Christmas Morning

Christmas morning is the best. The kids usually sleep in until 7:30 or 8:00 (that's really the best present ever in my mind) and then we get up and gather around the tree. Stockings first. Finley rips through it, Berlin lovingly takes her time with each little thing and has to look them thoroughly over. Sometimes she forgets there is more and we have to urge her on. 

Then it was on to the big stuff. The kids got the presents from the tree and handed them out. Then the opening began. This is the first year where I think we hit it just right with each kid. In the past, I give in to my desire to spoil them and overbuy on presents. But after seeing how they have gotten overwhelmed with the excess, we kept it small this year. They got the lego set they really wanted:  Berlin wanted her own Harry Potter Lego castle and Finley wanted the Lord of the Rings Helms Deep castle. Why do they always ask for the sets that are discontinued? Ryan gets props for searching them out. Thank heavens for eBay!

They each had one thing they didn't get - Berlin a real bunny, and Finley a real sword. These are the things they had talked the most about - at school, at their friends house, at the family parties. Fortunately, they handled not getting them really well. It probably helped that I was very honest from the get go, that 1. Santa had to clear all pets with parents first, and that we just weren't able to take on a new pet right now (we already have a zoo) and 2. swords are a weapon and we need to be a little older before we allow one in our home. Besides, I knew I would need options for their upcoming birthdays this spring...but I didn't tell them that. 

So instead of the real rabbit, Berlin got this GIANT polar bear that is twice her size. I love watching her lug it around the house, and hurl it onto her bed. It brings a smile to my heart and she loves it so much. Finley got his first pocketknife. I thought this would be a good starting point in working up to a sword. He loved it. Now we just have to teach him to be comfortable using it, as he is a bit nervous about the little knife blade.

In the end I worried for nothing. It was the perfect this year. They have been playing non-stop with their gifts and we didn't have one meltdown or overly-stimulated child.

After presents we spent the day lounging around in our pj's and eating good food. It was the best.

Twas' the night before Christmas

and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Ok, that's not true, Ryan and I were stirring and getting things ready for our little creatures who were all snuggled in their bed. We went down to his sister's house in Orem for a German Christmas Eve. Finley played the piano at the last minute in the talent show, Berlin decided not to participate. The best part is that the kids always fall asleep on the car ride home which means once we carry them to bed we can get things setup/put out quickly.

Here is the tree after the elderly elves were done with it. Those poor elves could hardly stay awake long enough to crawl into their own bed. So excited for Christmas morning - but here's to hoping the kids don't wake up before 8 am!

Temple Square Christmas Lights & Candy Windows

We took the kids downtown for Family Home Evening this week to look at the candy window displays and the Temple lights. The weather (40 degrees) was downright warm compared to the past few weeks and it ended up being perfect for walking around outside.

 

 

 

 Schmoozing Santa at the Little America. 

   

Santa's workshop at Little America.

Fantastic night with the kids & Ryan. It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas - finally!

Holiday Photo Booth 2013

At work I was in charge of the holiday photo booth. So I figured it would be fun to use the same props for our Christmas pics this year. So after church we hung our fresh garland on the barn door and had the kids pose. The kids were silly and it was pretty funny. Until the cold got the better of us.

We hope your holiday is full of laughter!

Love these two. They are the best thing in my life. 

St. Nicholas Day

December 5th - the evening of St. Nicholas Day, we decided to take the kids to the Christkindlmarkt at This is the Place park. They had lots of little booths set up selling Christmas Wares, German snacks & treats, a light parade, even St. Nicholas and his reindeer were there. Despite the 8 degree temps, we had a great time.

 

Berlin picked out this cute little angel ornament from one of the little shops. So cute on our tree. Ryan scored some Apple Beer for the holidays. l found a cute pyramid to add to our collection, however, I wasn't about to pay the price they wanted. So Finley and I contented ourselves with German Pretzels that were delicious!

Once Berlin couldn't feel her toes, we headed over to Siegfried's to warm up with some German comfort food. Sauerkraut, warm potato salad, Spaetzle, fried potatoes, schnitzel, and sausage ... MMMMM - yum! We loaded up on German mustard and meats for some Abendbrot (the German dinner of bread, cheese, and meat) the next day.

It was the perfect St. Nicholas Eve. 

The next day the kids woke up to goodies in their boots. Ryan and I were even surprised with a new pyramid and nutcracker. Boy, we must have been REAL good.

This is Herr Drosselmeyer from The Nutcracker. Ryan has wanted one of these for a long time, but not just any Herr Drosselmeyer - this specific one, which is vintage and VERY hard to find. Leave it to St. Nicholas to deliver!

 

I love pyramids, especially the fairytale ones they used to make. This one is darling with Snow White and the dwarfs on the base, Hansel & Gretel and the Witch in the middle. Love it. Perfect addition to our collection.

Tis' the Season

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. Sitting by the tree, snuggled under blankets, drinking hot cocoa, watching movies with the kids ... life doesn't get any better! 

The day after Thanksgiving, the tree came up. I had to re-string the artificial tree with new lights as they stopped working. I guess after 9 years that is to be expected. Note to self: wear gloves when re-stringing lights. My hands looked like they were in a catfight - and the cat won. The kids did a great job putting the ornaments on the tree. It is so much fun to talk about each ornament. Alot of them are from Ryan's childhood, picked up on past trips to Germany, or given to us by very dear friends. Some people like their tree color-coordinated and all fancy. Ours is hodgey-podge. Everything on it brings to mind an event or memory. It is a happy tree and I love it. Here she is in all her glory ...

We don't do Elf on the Shelf. I tend to be in this camp: Elf on the Shelf Haters  However, we do have 2 vintage elves that are from Ryan's childhood that we tuck into the tree. They stay there the whole time and I don't have to do any crazy crap, like making marshmallow messes, cleaning up spilled flour, and all the other lame stuff other moms make their elf do.

Creepy & wonderful all in one.

Christmas Morning 2011

We had some behavior issues the latter part of November and I was left with no choice but to call the North Pole and ask Santa to put the kids on the naughty list. The kids were extremely upset, but it was a good thing because I have never seen them try so very hard at being good. By mid December they were back on track. So we told Santa that he could come if he felt the kids deserved it. I guess they were good enough because he made an appearance at our house, and he ate all the yummy treats we left out for him! The kids were tickled pink. The best thing is that even with Christmas being over, the kids' attitudes are still pretty good and they have been so helpful around the house.

As for family gifts, Germany was kinda the best gift we could have asked for, so Ry and I decided that we wouldn't exchange gifts with each other. Instead, we just gave one shared gift to the kids. Santa did the rest.

Christmas Eve was the start of the festivities. We headed down to Ryan's sisters house in Orem for our annual German dinner of brawts, sauerkraut, red cabbage, potatoes, and more . The cousins all performed something (Berlin sang "Favorite Things" from Sound of Music, Finley chose to not participate at all). Then we exchanged cousin gifts, played & visited for a while, then headed home. We would have stayed longer, but unfortunately I came down with the stomach bug and we had to leave at 10pm. I made it the whole 45 minute drive home, but the second we pulled into the driveway I couldn't contain it and ended up emptying the contents of my stomach all along the driveway. Nice. So we quickly put the kids to bed, set-up presents and stockings, then went to bed. 

Finley was up at 8am while Berlin slept on. Thus, we told him he could look thru his stocking but he was not to open anything under the tree until Berlin woke up.

The tree on Christmas morning ... with all 12 presents wrapped and ready for the pending chaos. Eventually 9:15am rolled around and we told a very patient Finn to go wake up Berlin. 

Stockings first ... 

Finley LOVES his new blanket from Grandma Lynne. Both kids got one the night before and love how soft & snuggly it is. They sleep with it every night!

Berlin really wanted Santa to bring her a Mulan doll. I was very surprised because I had never seen one before. Leave it to Santa to deliver! Great stocking stuffer.

The adult stockings: I love our stockings. My mom made mine when I was  very young and all the kids in my family have coordinating ones. Ryan's mom made his and the entire front is a beautiful needlepoint. I have always loved handmade stockings and so I made one for Finley a few years ago with a reindeer. Now I just need to figure out what to do for Berlin (though she tells me she wants to keep the store-bought birdie one). 

then came presents ...

Finley really just wanted Legos this year and that is all he put on his wishlist. He got 3 sets and had them all built in a matter of 3 days. Finley is a very good lego builder.

 

  

Lego Creationary has become our favorite game. Some are actually pretty hard but it's been so fun. Even Berlin likes it and she does pretty good.

Our gift to the kids was this wooden castle filled with Playmobil figures that we scored on clearance (hence the very mismatched figures....merfolk, fairies, royalty, soldiers, and knights). But the kids LOVED it. We moved it downstairs and onto a table where they play with it for hours at a time ... and usually without fights.

Santa was very resourceful and gave Ryan some new Chuck Taylors, and for myself he gave me my very first pair of warm winter shoes since having moved to Utah back in '94. Yay for fake Uggs and warm toes, but BOOOO for even having a need for them! Oh how I loathe Winter.

After presents Ryan made a delicious apple, raisin, and nut bread pudding for brunch while the kids played with their new stuff. It was very relaxed and chill, which worked for me since I still wasn't feeling well. The kids just played all day long with their new toys, I rested and napped, while Ryan watched sports and played video games. I love Christmas day and being able to just hang-out at home. It's the very best gift of all!

School Christmas Programs

With having been sick, I am very behind on some posts. I am going to be catching up over the next few days....


Both Finley and Berlin had Christmas programs this year. Of course, they  had to be on the same day and so I had to rush from one to get to the other.


First up, we had Berlin's Polar Express Pajama Party. All the kids got to wear their warm winter pajamas as they sang Christmas Songs, danced, and shared their holiday traditions with each other. I made Berlin a new nightgown for the event which she loved. Her tradition that she talked about was decorating our annual gingerbread houses. She was so happy to show the one she had made a few days before. It was such a cute program. She has the BEST preschool teachers ever. 

 Here she is with her dancing partner. They were so cute.

This was her favorite dance. I have it on video, but it's too long for the blog, so this will have to do. They got to dance around in a circle with the princess dolls. 

Waiting patiently for her turn. She was wiggly the whole time and for whatever reason refused to look at me. She was very focused on looking at her teachers. Silly girl.

As soon as she was done I rushed off to Finley's school where his class sang a couple songs in the gym. Here is the only photo I got. Sorry, I was pretty far back so the lighting was bad - hence all the possessed reindeer eyes! :)

I love all the school programs that holidays bring. I remember doing them as a kid and it makes me smile just watching them put on a show.

Christmas Decor 2011

I've had a couple friends ask to see how I decorated the house for Christmas this year. It's usually the same every year, just organized a bit differently. The decorating always takes me about 3 days to get all of Ryan's German heirlooms unwrapped and dusted. Honestly, it's surprises me every year how exhausting it can be. But the results are totally worth it!

This sofa table always looks like this. I just change out the decor in the moss with each holiday. For Christmas I love creating scenes with my tiny Putz houses and antique glass deer. 

Our formal dining room table. This little setup was new this year. I love the little vintage post-card I found in 2010 on ebay. It's used, but surprise, surprise ... it's from Germany. The kids just remind me of Finley and Berlin.

Formal dining room bookshelf (not shown are some milk glass cake stands that I leave out year round). 

On the shelves is our collection of German smokers, candle pyramids, and wood carved objects. On top are my apothecary jars filled with ornaments. The bottom 2 shelves are for the kids to play with the playmobil nativity sets.

My little wooden village and some of Ryan's nutcrackers.

The two shelves on the sides of our armoire.

The little nutcracker horse is new this year and purchased in the town where Ryan's mom grew up.

So, that's how our house looked up until week ago. After coming back from California, I took everything down and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. Nothing like a fresh, uncluttered house for the new year!