Banging in the New Year

In the afternoon, I took my kids and three of their cousins bowling. DS came in second , 6points behind the oldest bowler. Little girl did pretty well. She developed a sideways hurl that was super cute. Even if it only traveled at 2 miles per hour.



After bowling we went sledding. My nephew brought his new snowboard. My son and nephew took turns going down on it.They were both pretty good at it.Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at home. So use your imagination.

Here is our decorated time capsule. It is my first EVER decoupage. Complete with a hidden picture, jokes, technology of the day, curriculum prices and of course, Dora.


To fill the time until midnight we played games. Go fish and a marathon game of Sorry. It took an hour and a half. Which nicely ate away the minutes until count down. Little girl did make it to midnight. Though at 11:30 she stated she was very tired and it was WAY past her bedtime.

One of my husbands traditions growing up was banging pots on the front porch at midnight on New Year's Eve. The tradition continues.


They went out on the front porch, yelling "Happy New Year" and banging away on their pots. DS added a few strums from his guitar. Little girl stayed inside and gave me kisses instead. :)

And again I say to you, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year

2007 is winding down.

My niece is spending the night. We just finished decorating our time capsule. This year I had the kids answer a series of questions. Favorite color, food, restaurant, song,activity.... Who is their best friend and why. What they want to be when they grow up and sharing some of this years memories and accomplishments.
I will take these questionnaires, along with some trinkets, a cd of some of my favorite pictures and songs. I may add some other things over the next couple days. Then it will be sealed up and stored in the basement until 2018. That seems like so long away. 10 years that is how long it will stay sealed shut.
I have a time capsule hubby and I made New Years 2000. It is to be opened 2010. Only 2 more years. DS can not wait to see what is inside. And since I have long forgotten, either can I.

Happy New Year! God's richest blessings in the coming year!

Christmas Where?

Christmas. My mom's favorite holidays. As a kid she would go all out. Then one by one all four of us left the nest, got married and had kids. You know, changing family dynamics. We now had in-laws and our own kids to include in celebrations. For a while I think we tried getting everyone together Christmas for dinner. 19 of us, trying to match up schedules. Crazy.
My parents gave up having a gathering many years ago. Rather than try to get us all together on Christmas, they come to us. They love this for many reasons. One they get to see each grand child in their own home environment. They get to see the cool gadgets and joy. They get to spend time with each family in a more meaningful way. Rather than a crazy 2 hours with 19, they get more intimate moments.
I think for my mom the empty home on Christmas day was too empty. She went from 6 to 2. Sometimes quiet can be too quiet, especially on a holiday. So rather than sit at home feeling depressed, they decided to get out and spend their day with their children. They confirm schedules a month in advance, but by now it is a pretty set thing. My brothers first where they have hot coffee. They spend about 2 hours there and then they head over to our place. If they have not already had breakfast they have some with us. Oh, and more coffee for my dad. They spend a couple hours with us and then head over to my sister's where they spend the afternoon and have lunch with her family. Then my other sister's in the evening where they have dinner. Are you getting the picture that they eat well on Christmas? Trust me, they do.
Another nice thing about doing things separately, it cuts down on comparing. I know my mom takes great pains to be as fair as possible with her gift giving. By doing it separately she doesn't have to worry that she bought one $50 item for this grandson while spending $50 on 7 for another.
What I love about it is this; I feel like I get to celebrate with them. Not endure mass craziness for an hour or two. They get to see each gift opened. Each expression. Impromptu dances, that may not have occurred had they been somewhere else with many spectators. They see each kid, at home, without restraint. They see how each of their kids are making memories for their own and they are a part of it.
For my family Christmas doesn't end when grandma and grandpa leave. It is out the door and on to the in-laws to celebrate with them.

Advent

For the last several years my girlfriend has invited me to her church for a special Christmas tea. "Advent by Candlelight," each hostess decorates their tables with fine linen and china; while candles and lights adorn the whole room. This year I was pleasantly surprised to see Sooze there. Even though we rarely see each other, we both feel like we saw each other that week because of our blogs. Together we walked past the beautiful tables. Neither of us our girly girls, but we both have daughters that are. It was nice to have a moment to be a lady. Tea amongst women. What I really enjoyed was the devotion on ornaments. Are we ugly, broken, fragile or beautiful on the outside? The event an opportunity to put our focus on Christ, rather than the hustle and bustle of preparing for Christmas.

On December first, we started a new advent tradition in our home. I picked up this book, Advent Storybook, that has 24 stories leading to Christmas. It is about a little bear as he follows the star and the adventures he has along the way.



My kids look forward to each night as we tear off a link on our chain and then settle down to read the days adventure.


The chain has helped the kids grasp, how many days until Christmas. Which my daughter had been asking endlessly. Now she just looks at the chain and knows...21 days until Christmas.