Christmas Eve: The Daddy's Family

Day 24: Candlelight Service, Big Meal and Party Crackers

It's Christmas Eve morning and we're about to become a full house at my in-laws. Uncle C. came from California last night, my dad and my brother are driving in from their respective states. All the bedrooms are full. There's no room at the inn.

This afternoon, we'll go to "our church" for the candlelight service. The Daddy and I have done this together for the past 8/9? years. After church we'll come back to a house buzzing with a party atmosphere and Christmas goodies that abound this time of year. The Daddy grandparents will be there, too.

And we'll have punch. Shrimp cocktail. Sugared pecans, roasted seasoned nuts, pralines, cranberry pistachio shortbread cookies, ham, marinated broccoli and tomato salad and a myriad of other treats and staples.

We'll eat and laugh.

We'll wear our crowns from our crackers.

(ever done these before?)

We'll tell jokes.

We'll eat some more.

We'll see our girls' eyes light up with excitement that TOMORROW is finally Jesus' birthday!

If you don't remember my family's traditions, go back and see how different our family's Christmas eve traditions are.

Just One More

Day #23: Think you've bought all the presents you need, realize you don't and GO TO THE MALL

I think this one speaks for itself.

Add to it: FIND APPROXIMATELY 20 GIFTS FOR YOURSELF.

BUY THREE. Just three, I mean.

I'm Late

Day 22: Decide to leave a day early for Christmas vacation

Scheduled to leave at 8:00 am Wednesday morning, The Daddy says to me, "Why don't we go ahead and make the drive up to Atlanta today?"

Mind you, it's 3:30 pm on Tuesday, the girls are napping, I haven't packed A THING and even have a load of laundry in the washer.

Of course, honey!

So we left promptly at 5:50 pm.

And we made it safely by 1:00 am.

Hello, Georgia!

And Now a Time of Reflection

Hey,

Remember that time we decided to move?

And then we forgot to defrost the refrigerator in the garage before the movers came?

And then said refrigerator sat in storage for a couple of months in HOT-lanta?

And then we had a "beautiful" mossy surprise inside said refrigerator?

Well, I got to clean it today.

Day #21: Take some time to stroll down memory lane

One thing I love to do with the girls is show them pictures-on the computer- of things we have done recently. Even more fun is doing a "year in review" with them, starting with Christmas last year.

They love it.

And it makes Mama a bit weepy.

But they love it.

Just a few more days now...

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Day #19: Drink Hot Chocolate

With a "small" side of marshmallows

What did they eat first?

Easy to tell...

AE took a few sips only spilling a little.

Then I got out the straws.

So sweet.

So yummy.

I just want to eat them up!

Recipe Collections

Day #18: Gather Holiday Recipe Favorites

When I opened up the bag of treats AE was sent home with yesterday, I panicked when I saw this:

I thought, "Oh, NO! I never sent in a recipe. They must have asked for these before we enrolled AE. Surely, I did NOT miss a note sent home asking for a recipe."

Then I turned the page and read the first recipe by the other little girl in AE's class:

Evidently, her mother feeds her healthy foods. Fourteen hours IS a little long to "warm" your turkey sandwich, though.

Here is AE's "recipe":

I thought she did really well. She even knew the oven should be set to the very precise "so hot" setting.

Then I turned the page to read this little boy's entry:

It especially delighted me to see him refer to Wal-Mart as "WalMarts"!

This project was so cute, and if I ever get pushed into being a ROOM MOM, I'll remember this activity as a great send home idea. Remember when our church did something similar about God's Rules? Same kind of hilarity.

Love it.

It's a Fire Truck...No, It's Santa's Sleigh!

Day #17: Wait around for something to scare the living daylights out of your children and MAKE THEM WALK TOWARD IT

Today was AE's Christmas party at school. She did her cookie exchange, made ginger bread houses and cried because I packed HJ's peanut butter and jelly sandwich in HER lunch bag. What's a mom to do?

Around lunch time I stopped back by HJ's classroom to surprise her teacher with a Christmas present that all the moms pooled together for her. She was overwhelmed and amazed. It was a lovely moment. I shed a tear or two.

Miss Vanessa is a young woman in school who wants to go into full-time missions. Her mother died last year of cancer, and she's been having car trouble. She loves Olive Garden, rock candy and Bath & Body Works, so we made a basket for her and also gave her an envelope of cash to get her car fixed.

Both the girls had their last day at school today, but we hope we'll be seeing Miss Vanessa again soon. She will be our Go-To-Girl when we need a babysitter down here!

This evening I baked a red velvet cake only to mash it up to make THESE. Have you ever had them? It's my first time making them, and I hope they turn out.

Then I got the girls ready for bed, but threw them a curve ball by making them put on socks and shoes. I tweeted about what our city's fire department does each year earlier this week and tonight was the night.

As soon as we opened the front door for the surprise, the fire engine turned on the sirens and this was what was behind the engine:

Santa's Sleigh!

It stopped in front of my next door neighbor's house, so I was able to subtle-y sneak in a few pictures of their house:

(Side yard displays not included.)

Back on our front porch:

Don't you love it?

I said, "Give me your biggest smiles!"

Thanks to the folks who weighed in on Santa a few days ago.

My feelings were spawned by Jaime's post. If you haven't read it, go over and visit her to get her take on the subject. She's my friend who went to Africa on the same mission trip as us. Love her and her family: their adoption became official and complete TODAY! It's a great story of God's plan, so get clicking! Read their story. (Scroll to the bottom to start at the beginning.)

And if you're in Atlanta, Jamie and her husband are excellent photographers!

*this is NOT a paid advertisement! they're just our friends!

Red Tongues, Real Smiles

Day #16: Make them think they're baking cookies

AE's class is having a cookie exchange tomorrow at school as part of their Christmas celebration. So we baked cookies today.

Because we just moved, I made things as easy as possible. I bought a mix.

Let each girl mix.

So proud.

Gave each girl her own little "pat" of cookie batter.

Then they each went to town with the sprinkles.

My word, the sprinkles!

A few made it onto the cookies.

A few were left on the counter.

The top "cookie" is AE's.

The other "cookie" is HJ's.

We had so much fun! Those treats are waiting in the refrigerator for The Daddy.

After the girls had their fun, I baked the REAL cookies for the cookie exchange.

I added red coloring and rolled the balls in red sprinkles.

While the cookies baked, I unwrapped a few of these.

Each girl got one. Me, too.

Then I added those kisses to the cookies.

Only after I was done and cleaning up did I realize that the red sprinkles are cinnamon flavored. Yuck. Chocolate and cinnamon?

You decide: happy accident or disgusting disaster?

(I haven't found our real camera since we moved, so these high-quality phone pictures will have to do. I'm sure The Daddy knows where it is.)

As Soon as it Came Out of my Mouth...

I knew I would regret it.

Day #15: Threaten your children with a phone call to Santa

photo credit

Have you ever really needed your children to take a nap?

Has your blood pressure been on the rise since moving?

Have you ever threatened your children with a phone call to Santa?

Argh. I did it.

And it worked.

And now I feel guilty.

Do you do the Santa tradition?

OR

Do you avoid it altogether?

Hit the Books

Day #14: Read those books that only come out once a year, over and over and over and...

The Merriest Little Elves

Day #13: Watch Christmas Movies Together

As we've been unpacking yesterday and today, our girls have watched their fair share of television and movies. Dora's Christmas Carol has been a favorite! We also took a break and watched The Polar Express today amongst the boxes.

Tonight The Daddy and I settled in on the couch and watched Elf, one of our holiday favorites. Please enjoy seeing our merry elves below.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Eve~ My Side of the Family

Day #12: Drive around town looking at exterior illumination

One of my favorite traditions as a little girl was getting loaded up in the family car, going out to eat for Chinese food and driving all around town looking for the best Christmas lights. Every Christmas eve we went out to eat and then drove the streets shouting, "That's my favorite!"

"Oh, no! THAT one's better!"

"Pretty!"

"Oooooooo. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

It's free and the kids adore it. The early sunset makes it easy to make our 7:30 bedtime, too.

Have you seen this photo bouncing around the Internet?

I've seen it several times so far this season, and I think we've found the best idea for our own family's exterior illumination scheme. Do you remember which house ours should be? If not, click HERE!

Give What You Can

Day 11: When You Hear the Bell Ring, Teach Them to Give

It's another simple lesson that can change the world. This season, when you hear that familiar bell ringing,

all it takes is 2 minutes and 2 pennies (or more if you have it) to explain to your children about giving.

They'll even let your kids ring the bell.

Mine had a smile the whole time we spent at the grocery store post-ring!

Lick it and Stick it

Day 10: Create a Craft (that you can throw away later without feeling guilty)

Materials:

• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue (or saliva)
• Template for "wreath" (I got mine HERE.)
• Marshmallows
• Two kids who like to eat marshmallows

Step 1: Give bowl full of marshmallows to kids

Step 2: Cut out "wreaths" from template

I did all three at once.

You could probably decorate the inside circle pieces, tie a ribbon and hang them like balls on the tree.

Step 3: Pour glue onto plate (a paper plate would have been nice!)

Step 4: Kids dip them and stick them!

My friend Carrie gave me the idea, but she said to let them lick them and stick them. I wasn't skeeeerrrrred of the glue!

So happy (and full of marshmallows!)

Oops!

Mama's final product~ Note: I only had ONE piece of red paper left and two greens. Guess who got the red? ME. No arguments, either! (too busy stuffing face with marshmallows!)

On the girls' new tree

I splurged at Wal-Mart today and got them a pre-lit pink 3.5 ft beauty.

Other post-project wisdom:

1. I do suggest letting those babies dry completely before hanging them on the tree.
2. This project didn't take them very long to do (15 minutes), so you could make "h"s and spell out "ho, ho, ho" on a bigger tree.
3. You could make the "wreaths" bigger and tie on a bow.