Faithful: Christmas Through the Eyes of Joseph

Our church's Advent Bible Study is reading this book.  While I don't attend the Bible Study class with other folks, I do read along.  And our Pastor preaches on this lesson for the week on Sunday's too, so I enjoy following along.

However, I did not love this youth study book version.  I found it only loosely connected to Joseph and distracted from the story of Joseph with many other stories along the way.  Each with their own merit, but I wish I'd just read the original book in place of this.

Angels

It's been a few weeks since I have taken notes or written about our Sunday sermons in church, but this week, I did on both the sermon and the children's moments too!

These notes are from the children's moments and I found it so interesting, because I'd just had a conversation with a friend of mine during the week about this very topic!

People are people.  Angels are angels.  People do not become angels when they die.  Angels have two purposes.  1 - Angela bring messages from God.  2 - Angels protect us.

This was discussed this week as the children added the angel to our church nativity scene. 

Yesterday morning we were on our way to church at my mother-in-law's church.  She'd invited us for their fall festival.  We were early in the trip and surprisingly the car was pretty quiet.  Then Elinore asked "Daddy, does Santa go poop?"  And Keith and I were silent for a minute trying not to laugh. 

A few moments later and Keith said yes, Santa poops.

And then for awhile Keith and I just laughed!

Shoe Rack

We currently have a shoe rack inside our front door to keep the shoes on.  It's cheap and not well made.  It commonly falls apart and sits in shambles because I get frustrated putting it back together all the time.  I'd held off on buying one hinting heaving that I'd like a new one for Christmas last December.  Christmas came, and Keith had one under the tree for me!  However, it broke during assembly.  Apparently a well made shoe rack is hard to find.

So Keith decided he was going to build me a shoe rack out of pallets. 

He got a couple pallets from my parents and a week or so ago spent some time cutting it apart into boards. Yesterday, with the help of Caden and Caleb, they built me a shoe rack!  Caden and Caleb did a lot of the sanding on it.

Last night it was all assembled and ready to be seen in the basement.  He wants to stain it yet before use, so it isn't 100% done, but it looks like a shoe rack!  He took the girls and I down to see it, and Elinore was SO EXCITED.  She spent a little big of time down there with Keith during construction and while Keith and I were down there talking and cleaning up a bit, she ran up and down the stairs bringing all her and her sisters shoes downstairs and putting them on the shoe rack.  She told us all about it too and how the shoes would fill the shelf and where she could put her book on it and everything.  I did make her bring her and Ruth's shoes for Monday upstairs with us and she wasn't so happy about that.  Who wants to run downstairs to find shoes on a Monday morning though? 

When we got up stairs and were talking about it still we found out she thought it was going to be her rack in her bedroom.  She wasn't so happy when she found out it was going in the living room! 

Ballerina

Elinore got to meet a ballerina at Window Wonderland downtown when we saw Santa come to town!

Steps

Christmas Day we saw Ruthie take her first steps solo!  We are cruising around on our own yet, but we're taking a few steps here and there to our family!  We're so close!  Best Christmas present this year, seeing my baby grow and learn and develop! 

A Train Ride & Santa

We saw Santa yesterday!

My Aunt text me yesterday afternoon that she was running the train at an area mall in their Christmas display.  So after Elinore woke from her nap yesterday afternoon we headed to the mall to ride a train. 

Keith was at a friends helping them with some computer stuff, but was able to meet us there too, so that was a nice surprise! 

The kids and I rode the train three times.  (It pays to know the operator!)  And we hopped over and visited Santa and had pictures taken with Santa too!  Bonus for being so early in the year to see Santa; there was no line!

Caden asked Santa for fake snow.  Caleb asked for an iPad.  (Santa said his elves don't make those and they have to check with parents on getting those!)  Elinore asked for a restaurant and a car. 

Ruth cried a little while on Santa's lap, then the photographer distracted her.  Then the distraction ended and crying started again, but we got a great Santa photo of the kids this year!

Christmas

Christmas mania has hit our household like mad!

I've been an early Christmas shopper for years now.  I prefer to be done before Thanksgiving, and this year is no exception, we're well on our way to being done with Christmas shopping!

However, with last year being the exception, I don't decorate before Thanksgiving for Christmas.  (Last year we did because the baby was due the day after Thanksgiving.  I knew if we didn't do it early it might not happen.  Then she made us wait another week anyway!)  This year the pressure is on though.  Caden is our decorator and Christmas fanatic.  He's had his small Christmas tree up almost all year!  And he's been asking and asking when we're going to start decorating.  They're getting more involved in the shopping a little and Caden and Caleb have done a lot of their shopping already too. 

With the radio starting Christmas music early last week, we've been listening to Christmas music non-stop too since then!

I've still resisted the decorating.  I like my turkeys, I didn't want to hide them away, but their infectious excitement has me being okay with Jesus's birthday celebration lasting longer too.  We'll see how much longer I last holding out on the decorations.  We're busy for the next week or so, so I can last that long at least!  They really want Keith to get the lights on the house!  (They're getting smart with their negotiations too.  But Dad, it'll get cold soon to get outside and do it!)

I have wrapped some presents already too!  Everything I could wrap, is wrapped already. 

Pink Tree

Elinore wants this Christms tree this year!

Santa

So I realize Christmas was a few months ago, but I'm just now getting photos to the computer.  The kids loved seeing Santa this year!  Elinore wasn't afraid; in fact, we weren't sure we were going to be able to get her away from Santa!

Ballerina Twirl

Elinore loves to twirl, and she does it nearly everywhere we go.  She's a ballerina she say, just like Katerina from Daniel Tiger.  She even has an outfit she got for Christmas that she calls her tutu.  It has a little lace around the bottom of the shirt, and it's her favorite. 

Christmas Day 2014

As usual the boys woke up by 7 on Christmas day.  We were fortunate though in they were so excited to play with their Zoomer robots from Christmas Eve they managed to wait until 8 or so when Elinore woke up, so we didn't have to wake her up, and so mom and dad could get a little bit more sleep.  Then we took care of the dog and some minor mornings things and headed to the living room for some Christmas fun.

Christmas gift opening in our house usually takes a few hours.  We started just after 8 I think and wrapped up around 11.  We hand out a gift and watch them open it; then it's some playing and some assembly if needed before the next one.  We've never really forced it on the kids this way, they just enjoy checking their stuff out and playing with it!  We gather trash as we go so we don't loose anything and they really get to enjoy their gifts.  We try not to do a ton of gifts, but I think every year we have a few more than I expected.  This year I think we found a good balance!

Once we finished at 11, the kids got dressed, ate a snack and played some more while I showered to head to my mother-in-laws house.  We were the first ones there at her house.  They were eating at 2, and we arrived about 1 after the hour drive out to her place.  We had a lovely time there.  We were able to share gifts with her before everyone else came.  Their gift opening is much more chaotic!  It's all handed out when anyone wants and opened immediately.  I often don't know what the kids got until the next day when we unpack everything from the car, which means I usually have no idea who gave it to them either!  We had a great time there though, and everyone was enjoying meeting Ruth!  Other than grandma, no one from his side of the family had met her yet.  :)  Keith won the awesome gift award there because he got the miter saw he'd been envying for months now!

His brother gave it to him.  We've been borrowing his brothers for a couple months now.  He'd told Keith before Christmas he needed it back to make a few cuts for something at his house then he could have it back.  Here that was just a ploy all along for him to get his saw and Keith to take his own home!

One of Keith's childhood friends stopped by for awhile after most of the family had gone too.  My mother-in-law had run into him in her work at Wal-Mart one day and invited him over since he didn't have plans for the day.  He and his son came over and they all caught up on things over the years until we had to leave.  We were to be in Canton at the boys mom's Christmas gathering at their Great Aunt's house around 6.  Their Great Aunt and Uncle are always very welcoming and we stay for a few hours for them to see their family and exchange gifts with the brother sister, mom and her husband.  They'll get a gift from their Grandma and Great Grandma usually too.  They enjoy it, and it's good for them to see their family too.

Then it's time for the hour drive back home to unload a loaded up car!  While we may not be so extravagant, gifts for 6 people and all 6 of those people take up a lot of room in our min-van! 

Grunts

Ruthie grunts a lot.  We think it's adorable, and we always know she's around! 

Last weekend, she was sleeping, and the kids and I were in the same room watching Full House.  Keith and I gave the boys the entire series of Full House on Amazon instant for Christmas.  We decided it'd be a great family show for us to watch after they were introduced to it on our Pittsburgh vacation via Nick at Nite. 

Anyway, I asked Caleb to look at Ruth and see if she was still sleeping.  Without missing a meat he says, well if she was awake she'd be grunting! 

And we all laughed!

Best Gift of 2014

Keith did a great job on my Christmas present this year.  I recieved several items from my Amazon wish list, which is great, but the best gift of all also came from my husband.

So great that when he told me about it, I had not words, just tears. 

For the last year or so I've been wanting to sponsor a child, and Keith and I had talked about it and thought about how great it would be for our family, and he was always on board.  However, every time I sat down to actually do it, I was overwhelmed with the organizations, choices and decisions to be made, so it never got done. 

For my Christmas gift, through Save the Children, my husband sponsored a 9 year old girl in Haiti.

I don't know much more about it at this point.  He says there is information still coming in the mail, but that is enough for me right now, and even as I write this, I'm crying about it again. 

This is the meaning of Christmas for me, and this is something that means more to me than any other gift received. 

It is certainly the greatest Christmas gift I've received, aside form Jesus himself that is. 

Weirdest Gifts of 2014

The weirdest gifts of 2014 were received by Keith and myself.  They were from my mom and some of the first gifts we opened at our Christmas on Christmas Eve at her house.  Keith received some Comet Bathroom Cleaner.  I received some pledge. 

Practical and surprising!

Just because...

I think this is a great photo.

Lego Castle

Caleb received his first Lego set for Christmas this year and was so excited about putting his castle together.

A Christmas Story Day

For an early Christmas present I gave Keith a day in Cleveland exploring all things A Christmas Story.  We started out day with a snowy drive up to the A Christmas Story House and Museum where we went on a little tour.  We'd left Elinore with Grandma for the weekend. 

After a failed lunch attempt, we drove around and ate at Tower City, saw Frosty, and a little Christmas ballet in front of the giant tree inside Tower City.  Then we walked a snowy, slippery mile to the Playhouse Square to see A Christmas Story on Stage.  It was awesome!  Well, the snowy slippery part wasn't so much.  I wore a skirt and heeled boots because we were going to the theater!  Silly me, we were getting lots of snow and it was cold.  The sidewalks weren't clear and we walked a couple miles from our parking garage to Tower City, Playhouse Square and back.  Keith tried to have us take a short cut through the casino, but duh, can't take the kids there!  Needless to say my feet were frozen!

Everyone loved the play!  It was excellent.  On the way out it was getting dark so we drove through downtown to see the lights on display. 

We finished the night in Parma with some friends at their house for pizza and after that a drive past GE's Nela Park to see the light display.

All in all, I'd say his Christmas present was a success!

Santa in Motion

Santa

Better late than never right?

We saw Santa in 2013!