Christmas Cards 2009

Last night I just grabbed all my cards and started cutting away. Such an easy project!

Christmas At Our House

Merry Christmas to everyone!! This year we spent Christmas here at home. We had some of our family over for Christmas Eve and spent the evening eating, sharing stories, singing, visiting, and playing. After our family went home we hung the stockings with the kids and read/told the Christmas story.

I stayed up until 2am to get everything perfect for Christmas morning. It was a wonderful morning. The kids woke up about 7:30 am and came into our room asking us if Santa had come. Jakob told us it was the best Christmas ever as he was pulling things from his stocking. Steve and I made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. After we ate we read the Christmas story again and opened our presents. Karter did not want to open his gifts. We tried to get him interested, but he wanted nothing to do with unwrapping his gifts. We ended up opening them and giving the presents to him. When he finally saw the unwrapped gift he got excited and started playing with it. What a character!!

The kid's made handmade gifts for each other this Christmas. I think the best gifts of the morning were these special gifts they had made. I loved that they were able to enjoy and feel the spirit of giving as they gave what they had worked so hard on. This will definitely be a yearly tradition.

After the gifts were opened we spent a quiet morning putting Isabelle's doll house together, shooting nerf guns, building Star Wars legos, and just hanging out. It was quiet, peaceful, and happy. Just how Christmas should be.

Later that afternoon we went out to Forest Grove to go to a Family Christmas Party. It was fun to see everyone and eat yummy, yummy food!

I told Steve yesterday that this is the first time in a long time that I have felt that we were able to celebrate the season the way I hoped we would. It has seemed for the last few years that every season has been so busy I just couldn't do what I planned to do. This Christmas I have felt really good about how we celebrated. Not that it was perfect or that we did absolutely everything on our list, but we were able to fully enjoy every aspect of the season. I think the main thing is I was able to simplify the gift giving/crafting/food making/decorating craziness, having enough time for quiet moments of focusing on the true meaning of Christmas. We were able to celebrate the birth of our Savior, focusing on Him and all the blessing He has given to us. It was a lovely Christmas.

A Simple Gift

This is something Jakob took to school today for his teacher. He wanted to get her some M&Ms, so he gave me money, and I bought some at the store. I found this fun bag awhile ago for $1! With the M&Ms I added a handmade ornament, a package of hot chocolate, and a small bag full of marshmellows with a tag that read XOXO! It was super easy and turned out so cute!

I love my Plumber!

I can't believe this is what the upstairs looked like a few weeks ago. These photos were taken on October 31st!! Steve is putting in the plumbing and I snapped a couple fun photos. As we speak the painters are finishing up the trim and the ceilings. The countertops are scheduled to go in tomorrow and the carpet will be installed on Thursday. There are still a few things that need to happen before it will be completely finished, but I will basically have my kitchen/upstairs back on Friday!! I'm so excitied! It really has turned out quite lovely and I'm completely inspired to work in my new space. I have held off taking pictures because I want you to be surprised/shocked with the completed kitchen.

Christmas feels like it has been put on hold in our home. We have been holding off on getting a tree and decorating, waiting for the insanity of the renovation to be over. I don't even have Christmas music playing. I feel a bit deprived! I'm working on doing all the busy work of the season (aka mailing Christmas Cards, buying gifts, wrapping presents, grocery shopping, etc.) so when we get our house back I relax with family and can focus on the spirit of the season. I plan to take Christmas into this next year, extending it out a couple more weeks then we usually do!

December Daily 5

Card Reads:

December 5, 2008
I have been trying to start selling scrapbooking
supplies to my friends and family. This Christmas
Season has been spent having lots of parties,
ordering items, and making mini scrapbooks
and ornaments. It has been fun and I’m glad
I have been able to do it, but I will be excited
when I can just focus on my family’s Christmas
celebration. Yesterday I had a party that Jaycine
hosted, today I’m ordering items for that party,
and this next week I have a party and a
workshop I will be doing. It has been fun to rub
shoulders with fellow scrapbookers and share
with others something I love so much. We
will see what this next year brings. I’m curious
to see if I can promote the items I want to
sell online and limit the time I would be away
from home. It is definitely something I have
wanted to do for a long time, but I’m still
trying to figure out how I want to do it. I love
this crazy world of paper crafting. I love
recording and celebrating my life and the life of
those that I love. I would love to share the
joy that I have found in this with others.I have
hope for a future where my creative side can
change, grow, and improve as I associate with
others.

December Daily 4

Am trying to catch up with this last week. Steve has been so busy with work and I have been busy with life!! But I am determined to record our days this December.

December Daily 3

December Daily 2

Got those Christmas letter off early this year. You all should be getting your letters from us shortly!! Love, love, love this time of year to reconnect with friends and family.

This is the back of the second day page. Since it is a clear page I have to back the photo with another piece of cardstock. I love that page three is just waiting for me to add something to it. Now, what should I document from our lives today??

December Daily 1

Just finished my pages below. Our first day in December we decorated the tree. So much fun this year to watch the kids really enjoy the season.

Tomorrow, Promise!!

BUT, I have pictures of our tree cutting adventure this last Saturday. We found the perfect tree and I'm so excited to have our tree upstairs this year, right by the fireplace, so cozy and festive. Still working on decorating and hope to be completely finished this week.

Christmas Update

Below, all you blog readers, get a sneak peek at our Christmas photo this year. I will have most of my Christmas letters done by Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I'm going to pick-up a stack of the photo below to add to our letter. Love, love, love my three little munchkins below!! I love getting Christmas cards and letters. With many of our friends and family it is the one time a year that we make contact. Just a couple more days until we can officially begin celebrate the Christmas season.

Christmas Preparations

So, I'm finished shopping for the kids for Christmas, well almost finished. My goal is to be done with Christmas shopping and my HAVE TO gift making by Thanksgiving. I'm so excited to be getting this done and am anticipating the Christmas Season so much more knowing I will be able to truly enjoy the season without the stress of gift buying and making. Since my kids don't read this blog, I thought I might share some things they will be getting this year.