Christmas

For the past 3 years, we've spent Christmas Eve at a friend's house--a tradition we truly love. Without a lot of family around, this is the next best thing! There's always a nativity play on Christmas Eve, and every year it gets more elaborate. Love it. (Still waiting on the camels and donkey, though, hint hint:)

(BTW, thanks to friends for the pics as my cam battery died!!)

Lisi played an angel. Unfortunately, when it was time to make her big entrance, she had a meltdown and we couldn't convince her to participate. The funny thing was that the other angel had the same problem! So the angels were crying instead of proclaiming the birth of the Savior...

All except Abs.

I think I made her halo look a little more like an afro than a halo...The whole crew gathered at the stable. Every year it seems that a live baby lies in the manger--the sweetest thing. Kierst thinks it's time for us to have another baby so ours can be the one in the nativity next year. Ha ha!The wise men, or maybe we should call them the wise women. Kierst was thrilled to put her own costume together.

By the time we headed home for the rest of our Christmas Eve, the side doors on our van were frozen shut! I can't remember that ever happening in the whole time we've lived here. Brrr! We actually got one door part way open and then couldn't shut it all the way--which meant that it beeped annoyingly the whole way home. Thank goodness we live close!

It seems there are a few schools of thought when it comes to Christmas presents. Some like to leave the tree sparse and wait for Christmas morning, others like to put everything out in advance. I'm in the latter group. I love putting out all the presents before Christmas Eve--(all except from Santa, of course, although at our house Santa only gives each person one present). The week before Christmas the girls are constantly trying to figure out what could possibly be in each package and I enjoy trying to make it as hard as possible to do just that. Last year I'd wrapped part of their presents in enormous boxes (about 4 feet high by 4 feet wide) because anticipation counts for a lot! The kids had been really good not touching presents, but by Christmas Eve the temptation was just too great!

Christmas Eve is never complete without Jack Horner pie. In my family we always opened one present on Christmas Eve and in Chris' they always did, too, except that the presents were hidden in a basket first and pulled out all together, thus the name for the tradition. The basket never has anything big, all the gifts cost less than $10 and it's always fun to see what I can find for that amount-usually I find the best things during black Friday sales!
The girls were up bright and early at 6. Abs got what she wanted--a unicorn webkinz.
Kierst has wanted an ipod for a long time. We warned her that if she got one that she wouldn't get much else. (I have to insert here that Abs was with me when I bought Kierst's present and said she wanted one, too. When I asked if she were willing to just get an ipod and nothing else, she decided that it wasn't such an attractive gift after all.) The entire week before Christmas Kierst watched to see how many presents were under the tree for her. She kept saying how there were only a couple of presents--did that mean she was getting an ipod? Well, did anything look like an ipod? No, there's only a square package that could be it, but it doesn't look anything like what an ipod would (see what I mean about trying to keep them guessing?) When she opened the mysterious square package on Christmas--she couldn't stop smiling! Her ipod!

Her second favorite gift--a scentsy for her bedroom (thanks to my friend for making that happen!)My sister looks thrilled to be up so early on Christmas morning:)

Lisi got a camera--the perfect gift for a picture-crazy preschooler. She took so many photos that wore out the batteries before noon on Christmas day!
Chris never lets me spoil him--but this year I did it anyway (like the Target commercial says-"let Santa do Santa's job" hee hee). I'm a person who shows my love by giving, so I had fun watching him open what he's wanted--a kindle!
The girls saved their money and bought each other presents. Abs gave Lisi a recorder, which she

played nonstop when she wasn't taking pics. Most toys become white noise to me after a while because our house really isn't the calmest place on the planet (that could be an understatement) but I'm not sure how long it will be until this toy somehow gets lost...

Chris made our traditional Christmas breakfast--appelskivers!
We had a very very white Christmas, with large snow drifts everywhere. I don't know if you can really tell, but the snow is as high as our front porch.

After breakfast Chris headed to work, but as he opened the garage door, he was met with this view...the snow had blown against our garage door and was as high as his car! We have great neighbors. The minute they saw Chris trying to dig through all of that snow, they all came with their shovels and snow blowers. They managed to get him out of the driveway, but the snow was too deep to get down the street! Again, thank goodness for great neighbors! One of them loaned Chris his truck to get to work.I don't think our minivan would have made it, the streets were so bad. Maybe it's finally time to get that SUV...Chris and I tried to take some good pics together...not sure if I like these or not... Since Chris had to work and didn't get home until late in the day, we kept Christmas dinner to just our family. We always have a traditional dinner of turkey with all the trimmings. I can't figure out why Chris never asks me to make my favorite thing, though--my grandmother's lime jello/pineapple/avacado molded salad:) It's a Nielson tradition, but since I'm the only one who likes it, it never seems to make it on the menu.

Abs loves eating the drumstick.
Lisi wanted in on the photo action with her mashed potatoes.

As I've said before, I love Christmas. I only wish it didn't go by so quickly. The tree will soon come down, the decorations put away, and kids will go back to school, but for right now, I'm still enjoying Christmas.

Holiday Cheer

I love Christmas. I love the traditions, the spirit of giving, putting up the decorations, addressing the cards, making goodies, going to parties. You name it, I love it. Today, almost all the preparations are done. The last of the cards have been sent out, we'll deliver goodies tonight after dinner, and the last presents will be wrapped when the kids go to bed. Tomorrow we'll get things ready for Christmas Eve dinner at our friends' and finish the final shopping for Christmas dinner.

A few of the things we've done since Clara's Dream ended:

A couple of weeks ago friends came over to help make receiving blankets for the NICU at KU Med. My mother-in-law started this tradition when Chris was a resident there and this is one of my favorite things to do. Because there is a large children's hospital in KC, KU Med is often overlooked when it comes to donations, and there are a lot of needs. Now that my in-laws are in Denver, I'm carrying on the tradition. We sewed 22 blankets in an evening filled with laughter and treats. Chris delivered them this week.

Last week I did a smencil fundraiser for school (for the 5th grade farewell--my friend is the chair, and needed help, so I volunteered to co-chair and they raise funds to buy a gift for the school). If you don't know what smencils are, they are scented pencils, with scents like grape, cinnamon, orange, rootbeer, etc. We'd planned to sell holiday smencils (like sugar cookie) at a holiday mart, but the holiday mart was canceled at the last minute. Stuck with 100 holiday smencils, we quickly threw together a fundraiser before school. I wasn't sure how well it would do, but we sold 600 smencils and 80 scented bookmarks in 4 days--if we'd had more, they would have been gone, too. It was the easiest fundraiser I've ever done:)

One of Chris' partners, Dena, and her husband, Adam, held a "Trailer Trash Holiday Bash." It's the first one, but I'm guessing it will become an annual tradition, it was so much fun. We got lost driving to their home, but when we pulled up to a home with pink flamingos, a clothesline, and empty beer boxes decorating the yard we knew we'd come to the right place. Inside, Dena had covered her sofa with plastic, put Nascar pics up on her walls, filled her bathtub with ice and drinks, and set out little figurines of WWE wrestlers. They'd put out pork rinds in KFC tubs, spam, cheez whiz, vienna sausages, hohos, cheese puffs--you get the idea. I ate my first twinkie in about 14 years (and I have to say that I couldn't finish it, it was so nasty).

Chris borrowed his jumpsuit from a friend in our ward (no, he doesn't usually wear it) and I found him the hat and wig. I purchased my outfit entirely from WalMart on the day of the party, which is kind-of sad, but I'm pretty proud of it nonetheless. You may not be able to tell, but my pants are leopard print and I'm wearing earrings made from green jingle bells.
Dena and Adam. They bought their shirts I think in Branson last year. I also think it will be a competition to see who can get the tackiest outfit next year.
Another one of Chris' partners--Tiffany, and her husband. They didn't don any duds, but we joked that this is how Johnson County white trash dresses (if you live in KC you'll find this funny, but if you don't, well, you just won't get it).

Chris and the ladies. I think Chris likes wearing the jumpsuit a little too much...
Check out the belt buckle he made from a beer can. Cool.I have to insert here that this was not Chris' "official" work party. That one was the following week and it was a little more traditonal. We enjoyed it too (although no one took the double dog dare to wear their outfits from the previous party:)
On a completely different Christmas note, Analise's preschool had a nativity play this week. I love Analise's preschool. It's taught by my friend Sara, and she does such an amazing job. Lisi was the angel.

Friday were school winter holiday parties. Our school district has decided that they need to be completely pc and won't let us call them Christmas parties. It drives me bonkers. At our old school last year we couldn't even bring candy canes because they're a Christmas item. How crazy is that? Yes, not everyone in our district celebrates Christmas--there are a lot of people who aren't Christian, but come on! Our neighbors are Muslim and even they have Christmas lights and singing inflatables up in their yard (yes, we think the inflatables are over the top--although not as much fun as the house around the corner from us that has a leg lamp in their front window--that would be the leg lamp from A Christmas Story--I'll admit we laugh every time we drive past).

Anyway, back to the parties. In Kierst's class we made graham cracker gingerbread houses. They turned out great.
Lisi helped me pass out bags of frosting.

Abs's class made gingerbread people and had decorated houses the day before.

This week we made holiday goodies to take to friends and neighbors. This is one of my favorite traditions...cookies and candy covering every available space in the kitchen, flour and sugar everywhere...

Abs and Kierst helped me with cookies that my Mom used to make when I was a child--she called them Russian butterballs but they're also called Mexican wedding cookies. They're mostly butter and sugar. Yum.

We also decorated sugar cookies (notice the bags behind Kiersten on the counter), dipped pretzels and made almond roca (a type of toffee). All of them were boxed together:

Another tradition we have is making gingerbread houses. I used to make the gingerbread from scratch for the houses, but a couple of years ago found the boxed versions and I'll never go back. They're just way too easy.

Abs opted for a gingerbread tree this year.

Clara's Dream

When I was a little girl I was in a few musicals with my dad. One of my favorite memories is watching him practice his role as Stewpot in South Pacific while I sat off to the side waiting for my part as a French girl in the chorus. So when Kierst said she wanted to try out for Clara's Dream I thought this would be a great opportunity for all of us to do something together.
Clara's Dream is a version of the Nutcracker put on by Kierst's and Abs' dance studio. Tryouts for "guest performers" -- that would be everyone else but their ballet team--were in October. Of course, any parent who could walk made it:)
Abs was cast as an angel and Kierst as a boy in the party scene. Kierst and I were put in the same family (German), so we had a great time dancing together. The girls had fun practicing, and were completely captivated with pointe. Here we are waiting for angels to go again. Abbie's halo was hitting me in the face it was so large! She was a great angel and really knew her part!

Kierst and I in front of the backdrop of the party scene. Being cast as a boy she got to wear a wig. She liked her part but hated the wig because it was so hot and scratchy. Isn't my dress amazing? New costumes were made for the party scene this year and I have to say I felt absolutely beautiful wearing the dress that was created.

This is how Kierst felt about the wig:

Abbie and Abby. They are in the same combo class and had a blast running around together.

The German family for the party scene.

A few of the other ladies in the party scene. The governess is on the left, Swiss on right and far right is Clara's mom. (I don't have any other pics of the other moms--hopefully someone will e-mail them to me!). It was good times behind the scenes.

Even though it took up a lot of evenings I loved doing this with my daughters. I hope that it becomes a yearly tradition for us!