More Christmas

I thought I would just end the year with more Christmas pictures as I have quite a few. I didn't spend my day taking pictures as I wanted to enjoy being with family, but I still managed to take a fair amount. I am enjoying this time between Christmas and school starting back. It's a nice quiet time for us. 

Merry Christmas

I'm too tired to really post anything. It was a wonderful, but tiring day and I think everyone had a nice time. I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas!

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Day 24

Our special thing for today was our candlelight service at church. We go every year and it is beautiful to see all the candles and everyone singing Christmas carols. This is something we never miss. 

We have made it for the 24 days and it was fun - though I see I am actually posting this late and it is really already the 25th. I just got so busy getting everything finished. I am posting a video of the kids singing in church tonight. I am almost afraid to post it as I can't seem to get the videos right lately and they look horrible - though they look great on my phone. Not sure what is going on, but I will look into that in the new year. My granddaughter, Reagan, sang Happy Birthday Jesus tonight and she looked so pretty. I did notice that you can't see Bella at all. Somehow she ended up in the very back behind everyone. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Day 23

Today almost slipped by without a special thing, but we did manage at the end of the day to do something, which was to set up a projection shadowlight. It rotates and send images all over the walls and ceiling. It changes colors from blue to red to white and green. The kids absolutely loved it. It was so magical to see the stars and moon and Santa and the reindeer moving over the ceiling and walls. It was really pretty and it was definitely a great special thing for today. I had bought it give to the kids and almost forgot about it and when we were nearing the end of the day and I had not planned anything special, I remembered it. It was perfect. 

I was going to video the projection on the walls and ceiling, but after trying to get the video up of Bethany last night, and how bad the quality was, I didn't even dare try. So, I have nothing. But, it really was pretty and we sat and watched and watched it. Anyway, I will post a random picture instead and I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season. 

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Day 22

Today our special thing to do was to use the gift cards my girls got today from their Sunday school teacher and buy Happy Meals at McDonald's. We went this evening for dinner and my son, John, and his two kids met us - they got gift cards, too. They probably drove the cashier at McDonald's crazy as each of the kids ordered their Happy Meal and paid separately with their gift card. They had a great time and now we have made it all the way to day 22. So, we are almost done with our Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas. It has been nice and we have enjoyed doing this. I was looking through pictures and videos on my phone this evening after we came home and thought of how blessed we are to have these children and how much energy and joy they bring us. I hope they have enjoyed this Christmas season as much as I have enjoyed this special time with them. 

I didn't take any pictures at McDonald's tonight. I actually didn't take any pictures at all today which is unusual. So, I thought I would just post a video of Bethany singing her solo from the Christmas program we did a couple of weeks ago. She was Mary in the program this year. 

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Day 21

Our special thing for today was breakfast with Santa. Our church had breakfast with Santa this morning and I knew the kids would enjoy it so I gave up my morning coffee time with Bill (and I love Saturday morning coffee time together) to get them ready to go and get there by 9:00. It was great. It was even nicer than I thought it would be and I was impressed by all the food and candy and the two ornament tables where the kids got to pick out ornaments to take home. Santa was great and they even took pictures - nice ones - and gave them to us. They actually gave me eight free pictures! My daughter, Meredith, brought her kids and it was just so nice to be there with friends and family. It was a really nice morning. 

My granddaughter, Reagan, looked so pretty and her mom did her hair so cute I had to get a picture of her braids as she waited to see Santa. 

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Day 20

It's getting harder for me to do a special thing every single day as I'm trying to finish up everything and it just seems like we are so busy - and I don't really want to be busy at all. Anyway, today we did a very small thing as I was almost to the point of doing nothing. I bought a box of See's Candies Lollypops at See's Candies - a store that is only here and open at Christmas. There are four flavors of lollypops in the box - vanilla, butterscotch, cafe latte and chocolate. Anyway, I let each of the kids choose a sucker and as small a thing as it was they were actually excited. They loved the candy and though it was small we did our special thing. We are almost done for this year. It was actually very easy at first and we always had something to do, but it has gotten a little harder as it grows closer to Christmas. But, truly, the point was to only do something small each day and not a big planned trip or activity and we have done that. The kids have had fun. 

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Day 19

Our special thing for today was decorating the dollhouse. All the girls wanted to do that and since it was getting late I figured it was a good idea. They ran and got a bunch of stuff and started putting lights on the house. Since it was already getting late they actually didn't get finished. We decided it would be nice to order pizza and so after they decorated some we all had pizza and then did our advent calendars. Maybe they will get the dollhouse finished tomorrow. 

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Day 18

Today, I thought we might not get to our special thing. I was pretty busy and I had to take Bethany to the doctor to get a liver panel done because of a medication she is taking. She wasn't feeling her best and the appointment took us a while. When we got home I had an appointment I had to keep and then it was getting late and the kids asked what our special thing was going to be. I had no idea. I asked for a few ideas and Bethany suggested they do something that was somehow food related. So, I decided to give them the Christmas Special Edition ice cream I bought - peppermint with a peppermint stick on the side. That was a hit with everyone - so problem solved. It was definitely a small thing today, but I was actually thinking we might not get anything done so I was happy and the kids were happy, so it was good. 

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas - Day 17

Today our special thing was to decorate cookies. Everybody had fun and several of the kids were a disaster by the time they were finished with their cookies - bright green and red icing is very, very messy. But, it was fun and they spent about an hour working on their cookies. 

I can't believe it is almost Christmas and I have so much to do. I am definitely behind this year and I still have so many packages that still need to arrive -- I just hope they all get here. Then if they all get here I still have to wrap them. But, the kids have had fun and we have done our special thing every single day and I have tried to make time for the small things and our traditions.