Twas the Week Before Christmas

I was going to blog about the basement next but since I spend every spare moment down there working on it, I kind of don't feel like blogging about it. I need some distance. Instead, here's how Christmas went for us.

We made sugar cookies. I tried to relinquish a little control and let the kids help out a little more this year. We made them early one morning so that Justin could take some to work with him.

 My kids love dough. Eating it, molding it, cutting it.

Justin was a good helper. I just stood behind the camera and out of the way, breathing deeply and trying not to take over.

Photobomb Justin.

 Goofy face Henry.

I taught the kids to string popcorn. It kept them busy and quiet for quite a while.

 Then Linus Henry strung it up.

Sarah sang "Rudolph" at her school's sing around the tree. She dressed in all brown to look more like a reindeer.

After reading the ingredient list and the nutritional content of egg nog, I thought it sounded just like ice cream. So we dumped a quart in my ice cream maker.

 And wa-la! Egg nog ice cream.

 This is Justin's mega elk burger. It was delicious and a little hard to eat.

 Erica taking care of some spilled cheerios.

Saturday we had a Christmas party at my parent's house without them. My nephew Tyler put together a video of the night's events to send to them. First we made gingerbread houses.

 Erica and Justin watched.

 Henry put on this much candy then after I took the picture asked if he could eat it. And he did.

 Hey look! Erica is being held by someone else and not crying. She did fine as long as we kept her distracted and from looking at Matt.

The adults and teens played a white elephant game of $5 gift cards and dollar store gifts. It was super funny to see what people came up with.

 Then the littles opened up Christmas candy. No trading or stealing.

 Sarah scored this awesome snow monster sucker.

 Then we had a concert by 2 cello playing and one viola playing nephews. Sarah liked it. I hope to live vicariously through her and get her to play the cello too.

Henry wrapped up his own toy and put it under the tree. But he missed it so he opened it that night.

 My niece Jaana gave Sarah a belated birthday gift. She opened it when we got home from the party. It's a giant princess activity kit shaped like a crayon. Sarah slept with it in her bed that night.

 Erica looking good Sunday after church. Thanks for the dress, cousin Maddie.

Monday for family home evening we drove through the festival of lights and ate candy canes then came home and watched "The Night Before Christmas" on youtube. That movie was a favorite of mine as a kid. I think it was one of the first movies we got on VHS.

Tuesday I dipped chocolates. I was nervous doing it all by myself but I managed. It took forever and after awhile I got tired of dipping caramels and pretzels and just threw in Oreos to use up the chocolate. That night Sarah and Henry slept over at Justin's parents house. Justin and I took care of sick, sick Erica, got Mexican take-out and finished wrapping presents.

Wednesday, Christmas Eve, we spent most of the day getting ready for dinner.  We stayed home for Christmas Eve for the first time and it turned out pretty fun. The kids were most excited about using the fancy glasses.

 I made some felt silverware holders for the occasion. We had smoked chicken, rolls, raspberry salad and green beans.

Merry Christmas from the Dyes. Erica is stripped of her clothing just like she is after dinner every night.

Christmas pajamas.

And Christmas snuggles.

Then they watched Charlie Brown Christmas. Sarah said she was going to stay up and catch Santa. I told her that was fine; she just had to stay in her bed with the light off. She was asleep by 9.

Santa came!

Erica crawled over her stocking and a few presents to eat the carrot nubs the Santa left behind.

 Erica would have been happy with a candy cane.

Henry Bear looked just like the bear on his shirt while holding Justin's new meat shredders.

Sarah got a new snow hat from Henry.

 Lego Christmases make the best Christmases.

We Skyped with my parents which turned out to be an endless parade of "Grandma, look what else I got" then we ate ebelskivers for breakfast. That afternoon we went to Justin's parents for more presents, prime rib lunch, and games.

We kept the kids up way too late but they had fun. Then we drove home in the snow, got the kids to bed, stayed up too late continuing our binge of "The Good Wife".

I asked Henry what is favorite part of Christmas was. "Sitting by the tree and reading Christmas stories about Jesus." Bless his tantrum-throwing, food-wasting, toy-breaking heart. "Transformers! Robots in the sky! Here come robots to get the bad guys!" Guess what his favorite toy is?

Christmases Past

My most favorite thing about Christmas is the holiday food. There are so many things that only get made and eaten in December. First on my list was divinity.  Since my mom is in Philadelphia, I had to make it myself.

I made the mistake of using some random recipe I found online and it didn't have very good directions. I did not mix it enough. Lest you think I only paint a rosy picture of my life, here is my culinary fail.  Well Henry thought it was delicious. I let the kids eat spoonfuls until they were sick then threw it out.

 I tried it again the next day using my mom's recipe and success! So many life lessons learned. Listen to your mother. When in doubt, go right to the source, etc.

I also love decorating the tree. I think I have always loved it. It was a magical time as a kid and my own kids get really excited about it. They are at the age where they fight about who gets to put the star on top. Henry got the honors this year.

 My tree is taking a beating this year but it has very little to do with this little one. She just pulls the bottom ornaments off. Henry, on the other hand, as thrown ornaments off in a fit of rage, whipped the tree with his blanket and thrown ornaments at his sister. Sheesh. This picture reminded me of another picture.

 Here's Sarah in 2009 giving Pooh kisses. Yes siblings, I have the only 2 surviving Winnie the Pooh ornaments. I also have the gigantic Pooh poster and the the little Alpine village.

Most of my pictures of Erica look like this these days. She uses her crawling powers to investigate the camera. 

 Love me some chubby baby legs.

Sarah did a presentation in her kindergarten class about holiday traditions. She talked about her Christmas ornament, going to see the lights and ebelskivers or eveeskeevees as she called them.

 I like Sarah's smile in this picture.....

 Erica whacking Henry in this picture.....

 And Erica's expression in this picture.

Love me a glowing tree and cute kids.

And then I did a very bad thing and started to look for pictures of my kids in front of the tree during the years.

 2008
2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Sarah and Henry still wear those clothes so that made me feel better. But man, kids grow too fast.

Speaking of which, Erica is already 10 months old.  

 She's still the sweetest thing but is developing a bit of an attitude. I think once babies learn to crawl,  they're sense of entitlement develops too.

Sarah and Henry always wrestle with Justin. Pretty much every day. They ask me to join in but I tell them mom only gives hugs.

 Erica isn't quite sure what to think. I give her a few months then she'll be joining right in.

 They wrestle until someone gets hurt. What else would stop them?

It's a good way to burn off all that extra energy before bed.

And that's pretty much our life upstairs. Next time I'll share what we've been doing in the basement.