Christmas Time is Here

I desperately need to write another catch up post about the rest of October, Halloween  and Thanksgiving but I felt like writing something Christmasy today. December is upon us and I couldn't be happier. I look forward to our fun family activities and also focusing more on our Savior and the spirit of Christmas. In the hustle and bustle of soccer, basketball, school functions and concerts, church parties, shopping and present wrapping, doctor appointments  and all of the other things that tend to take up our schedules this time of year I am making an effort more than ever to go with the flow and enjoy it all without letting the stressful feelings creep in.

One of the things that help our family keep the focus on our family and Christmas spirit is to make an advent calendar, but this year we opted just for a Christmas bucket list of many fun things to do throughout the month. I loved our advent calendar we did last year, but I felt the need to be more flexible this year and simplify.

 

Here is our Dodson Family Christmas

Bucket List:

 

Decorate ginger bread houses and ice cream cone trees

 

Drive around and look at Christmas lights

 

Watch Christmas movies

 

Make and decorate Christmas Cookies

 

Take treats to friends and neighbors

 

Go watch the Senske light show

 

Visit and feed the reindeer

 

Sibling Christmas shopping

 

Make snowflakes

 

Read the Christmas story from Luke

 

Clean out toys and clothes to donate

 

Sleep under the Christmas tree

 

FHE about the symbols of Christmas and a treasure hunt

 

Go sledding

 

Learn a new Christmas song

 

Read our favorite Christmas books

 

Take a family photo

 

Drink hot chocolate and watch the Polar Express



 

Do a service project/leave a secret gift for someone

 

 

 

It is going to be a great month!



Christmas wrap-up

I am being such a big slacker about getting Christmas covered. Here is a brief breakdown and some pictures of some of the activities we did throughout the month:

Riding in a horse drawn carriage with almost our whole family to look at the Christmas lights at the Hermiston fairgrounds. My grandparents were in charge of the project and it was fabulous and fun. They put a lot of time and effort into it along with the other many volunteers, and my grandpa also received an award for his involvement and spirit of service. We fit about 18 people on that old carriage and going around some of those corners I just prayed we didn't tip over. The kids loved it and had a blast. Here are the cousins while we waited for our turn:

My mom and I took Kendle and my niece Maelin to the Mindy Gledhill concert put on by my friend Marilyn. Although it didn't receive the turnout and support it deserved, it was still awesome none the less. I could listen to Mindy sing for hours I love her voice so much. The girls loved it and so did we. She did a mixture of songs off of her regular album and then also some Christmas music. It was fun to have a girls night and listen to some great music.

Here are the girls waiting for it to start:

And afterwards at Applebee's for some dessert:

At our church Christmas party the kids had the opportunity to take a picture of Santa and let him know what they'd like for Christmas. Well, Morgan was really the only one to tell him that. Kendle opted out of the kid picture feeling like she was "too cool" for that and just wanted to go play games with her friends. I think these are pretty classic:

Always the ying and yang of each other, Cooper looks on happily as Kale fights to get away.

It's kind of become tradition that my family comes up to our house on Christmas Eve. We always take cheesy silly pictures and my sister wears her infamous Rudolph Christmas sweater. I think we all look quite festive. (And yes, Tam is pretty tall but she also has super tall boots on which is why she is towering over me.)

Tuck, Jim, me and Tam. They all make me feel so short.

This is a classic Tovey picture. We totally staged it, but our family is famous for having our eyes closed in pictures so it is quite hilarious to us. I know my friends will get a kick out of it as well.

My mom supplied the kids with some "reindeer food" so before bed on Christmas Eve they all went outside and spread it around our front yard.

Aunt Tamra was the only brave enough to accompany the kids and withstand the freezing cold.

Kale trying on grandpa's glasses:

Wanting to go home with grandma:

 

Cooper

Trying to get all the grandkids to pose for a picture:

That's a little better:

One without the twins who had reached their breaking point.

Morgan and Mo.

The Morgster

Since Morgan is obsessed with all things Star Wars, we bought the movies for Christmas. We had Star Wars marathon movie nights.

I only managed to snap a few pictures on Christmas morning. In the hustle and bustle it gets a little hard to remember to take pictures. We told the kids not to come in and wake us up before 6:30. Kendle came in to wake me up at 6:30 on the dot. No one else was awake so I decided we better let everyone sleep a little longer. Finally by about 7:15 or so I could tell Kendle was not going to be able to stand it much longer so I let her get up and help me get things ready. We turned the fireplace on, cued some Christmas music, got some cinnamon rolls in the oven and hot chocolate warming. By then, the boys had started to stir and sleepily came out to see what Santa had brought them.

Here's Kendle in front of the tree before anyone else got up:

And Morgan with his Darth Vader mask:

Yep, that's it. Pretty lame I know. Next year, I vow to do better with the pictures.

Some of the kids favorite gifts from Santa:

Kendle - ipod, light up boots, books,

Morgan - Star Wars masks, light saber, Millennium Falcon ship

Cooper and Kale - Trucks, back packs, play food and lunch boxes

For Kendle's ipod "Santa" wanted to have some fun with her so he did the old trick where you start off with a big box, that has another box inside of it, and another, and another until you get to the small box. We hid the ipod inside a pair of gloves so when she opened the last box she just stared at the gloves like really? All that for gloves? Then she felt them and realized there was something inside of them and started screaming. I thought she would catch on because I gave her little hints in her stocking with an itunes gift card and some new ear buds. It was so fun to watch.

Well, I think that wraps up most of the major parts of Christmas. Whew!



The 12 Days of Christmas

So back tracking a bit back to early December and one day my mom came up and delivered a whole big box full of presents for our family. One to open each day until Christmas. This had to be so much work for her to put together for our family and all of my siblings as well. She said although it did take a big effort it was lots and lots of fun planning and shopping for everything. All of the gifts were centered around the family and she accompanied it with a nice letter with instructions and some heartfelt words about how much her and my dad love all of us and how family is the most important thing and how they wanted us all to feel that this holiday season.

The kids were seriously over the moon excited to open something up each day. We opted to open the gift in the morning before everyone went on their respective ways. Each individual gift was also labeled with a nice little thought and instructions or ideas for what to do with it.

Some of the gifts included:
-Christmas CD and fudge
-Christmas coloring and activity books
-Cookie mixes, recipes, and cookie cutters
-ornaments
-Christmas movies
-Pancake mix, syrup, and Spam - yes my family (minus me) loves spam
-Cute Christmas bowl filled with candy
-Christmas books (My mom bought the Night Before Christmas where you can record yourself telling the story. Our kids love listening to grandma's voice.)
-Hot cocoa and candy canes
-Money (to use to do a good deed with)
-Money (just for us to use for something fun)
-Pajamas for all the kids

The pajamas were the very last gift the kids got to open on Christmas Eve when their grandma and grandpa were here. I got them some slippers too to open with them.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of the kids opening these gifts every day. It was seriously so fun and gave them something to look forward to. It added lots of extra Christmas spirit around our house and a few of the things coincidentally coincided with things we were doing with our service advent. Pretty neat!

Here are the kids in their new pj's on Christmas Eve:

We really appreciated the effort by my parents and for making our holidays merrier and brighter!

On the 1st day of Christmas

We are on the countdown to Christmas and trying to pack in lots of fun things. Last night we all jumped in the car, went and got some treats at Sonic and then went to watch the light show at Senske. I had never been to see it but had heard from lots of people that it was a fun thing to do. At first when we pulled up, we were like this is it? But then after tuning into the Christmas radio station it was synchronized with and parking across the street to watch it, we all agreed it was pretty amazing. Our kids loved watching the lights pulse and change with the music. Cooper and Kale were almost absolutely silent the whole time, except for a few excited exchanges about the pretty lights. As usual our fun time was cut short because someone had to go the bathroom........sigh..........but, it was still a very fun way to spend a Tuesday night and we got home right at bedtime.

We also had a little surprise yesterday. While driving home after picking up Kendle from piano lessons, my mom called me. She asked where we were and said she was at our house. She had brought us a Christmas surprise. A whole box of presents - one to be opened each day until Christmas. To say my kids were jazzed up would be an understatement. They were so excited to wake up this morning and open the present for the 1st day of Christmas! My mom labeled them all so we know which one to open each day. She is doing it for our WHOLE family. So all of my siblings are opening their gifts on the same days. It is so fun! I think it is an awesome idea. Our gift today was a box of delicious homemade fudge and candy and a Manheim Steamroller Christmas CD. The kids were stoked! They begged me to give them each a little bit of grandma's fudge before school and I even let Kendle take some in her lunch. She said all the kids in her class would be so jealous. Our family loves Manheim Steamroller as well and I know we will all enjoy listening to the music. (Riley calls it his type of Christmas music)

We are also looking forward to opening our service advent each day and doing good and thoughtful things for others this time of year. Kendle has a project at school to try and do as many random acts of kindness that they can and then they give a little speech about it in class before Christmas break. I think that is one of the most excellent things to do with grade school age children. She had lots of good ideas of things she wanted to do. We are feeling the Christmas spirit!

Cozy Saturday

It's been a white frosty couple of days making everything winter white outside with a tiny skiff of snow dusting the ground this afternoon. Today I managed to do an overhaul on my craft closet and get it all cleaned out and organized before the holiday madness hits. I can safely say now I can find all the ribbons, bows, wrapping paper and bags that I will need in the next few weeks. I made Riley take the kids and get out of the house for a few hours so I could get a little peace and quiet. This is what I did while they were gone:

1. Treated myself to some amazingly delicious hot pumpkin spice cocoa and cookies.

2. Put our family advent calendar together and hung it by our tree.

3. Turned on some Christmas tunes and the fireplace.

4. Put my feet up in front of the fire and got comfy with a good book.

This was exactly what I needed today and the perfect way to relax.

Christmas 2010

{Some pictures from Christmas morning after the chaos has been tamed somewhat}

Christmas morning was really something and I think it gets better and better every year with how much we get a kick out the kids and the enjoyment we see them having. Santa was probably better to us than we deserved. Kendle is always the first one awake, then we had to wake Morgan up and remind him that Santa came the night before. The twins we let sleep in for a little while longer and that worked out great actually because then they could do their stockings and presents after most of the chaos was over. Riley and I were each running on about 3 1/2 hours of sleep, but it was totally worth it.

And so Christmas is now over.  I am packing up my Christmas decorations today and thinking of the song "I Cry the Day that I Take the Tree Down" from The Forgotten Carols.  It is always a bittersweet day. We had a wonderful Christmas holiday and the last week has flown by in a whirlwind of wrapping paper, too much good food, Christmas lights, last minute shopping, melting snow, laughter, staying up way too late, movies, cleaning, and fun. Morgan is still requesting to watch "The Grinch" for the millionth time and I am thinking my cleaning out job before Christmas is going to need another go around to be able to find places for all the new stuff. We have loved all of our extra family time we have been able to squeeze in. I'm so thankful for the special memories we have been able to create with Kendle, Morgan, Cooper and Kale and I can't wait to keep being excited for Christmas along with them for years and years to come.

It's Almost Christmas Break

Today is the last day of school and then we have two full weeks of Christmas break. The last few days I've been busy as a squirrel storing nuts for winter. I've shopped, baked, cleaned, worked out, dealt with a broken dryer, wrapped presents, put decorations back on the tree the twins keep pulling down and watched as the days until Christmas have slowly been dwindling down. I've loved having Riley home every afternoon after work and I'm dreading him starting soccer again in January.

I'm also a little annoyed today.  I'm really tired of our school not letting the kids have holiday parties. Is it the school's or the teachers? Once again, I have to watch my daughter head off to school totally dejected because no holiday cheer is to be had in her class. LAME! I had her dress up in full Christmas colors and jangly bells anyway. Ha! They can't say it's a money issue because us parents would sign up to bring treats and whatever else was needed in to the class. Also, no Christmas concerts/plays/programs. DOUBLE LAME! I have so many fun memories from my childhood of our class parties and school programs that it makes me sad for Kendle to not have any of that. I can remember being Blitzen in my kindergarten program and Mrs. Snowman in first grade. We looked forward to it every year. It is seriously unbelievable to me that things like that are becoming a thing of the past. Ok, glad I got that off my chest. :)

Riley was having his work Christmas party/meeting today and spent all day yesterday smoking the ribs for it. My fridge and kitchen have smelled like garlic for the last 24 hours and I'm glad he finally packed those babies up this morning and I can have it start smelling like Christmas again and not a BBQ joint. To him that smell is heavenly, to me it just smells like campfire.

I am so stoked because as of this morning I have lost 10 pounds since I started running in September! It has been really tough, I won't lie. I have to literally drag myself onto the treadmill some days, but it's awesome to see the hard work paying off. I know if I followed a better diet the weight would probably be coming off quicker, but hey - I like to eat yummy food. My other goal was that I wanted to be able to run an 8 minute mile by Christmas. Today I ran it in 8:15. I'm getting closer every day. Realistically, I don't know if I can run much faster on the treadmill than I'm already running before I just fly off of there. I think it's easier on a track or the road to sprint really hard. Think I can make it to my goal by Christmas? We shall see. The best part isn't just losing the weight, but I am also feeling better and having more energy and feeling strong so that is all good. My next goal is to lose another 10 pounds by the end of March. I think slowly but surely is the best way to lose weight and keep it off.

I'm excited I get to catch up with my gal pals tonight and enjoy some yummy dinner. Tomorrow night we are doing Riley's family Christmas party at his brother's just a few block's away. I think we have a fun weekend in store.

The Magic of Christmas

I love the age that Morgan is at right now. Three year olds LOVE Christmas. They love everything to do with it. The tree, the treats, Santa, the presents, the snow, Christmas carols, the Christmas lights, Christmas movies...........

It is also a wonderful time of year to get him to be good because Santa and his elves are watching. He was so excited to go see Santa Claus to tell him what he wanted for Christmas (which was a Woody and Buzz Light Year toy.) Every day he asks if it is time for Christmas yet. I can't wait to see his face on Christmas morning.

As my mom pointed out to me, Morgan looks like such a big boy in this picture. He suddenly doesn't look like my tiny little buddy anymore. He is getting so tall and strong. I'm going to miss the excitement he has for everything as he continues to grow older. I wish we all could keep that magic of Christmas we feel at this age.

Kendle has already moved on from believing in Santa, but I'm quick to remind her that only those that believe in Santa receive presents from him under the tree. We had a good little chat the other night as well about how "Santa Claus" isn't  just a matter of believing or not, but that he embodies the spirit of fun and giving at Christmas time and that we can all be "Santa's" to other people during this special holiday time (and that we don't want to ruin the fun for the little ones.) I think she got it. And she still wanted to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas after all.

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time."

  ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Good Buys

With this freeeeeeezing cold, snowy weather we have had the last few days, I am so glad I made a few recent purchases that have come in handy to keep things toasty and warm around here.


These performance fleece lounge pants I bought a few weeks ago from Old Navy are seriously like wearing an electric blanket around.

They are THAT warm. Every time I put them on I think - man, these are the comfiest pants I've ever owned and I wish I had about ten pairs of them and that they were totally socially acceptable to wear everywhere. I'm going to watch for some after Christmas sales and see if I can snatch up another pair or two. Since I have a little longer legs, I opted to buy these in the tall size and am so glad I did. Nothing is worse than short legged pajama pants. I like when I can curl my feet up inside them if my feet get cold. Is that weird? My feet are like ice this time of year. Anything to help keep them warm is good by me.


My other favorite thing is this Back to Basics Cocoa-Latte Hot Drink Maker.

It is awesome. For the last few years I've tried finding these in stores with no luck, and then a few weeks ago I found one on Amazon for a great deal. {I just looked this morning and they still have them marked way down with free shipping.} These are great because it automatically shuts off when it reaches the perfect temperature and then automatically reheats when needed. So if you want to keep it plugged in all day for convenience to have a warm drink when the need hits you, it's always ready and waiting. It also has a frothing button which really takes it from plain hot cocoa to sooooo much better. Our family has absolutely loved it so far and we've used it non-stop the last few days. The little recipe book that came with it has some delicious recipes we've been trying out and one of our favorites so far just uses milk, brown sugar, butter, and a little vanilla. It tastes like a hot milkshake. YUM!

Anywho, just thought these were some good ideas if you didn't already have some of things you could sneak onto your wish list for Santa.

*Post Edit - I forgot to include links for these items so here they are:

Hot Drink Maker

Fleece Lounge Pants

Our Christmas

Christmas Eve my parents, Tucker, and Tamra came up. Riley's mother joined us after she got done with church. We had yummy snacky type food and did the usual Christmas Eve traditions of singing some carols and letting the kids open a gift which is always pajamas. It was a fun and relaxing evening. Before bed, Kendle left her letter and some cookies for Santa on the dining table and then sprinkled food for the reindeers all over the front lawn with Morgan's help. She was getting him excited for Santa to come.












This was a very different Christmas for us this year, due in large part to the babies. Usually Riley and I are so excited to get the kids up early, this year Kendle came in at 5:00 after Riley and I had just put the babies back to sleep. We told her to get back in bed and wait a little longer. I hated to put a damper on her excitement, but we were way too tired. I knew they would not be able to stand waiting for very long though so we got the kids up around 6:30 or so while the twins slept on. Stockings were first, and I loved watching Morgan's little face as he pulled things out one by one. The new sunglasses and tie were cool, but when he got to the bottom where the candy was, his eyes got super big and he thought he had struck gold. I think he could have stopped right there and been perfectly content. Little ones are so easy to please. I guess Santa figured the children had been good afterall this year and he left some good gifts for them. It was fun to watch their happy little faces.

As per Dodson family tradition, after opening our gifts, we jumped in the car in our pajamas and raced down to my parents house in Oregon to enjoy the rest of the Christmas festivities. Well, that's how it usually goes. This year it took us a little longer to get there. We enjoyed our stay with them and all of the delicious food and snacks my mom always makes, not to mention all of the help my parents and Tamra were with the babies. The following day my mom treated the kids and I to a movie (The Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel). It was Morgan's first movie and he LOVED it. He was so good and liked all of the music in it.

All in all we had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Break

It is Monday afternoon, the start of "Christmas Week". The month of December is passing us by faster than ever before. Wasn't it just Thanksgiving? The children are getting anxious for Santa to come, and starting to feel the crunch of trying to squeeze in all of their good deeds before it's too late. Kendle has been trying especially hard to help out around the house and with the babies and it's something I really appreciate.

This morning, after a long night of babies who had no intentions of going back to sleep, I began the process of getting the house back in order after our two early birds had been playing out in the living room and helping themselves to a bowl of cereal or two in the kitchen. Bottles, burp rags, and baby clothing adorned the family room and ottoman. I don't know how I leave the house clean at night and then wake up to a war zone every morning, but it definitely happens. Four hours later, I am finally sitting down for a (somewhat) quiet moment after tidying up, bathing and dressing Morgan and the twins, feeding the babies, throwing in a load of laundry, changing Kale's clothes again, taking Morgan to the bathroom (yep, potty training is a blast) loading and starting the dishwasher, feeding everyone lunch, putting the babies to sleep, cleaning up lunch, and eating a quick bowl of cereal - I never get to eat breakfast anymore unless it's around lunch time. I have been so busy lately, it has taken me awhile to get into the Christmas spirit and I have felt a bit Grinchy, but I put the Christmas music on this morning and I'm coming around and getting a bit more excited.

I'm wishing I had more time to do all of the fun things I enjoy this time of year like baking and taking time to shop and wrap cute gifts, but I'm also enjoying a more simplistic season without the pressures to constantly be checking off a gazillion things on my to do list. I am feeling like my load is lighter and I'm way less stressed than I was around Christmas time last year. I am feeling a bit bad (mom guilt) for Kendle and Morgan, but have some fun activities lined up to do this week. We are going to go look at Christmas lights, see the reindeer, make some Christmas cookies, watch lots of Christmas movies, read Christmas stories, do some Christmas projects, and enjoy time with our family.

We all better be good because Santa is watching................

***

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me............

.................... 2 crying babies and a partridge in a pear tree.

Can't you tell from this picture we are getting in the Christmas spirit around our place?

Christmas In Pictures

It was Cozy

It was Bright

It was Merry

It was White!

We had a wonderful time with all of our friends and family this Christmas Season. It will be a hard one to top!