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!!!
