Decorating our tree all over again

Have you read the book Night Tree, by Eve Bunting?  It's a sweet picture book about a family who heads out to the woods on Christmas Eve to find their tree, but not in the way you might think.

They find their tree and then decorate it, right there in the woods, with a popcorn garland, apples, tangerines, and balls of seeds and honey.  They spread out a blanket and with cups of cocoa to warm them, they sing Christmas carols and wait for any woodland creatures to come upon their tree.

 ~

We took our tree down just a day after Christmas.  The pine needles were falling off and Mark and I were ready for it to go, but our kids were disappointed.  Audra, in particular, was sad to see all the ornaments and lights taken down and wanted to keep it decorated.  It was then that she remembered the book above, which we'd recently read, and had the idea to decorate our tree all over again, but this time-- outside!

Mark stood our tree up in the garden and we set to work, stringing popcorn, and stringing dried apple slices and craisins, and we made our own seed balls by rolling apples in peanut butter and then in bird seed.  And then we ran outside and quickly decorated the tree-- it was cold out there, and we were still in our jammies!-- and ran back inside to wait and watch from the windows.

It was the neighborhood squirrels who found our tree first, crunching into our popcorn with delight.  Then, slowly came some Dark-eyed Juncos, and some Varied Thrushes, some House Sparrows and some Chickadees.  A Robin eyed the whole affair from a nearby tree but decided against it.  A Woodpecker flew overhead but didn't alight.  It was such a fun little activity that I feel sure we'll do it again!

A Varied Thrush, interested in the popcorn the squirrels had tossed to the ground.

A Black-capped Chickadee, pecking at another seed ball we hung on another tree.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, friends!

And just for you?  Some of the outtakes:

We have been enjoying this month off, (well, the kids and I have had it off.  Mark, on the other hand, has been working a lot of overtime.  But he has had this whole week off, so we are loving that!) God has blessed us with more snow than usual, so my kids are beside themselves with enthusiasm about that. 

We have played so many games this month: Nerts, Ticket to Ride, Settlers, Dominion, Risk, Battleship, Sorry, and probably others I'm forgetting. And we finished our read-aloud (Watership Down; loved it.)  Our favorite cookies this month are Soft Molasses Cookies and these peanut butter cookies with the Hershey's Kisses on top.  Because, YUM.

We are gearing up for the next few days of very-busy-ness and fun with extended families and are looking forward to that.  I am all done with shopping (thank you, Lord) and nearly done with wrapping and I've spent most of today in the kitchen, baking and prepping food for the next two days' gatherings.

Blessings to you and yours!

Merry Christmas to you all,
~Stacy for Mark, Ella, Isaac, Isaias, Adelia and Audra

December happenings and some recommendations!

Hello sweet friends,

A few days ago Audra was wandering about, wondering what she could do, because "no one wants to play with me."  She really is such a blessed little girl because so often she does have someone who will play with her, but when she doesn't, it's a bit rough for her.

Sometimes all she needs is an idea, though, of the possibilities, so I suggested that she read Christmas books to some of her dollies, and she countered with, "Or I could do school with them!"  And then she was off, cheerily setting up her classroom and prepping her lessons.  I was so delighted when I next walked through the living room that I snapped a few pictures:

This little scene reminded me of how I used to do the very same thing when I was a little girl, except that I had imaginary students (all with names and varying personalities, of course!) and I would just teach away in my little bedroom.  Who would have thought that years later, I would actually be teaching, and no longer with invisible students in my little room, but my own children, in our little home?

What a gift.  I am so grateful.

I have also been so tired.  Several weeks ago, -- well, probably beginning right around this post, I was struggling.  And then even when the PMS subsided, I just kept right on struggling, feeling overwhelmed and emotional and just... melancholy; like my usual joyful self was missing.  I tried to define it in an email to some friends: For several weeks now, I have been feeling particularly weary and overwhelmed and sort of like my soul is parched.  I have been asking Jesus to infuse life and breath into my spirit and delight into our school days.  And the words God has put in my mind as I've prayed and talked it over with my husband are to CREATE and RELATE.  I really feel like God is exhorting me to slow down and spend more time creating with the kids and on my own, and to take the time to relate and connect with them, specifically during our school days.

I think that in my efforts to organize and plan a smoothly-running school year for all five kids, from high school down to second grade, there are days where it can feel like all we're doing is checking off the lists of things to do, and the creative side of me feels starved.

Mark and I are still praying and asking God to reveal to us what it is that we could change or tweak in our schedule to make it less overwhelming, but for the past several weeks I have eased up on some of our schooling and have focused on creating and relating, and that has helped tremendously.

And then I've just been counting down the days to December, because we take the whole month of December off from school.  I always have grand plans that we will bake things for all the neighbors and decorate cookies and do a whole month of advent, etc, etc, etc.  But honestly?  With family birthdays this month in addition to the Christmas festivities and events and traditions and all the gifts to purchase and wrap, what we mostly do is rest.

On Monday morning I went to the video store and I rented four movies for the kids to watch, as a way to kick off our Christmas break.  This is huge to our kids because we don't have TV, and they get very little screen time.  So it's a win for them and for me, because it buys me down time and I feel utterly guilt-free about that.  ;)
Last night I did purchase this Advent Study from Stone Soup for Five which you can either purchase from Amazon in book form or as a PDF you can download and print (I did the latter), so today, six days into the month, we began that.  I just reviewed the first six lessons at the breakfast table and we'll do what we can do in the next few weeks.  What I love about it is that there is a coloring page per day, and my kids love coloring, so today we sat in the living room and while I read Christmas books and our current read-aloud, they got out the Prismacolor pencils and colored.

Oh, and I must recommend to you my favorite Christmas CD of the season.  I am actually not a real fan of Christmas music.  After so many years it sort of all sounds the same to me and I just don't love it.  (UNLIKE Mark, who has 1200 Christmas songs on his iPod and announced the other day that he listened to 20 different versions of the same song.  In one day.  All in a row.  *shudder*  I cannot even.)  But this CD?  I LOVE.  I've been listening to Christy Nockels' music since back in her Watermark days, and for the past couple of months I've been tuning in to her podcast, because I noticed that she was interviewing people like Ellie Holcomb, whom I love with all my heart.  And Christy herself is such an encourager, and a wise woman who loves Jesus deeply, and so I newly love her.  That's where I found out about her new Christmas album, and I ordered it.  And I love it.  You can and should purchase it HERE.  I think you'll love it.

Favorite Christmas Picture Books

Happy December 1st!

We got our Christmas tree last weekend in the pouring down rain.  We were all fairly soaked by the time we found the perfect tree, but it was a fun family adventure nonetheless!  

Christmas-decorating in process, later that day:

When Mark pulls out our Christmas decor bins from the storage room, the kids are always clamoring to locate two things: our nativity, and our Christmas books!  We have quite a collection of Christmas picture books and they only come out one month out of the whole year.  Here are a few of our favorites:

Great Joy | Kate DiCamillo
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey | Susan Wojciechowski
Christmas Day in the Morning | Pearl S. Buck
The Gift of the Magi | O. Henry

Back to school after over a month off

The day before Thanksgiving, we closed the books and enjoyed the end of November, plus the whole month of December (!!!) and then some, and started back to school today.

It was a wonderful month, and I'm so thankful for it.  Taking the month off allows us to intentionally rest and try to stay healthy.  We slept in every single day that we could, which was positively dreamy.

We played lots of games, worked on several puzzles, and sat by the cozy fire.  We baked.  We decorated the house, inside and out.  We watched Christmas movies (this year: Miracle on 34th Street, The Nativity Story (which is my personal favorite) and The Muppets Christmas Carol).  We read lots of books- especially our Christmas picture books (out only for this one month of the year).  We were able to spend time with family and friends.

We joined many members of our church at a nearby nursing home to sing carols to one of our dear saints who was ailing.  Just a special performance for he and his wife, and any other residents who snuck in as we sang.  It was such a delight, and one of my favorite happenings of this season.

We visited my sweet grandpa, who turned 95 in December.  Grandpa and grandma had 8 children, 25 grandchildren, and 66 grandchildren.   I get teary thinking of the fruit of my grandparents' lives-- their tremendous faithfulness.  Loving God, passing on their knowledge of God to their children, who in turn passed it on to their children, who are faithfully handing it down to their children.  How blessed I am to be one of those grandchildren; to know and be a part of such a wonderful extended family.   

We celebrated Ella's 14th birthday.  We squeezed in many of our traditions: (a pajama ride where we got treats from DQ and drove around looking at Christmas lights), sleeping in the living room (all of us, by the Christmas tree), and many others.  Our two oldest (Ella and Isaac) had their first piano recital, and played beautifully.



We gave gifts and opened them.  We celebrated in so many ways and it was such a gift, the whole month.  Thanks be to God, who gave us the greatest gift in His son.

And today, back to school.  I woke early to snow falling-- something we've been praying for but haven't yet seen.  But early this morning there was about half an inch on the ground and it was falling and I was so happy.  I went walking early with my mom, greeting her with, "Well, if this snow isn't pure delight, I don't know what is!" 

Then I came back home to sneak in some quiet journaling time before the kids woke.  Isaias (our early riser), came into my room shortly afterward, holding a bird he'd rescued from our cat.  So we tended to it; the poor little thing was in such shock at first, so we warmed it, gave it some water, and made a little spot for it in the living room.  I thought to myself: Well, here's Science for the day.  And art.  As the kids woke-- giddy about the snow and instantly thrilled about our little bird visitor, I encouraged them to get out their sketchbooks and draw, and they all did, and wrote descriptions of what had happened; how the bird looked and how it was behaving.  We looked it up in our bird books.  (We think it's a Pine Siskin?  Or a juvenile Chipping Sparrow.)  We mostly left it alone and it fell asleep.  We weren't quite sure what to do.  We could see that one of its legs was mangled but couldn't see any wing damage and we weren't sure if there was any internal damage, so we just watched it, kept feeding it water and made one attempt to take him (her?) outside to see if it would take off, but that was unsuccessful.  We prayed that God would give us wisdom in knowing how to care for it, and not long after that, we watched it take a final breath and go still.

 Our morning time over breakfast (cinnamon rolls and bacon) consisted of Bible time, prayer, a hymn (How Great Thou Art), new poem (Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost)  (!!!  So timely!  So tickled this morning that we could look out the window and see snow while we were reading this poem!), and some new memory work.  We're learning Psalm 105, and reviewing our Family Ways.  We listened to our new composer, Brahams, after a quick bio.  The kids played outside, burying our bird and making a tiny snowman.  And the rest of the morning was spent on individual work.  The older kids worked on math, copywork, piano practice, and history/literature reading.  I read with the littler girls (Aesop, Burgess) and did narrations with them.  I did a reading lesson with Audra and helped the girls with their other work (math, copywork), and generally moved from room to room, helping with math, drill work, and typing out narrations as the kids were ready to give them. 

It was a great first day back, and I'm so thankful to GET to do this! 

Coming up in the next blog post... our favorite books, movies and music from this past year.  :)


*This post contains affiliate links 

Stories

My Audra (6), will often ask: "Mommy, will you tell me the story of the girl and the boy who prayed and prayed and prayed for a baby and then God gave them one?  And then God gave them more babies?  Can you tell that story, mommy?"

It's her favorite story.

A few mornings ago, she tucked herself into bed with me to snuggle and chat.  Her head was nestled on my shoulder and we'd been talking for awhile when she asked for the story.  I was reluctant at first, wanting instead to get into the shower, but I agreed.  And I began as one should always begin stories, with once upon a time....

Once upon a time, there was a girl and a boy who loved each other so much that they got married.  After they'd been married awhile, they wished for a baby, but no baby came.  Many months and even years passed, and still there was no baby.  So they prayed and prayed and prayed and waited and waited and waited and they kept praying and they kept waiting, and then finally, one beautiful day, God answered.  And when the girl discovered she was pregnant, she immediately ran out to her car to go find her husband at work.  (She didn't even grab her coat, though it was a very rainy day.)  She saw the boy she loved and she ran up to him, and with the rain pouring down on both of them, she told him he was going to be a daddy.... 

And so the story goes, from my first pregnancy, to the next, to our first adoption, to the next adoption, all the way to six years ago when God gave us the gift of her, my dear Audra.  As we get closer and closer to her little self entering the story, her eyes are eager with anticipation and her smile gets wider.  Sometimes I add in more details, sometimes more description, but the outline of the story remains the same.  The older kids love this story, too, and they will often tag on details they know and each of them love it when it's their time to enter the story.

As I'd been talking, all cozy under the covers with my Audra, Ella had joined us, and there I was, sandwiched in between my oldest and my youngest.  The girls giggled when I first slipped and said "daddy" (as I always do) and then we came to Audra's entrance into the world, and I talked a little about her birth and our delight and then said, "And that's the end of the story."

Immediately I realized that it wasn't, actually, the end of the story, and so, haltingly, and through tears, I went on.  "Actually, that's not the end of the story, is it?  After we had Audra, we continued to pray and long for another baby, and-- years later-- we found out that God had made another little baby, growing inside of me. And then our baby died.  And six months later, He again began to grow a baby within me, and that baby died, too. 

...That's kind of a sad ending to the story, isn't it?"  Ella squeezed me and agreed it was.  And Audra said something about being sad that the babies died.  And in an effort to give the girls a happy ending, I said I was so thankful for them, and that I loved being their mommy and that I am so richly blessed that God has given them to me.  When they had started chatting about other things,  I slipped away to the shower, and there I wept.

* * *

My heart is hurting.  Around me everywhere is the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, celebrations, parties and smiles; songs and lights and the joy and the anticipation.  

And I'm a pretty good pretender.  I am smiling, I am showing up for the celebrations, but right beneath the surface is the grief; the lump at the back of my throat and the sorrow that sits in such sharp contrast to the joy of this season.  

Yesterday I spoke with a dear friend on the phone, and when she asked me how she could pray for me, I thought of the two choices before me: I could give her a "surface request", and tell her to pray for our health and rest in the midst of what will be a very busy week, or I could go deeper, and tell the truth.  So I went there, and with my telling came my tears, and I sat on the edge of my bed, cradling the phone and weeping for the second day in a row.  

It was two years ago, in early December, when Mark and I told our kids that a new baby brother or sister was growing in mommy's tummy.  We were near-to-bursting with the news we had kept to ourselves for several weeks, treasuring it and speaking of it in hushed tones when it was just the two of us, marveling at this answer to prayer.  There aren't words to describe how happy our kids were.  We talked and planned and dreamed and celebrated together for a few precious weeks. 

Then on Christmas Day, 2013, I was so sick I could barely sit up.  We were at my mom's house-- there for our traditional Christmas breakfast which would be followed by the Christmas story, then songs, prayer, stockings and gifts.  I tried to sit at the table to eat, but excused myself to the guest room to lie down.  I had a high fever and chills all day.  All I could do was sleep.  I was so sick I didn't even care that I was missing out on all the fun.  When my fever broke, and I was more coherent, I began fearing for the life of my baby; I worried about what this fever may have done.  In early January we went for our ultrasound and there was no heartbeat.  I don't know if it actually was the fever that instigated my miscarriage, but that is the day marked in my mind and heart as the beginning of the end of our baby's tiny life.  Had our baby lived, we would be celebrating this Christmas with a little one, toddling around all the wrapping and presents, touching the ornaments and lights on the tree, pointing and jabbering and delighting us all.

However, that is not our story.  

Before I hung up the phone yesterday, my friend encouraged me to journal and process this grief, and  yes, even this year, two years later-- and not push it down and pretend it away.  Good counsel, that.  

Yet when I sat later with my journal open and pen in hand, I didn't even know what to pray, what to ask.  So I prayed simply this: that He would sit with me in my sadness.  And He does.  And I am reminded of this truth: He is Immanuel, God with us. And therein is the happy ending to all sad stories. 

There is a greater story.  A story with angels and dreams and danger, twists and turns and surprises (a stable?  Really?)  A story that the prophets foretold, a story that opened here on earth with words, not on a page from a book like the stories we read- but from the mouth of an angel speaking to the young girl Mary.  Then we turn the page in the story and find Joseph being visited by an angel in a dream.  And we read of the instruction to name this baby Jesus.  The story shifts and there is peril- the evil King Herod who wants the baby Jesus dead.  Then the wise men who followed a star (a star!) to find the child Jesus and worshiped him, then were warned in a dream not to return to evil King Herod.  The shepherds, listening to the settling down, nighttime noises of their flock of sheep, and peering up into a dark sky only to suddenly see that same sky alight with an angel-  an angel! Can you imagine?- and one who was talking to them.  How stunned they must have been.  And then not just one angel but more of them?  This is THE story.  May we all be filled with the wonder of this story; of Light come into darkness, of Immanuel, God with us. 

Our Handmade Christmas

We are just now getting over the hubbub of Christmastime.  I love it that we get to spend so much time with our extended family over the holidays-- we really love them all so much, and what a blessing it is for us to gather with our parents and each of our siblings and their spouses and their kids and laugh and eat and play games.  And then to get to see my grandpa and aunts and uncles and cousins on both sides?-- so thankful.

Our own little handmade Christmas was a delight, as always.  Mark had Isaias' name, and made him a football card game.  He was delighted.

I had Audra's name, and made her this:

and these little books for her to use for drawing during church:

Ella had Isaac's name and made him a book of mazes and riddles and puzzles and games, and an empty jar with a treasure map inside.  He had to follow the map to find his treasures-- (candy, hidden throughout the house), to fill his jar.  It was a fun treasure hunt.  :)

Isaac had my name and is working on a shoe rack for our entryway, but didn't finish in time.  I can't wait to see it.  :)

Isaias had Adelia's name, and wrote and illustrated her a story, with all sorts of her favorite things in it and inside jokes.  It made her giggle so I think it was a success.  It was such a thoughtful gift.

I know this is a blurry photo, but this captured just how delighted she was as she was reading the book!

Adelia had Ella's name and made her some bookmarks, with a promise that she'd also "take her on a date". ;)

And finally, Audra had Mark's name.  We bought a white pillowcase and some fabric markers and she went to town on a new pillowcase for daddy.  He loved it.  :)

We also spent an evening going through the Samaritan's Purse gift catalog and giving gifts there, too.  (It's one of our favorite Christmas traditions!)

We are going to ease into school this week and be back full time next week.  I am thankful to be heading back into routine. 

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!  And blessings to you for a fresh new year.  :)  

Finger-painting for Christmastime

We all had fun doing some (super easy, super cute) finger-painting today:

I think this would also be cute on some brown kraft paper for gift-wrapping!  [Thank you, Pinterest!]

Handmade

I've started working on a little handmade Christmas gift for my girl...  (Shh!)

 ... and having so much fun.  I can't wait to make some dresses! 

{Inspiration here and here.}

Catching up...

Things are so much quieter on the blog than they used to be, aren't they?  Some days I sit down to write, load up a photo or two and begin a post, and then get interrupted and set it aside only to forget about it.  Then by the time I do remember, it's old news.  Other days I think about writing and then think: are many people even reading here anymore? 

If you do read here, thank you.  I appreciate your patience when there are days and days and sometimes even weeks between posts.

Things have quieted down here on the school front (the whole month of December off!  YAY!) and I should have more time to write this month, and when the new year hits, I hope to carve out regular time in my schedule to write more faithfully here. 

I forget when we began this tradition of taking this whole month off, but I love it.  It's such a crazy time of year, and this affords us some quiet in the midst of a busy month.  There are gifts to make and our home to decorate and things to bake and- also, this is the perfect time of year to curl up on the couch with a good book-- when it's so chilly outside and the fire is cozy.

Before all that decorating took place, we made a Thanksgiving tree.  I cut out leaves of varying fall colors (from some scrap paper I have on hand) and sketched out a tree on a big piece of poster board and we all wrote things we were thankful for, then we colored in the tree and hung it up.

I don't think I've fully settled on the best way to document the things we're thankful for (here's a post on what we've done in the past), but I guess the important thing is that we're doing something to give thanks.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my mom's this year with my brothers and sister and their families.  It was so nice, and my kids always revel in all that time with their cousins.

My sweet Ella had a birthday.  She's now twelve.  I love her so much, not just because she's my daughter, but because I really like her, and I love the young woman she's becoming. What a sweet blessing she is to all of us.

 

These days I'm trying to sneak in some time on the couch myself to finish knitting Ella's sweater.  I'm using this pattern and so far I love it.  There are a couple of things on this pattern that will be new to me: knitting the sleeves on dpns and adding button bands to the front-- but I hope to figure those out when I come to them. 

Blessings to all of you for a wonderful day!
~Stacy

Ella's birdhouse

This was the second year of our handmade Christmas.  Mark drew Ella's name and made her a birdhouse.
 
Here she is, examining his artwork: 

 

He drew windows and flowers on it, cute daddy that he is- and just knowing how much she would love those details.

This is how much she loved it:

 

Here is her birdhouse now:

We were all so excited to spot this little visitor last week!  Ella says it's a house sparrow, and she and her mate were flying in and out all morning with little pieces for their nest.  ~smile~

Happy day-after-Christmas! (& our Handmade Christmas recap)

I kept meaning to get on the computer during the past couple of days and wish you all a Merry Christmas, but... there was just no time.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and reveled in the amazing gift of Jesus!  

We have had a great week together as a family.  We began our festivities on Sunday night- the week before Christmas- by pulling our mattresses into the living room and sleeping by the tree.  Then we surprised the kids with a Pajama Ride announcement (which included a trip to DQ and a drive to look at Christmas lights.)

Settling everyone into bed before our Pajama Ride.

Then we spent a couple of days doing the finishing touches on our handmade gifts for one another and other odds and ends (wrapping, grocery shopping, baking, etc).

Doing some knitting with the girls.  (Doesn't Audra look so wiped out from her knitting project? ;))

On Thursday night we celebrated my grandpa's 91st birthday-- which doubles as an extended-family Christmas party.  There were over 100 of us there- and it was a joyous occasion.  So many aunts and uncles and cousins and their kids and my grandpa smiling with happy tears in his eyes through it all.

Friday was our own family Christmas.  We had a yummy breakfast of coffee cake (birthday cake for Jesus~ candles and all!), sausage, bacon, and Orange Julius-drinks in the blender.  Oh, and hot cocoa, too- with dollops of vanilla ice cream.  Then we read from Luke and prayed and opened our gifts for one another.  Here's the rundown of our handmade gifts:

Audra drew Adelia's name.  Mark and I puzzled a bit over what she could give Adelia- since, at 2- she can't really *make* many things.  One thing Adelia loves is food- so I contemplated making homemade crackers until I decided that I was spending enough time in the kitchen and why complicate things when she'd be just as happy with popcorn?  But then- THEN: Mark had the brilliant idea of making a "snack mix" for Adelia.  Bingo.  I grabbed a few bags of snacky stuff at the grocery store, and Audra did the work of dumping out the bags, stirring, and transferring into a container.  Then I made a label for the top that said Adelia's Snack Mix (made by Audra), and Audra happily colored all over the label.  We wrapped it up together and we were done.

She was so focused.

When Adelia opened it, she pretty much thought it was the best.gift.ever, and ate it throughout the rest of the day.

Adelia drew Ella's name, and she had a lot of help from me.  I gave Adelia some paint pens she went to town decorating a blank canvas that I had.  Then I found a picture of the two of them- Ella holding Adelia as a baby- and used some stickers and scrapbook paper and mod-podged it all on the canvas.  It turned out pretty cute.  I don't have a picture of the front of it, but here's the picture of Ella opening it: 

(I had also knitted up a hat for Ella and sewed a bird ornament from this book so I had Adelia give those to her, too.)

Isaias drew Audra's name, and he drew her a paper doll- knowing how much she loves getting into Ella's paper dolls.  It was such a sweet, thoughtful idea.  Mark and I helped him come up with an additional idea, too (just in case she wasn't quite as enthused with his torn-out stick-figure paper doll as he might think she would be).  Mark sat down with him one afternoon and looked up coloring pages online and let Isaias choose a bunch of them for a coloring book.  He did a great job- choosing nativity scenes, kitties, Hello Kitty, Little House, and all the things she loves.  We printed them out, 3-hole punched them, and he wrote Audra's Coloring Book ~from Isaias on the cover.  Then Isaias selected some crayons and put them in a baggie and wrapped it all up for her. 

Audra looks at her coloring pages as Isaias looks on.

Isaac drew my name- and he had remembered me saying a couple of months before- on a day when I was craving something sweet but we had nothing at all sweet in the house- "All I want for Christmas is some Swedish Fish, some Skittles, and some chocolate." (Immediately after that little declaration, I regretted it because I saw a slight look of panic on Isaac's face and figured he had 1)drawn my name, and 2)was trying to figure out how on earth he was supposed to make mommy some Swedish Fish, Skittles, and chocolate!)   He did great.  His idea was to make me a treat jar to keep by my bed, so he decorated the outside of a jar and then made a LEGO smiley face and taped it on top of the jar and filled it with Swedish Fish.  He also drew me several small pictures (he called them "pennants") that I can hang up on a little string near my treadmill so that I have something to look at while I'm on the treadmill.  (Is that not the cutest thing?)  I loved it all.  :)  And the Swedish Fish are all gone. 

Ella drew Isaac's name and has been thoughtfully saving the tickets she's earned from school store in anticipation of gifting them to Isaac who is saving earnestly for a LEGO set he desperately wants to purchase from school store.  (Mark found a nice LEGO set at a garage sale ($3) and added it to our school store but priced it *really* high (100 tickets)-- knowing that Isaac knows how much that set is worth and recognizing that Isaac will have to buckle down and save for-- something he is not very good at doing.  He wants that set more than anything but keeps getting distracted with other school-store purchases, so he's only saved up about 30 tickets for it all year.)  In the past two months, Ella has carefully been putting away nearly 40 tickets for her gift to Isaac-- to add to his saved 30.)  This was the gift I was most anxious to see opened-- it was such a thoughtful gift from Ella and I knew Isaac was going to be overwhelmed with the magnitude of all of Ella's tickets.  Both Mark and I were teary-eyed and Isaac was literally speechless when he opened his gift.  He really could not believe that Ella would be willing to give up all of her tickets for him.  

Isaac, staring at the container of Ella's tickets

(Ella has also been knitting Isaac a green and gray striped scarf, but she didn't finish in time for Christmas, so she drew a picture of it and told him that it was his when she finished.  (He's seen her knitting it and had hoped it was for him and is excited for her to finish!))

I drew Mark's name.  (I had thought that drawing one of the kids' names would be so easy-- I could sew for the girls or knit for the boys, but-- MARK?  What could I make him?)  I Googled "handmade gifts" and it took me just a couple of minutes to decide on an idea of a Memory Jar.  I sat with my journal for several quiet-times and wrote down memories, then eventually transferred all of those ideas onto slips of colored/patterned paper and filled up a Memory Jar- 365 days worth of memories for Mark to open.

Mark- trying to figure out what his gift was

Finally (and you're amazing if you're still reading because I know this is a long post!), Mark drew Isaias' name, and puzzled over what to make him until he settled on a football theme (Isaias loves football) and decided to created a game for him.  [If you have boys who are into football you're going to want to pay close attention and do this for them or have them do it.]  Mark cut out a picture of a player from each NFL team from a Sport's Illustrated NFL Preview Issue (free at the library!) and then printed out corresponding team logos (from online) and made a deck of 64 cards.  Each card was given a value of 1-10, based on the actual offensive and defensive ranking for the teams this season.  We used clear contact paper to "laminate" the cards and on the back of each card it said: Isaias' NFL Challenge, along with some football clip art.  Rules of the game are similar to the card game of War, where your cards (or in this case, teams) face off, and the highest number takes all cards.  When there's a tie (or in this case, "overtime"), they play it out just like you do in the game of War.  This was a HUGE hit and our three older kids played this for literally hours that day and days since.  (I KNOW.  How creative is my husband?!  He should patent this.)

Isaias opens the box and all the cards tumble out

Two hours later...

So that was our handmade Christmas gift exchange.  We all want to do it every year, and we will.  We did our Samaritan's Purse giving later.

Saturday we spent the whole day (10:00 am to 10:00 pm!) with Mark's wonderful family- and the kids had a blast with cousins and uncles and aunts and grandpa and grandma and pizza and lots of laughter and games (Twister!  Hide and Seek!) and gifts.  

Sunday morning we did our stockings here and then headed to my mom and dad's (joining my brothers) for a full day of Christmas there- complete with a huge breakfast and snacks all day and games and puzzles and singing and prayers and gifts and lots of laughter.

We are so, so blessed to have such wonderful family so near.  Mark goes back to work tomorrow and we have one week to undecorate, rest, tidy, and ease back into a more scheduled life. 

What was your favorite gift to GIVE this Christmas?   (Mine was probably my gift to Mark- because I knew he would be blessed and it is such a fun gift because he gets to keep "unwrapping" it for a whole year!)