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I am breaking all the rules of blogging by posting things out of date, but as this space is my childrens' virtual photo album, it simply must be done.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:
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| 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... |
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| 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!)
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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. |
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| 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:
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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.
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| 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'. |
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
9 comments:
Rebecca,
I got your letter! Yippee! But I HAD to respond to this post and ask, do you have an uncle/kinsperson (in one of these photos) who is a professor? Perhaps a special education professor? I had a professor twenty (gulp) years ago with the same last name as your grandfather (mentioned in your letter) and looking exactly like the man in one of these photos. My husband also had same professor twenty ish years ago. Could it be possible?????? If so (I’m awfully sure!) then that is W-I-L-D.
As in it’s the smallest world ever. I can give name of university if needed.
Wow. Okay, back to reading about your awesome twelve days of Christmas!
Hugs,
Monica
I love your creativity in all that you do
It's lovely to have you posting more often and to be inspired by your creative approach to life and family.
I can answer the first question on behalf of Rebecca: you're right, it's her uncle!
Rebecca, I love your post!!
It's a joy to kind of join in with all the fun.
May the Lord bless you all in this new year!
PS I didn't send christmas cards, because UK mail was on strike too often
Monica- that is amazing! He surely was a Special Ed Professor for many years until recent retirement. What a small world, indeed! I can't wait to tell him that he was spotted. Not sure there would ever be the chance of two Special Ed professors with THAT last name. ;-)
Debbie- thank you!
Unknown- well, just you wait! You'll be inundated here shortly. I have precisely 8 more days to get through quite a few special events from last year. You'll be sick of me, I am sure!
Els- when I switched all the outdated family pictures on our bulletin board on the kitchen (we replace them with new Christmas card photos each year) we kept your happy family up there! (OF COURSE!) Mail is on strike, eh? I am sorry to hear that! What a burden it must be on families! Is it due to labor shortage? Prices?
I know, right?! That is amazing! Yes be sure to tell him! He has probably seen oh so many faces since then. (That would’ve been around 1998 for my husband and around 2001 for me?). My husband said it was in his class that he self diagnosed as ADHD! Haha! Dr. Can see Jagt (sp?) had a chart with “signs” and my husband qualified for all of them! (I could’ve told him that! Ha!) so funny!
Well, well… it was just meant for our paths to cross…that’s all…
xo, Monica PS that was UWA (if you need to tell him the college..)
Gah…van der Jagt… dumb spell check (it would correct that name, right? ;)
I'm been meaning to post these comments all morning and forgot. Oops!
Now that all the pomp is packed away, seeing these pictures of your lovely, cozy home and warm gatherings is enough to make me miss it all. I especially love the Cantrell Christmas pictures with everyone gathering again. Everyone looks so happy (and Mary is absolutely stunning). My favorite is the picture of your mom with Matt. Tho' she's probably not, it made me laugh aloud because I was imagining that she's sitting on his lap. Knowing your irrepressible mom, perhaps she is! :)
Monica- I chuckled because I thought the spelling was your method of anonymity. And then I thought "Oh- it's a play on words because he "saw" her husbands ADHD." And then you spoiled it all by telling me it was spell check! ;-)
Abigail- you know her well. She it TOTALLY sitting on his lap!
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