All of Christmas in a single post

In an effort to get caught up on many months of blog slacking, I am going to try to squeeze all the Christmas photos into a single post so that soon I can take up the task of "blog catch up" with gusto.  After this, maybe I can get to all the vacations we took last year?!  

I am breaking all the rules of blogging by posting things out of date, but as this space is my childrens' virtual photo album, it simply must be done.  ;-)

The difficult thing about posting Christmas in a single post is that we happen to celebrate all TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS! 

We celebrate by doing/having/receiving/giving something special on each of the twelve days.  They do not have to be expensive (they usually are not) but I try to make them special.  I have twelve little stockings that I fill with little poems/riddles/clues for each day.  Every year, I intend to post the riddle/clue and day separately but every year I fail to record them well. My "free" days are the days we have Christmas parties... because then I don't have to think up a surprise!  ;-)  I have thrown all the scraps of riddles and rhymes away but here are the few photos I happened to snap.

Here we go!  

The First Day of Christmas:

Every year I buy an after-Christmas clearance sticker book and then put stickers on each gift as I wrap them...one "theme" sticker for each person.  Candy canes for Moses, bears for Papa, etc.  That way, I don't have to worry about having enough variety of wrapping paper and there are no name tags to sneak peeks at.  Instead I hide little scraps of paper with name/sticker in the tree for the children to find Christmas morning.  Adele' had quite a time reaching hers...

This book came with a "contract" in the inscription that Judah had to sign- promising to read the real book The Hobbit after he read the graphic novel.  It was well received, as you can see.

After a leisurely morning, we headed to church.  (Boy, am I thankful that we rent a building from another church and thus meet at noon instead of 10! For a leisurely Christmas Day, that worked out amazingly!)

Christmas dinner is always the same around here.  I make lasagna the night before so that I don't have to cook.  A simple salad, homemade bread, and gifted chocolate truffles for dessert round things out nicely.  And I buy three bottles of sparkling grape juice for the occasion too.  ;-)  Gary and Linda come and feast with us because I hate the idea of them not.

Their "something to wear" gifts were matchy matchy.  I got these on clearance last winter and with Moses, that has backfired many times (he is so big he doesn't fit into things I anticipated) but this time it worked.  I am so glad!  They are so cute!

On the second day of Christmas, the Cantrells came to town:

Lots of pictures from this day because it has been a very long time since we saw some of these people!  And also, because there was a photographer or two in our midst.

(Any pretty pictures from this day are compliments of my sis-in-law Mary)

On the third day of Christmas we went more sea turtle than turtle dove...

Beach towels were all purchased at the end of the season for $3-4 each.  We were in desperate need as some of our swim towels belonged to Matt when he was a boy.  Just sayin'.

On the Forth Day of Christmas, there was a van picnic and jammy ride to see Christmas lights. 

Usually this involves just driving around to some of the lighted streets.  This year, though, the Christmas Lights Jammy Ride was boosted in the cool factor by an exponent of 10 because my sister gave us a free ticket into a Festival of Lights show.   Driving down streets will never quite feel the same, methinks.

On the 5th Day of Christmas, there were 5(ish) golden rings to eat.  

Bagels and orange juice are not something I buy ordinarily so this was a real treat!

On the 6th Day of Christmas, we watched a Christmas movie.

It looks positively thrilling.  

On the 7th Day of Christmas, we celebrated Christmas with the Newmans.  

and I didn't take a single photo.  :-(

On the 8th Day of Christmas, with a nod to that warmhearted and well known snowman, we got ourselves some Frosty's.

(I had saved certificates around Halloween for free frosties for everyone.)  

On the 9th Day of Christmas, I hid a pile of used books for the children to find.  

These were purchased for nickels and dimes throughout the year.

On the 10th day of Christmas, everyone got socks.   This was the most expensive day because socks are so ridiculously priced and getting them for an entire family at once makes one apt to swallow their tongue.  

(Note: I see now how lackluster these 'surprises' are without the riddles and rhymes to go with them!)

On the 11th day of Christmas, we added a Christmas book to our collection.  (More like 6.  The Book barn had buy one Christmas book for .25 and get two free)

The 12th Day of Christmas, was the grand finale!

I had orchestrated a scavenger hunt for everyone.  I hid a mug for each person in the family in different locations around the community with clues for the next present inside the previous, which eventually led to a Cocoa party in the woods at Grandma and Grandpa's cabin.  When Matt and the children finally arrived, they discovered Grandpa and Grandma and the cousins were a part of the festivities.  I didn't get pictures of the scavenger hunt because I had left early to set up the cocoa party but I think it would have been great fun to snap a picture of Matt's face when he read clues that led him to the post office and community park.  "What kind of crazy woman have I married that she would have me drive all over creation?!?" 

I can hear him now.  

The only hasty, blurry and ill-lit photo from that fun night:

And that, my friends, is all of Christmas, in one fell swoop.

In which Ineke Grows Up

Corynn made the bunny illustration and glued it to a journal

Thank you Abby, for the suggestion of this book!  She was thrilled!

Ineke turned seven just a few days shy of Christmas.  

Her birthday wish was to be able to help decorate her own cake.  

(Usually it is a big surprise which is fun but requires banishment during rest time so I can decorate in secret.)

For days she tried to think of how she would decorate her cake and would change her mind every few minutes.  The day was coming closer and she had still not pegged down an idea.

(This is A LOT of pressure, my friends!)

And then I remembered a few years ago buying cute little Nutcracker picks and cupcake liners at the after-Christmas clearance sales.  I rummaged around for a bit and found them in my secret stash of sundry clearance stuff.  (Do other people have such places?)  I showed them to her and suggested she made a towering Christmas tree for them to dance around and she was SOLD. 

I include so many present pictures because her reactions were so wonderful.  She has been asking for a camera of her own for two years now and cyber Monday deals found an el cheapo one with her name on it.  I think it made her the happiest girl in the world.

Ineke is as spunky as those piggytails and as sweet as that smile.  

There were five years of wondering whether another baby was to be in our future and some were hard years- but boy, was she worth the wait. 

We love you Teetah!

It's never too late to be better. (Resolutions)

(The result of me mocking my mug and my son mocking me.)

You knew it was coming... the resolutions post. 

It comes halfway through January- but it comes nonetheless!

Last year, I had ONE focus- doing hard things for the sake of my health.  And I did.  I focused the heck out of last year.  I read books about health.  I ate vitamins for the sake of my health.  I cut (LOTS of good and wonderful) foods out of my life for the sake of my health.  I exercised 3-5 times per week for the sake of my health.  I found a naturopath and had lots of appointments with her.  I spent money on appointments.  I took tests.  I talked about it.  I listened.  I prayed.  Basically, I nailed last years' resolution.   I learned a lot (and also not as much as I had hoped to) which I will take with me into this new year and the rest of my life.

But I was SO focused on my health that I could focus on very little else.  And this year, I am going to try to make up for that.

So here is my sundry list of goals for 2023. 

Life:

- Participate in the 2023 Literary Life Reading Challenge

- Read Paradise Lost 

- Write at least one letter per month. (I don't think I wrote a single letter outside of the Christmas letter last year.  For shame!)

- Write for 10 minutes each morning before I do anything else on the computer.  Maybe someday it will amount to something.

- Have in-laws for supper every Thursday.  They could use some blessing.

- Do at least one creative pursuit each month.  I know enough skills- now I would like to spend a bit more time DOING them.

- At the end of every month, print that month of both '22 and '23 photos to be put into photo albums.

- Delete 20 photos per day from the computer. (Yes, I have this much garbage.)

- Make/buy one Christmas present per month.  It makes December a bit easier to handle.

- Morning Time with Mama each school day- make this a priority!

- Make a monthly goal or focus and then GET 'ER DONE!

Hopestead:

- New roof on the house

- repair or rebuild chicken coop and fence.  Get new chickens.

- get a dairy cow that actually produces milk

- butcher barren cow(s?)

Health*:

- Daily Collagen

- Daily vitamins

- exercise 3 times per week

- eat low/no sugar and low/no gluten at home and whenever possible (This will not be a hill I die on while being shown hospitality.)

- be macro aware of eating and for the first month or so of the year, I plan to track my food on MyFitnessPal.

*A note on the Health goals~ notice I did not include a number of pounds to lose?  That is because, despite my best efforts last year for all but the last two months of the year, I seemed not to be able to lose any weight after the initial two months.  I worked out at least three times a week- sometimes five.  I ate low carb, gluten free, and sugar free until November.  I saw some great results in my movements and energy levels so I know these things are valuable and I want to feel that way again.  Friends encouraged me that I looked different as well but the scale didn't seem to budge past an initial plunge.  So I am not going to set myself up for failure here.  I don't know why I can't lose weight.  Making these goals, with or without weight loss, will be incredibly healthful to me and that is more important than anything.  That said, I do hope I lose some weight.  It is so discouraging doing the work but not seeing a move on the scale.  Especially when you have weight to lose!  

This year, I will count the 'doing' as the success and not the 'result'.  And frankly, why haven't I done THAT before?

And to show how serious I am about this:  I am SPREADSHEET SERIOUS.  ;-)

PS.  Also- don't you just LOVE the fella Ineke drew?!  He's my fave.