Goodbye Christmas

Christmas is over and I'm slowly getting used to the fact that we put our tree outside today.  I would keep it up for another month if I could, but it was taking up a lot of space in our little house and my dear husband had been very patient long enough and it was time to reclaim our home.  We still have candles in all the windows and beautiful white lights around the banister and over our sliding doors - We hardly ever turn on a real light in the winter - we just live in the soft glow of Christmas lights and it somehow makes everything a little more magical.  We had a wonderful holiday full of family gatherings, the annual stone chapel service, excitement and laughter from our boys...but sadly the entire Christmas week was marred by sickness.  Micah got very sick Monday-Tuesday and was on the couch sick throughout our Benson/Allenby family gathering at my Mom's.  On Christmas Eve day I felt myself coming down with mastitis and thankfully called the midwives before they left for the holiday and was able to pick up a prescription for myself on our way to the Christmas Eve service at church.  It definitely hit pretty hard by Christmas morning and I was chilled and achey for the next few days.  The day after Christmas, Sadie got really sick, but we didn't really know if it was just a bad cold on top of major teething or what.  Over the weekend it worsened and we found out yesterday (on her 4th day of being sick) that she has RSV - a respiratory infection that is just miserable for babies.  She's slowly (finally!) bouncing back, but she's still not herself.  As I type this I'm standing and typing at our breakfast bar and swaying back and forth while she sleeps on my chest in the Ergo.  She hasn't slept in her crib since Thursday and only sleeps ON me or snuggled up right next to me in bed.  It's been an interesting stretch to say the least.  Despite the sickness, we had a really special Christmas finding that challenging balance between enjoying the magic of the season and the story of Santa (though we try to stress St. Nick) with the true reason for the season and the story of Jesus' birth.  We celebrated Jesus' birthday with a cake and a special time together on Christmas Eve and the boys definitely seemed to grasp how special this season really is.  Below are some of my favorite photos from the days leading up to Christmas and a little more about how we celebrated this year...

 A handmade ornament from Scott's childhood hung right next to a Camden masterpiece.  Where is life going?! How are we this old?!?!

The presents under the tree in this photo are Christmas books that I wrapped up individually and marked with a number for each day in December.  The books range from The Night Before Christmas to special books about the birth of Christ.  The boys love the excitement of unwrapping a book each day and it's a tradition we've all grown to love. 

 One of our favorite local Christmas parties is hosted at the beautiful Bluewater Farm just up the hill from our house.  The boys got to sit on Santa's lap, eat yummy treats and decorate beautiful ornaments cut from the trunk of a birch tree.  I just love where we live!

 Neither of the boys knew what to ask for.  I like it that way. 

 Sadie wasn't so happy...

 These adorable treats were little Christmas trees made out of Rice Krispie treats with a peanut butter cup as a tree trunk!  So creative and festive!

 This little peanut is getting close to walking!  Loving this dress that was a hand-me-down from the family I babysat in college.  The little girl who once wore this is now a sophomore in high school. 

 One of my favorites...

Camden and I had a fun time at his preschool for the special craft day.  He made so many amazing Christmas ornaments and crafts and we had a blast together.  He wanted me to take pictures of him holding each of his special creations in front of the tree.  I have about eight of these pictures, but I'll spare you and just show a few...

 Cutie pie...

 Love this ornament made with a cinnamon stick and a real orange slice!

 And a "healthy" gingerbread house decorated with popcorn and nuts and coconut sprinkles and peanut butter and cranberries.  We didn't leave this on our counter for long for fear that there might be an invasion of mice!

 Our annual stone chapel service was special, as always...

 The kids all got up front and sang Jingle Bells.  It was pretty precious...

 Silent night...

 Holy night...

 We did a lot of baking...

 Here is Jesus' birthday cake.  Thankfully his favorite kind of cake is yellow cake with white icing just like me!  :)

 A new tradition that we began this year, which thankfully easily went hand-in-hand with our Kindness Elves, was a gift from Nan and Pop.  It's based on a book called The Sparkle Box and tells the story of a family who wrote down everything they did for others during the advent season and put all the pieces of paper in their "sparkle box" and opened it on Christmas morning as a way of giving Jesus a gift.  The boys weren't too keen on the idea immediately, but I just kept track of things we were doing throughout the season and wrote them down on pieces of paper and we opened the box at Jesus' birthday party.  It was a neat way to continue to teach the boys about giving to others, and how doing things for others is a way that we can give to Jesus.
Here's the book..

Camden and the sparkle box...

 I read one of our children's books about the Christmas story and we talked about it together...

 Opening the box for Jesus...

 Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve!

 Leftover cookie crumbs from Santa!

 And some gifts under the tree...

 I'm so thankful for our wonderful family this Christmas. 

As I just wrote on Facebook tonight...

2013 will always be remembered by me as the year I lost my amazing father, and the year my sweet Sadie Grace was born. He missed meeting her face to face by two months, but I know she will always have a special bond with her Bepa, whose birthday she shared her due date with.

It was a year marked with many tears and little sleep, but also much laughter and great joy as we watched our children learn and grow and giggle and wrestle and love one another. I couldn't have made it through without my handsome other half. Here's to a great 2014!

(We're ringing in the new year with Sadie asleep on my chest in the Ergo as she continues to recover from a terrible sickness - RSV - but this isn't going to stop me from drinking my sparkling grape juice and eating mexican dip! We're crazy!)

Happy New Year!!!

A New Advent Tradition: Meet Mig and Tig (Formerly known as Freddy and Fred)

So I haven't really kept it a secret that I just don't really get the whole Elf on the Shelf obsession.  In fact, I wrote an entire post about it two years ago here on the blog.  I do enjoy seeing pictures my friends post of their elves getting into all sorts of mischief, but I just don't love highlighting the idea of children being watched and reported to Santa on whether they're being naughty or nice.  I mean, are we really going to withhold Christmas presents from our kids if they're naughty?  Probably not.

A couple of weeks ago my brother-in-law sent me a link to a blog post entitled Kindness Elves: An Alternative Elf on the Shelf Tradition by a woman in the UK who uses cute little elves to help teach her children love, kindness and gratitude during the holiday season.  The whole post immediately resonated with me and I knew I wanted to try and institute this new, creative idea into our Advent activities.  I searched and searched for little elves that were half as cute as this woman's and couldn't find the perfect pair, but I picked up two cute little ornaments at target for $2.00 each and they are working just fine!

On the first day they made their appearance the boys named them Freddy and Fred.  Since then their names have been changed to Mig and Tig (much more Elfy if you ask me - but totally the boys doing)!  Each morning the boys come downstairs and search around the house to find Mig and Tig and see what the little note they left says.  Mig and Tig encourage kindness and generosity and also lots of fun.  Sadly I'm usually (read: always) still in bed with Sadie when the boys wake up at 6:00 in the morning (at the absolute latest) so I do all the creative work and miss the excitement every morning.  Scott assures me looking for the elves is the first thing the boys do when the come downstairs and I have to say I do think it's definitely helped provide some focus for the season for us.  Here are some photos of Mig and Tig and some of the things they've had the boys do...

Good Morning Camden, Micah and Sadie,
We are friendly elves and we have come to help you get ready for Christmas!  Can you give us names please?

 Good Morning!  Thank you for giving us great names yesterday!  We wanted to share our Pez with you today!  Can YOU share something of yours with someone today?  Love, Freddy and Fred

 Dear Camden and Micah,
We were so happy to see you share Isaac's helicopter so nicely with him yesterday!  What good boys!  Would you tell us all about why we celebrate Christmas today?  We'd love to meet Jesus, Mary and Joseph in your manger scene!  Love, Freddy and Fred

 Good Morning Boys, 
We are making a list of elves to pray for.  Even little elves (and children) can pray and think about others.  Who should we say thank you for?  Is someone sick or sad or lonely or happy?  Let's pray for them!  Love, Freddy and Fred (taken almost word-for-word from The Imagination Tree)

 Here's the list the boys came up with...
(the other side says - kids who are hungry, people who are sick like Bepa, Daddy...)  Precious.

Good Morning Boys!  We hope you are ready for a fun day today!  We are looking through our cupboard to find food to share with elves who don't have enough food to eat.  Can you look through your cupboard and find some food to give to people who need it in your town? 

 The boys had fun going through our food and putting together a couple bags to bring to the food pantry.  Charlie even allowed the boys to unpack our donations and put them all up on the shelves.  Very cool experience for all of us. 

We are so proud of you for donating so much food to the food pantry yesterday!  Some families in your town will be so thankful when they eat the food you shared with them.  We were also very impressed with how nicely you played together!  Enjoy this yummy treat!

Good morning!  We love living in your house because you have the nicest neighbors!  How about we bake them some yummy pumpkin bread to let them know how much we love them!  Love, Mig and Tig

 It was snowy and cold, but they were troopers! 

Our house isn't very warm and cozy, would you help us build a new one?  Thank you!  Love, Mig and Tig

The boys had really wanted to make a gingerbread house and so I thought this would be a fun way to sneak it in...

 Such concentration...

I am so thankful to have discovered this wonderful idea.  The woman who writes The Imagination Tree blog said her children approached her and asked her if they could give their toys away to people who needed them.  Our boys are not there yet...But they are learning about compassion and kindness and generosity and I am so thankful for that.  Love these little guys and can't wait for Sadie to be old enough to join in the fun!  Happy Advent, All!

Farm Christmas

One of our favorite holiday traditions is taking a family trip to a local tree farm to find the perfect tree for our home.  I look forward to this adventure every year.  I love tromping through the fields with the kids, eyeing different trees, turning dozens down before finding the perfect one.  I love watching the kids run around trying to help, their cheeks rosey from the cold.  I love the sweet couple who run the farm who act like you're the only family who comes to their farm even though they sell hundreds of trees each season.  They welcome you into their warm little hut, give you free hot chocolate by the crackling fire, feed you donuts and other treats.  They always take a photo of your family and the walls are lined with photographs from years past.  We love to search the walls to find pictures of us from when Camden was our only child and we always go back on the special day when Santa visits the farm and they offer horse-drawn wagon rides through the fields.  It's not always so picturesque, obviously.  By the end of our adventure searching for the tree all of the boys, yes that includes Scott, had had quite enough of the cold and the walking, but once we hit the hut, the smiles quickly returned. 

This year, we bought our tree just a couple of days after Thanksgiving, as we always do, and then returned to the farm today to meet Santa and take a wagon ride.

Here we are searching for the perfect tree...

 Micah had had enough by this point...

 He's a good sport...

 Haha - Micah's grimace is his most recent smile...we're working on it.

And today we had fun meeting Santa (who had to run inside after he saw us because he forgot his glasses!).  Good thing the kids don't know the difference!

Sadie's first introduction...

 Santa handed out tootsie rolls...

 Love these two...

 Wagon ride!

Here is a recap of our adventures in 2012, 2011, 2010.