My parents took the boys last night and Ken & I went to dinner to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary (that was a couple of weeks ago on November 27). We went to Portabella, of course, the place where we got married. We go there every year on our anniversary.
Ken left early for work and Lina & I headed out for our morning walk around 6:45AM. It snowed yesterday and everything is still dusted white. We walked to the river and it was just so beautiful and peaceful. A very nice way to start the day.
No kids, no husband, the dog is walked, the laundry is going and so now I play..Blog Time!
I love Christmas! I am done with all of my Christmas shopping.
Everything is bagged or wrapped and ready to go.
The cards are written out, the envelopes are addressed & stamped, now I'm just waiting for the boys pictures to come.
The tree is up.
The pieces of the Lemax Christmas village that I bought on sale after Christmas last year is set up and we are lovin' it. These have definitely become some of my favorite Christmas decorations!
The Advent Wreath is on the dining room table and the first purple candle is already getting low from our nightly prayers.
The Nativity is set up and Baby Jesus is hidden away in the ceramic heart box that was the boys Great Grandmother's.
I've put up lights and decorated the whole inside of our house.
Now all that's left is the outside. Ken started last weekend but didn't get very far. I told him it MUST be done THIS weekend.
Then we can sit back and just enjoy the season!!! Ahhhhh.......
I love the traditions of Christmas. We have many that I look forward to every year and that we have been enjoying so far this year. It really, really is such a magical time of year!
Every night we read Christmas stories. Last year I would just let the boys each pick a book out of the box of Christmas books - we have TONS. But this year we have been doing that plus reading a section from our very special Santa Claus book and then a story from our Christmas Keepsake Advent Calendar which is "a treasure of best-loved Christmas stories and more" that Noni got for us when Eddie was born. We never fully used it until this year. There is a beautiful box which contains tiny books of classic Christmas stories, poems or songs for each day of the month of December. After we read the book we find it's place on the beautiful cloth Advent Calendar hanging from a door and hook the book to it's stocking on the Calendar.
We also have our traditional window advent calendars. This year, for the first time, we got the ones that have the little piece of chocolate inside each window. Of course, I had to get each boy their own calendar so we don't have fight over the chocolate. Little did I know Christopher wouldn't like the chocolate and refuses to eat it. So I eat his. I also got a very pretty 3D assembled calendar of a Church which the boys take turns opening windows each night. I love this one. I am not thrilled with the chocolate ones. Last year we had one that was a picture that you added stickers to each day which created a beautiful Christmas village. I will try to get one like that again for next year.
What's also really neat this year is that part of Eddie's nightly homework is to keep a Reading Log and then record a "thoughtful comment" after each entry. I LOVE this.It makes us all sit and really think about what we've read. We definitely get more out of our books & stories this way.
So far we have read from the Advent Wreath....1) Poems of the Season 2) The Carol of the Field Mice and excerpt from The Wind in the Willows 3) Good King Wenceslas 4) The Nutcracker 5) The Twelve Days of Christmas 6) A Christmas Carol. We didn't do last night because the boys spent the night at my parents house. Tonight we will have to do 7) The Elves & the Shoemaker and 8) Santa Claus
Poems of the Season -
This one was my favorite...
Once There was a Snowman
Once there was a snowman who stood outside the door.
He wished that he could come inside and run about the floor.
He wished that he could warm himself beside the fire, so red.
He wished that he could climb upon the big white bed.
So, he called to the North Wind, "Come and help me, pray,
For I'm completely frozen standing out here all day."
So the North Wind came along and blew him in the door.
And now there's nothing left of him but a puddle on the floor!
Okay, so it's a little sad!
The boys loved the story of Good King Wenceslas. Eddie's comment for that story was that King Wenceslas is the kindest King he ever heard of. He wanted to know if he was a real person. So I looked it up and found this.. http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/st_simons/cr9212.htm I also found this great link to the song that we listened to a few times already....
http://www.links2love.com/christmas_songs_good_king_wencelas.htm
LOVE IT.
Eddie's comment after The Nutcracker was "Clara had a really cool dream!" I've put a children's version of this story in my queue at netflix. We should be getting it soon. He is also begging to see the grownup version of A Christmas Carol now. We have both the Mr. Magoo and the Mickey Mouse versions but I wonder if the real version would scare them? And which version should I let them see first?
We watched the Abbott & Costello Christmas Show a couple of days ago and they LOVED it! Much of the humor and one liners go right over their heads but they absolutely LOVED the slap-stick and roared with laughter to the silly skits! And what memories that brought back for me! I always looked forward to Sunday mornings at 11AM to watch!LOL! Remember Renee?!
The boys favorite chapter of the Santa Claus book is about Santa's House.
It's a wonderful, magical book. Our favorite rooms are the Vapor Room and the Bottle Bank. The Vapor Room is where the scent of Christmas is stored in sparkling, crystal containers. Santa sprays the scent wherever he thinks the atmosphere is not Christmasey enough. The Bottle Bank is where children's wishes are kept in sealed bottles, ready to be released and granted when the time is right. The boys have started a new tradition and "send up" three wishes each every night at bedtime to be sealed in the Bottle Bank. Most of Eddie's wishes have been for other people! :-)
Another one of our traditions which we have been doing since Eddie was about 1 yr. old is to bundle the kids up in their warm, fleecy jammies, make three thermoses of hot chocolate, three bags of popcorn and go out and at night and look at all the neighborhood Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music. This is my favorite thing!
We also started a tradition last year of saying our bedtime prayers in December at the dining room table around the Advent Wreath. We light the appropriate candles and leave them lit for the duration of our prayer (which is a whole ritual/tradition in itself!). I also happen to hang the Christmas Cards in the dining room which gave me the idea last year to start adding special prayers for whomever we received a card from that day. I just love this and it is a very special time.
I have two very special Christmas photo albums. One contains all of my favorite Christmas Cards. The other all of the pictures of our friends and family that we receive at Christmastime. We really love to look through both of these albums - they are great way to get into the spirit of the season.
My most special tradition was started with Little Kenny, before Eddie was even born, (inspired by a tradition I heard that my Aunt Mary did for her kids - don't know if she knows I've copied her!). Every year I buy an ornament and label the box or bag with the year and put it in each boys memory box. The ornaments do not have a theme (other than Christmas) but usually represent something about each boy to me. Sometimes I throw in something extra if I happen to see something that particularly makes me think of one of them. For instance, this year aside from the ornaments, I ended up getting Christopher an M&M snow globe since M&M's are his absolute favorite food in the world.
Then, usually the week right before Christmas, I write each boy a longish letter mentioning all of their accomplishments, teachers, friends, sports, favorites and any significant things that have happened that year. I put A LOT of thought and effort into these! Then I seal them up and mail them to each boy. When the letters arrive I bring them up to the attic and put them in the memory boxes all sealed up only to be opened on the day that the box is given to each boy. Not really sure when that will be - the day they move out on their own? They day they get married? Upon the birth of their first child? I'm sure I'll know when the time is right for each one. I just know that when that special time comes that they are going to have to let me park myself and reread each one of those letters- I'm sure with a big box of tissues! :-)
Another tradition that we have done the last few years that I just love is that my parents drive out very early Christmas morning before the boys wake up (yep, that's pretty early!) and they end up being part of the surprise along with Santa's gifts and we spend Christmas morning and afternoon together relaxing, listening to Christmas music, eating, checking out all of our new stuff and playing games. I LOVE IT.
I'll finally end this (really long) entry with one of my favorite poems...
My Mother's Got Me Bundled Up
My mother's got me bundled up
in tons of winter clothes,
you could not recognize me
if I did not have a nose.
I'd wear much less, but she'd get mad
if I dared disobey her,
so I stay wrapped from head to toe
in layer after layer.
I am wearing extra sweaters.
I am wearing extra socks,
my galoshes are so heavy
that my ankles seem like rocks.
I am wearing scarves and earmuffs.
I am wearing itchy pants,
my legs feel like they're swarming
with a million tiny ants.
My mittens are enormous
and my coat weighs more than me,
my woolen hat and ski mask
make it difficult to see.
It's hard to move, and when I try
I waddle, then I flop,
I'm the living, breathing model
of a walking clothing shop.
Jack Prelutsky
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