family time I also thought this one was great because we could do it as a family. This one was also hard to keep from Toshia - I had to have her help with the vinyl but did not tell her what I was using it for - I am sure she is smart enough to have figured it out. Two more days left.....

Day 9 - Twelve Days of Christmas

I have waited all week for this one because I love to make cookies. I especially love cut out cookies. It brings back such great memories for me. So I know I cheated by buying mixes but I could not figure out how do do this one using our favorite recipe without it getting spoiled - so I figure with the mixes at least the little ones can do this one on their own. So my plan at this house of children is to make cookies this afternoon and hopefully save some for David for his dessert tonight! David almost called in sick today just so he could help make them - at least that is what he wished he could do - no time off for the UPS man he's got Santa's work to do! Happy 9th day of Christmas to you and I can't believe this fun is almost over!

Day 8 - Twelve Days of Christmas

"And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care..."

Today the children opened their gift to find new socks for each and every one of them. That is a lot of feet to cover;) Taylor was so happy she commented.."This is all I wanted for Christmas, I am so happy!!!" Had I know that would be all it would take to put a smile on her cute face I would have bought socks months ago! Also, it does not really take much to make that sweet girl happy. I can hardly wait for tomorrow - more family time!

Day 7 - Twelve Days of Christmas

Tonight as we cozy up by the fire with hot chocolate and popcorn we will be reading our new Christmas book. I made a snowman ornament to go with each book.

I love childrens books and have quite a collection of them. The last few years I have been adding to my Christmas collection of books and next year will have enough to do a new tradition. For the countdown for Christmas I will wrap each book and we will unwrap each night and read together before bed. My wonderful friend who shared this idea with me also enlightened me by reminding me of the local library. I have waited to do this until I had 24 books - she just checks out what number of books she needs from the local library to fill in with what she doesn't have. Smart girl!


Happy 7th day of Christmas:)

Day 6 - Twelve Days of Christmas

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful, and the fire is so delightful. And since we've no place to go; Let it snow, Let it snow, Let is snow..."

How did I know that last night was going to be so cold and that this morning we would wake up to the traces of "snow" on the cars? What a great morning to have hot chocolate and marshmallows! I could not have planned the timing of this gift any better if I had tried! Half way through the Twelve Days of Christmas and we are having so much fun!

Day 5 - Twelve Days of Christmas

Grab your pillows and blankets tonight is:


Movie night! What better fun than family time together eating popcorn and watching old favorites! The kids are so excited about this one - they can hardly wait for David to get home so we can have a movie marathon (I think this house got five movies!) What a great way to start the Christmas break:)

Day 4 - Twelve Days of Christmas

Day four and "super soft" blankets were under the tree! At my house there is always a fight over the two blankets that are on the back of the couch during scripture time. We thought it was high time that everyone had there own "super soft" cuddly throw to make scripture time more meaningful. (Do you think it will work?) If not, at least they will be warm while sleeping through scripture time:)

Day 3 - Twelve Days of Christmas

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds, with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads".

Today's gift a Christmas pillowcase. Each one made differently and each made with love.

Day 2 - Twelve Days of Christmas

Is there anything better than homemade fudge? It has been a few years since I have made my Christmas fudge. David and I thought the kids would love this little treat. Personally I think David wanted fudge this year and this was his way of insuring that he got some! Funny little story though about the fudge. I use this family secret recipe for my fudge - you know the one found on the marshmallow cream jar - anyway, they have changed the recipe. That really through me for a loop. I was trying so hard to remember how it went together, changing the couple of things that looked different to me. Then talking to Toshia she informs me, "Oh yeah, I went on line and found the original recipe." "You can do that?" I said. The last thing I think of when I need help with something is "google" and my kids that's the first thing they do - I think there's a generation gap there and I swore I would never be "old" to my kids:) With that this 2nd day of Christmas I think the fudge turned out pretty darn good!

Day 1 - Twelve Days of Christmas

We are doing a very different Christmas this year. For a couple of years now we have wanted to scale back - make things simpler. David and I wanted to focus more on giving - the giving of time and service. So we are starting a new tradition. We are doing the "Twelve Days of Christmas". How this works is that for the grown children not living at home they received a tote last night full of their twelve gifts. For the ones at home we are bringing them out one at a time during scripture time every morning. On Christmas morning we will gather for our name exchange - the kids draw names every year - and have a brunch and probably go caroling or something together as a family. I made quite a few of the gifts so I have been working fast and furious the last six weeks to get this all done by yesterday. I was totally finished on Saturday with all of our Christmas stuff so now I can sit back and relax and enjoy the holiday! David and I are so excited about this. I know the older kids not living at home will enjoy it - I do worry about Chloe, Chad and Noah as they are at that in between age and just don't see the point in some of it. But they will get over it as they move on and start their families. This morning Autumn was so excited - as everyone was still very sleepy she said "This is going to be so fun - I can hardly wait for each morning!" In addition to the gift - at my house I also have a small gift wrapped with a scripture attached. We read the scripture then feel the gift and try to guess what's inside by the clues read in the scripture. Now that woke up a few of them as they got to feel the gift. They liked opening up chocolate coins-treats in the morning always make you happy!



Today's gift:

The "Service" pillow. Every year we try do some sort of secret service to each other. I usually have some little thing that gets left behind then when you find it you do for some else and leave it for someone else to find. This year I made these cute pillows. I learned to do some quilting this year so applied those new skills to this Christmas pillow. David wrote the following poem that I attached to the pillow - (he's so clever with things like that)

The Christmas Service Pillow

Like the branches of the lovely willow
Spreading their influence through the air
Lives will be touched by the Christmas Service Pillow
Service shared is sometimes rare
Leave behind the pillow to show you care
Then with your pillow serve another and pass it along
This opportunity will fill your heart with song!

Happy First Day of Christmas!

10K Run

Saturday I ran in the the first annual "Reindeer Run". I placed 7th overall in the the 10K run. Even though there were not that many runners I was very happy with my time. I came in second in my age category. I wanted to do the 1/2 marathon but I had been sick the couple of weeks before so played it safe with the 10K. I don't know how many more years I will be able to do these fun runs so I want to take advantage of it every time there is one. My son-in -law Andrew did very well also - He came in first for the men and third overall. I hope next year more of the kids will run this one with me - now that would be a race with lots of Weitzels running in it!