Time to Simplify

The holiday season always, ALWAYS stresses me out.  I get depressed, grumpy and overwhelmed.  It makes me sad, because I really do LOVE the season, the smells, the sentiments and the giving.  I love everything related to Christmas, but every year I get down emotionally.

So now, this year, actually in the last 24 hours, I've decided to make some changes.  Most of you know that every year I send out handmade Christmas cards, with a family letter and picture.  Every year I spend at least 20-30 hours designing and making the cards.  That doesn't include the letter, picture or addressing the envelopes.  Since I've been so busy this year I haven't even started any of that process.  So....I'm not doing it this year.  I'll still send out cards, but it will be a photo card that will take me an hour or two to make the 80 that I usually send out.  There's one load off my shoulders.

I'm also changing the family letter.  I'm not going to do the traditional format.  I haven't quite decided what the new format will be, but it will be quick and easy to do.  No more worrying about the grammar, spelling, etc.  In all honesty, it may just be a list of things from our year.

Now....what will I do with all this extra spare time that I have?  Well, first of all, I'll sleep.  WA-HOO!  I love sleep and it hasn't been around much lately, so I'm going to reacquaint myself with it.  THEN....I'll actually be able to enjoy my children's wonder of the season, rather then stressing about what else I need to get done this year before the holiday gets here.  I'll be able to bake and decorate cookies, take them shopping for each other and their dad, and continue our family traditions while being fully present rather then thinking of something else.  I'm also going to spend some time with my rarely seen husband....doing goofy things like playing Guitar Hero or kicking his butt at Wii Boxing.

This year I'm slowing down rather then speeding up.  I'm going to hold my family close and really enJOY the season.

The Christmas Season is Here

I took this picture on Sunday after we had decorated our tree.  The wonder of Christmas has filled my children's hearts and I'm SO happy and proud that they are mine.

Annual Christmas Picture

Every year we take a family Christmas picture to send out in our Christmas card. My parents stopped by Thursday after their dentist appointments to bring me my mom's old sewing machine (WA-HOO!) and we had them do our picture. It took over 15 pictures, but we did get a good one of us. You'll have to wait for that one till after I've mailed out my cards, but here's a couple that we couldn't use.

After we were done my parents wanted a picture with the kids.  This is the first picture we took of them.  All the kids are behaving, everyone is smiling and it's perfect.  What gives?  :)

Meeting Santa

This morning we took the kids to meet Santa.  This is a picture I took of them talking to him during the photo session.

Christmas Music

I love Christmas music.  L-O-V-E IT!  I turn it on while we're driving home from Thanksgiving and it stays on through Christmas Day.  I belt out the words to almost every song (except that song Christmas Shoes....the station gets changed immediately.  Way too depressing for Christmas).  I hear the music and my soul fills with JOY!

My love for Christmas music has resulted in a tradition in our little family.  Every year I get a new Christmas music CD in my stocking.  We listen to it as soon as possible and I look forward to adding it to my music for the following year.

I, of course, have my favorites.  My favorite secular song is "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey.  LOVE IT!  My favorite hymns are "Joy to the World" and "Oh Come All Ye Faithful."  I pray that we sing those two some time during the Advent season every year. 

Do you have any favorite Christmas songs?  What are some songs you love?  Any that you can't stand?  I want to hear about your favorites so I can add them to my iPod playlist!

Christmas Tradion #1 - Getting and Decorating our Tree

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is the beginning of our family's Christmas Traditions.  After church we grab lunch and then head over to Gerten's to pick out our Christmas tree.  All the way there today we had the Christmas music cranked and if I wasn't singing along I would hear, "MOM!  SING!" from the backseat.  Mari was really trying to sing along and all three kids were dancing along to the music.  I am teaching them my deep love of Christmas music.

Walking into Gerten's to look for our tree.

Peder watching all the people and waiting for the reindeer to come walking by.

Mari walking through the trees while we look.

Emmy happily looking for trees with Daddy.

Jake with our new tree.

Me in the afterglow of picking out our tree.

All 3 kids putting ornaments on the tree.  This was SO exciting.  And the tree was, "Oooooh, NICE!"

This is how the tree looks when a 4 year old and 2 two year olds choose where the ornaments go.  There are areas covered with ornaments and big blanks spots.  The tree will stay decorated this way, because I think it's super cute and I'll never get my tree decorated like this again.

The kids in front of their beautifully decorated tree.  I love it, they love it, everyone is happy with the final result!

Picking out Pumpkins

We picked out pumpkins on Tuesday afternoon.  We told Peder he could pick out any pumpking he could carry.  He did it and got a good sized pumpkin too!

Mari carrying her pumpkin....notice Jake's hand holding the pumpking up for her?

Emmy with her pumpkin.  Jake helped her too.

The following are some pictures from the place we got our pumpkins.  Definitely made me feel like it was fall....which I loved!

A House Filled with Joy

I got home from work tonight to a quite hilarious situation. Jake was running a bath for all three kids and Peder came running out of the bathroom in just a t-shirt and proceeded to take that off as he said hi to me. I went in to the bathroom to say hi to everyone else. Jake greeted me appropriately with a hi and a smile over the shoulder, Emmy totally ignored me and Mari waved hi to me with a smile while trying to pull off her diaper. Quite the greeting and I couldn't help but laugh and fall in love with my family all over again.

Our house is completely filled with excitement for tomorrow right now. One pie is cooling and the other is in the oven, Peder has repeatedly come out of his bedroom to "go to the bathroom," Mari is talking away in bed and the caramel rolls for breakfast are rising in the fridge. We're bubbling with excitement here. Tomorrow is a big celebration for us. Santa comes and we open presents right away in the morning. Then we'll have caramel rolls for breakfast and Jake and the kids will play the morning away. I'll be in the kitchen making a capon with garlic gravy, corn casserole and rolls and summon Jake to make the mashed potatoes at the right time. After our afternoon nap we'll head to our church's Christmas Eve service. I love it and the kids will be in church with us. After that we'll drive around to look at the lights, have pie and I'll make a snack dip. It's a big day, a day of traditions we started when Peder was just over a year old and one that we now look forward to every year.

The night before Christmas Eve all the kids get a new pair of jammies to wear to bed and for opening gifts in the morning. The kids really like theirs this year and I think they all look pretty cute. :)

Peder in his new Lightening McQueen jammies.....VERY EXCITING

Mari, post bath. Her jammies say, "I'm Santa's Best Gift"
Emmy doing some reading before bed. Her jammies say Sweet Dreams and are all glittery, she thought that was pretty cool.

All three kiddos in their new jammies...getting this was quite the ordeal.

Daddy and Emmy reading Twas the Night Before Christmas. Emmy was very interested, but the other two abandoned them soon after the story started.

Putting out cookies and milk for Santa. Each of the kids decorated one cookie for Santa and Peder picked out one of Jake's to put out too.

Putting out bread for the reindeer. I thought we had carrots, but I was wrong, so Daddy suggested that the reindeer might like some bread. Good save.
So we're all set for Santa and Christmas....now if Peder would just fall asleep so Santa could come!