December Daily | 27

The last few years, it has been really cold and snowy around the end of December. But this year, it's been practically perfect. A little chilly, to be sure, but warm enough that outside play is on the schedule. This afternoon, once everyone else got back from the movies, the toys were pulled out from storage building and outside play time commenced.

After dinner and baths, Nana, Papa, Aunt BB, Ben, and the kids and I all headed down to Chickasha to see the Festival of Lights. I've been wanting to go for years, especially since the last time we went, Ben and I were not officially dating {though, we did like each other...}. Last year's Christmas light viewing consisted of Noah freaking out the entire drive until we got to the end and he asked to go through again. Luckily, since then, his and Ellie's appreciation of Christmas light displays has grown quite a bit.

We all enjoyed the lights, but the mild day had turned into a very cold evening. We didn't walk around for very long, but long enough to enjoy a few light tunnels {my favorite!} and to explore some areas that we wouldn't really be able to see from the car.

And, a trip to see Christmas lights would not be complete without a stop at Braum's for ice cream!

December Daily | 23

December Daily | 15

Today was Ellie's last day at FLC. Words cannot even express how sad I am, especially since she loves her teachers, Ms. Marilyn and Ms. Jennifer, so very much {and so do I!}. It was also Pajama Day... and Ellie knows how to rock some cute pj's.

Noah, on the other hand, didn't want to wear his pj's. So much so, that we had our first total temper tantrum meltdown before school with Daddy. He was adamant that "you don't wear pj's to school, you wear a shirt and pants!". Tomorrow is his last day at school. He and I both are going to miss his teachers, Ms. Katy and Ms. Carla. Though, after today, I'm glad I don't have to show my face too often after finding out he was kissing on a girl during Christmas program practice! {eek!}

The awesome thing about going to church at the same place the kids go to "school" is that we'll still see them around and when we visit. And I'm sure there will be a little teasing about it. ♥

Today, in addition to all of the above, was also the kid's school Christmas program. They have been practicing during their music classes and we have been listening {over and over and over...} to cds of their music in the car for over a month now. All the classes were divided into two programs and Ellie's class {along with all the other 2 year old and younger classes} was in the first one. We didn't know which side she would be on and, as luck would have it, she ended up on the side of the stage, opposite us and stayed in the back of the group for the majority of the songs. I moved to get a few shots of her, but wasn't able to get any up close video. The theme for her program was about how all the animals reacted to Baby Jesus... and her class were the donkeys.


Her poor teachers - it was all they could do to keep them corralled in their "corral"!

And it was all that I could do to not laugh out loud when my little donkey was the one who needed to smell? taste? the stump.

Noah's class {with all the other 3 and 4 year old classes} was in the second program. Lucky for us, Noah's class was on the same side of the stage that we were and since he's a little shorter than some of his classmates, he was in the front.

He definitely kept us entertained... and giggling.

The video has one clip from Ellie's class {you can barely see her, on the right of your screen} and the rest is from Noah's class. Our favorite moment had to be when instead of jumping up and down during the portion of the song that says, "we jump for joy for Jesus is born", Noah jumped while on his hands and put his feet in the air. {sigh} Only Noah.

December Daily | 13

Now, I know just a couple of days ago I posted that I am having some reservations and concerns about Santa and how he {the fictional character} fits into our true celebration of Christmas. He. is. everywhere. I have no problem at all with the real St. Nick and honestly, I don't mind the fictional version either.

The root of my issue with it is: I don't want him to get the glory.

I'm still just trying to figure out what the balance is for our little family, to make sure that Christmas is what it should be about {Christ's birth} and that a fictional character doesn't get center-stage. That being said, I have no problem with him when he is treated as just a fictional character, so for me, some things, like getting Santa photos taken, are just for fun. Instead of hyping up the kids to ask Santa for what they wanted for Christmas, I just encouraged them to get their photo taken with him... which worked because they know how much their Mommy loves to take photos of them. I didn't point out whether he was real or just dressed up - we just enjoyed the fun of it. We went to Bass Pro since the photos are free and I can take my own as well. Ellie went right to him and was happy to sit with him - especially since he had candy. {Mental note: start talking about Stranger Danger stat.}

Noah was much more reluctant.

Until Santa asked what Noah wanted for Christmas. He perks up when ANYONE asks that. Without fail, he almost ALWAYS replies: "Transformer Legos." Santa pretended he couldn't hear Noah until he was practically on his lap. Evidently this wasn't this Santa's first rodeo. And Ellie, who already had her candy, refused to go back for a photo with Noah.

Afterwards, we wandered around the children's Christmas section for a spell.

And eventually found somewhere that both kids loved. Ellie loved it so much that the big pack of crayons by her elbow almost left with us... until Ben pointed out to me that she was carrying it.

It was a fun little trip and with far fewer tears than Ben was anticipating.

But one of my favorite parts of the day? When Noah tried on the Santa hat that he practically begged Nana to make for him:

December Daily | 11

I'm currently in the middle of reading Noel Piper's book, Treasuring God in Our Traditions. So far, it's a fantastic read. We have several traditions that we've kept from our families and one of my favorites is getting a new ornament. Like last year, we kinda helped "guide" Noah towards ones that we felt really represented where he is at, at age four. This year, his ornament is Batman. Only fitting since he is SO into SuperHeroes lately.

Our little book worm got the "Guess How Much I Love You" ornament - Noah was kinda pushing for Ellie to get a Barbie one, but I figured it's probably my last year to have complete say in her ornament, so I got the one I wanted for her. ♥

Some years Ben and I get a joint ornament and this year was one of those years. None of the other ones really spoke to me like this one, which reads: "Christmas Together, Nothing Better". Yep! After a six month deployment, it's totally true!

And, Happy Birthday Aunt Jessie! We love you bunches!

December Daily | 8

After school today, Noah and Ellie got to work on another ornament - Day 8: Sun. The story and concept was similar to Day 1: Light, but a little reinforcement doesn't hurt.

Noah has been asking, fairly often, when we were going to put lights on Papa and Nana's house and tonight the weather was decent enough that Daddy-Man could work a little more on them. Noah {and Ellie, a little bit} helped Nana set up the nativity for the front yard. We've had this little plastic set of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus since we were kids... and I love that they still set it up.

December Daily | 7

Busy and slightly uneventful day today - which also meant I didn't grab the camera. Once. Any of them - even my phone! The kids got to go spend some time with KK while I got a few more of our Christmas packages mailed off and attempted to clean out their room. And, with getting to teach music at AWANAs tonight to the four-year-old class, well... it was a busy one.

December Daily | 6

Earlier this week, we passed by an outside Santa decoration and Noah excitedly yelled from the backseat, "It's Santa!". Ben and I both kinda giggled, exchanged a glance and I asked Noah, "Who is Santa? What does he do?" I was curious because we've never really pushed the whole Santa concept. Don't get me wrong, we've said that presents were from Santa and last year we even got one of those "Elf on the Shelf" books, but it's never been a deliberate thing where we say Santa is coming to our house and he's going to bring you toys if you are good.

And honestly, I'm having issues with Santa this year. Partially with the whole lying to your kids part, partially with the whole "only if you're good part", and mostly with how Santa has become the overarching figure of Christmas. We're still trying to figure out how to find the right balance between the fun and magical of Christmas and still maintaining the truth and real purpose of Christmas. Because, let's be honest, for a child, how can a baby in a manger compete with Santa?

And maybe that's for a whole different post. {Though, this one here does a pretty good job of explaining, to some extent, how I'm feeling about it.}

In any case, for the past few years I've been looking for and trying to implement some different traditions that help point back to the real reason we celebrate Christmas. And every year, I tell myself we're going to do a Jesse Tree... and so far, we haven't. Primarily because I have yet to find a version of the Jesse Tree that I felt like my kids would sit through the Bible reading portion. Yesterday, I found a similar "curriculum" that we're going to do at least some of this year - Truth in the Tinsel.

The kids love it because we make ornaments to go along with the Bible reading and I love it because it is feeding their souls at their level. Because we started it late and I know we're going to have million and one things going on this month, I'm not planning to do one every day. Maybe next year we will be able to, but this year, we're just going to hit the basics and maybe one or two extras. Today we talked about how Christ is the foretold light of the world and about Mary and Elizabeth.

Right now, those are the only ornaments on the tree. ha! We'll likely decorate when Daddy-Ben gets back this weekend.

Tonight, after dinner, Daddy-Man, the kids, and I all got comfy and watched a Charlie Brown Christmas.

Little Linus gets me every time. ♥

December Daily | 4

Tonight was the Hanging of the Green at our church and the AWANA choirs were singing all the songs. Noah's Cubbie group sang two songs during it, so we made sure we were there tonight. Ellie isn't in AWANAs yet {and likely won't make the cut-off to start in the fall either}, so she got to sit in the pew with us from the very get-go. She didn't mind though - the girl loves to "paint".

We really didn't know which side of the stage Noah was going to be on and unfortunately, he was on the opposite side that we sat on. I {of course!} hopped up and found a seat next to the Cubbies director to snap a few photos of Noah during the performance. Ben did take some video, but since you can't really see him, I'm not planning to upload it.

The 3-year old choir was given two mini-M&M containers to use as shakers during their first song. Noah stared longingly at them at every possible moment.

He did a great job and actually sang during part of the second song {when he wasn't staring at his M&Ms}! So proud of you, Buddy!

And after his group finished their songs, he joined us back at the pew and played games on Aunt Jessie's phone!

December Daily | 2

Legos have become part of the daily routine around here. They are almost as much of a part of the boy as his Captain America costume has become. He just loved that today's Lego from his calendar was a "bad guy".

Just Noah had school today, so after dropping him off, Ben, Ellie, and I went to the base for a haircut for Ben, lunch, and a little shopping at the BX and Commissary. It was fun to get to spend some time with just Ben and Ellie, especially since I really think one of the last extended times with just the three of us was when she was born and was in the hospital! We're hoping to be a little more intentional about spending one-on-one time with each child, as individual parents and as a set.

If there is one thing that I hope I never stop doing, it's learning. And growing. In all areas of my life. So, today, while Ben was picking up Noah from school, I used my Silhouette to cut out a few filters for my camera in hopes of creating some fun bokeh with the lights on the recently set up Christmas tree.

It kinda worked.

Hopefully I can get it figured out a little better before we go do any serious Christmas light observing!

Saying Bye and Starting New Traditions

Grandma, Poppa, and Sylas were going to stay in OKC until tomorrow morning, but since Colorado was expecting snow {and they own a snow removal business} they had to head out of town a little bit earlier than anticipated. Lucky for us though, they were still able to go to lunch and spend a good portion of the afternoon with us before they left.

Poor Sylas wasn't feeling too great this morning. But he was a trooper and took one for the team by eating and playing at Chuck E. Cheese.

Noah was a little sad when he realized that Sylas had to leave to go back to his home.

We love you guys and thanks for coming down to visit us - we enjoyed the visit!

***

To help with the fact that "that guy" {aka Sylas} had left for home, Ben and Noah {and, eventually even me!} worked on putting together the latest Lego acquisition:

The Winter Toy Shop.

My plan for some time now has been to create a scene or building each year using the Lego creator software/website for Ben and Noah {and eventually Ellie too} to build each year to set up a scene with the train that goes around our tree. But when we saw this set yesterday, well, it saves me the trouble of designing it AND I'm fairly confident that it is a cheaper route to go. Plus it was on sale, so what's not to love?

The start of a fun family tradition indeed. ♥