Looking Back

I'm so behind. I'm usually on top of making goals and getting Christmas put away by the FIRST of January, but not this year. This year we have a very bad cold. Very, very bad. We got home from Disneyland, I put a few loads of laundry in and then we all got a cold. So there are no goals. The Christmas lights are still twinkling, and my days mostly consist of "bungling" up James, watching cartoons and napping. The sink is full. The laundry is piling up and I think it will probably stay that way for little while more.

So I thought I'd share some accomplishments from last year, because I think we should pat ourselves on the back for the things that we DO accomplish (because let's face it, we don't always accomplish the lofty resolutions we make at the beginning of each year).

Paul 

• got only B's or higher in all of his classes
• has really worked hard on sprucing up his resume
• has taken opportunities at work to learn and make new contacts

James

• was weaned
• sleeps in a big boy bed
• potty trained (mostly-we still have to practice going out in public, but he's trained 100% here at home)
• loves Nursery
• eats more veggies

Rebecca

• Kicked the soda habit
• worked on family history
• exercised more often
• began "play school" with James

Family Goals

• read the New Testament
• had a lot of fun family home evenings

I think we had a pretty good year. We will eventually develop our goals for this year, the tree will be put away, the apartment will get cleaned and life will resume as normal. But not today. Tomorrow is not really looking very good either.

A Very Disney Christmas

We went to Disneyland for Christmas this year. We woke James up early and opened up presents and then we hopped in the car and drove 10 hours to Disneyland. We had such a blast. James has told us over and over that this is the best Christmas ever. It was so much fun and WARM. I actually got some color...in December!  I won't bore you with all the details, but it was amazing and James behaved REALLY well. It was a much-needed break after the year we have had.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

This year's Hallmark

Christmas Eve

Christmas Gifts

Now that the Christmas gifts have been given I can share with you all the projects that I worked on for months and months!

First up is the gift I decided to give to everyone in my family and a few friends. I had my sister sneakily find out everyone's kitchen colors. I purchased the towels at IKEA for 49 cents each and the fabric cost me anywhere from fifty cents to $1 or so per person. So each gift cost about $2 to make. Then I threw in a jar of of something I had already canned (Plum Jam, Peach BBQ Sauce, Strawberry Jam, Fruit Cocktail, Apricot Jam) and topped the jars with coordinating fabric.

My youngest sister still lives at home and towels and jam just didn't seem like a great gift for her. I really struggled with this because I had ordered the fabric and a pattern to make her the cutest apron. The one fabric came, but the other was on back-order (back in August). There was a big mix-up and I still don't have the fabric to this day! So then I thought I'd make her an oven mitt...which didn't go so well. I was running out of fabric and didn't have the right materials for it and it kept fraying. So finally I went a completely different route and put together this awesome cookie kit.

 I started out making a snowman kit for James and it was so easy that I decided to make a few more for a few friends of ours.  They are so cute and such fun for kids to have a special kit just for their snowman :) Now we just need some snow; snowman kits are much more fun with snow.

Some other gifts that we put together:
We made these ornaments and James painted them. He came up with some interesting color combinations.

We also made Christmas cards for our family and local friends this year. James laughed the whole time and some cards were better than others with all the toe-wiggling that was going on.

I also finished our new Christmas stockings. I was done by December 2nd and was so crafted out I swore I'd never look at my sewing machine again. But I'm already concocting plans for next Christmas....I'm hopeless.

Christmas Advent

This year we are starting some new Christmas traditions that I'm excited to share with you.
A Christ-Centered Christmas
Last year we were given a fantastic book for Christmas.
The book is divided into 7 chapters:
Mary--Ponder
Joseph-- Serve
The Angel--Share the Joy
The Shepherd--Testify
The Wisemen-- Journey Another Way
The Lamb-- Give Thanks
The Christ Child

The idea is that each day you read a set of scriptures that discover the main subject and a principle. After the lesson, the coordinating piece/s of the nativity are put in place with the idea of the Christ Child being added to the Nativity on Christmas Eve. There is also an activity that goes with each lesson. I'm so excited to start this tradition in our family!

Advent Calendar
This year I decided to do an Advent calendar.  I wanted to do it last year when I saw this adorable tree at Pottery Barn Kids. So I bought the felt for it. Turns out it was quite the project! After months of planning and cutting and stitching and stitching and stitching, it is finally done! I'm so glad that it is completely finished and ready for Christmas!

J. wanted his picture taken with "his" tree.

I wanted to include scripture readings and activities for each day.  I used the seven readings and activities from the Christ -Centered Christmas book and had to do a bit of research to come up with my list because I wanted to use both the Bible and The Book of Mormon accounts of Christ's birth. Paul is gone during the day so for some of the more crafty activities I color coded the cards for things we do without Daddy, and things we do with him when he gets home.

Christmas Books
I had also read about this great idea of wrapping up 24 Christmas themed books and opening one each night up until Christmas. James loves books! So I got a bunch of off freecycle, went to DI and picked up the last few from the clearance section at Deseret Book.

So...with that in mind I give you my ridiculously long and complicated Christmas Advent List:

December 1st

Scripture:  Isaiah 7:14

Activity: Make Paper Chains & Snowflakes

Book: Christmas Snow by Dawn Sirett

December 2nd

Scripture: Isaiah 9:6

Activity: Make Wrapping Paper

Book: Fun with Reindeer by Igloo Books

December 3rd

Scripture:  Micah 5:2

Activity: Make Play-Doh Snowmen

Book: Baby Kermit's Christmas by Louise Gikow

December 4th

Mary

Scripture:  Luke 1: 26-56; 2:5-7, 19

Activity:  Make Heart-Shaped Ornament for the Tree Representing what Mary Pondered in Her Heart.

Book: O Little Town by S. Harrison

December 5th

Scripture:  Jeremiah 33:14-15

Activity:  Christ's Birth FHE Packet

Book: Little Snowflake's Big Adventure by Steve Metzger

December 6th

Scripture: John 1:14

Activity: Bake and Deliver Cookies to Friends

Book: Warm in Winter by Erica Silverman

December 7th

Scripture: Isaiah 40:11

Activity:  Send Christmas Cards to Soldiers 

Book: Christmas Wishes by Tony Mitton

December 8th

Scripture:  Jeremiah 23:6

Activity:  Have Dinner by Candlelight

Book:  Saide and the Snowman by Allen Morgan

December 9th

Scripture: Jacob 7:11-12

Activity: Make Christmas Hand & Footprint Crafts

Book: Pooh's Jingle Bells by Kathleen Zoehfeld

December 10th

Scripture:  1 Nephi 10:4

Activity:  Hand Deliver Christmas Cards to Friends

Book: Santa's On His Way by Mark Shulman

December 11th

Joseph

Scripture:  Matthew 1:18-25 & Luke 2:1-7

Activity: Donate Food to Homeless Shelter

Book: Away in a Manger by S. Harrison

December 12th

Scripture: 1 Nephi 11:20-24

Activity: FHE: Tell the Christmas Story using Little People Nativity Set

Book: A Charlie Brown Christmas by Charles M Schulz

December 13th

Scripture: 1 Nephi 11:27

Activity: Wrap and Mail Christmas Presents

Book: The Biggest, Most Beautiful Christmas Tree by Amye Rosenberg

December 14th

Scripture: Heleman 14:3

Activity:  Make Ornaments for Gifts

Book: The Quiet Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott

December 15th

Scripture: Heleman 14:5-6

Activity: Make a Christmas Craft

Book:  My Christmas Wish-epersonalizeit.com

December 16th

Scripture: Luke 1:30-31

Activity: Make Hot Cocoa with Marshmallows

Book: The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck

December 17th

Scripture:3 Nephi 1:13

Activity: Elf! Someone

Book: The Twelve Days of Christmas

December 18th

The Angel

Scripture: Luke 2:9-14

Activity: Listen to Christmas music that reflects on Christ. Turn off the TV, laptops, cell phones. Sit around the Christmas tree and drink hot chocolate.

Book: Hark the Herald by S. Harrison

December 19th

Scripture: 3 Nephi 1:19

Activity: FHE: Put on PJs & Go for a Drive to Look at Christmas Lights

Book: Franklin's Christmas by Paulette Bourgeois

December 20th

Scripture: Luke 2:4-7

Activity: Deliver Christmas Goodies to Friends

Book: Snappy Little Snowtime by Dugald Steer

December 21st

The Shepherd

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-2

Activity: Decorate Shepherd Staff (Candy Cane) Cookies. Share Testimonies.

Book: While Shepherds Watched by S. Harrison

December 22nd

The Wisemen

Scripture: Luke 1:12-14

Activity:  Cookie Day with Aunts. 

Visit a Living Nativity

Book: We Three Kings by S. Harrison

December 23rd

The Lamb

Scripture: Luke 2:8-11

Activity: Hang a small white stocking on the tree. When we notice a tender mercy in our lives we write it down on a piece of paper and put it in the stocking

Book: Little Donkey by S. Harrison

December 24th

The Christ Child

Scripture: Mosiah 3:5-8, Luke 1:26-38, 46-47; Luke 2:1-10; Matthew 2:1-14

Activity: Write down a gift that you can give to Christ over the next year. Put it in a white envelope to be opened next year to see how we've done.  Keep it with the nativity set.

Visit Temple Square to Look at Christmas Lights.

Book: The First Christmas by Sophy Williams

Click the links below to view the printable cards.
Scripture Cards       Activity Cards

Halloweekend

On Friday Paul and James carved a pumpkin: Vampire Mickey (or as James would say, Vampirate. As a side note he calls witches "Wicker Witches" and jack-o-lanterns "Jungle Lanterns") and Mr. Oogy Boogy from Nightmare before Christmas.

We had our second annual Batman marathon. We also watched Nightmare Before Christmas 20 times at least this month. James loves the music and actually sings the tunes all day long.

For Halloween we went to my parents' neighborhood and James had a total blast. At first he seemed a little hesitant, but pretty soon he was shouting, "next house."  At every door he would say, "Trick or treat! Thank you! Happy Halloween!"

 

When we got home he dumped all his candy on the floor and started rolling around in it and making "snow angels." It was hilarious. Love that kid.

Now, bring on the Holidays!

Pumpkin Land

Last weekend we took James to Pumpkin Land in Orem with some of his Aunts. He had a pretty good time. There was a secret "room" with a bucket of beans in it. If you found it you could bring back a bean for a treat. James grabbed a handful and stuck them in his pocket. The next day was Sunday and while we were at church I realized that he had transferred a few of his "magic beans" to his church pants. Needless to say, there were a lot of beans in and out of the wash this week.

Spooky

My ridiculously adorable niece, Lorelei.

Bouncing.

With most of my sisters.

Family Portraits 2011

Our friend Susan has taken our pictures now for a few years. I just love her!  I am really pleased with this year's portraits. James was giggly and smiley for the entire session. I hope this becomes a habit with him. Without further blah blah-ing, here are my favorites: