Christmas Pictures, Installment Numero Uno

Tyler and Aunt Sally

Jeff and Aunt Sal

James reading the Christmas story with Chappy...this was one of my favorite parts of Christmas.  Every year, we read the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Grandpa used to read it, then Dad, and when my brother was old enough he did it too. Now that James can read, he got to participate. He read a few verses all by himself!

Tyler checking out his new play mat

James was quite thrilled to get a Wild West play set. It has kept him occupied for hours already.

The Christmas Par-tay

Last night was Jeff's Christmas party. This year, we weren't going to go for a few reasons, but Jeff was told by the BIG cheese that he should 'strongly reconsider' coming. So he did, and we went. And I was right! Jeff got an award, and not just any award. He was given the award which is basically 'employee of the year' type thing. Each year, they give it to one person who has made great achievements for the company. This year, because the company has grown so much (over 50 new employees this year just in Marlton) they decided to give it to 2 people. The award is really quite an honor. The owner of the company spoke about how the recipient of the award stood out due to their initiative and hard work, etc.. And then they announced Jeff's name! It was pretty awesome! He now has a fancy framed certificate and an even fancier watch. If it were me, I would be afraid to wear it. 

The party was nice. In fact, it was the nicest party so far, and that is saying something because it is always very fancy. To give you an idea of the caliber of the place, note that the bar was made entirely of ice and had the company name carved in front of the ice pillars. They served lemon sorbet in between courses to cleanse the palate, and the butter was served in flower shaped pats on plant leaves. The dessert bar was outrageous.  There was the dessert drink bar, which included all your dessert-themed adult beverages, along with root beer floats, hot chocolate, etc.. There was a chocolate fountain, with all manner of dunkables. There was a waffle bar, pancakes, crepes, cheesecakes, creme brulee and about a zillion little tarts and truffles and cake balls and layer cakes. The think that cracked me up the most was the table that had comfort foods on it. There were little triangles of PB and J, crusts removed, and cookies with glasses of milk. I don't know about you, but there is nothing I want more after polishing off a plate of ginger glazed salmon with pickled ginger rice than a PB and J sandwich. Or not. It was a nice touch though. If you couldn't find something there to make you happy, well then, you must not have a pulse.

And you wanna know something funny? I made myself a fascinator clip using my very own chicken feathers. It looks huge in this picture but its not really that big. I used some feathers from my sister, and threw in my own too. For one, I think they were pretty, and two...I know that people see me and think 'oh, there's Jeff's wife...the one with the chickens!' In fact, last year, one person told me that she thought I would look more 'farm-ish'. So, it was incredibly funny to me when two of Jeff's coworkers came up and started talking to me about the chickens, and how I 'slaughter' them and they could never do that, etc, etc. I refrained from telling them that I had feathers in my hair from the very chicken that is now residing in my freezer. 

Pictures and Ramblings (Technically: Rantings)

The last couple times we have been near Target, Tyler has pointed in the direction of the Devil's Lair, also known as Toys R Us. At first, I thought he wanted to go because it bright and colorful. But he started talking about wanting to go there to buy 'Thomas' trains. What?! I really can't remember when, if ever, he has been there. It has to have been at least a year ago, if not more. I really HATE toy stores. While I have fond memories of standing in the aisles of KB Toys in Mesa Mall trying to figure out how to spend my piggy bank stash, I have yet to take my kids to a toy store for kicks. Go ahead, call CPS, but the whole commercialism of toys, and the gimme-gimme-gimme, I have to have it! thing makes me feel a bit hostile. Here at ye olde Groves homestead, our kids play with sticks and rocks. They do have toys too, lest you think I am a total scrooge. I just am not a fan of a LOT of toys. Or toys with batteries. Or toys that only do one thing. Or Tickle Me anything. Anyway, all this rant to say...how the heck does Tyler know what Toys R Us is?! Did someone take him there without my knowing?! I think I would rather him hanging out in a smoky pool hall than the Devil's Lair! I ended up telling him that we will only go there if he gets Christmas money, at which point he can buy himself whatever he can afford. Until then, you can find us sharking the regulars at the pool hall. 

Here's my little sunshine hanging the fragile ornaments. She is such a great helper! There were a few ornaments that didn't have hangers, and she asked 'is this one that needs to perch?' 

The boys snuggling before school

A dress I made for myself and finally got a picture of.

Tyler making Christmas cookies

James hard at work

Katie showing off her creation

Tyler got a knife and added a butt to his gingerbread man. Boys! And it actually looked very realistic after baking.

The doll I made for Katie for Christmas. I can't wait for her to open it! I had so much fun making it. 

Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

After spending the last few weeks basking in the glow of Christmas cheer, I am forced to admit that the party is over. Grandma went home yesterday. James started back to school today. Jeff is back to work. We really enjoyed having family around and checking fun things off our Christmas to-do list. We even made Jesus a birthday cake, albeit a few days after the traditional day. It was quite amusing...Katie helped me with the cake, and she did the frosting and sprinkles. When we were admiring her work, James came in and asked if he could have a piece. I told him yes. Katie looked up at me and said 'But I thought we made it for God?!' James fired back with some comment to the affect that God wasn't going to actually eat the cake, and that he didn't like cake anyway, he liked fish. :) Other fun highlights of our Christmas festivities include:

• Playing tiddlywinks with Grandma (that game is way harder than it looks!)
• The whole family reuniting in a little Rhythm Band awesomeness (a tradition from our childhood...Grandma and Grandpa made instruments for all the grandkids and we would play Jesus Loves Me and others with our home-made instruments)
• Finally having someone to play Bananagrams with! Oh, how I love Bananagrams. Jeff, however, does not. 
• The girls (Mom, Grandma, Nikia and I) going galavanting through the countryside to New Hope and a few other places. It was awesome!
• Baking, baking, baking! And eating, eating, eating!
• Did I mention eating? And Dad made omelets. Omelets! That pretty much means I was in butter-dripping bliss. 

In other random news, Jeff just might be able to double up this semester and take two classes, which would hopefully mean he would graduate!!!! We are praying that everything will fall into place for this, because it would be so nice for him to be done. (Remind me I said that in a couple weeks when he has classes two nights a week and homework all the other days, OK? Thanks!) 

And The Winner Is....

For the last few Christmases, we've taken the kids to the dollar store to pick out gifts for the family. They each choose a gift for their aunts and uncles, Grammy and Chappy, Grandma and Aunt Sally. They really pick some hilarious gifts. Last year's highlight was a magnetic mirror, which whistles at the reflection upon opening the little plastic door. Katie picked that out for Chappy. This year, James took the win for creative gift giving. He picked out three gifts that may tie for first place as far as odd gifts go. First, he bought Dad a roll of trick toilet paper. You can never unroll it. As soon as he saw it hanging there in the store, he proclaimed 'I'm getting this for Chappy!!' and put it in the cart. He couldn't stop there, though, and also picked out a pair of slinky-like eyeball glasses also for Chappy. When he saw a package of three pairs of redneck teeth, he picked them up for Grandma. I thought it was funny at the time but I had no idea there was logic behind the purchase. When Grandma opened them, he told her he got them for her because she had lost a tooth. That kid has got our sense of humor for sure! I can only imagine what Tyler will pick out next year when he is old enough. No doubt it will be awesome!

PS. James was so proud of himself for picking out a pen for Jeff at the school store. He got it so Jeff could use it at work. When Jeff opened it, we realized it was inscribed with 'Mom.' :)

And A Good Time Was Had By All...

Phew!

The Christmas festivities are winding down and we are left with a pile of wrapping paper and a lot of good memories. The older I get (ha, ha! cracks me up to say that...) the more I think I appreciate Christmas. I love celebrating the birth of Christ, spending time with family, and watching the kids experience the special times. This year I think the kids are understanding more about the meaning of the season, and of course they get excited about all the festivities that go along with it. We have had a lot of fun this month, and I am happy to say that we have checked all but two things off our Christmas fun list. Tomorrow we are going to make a birthday cake for Jesus, which will leave only one item left on the list. More pictures to come!

Christmas Ornaments

My bird ornament collection: I had to get creative and hang them from a branch on the ceiling this year to keep them away from the Tylerist.

 I know a lot of people have a tradition of buying an ornament of significance every year. We do too, although my Mom may have taken it to a whole new level. We usually end up with several new ornaments each year, each with a memory attached. It is so fun to take each ornament out and remember the story. Some of the more unusual ornaments we have were ones my Mom made for us. I believe my brother has a small wagon with a few of his teeth glued in it. My sister has one with a piece of the body cast she was in as a baby. (She also has hip dysplasia, like Katie.) I have one that was made from the horrendous contraption I had to have in my mouth because I couldn't stop sucking my thumb. I like the way she made it look so cutesie. Don't be fooled! That thing was awful.

But now, it makes for an awesome and very unique ornament!  (It is missing a piece on the side now)

I seem to have carried on the tradition, because I have already made my kids some strange ornaments. I stuffed fake pine boughs and pine cones into James' baby shoe, and glued a bow on it to signify the year he learned to walk. I had the doctor cut a small piece of Katie's second cast to be made into an ornament. He was kind enough to let me pick where I wanted to cut, and I chose the ankle, where she had worn through the cast dragging herself around. Can't forget that!

 

I made an ornament from James' NICU bottle, and inside are the cables they had him hooked up to to monitor his breathing. This one always makes me so grateful that he is here and healthy!!

This cupcake ornament has the best story of all our ornaments. I got the idea to post it from my friend Linda, who posted her favorite Christmas decoration today.  When my Dad and his siblings were young, Aunt Sally have them this ornament. Never mind that there were three of them. Somehow this ornament became kind of a fun joke, and it was decided that whoever married first would get the ornament. For my parents wedding, my great grandma wrote and read a poem about the soldier. When Jeff and I got married, someone added verses to the poem and my Aunt Lynn read the poem at our reception, where we were presented with the cupcake. Now it sits high on our tree so the kids can't reach it.

 

And my favorite Christmas decorations of all, the stockings my Grandma cross-stitched for us!! They are not pre-printed. Every single thing is made up of teeny-tiny stitches. They are so beautiful.

  

And now I'm off to finish this dress! I don't think I want to wear it with the pins, but Jeff's Christmas party is coming up and I had the brilliant idea of making my own dress. Well, it would have been brilliant if I did it like a month ago. Now I have way too many projects to finish before Christmas. Oi!

Fun Lists

I am pretty good at coming up with ideas, but they don't always get done. We are forever saying 'oh, we should do that sometime,' then never actually doing it. To alleviate that, last summer the kids and I came up with a list of all the things we wanted to do over the summer. It worked out well, and so we are bringing the list back for Christmas! Here are a few things on our Christmas to-do list:

• Bake cookies
• Drink hot chocolate
• Make snowflakes
• Read Christmas books
• Decorate the front window
• Make clothespin and candy cane reindeer (Check!)
• See the lights (preferably more than once)
• Make gingerbread houses
• Have a family (Christmas) dance party

Having kids gives me plenty of excuses to do all this fun stuff!

I'm Not Going Tell You What It Is....

Yesterday James had his school 'Holiday Shoppe.' I fondly remember mine from childhood, being able to choose from loads of cheesy trinkets. At the time, of course, the stuff they sold seemed wonderful, and each choice was made with the utmost care even if I did choose a pet rock. Now James has the chance to make his own momentous purchases. Having no idea what things at the store cost, I sent him several bucks for each of us. He came back with plenty of change, and a spring in his step. He ran out of school, saying "I'm not going to tell you what I got you, but you're going to love it!!!" As we walked home, he would turn around and say things like 'they are clothes, but I'm not going to tell you' or 'they are warm and fuzzy and you're going to love them.' It didn't take me long to figure out that he had gotten me socks. Then he turned and said 'It starts with an 'S' Mom!' Bingo! I was right. When we got home, he wanted me to look in the bag and see my socks, because to quote James 'you'll forget by Christmas anyway.' I opened the bag to find....no socks. Instead, the most obvious choice for a mom gift was a compact covered with faux bling. I held it up and he looked at it, confused. 'Oh, I thought I got you socks,' he said. I think he must have changed his mind at the last minute, then forgot. I just found it amusing that he spent the whole way home telling me (without telling me) what he got me, only to have it completely wrong.

P.S. Jeff did his final presentation last week for his Senior Design project and he did great! The professors said he did a very nice job  and was very professional. No surprise! One more class down, only TWO to go!

Christmas (And Why We Are Freaks)

This Christmas we had Grandma here for two whole weeks! It was so nice, except that she got sick and we missed a few days of Grandma time. Jeff was able to take off two whole weeks so we have been enjoying having him home. Each year, Christmas becomes more and more fun for the kids. They understand it a little bit more each year. They are beginning to understand the significance of Christmas, and also the joy of giving. (More on that next time)


Next year, I think I am going to make myself a shirt with "We do not do Santa!!!" written across the front in flashing lights. It is amazing how many people ask the kids 'What is Santa bringing you?' or 'Is Santa coming to your house?' or 'You better be good so Santa will come.' We chose NOT to do Santa because we want to focus on celebrating the birth of Christ. We feel like Santa can easily become a distraction from the real reason we are celebrating. Also, if we spend the first eight years of our kids lives telling them about Santa, only to confess that he is not real, how are they going to feel about God? If Santa is fake, is Jesus fake too? Should they believe us? Those are a few of the reasons we have decided that Santa is not for us. I have to laugh when people ask my kids the Santa questions, and the kids give them the blank stare. If I say 'We don't do Santa,' I usually get a look that says something like this: 'What are you, communists?! Freaks?! You are denying your children the basic human right of believing that some rotund and jolly man who squeezes down the chimney with presents!! How evil of you!!!' I really need to come up with some witty answer that I can just spout off whenever I get 'the look'.

Christmas Tradition

Watching the train

Tunnel of Presents

Last Christmas, Jeff's coworker gave us an awesome train set. (Thanks, Michael and Jenine!) Last year, we waited til the kids were asleep and then set it up on Christmas eve. All year, James has been asking if he could help set it up this time. He and Jeff set it up (well, mostly Jeff) while the other two looked on. James and Katie were about to blow a gasket with all the excitement. Once it was set up, the kids sat (even Tyler) and watched the train go round and round. We have actually had the train up for several days now without incident, which is amazing. After Christmas, James decided to 'decorate' the train scene by adding a cabin and animals. That boy is pretty clever if I do say so myself. :) Jeff also taught James how to control the train so James thinks he is hot stuff now.

Fun With (Great) Grandma

Christmas Finery

I made Tyler a little bow tie for Christmas. Frankly, its so darn cute on him (in my humble opinion) that I don't care if he only wears it a few times. I just love it! Now I want to make a bunch more for both boys.

Christmas Festivities

(Katie carrying on in the tradition of Auntie Rachel: dancing with the Christmas tree skirt)

Last night we bundled up the kids, cookies in hand, and went out into the finally-frigid weather to go look at the lights. Jeff gave us the supreme driving tour of lights, meandering all around L-town looking for dressed up yards. Let me tell you, some people really go nuts. We saw one house that was completely, and I do mean completely, covered in lights. Even the front of the house. Every square inch of the yard was covered. They even had a sign saying when Santa was making his next appearance at their house. Of course, being grown-ups who pay our own electric bills, Jeff and I immediately wondered how much their bill will be. Yikes! We had so much fun and the kids were just mesmerized by the lights. I look forward to doing this every year!

Motherly Menace and Other Orders of Business

I am convinced that 92% of the time, when Tyler sees Katie coming at him he sees something along the lines of Dennis the Menace, the Mommy version. He loves Katie, and smiles and laughs at her....but...she is so loving and motherly and nurturing to him that sometimes I think she just might nurture him to death. She brings him toys, blankets, pats his hand, gives him kisses, spins his toys for him, tickles him, and otherwise tries to make him comfortable. The only problem that a two-year-old mother hen is not exactly the most gentle of kiss-givers, or anything else for that matter. While she tries to be nice, it sometimes doesn't go over very well. I am sure glad Tyler is getting to the stage where he doesn't seem quite so fragile, but still, I would like to protect him from having his eye poked out by a well-meaning sister bringing him Tinker Toys to play with.

Some new (unfortunate) news here is that Jeff has two bulging discs in his lower back. His pain level fluctuates, and it can go from a low level to really bad in no time flat. Today he is in really bad pain (which for Jeff equates to severing a limb or something). So, right now they said that if it doesn't go away, he'll need physical therapy. Regardless, this is something that is going to continue to flare up (as we know from experience...he also has a herniated disc in his neck, but it is not as painful).

And last but not least, here are a few pictures of our Christmas celebrations. I believe I failed to mention that James went shopping for the fam and picked out some fantastically goofy gifts. His choices were as follows:

Chappy: a flashlight (one of two appropriate gifts)
Grammy: purple pom-poms
Uncle Nate: a ceramic baseball-shaped air freshener
Aunt Nikia: a spatula (the other appropriate gift)
Uncle Phil: a plastic hat complete with stars (see photo below)
Auntie Rach: plastic craft beads
Daddy: a jump rope
Katie: a craft kit to make herself a necklace
Tyler: a fuzzy Christmas stocking)

Christmas Surprise!

A few weeks ago, Jeff's coworker gave us a really awesome train set for the kids. (Thanks!!!) We decided to set it up on Christmas Eve while they were sleeping. In the morning, we turned it on (complete with fake smoke!) and let them go out to find the train chugging around the tree. It was a huge hit!!! They were so fascinated with the train that they weren't even thinking about opening presents. We had so much fun, and look forward to continuing on with this tradition every year!