Real Snow

It's official, the kids all firmly believe there is ALWAYS snow during a Cincinnati Winter.  While visiting our families for the New Year's weekend, we had a blanket of snow all 4 days.  Our Southern kids don't ever remember seeing snow for so many consecutive days! 

Along with cousins, the kids took a trip to our old sled-riding-stomping-grounds, and even took a ride on Great Grandma Vee's Flexible Flyer as its fourth generation riders. 

Daddy is such a good sled-riding sport : )

Good Knight

Our backyard protector, the Good Knight!

Birthday

Happy Birthday Mike!

The kids fully believe Dad turned 23 . . . and reminded everyone that Mom is 32.  

Hmmmm. . . 

I guess in the mind of a child, any age over 12 is really old! 

Snow!

It's a rare treat to have snow in Tennessee.  It was quite magical to get a glorified dusting of snow the day after Christmas. . . it was hardly an inch, but we made the most of  snowfall.

Last year, missed out on any accumulated snow - flurries was the most we ever saw.  So this was the first "real" snow for Hiwot and Tesfaye.  They know all about it though, they've been hearing about snow for 18 months.  Tesfaye couldn't wait for snow ice cream, snowball fights, and sledding (he's been talking about playing in the snow for the past 6 months!).

It was amusing to realize his assumed perception was different from the reality of a backyard snowfall.  Tesfaye couldn't wait to get outside and retrieve our sleds from storage.  As I pulled out our three sleds, he again insisted I get the sleds out.  I assured him that these were indeed the sleds.  "No! The sled, the long sled you tie to shoe!  The two sled!" - I realized he had envisioned snow SKIS.  Of course.   It made sense.  He had never seen backyard sledding.  I wrongly assumed after all of our talk about sledding he knew what it was . . . all the while he figured we were talking about skiing, which we had seen in movies.  He was incredibly disappointed to learn we never get enough snow (let alone having big enough hills) for true downhill skiing. He insisted on going downhill standing on the sled.

We played outside until thoroughly frozen-through, snow angels, snow balls, mini-snow sculptures, and managing to scrape together enough semi-clean snow for ice cream, we warmed up inside with steaming mugs of cocoa.  The kids eagerly added cream, vanilla, and sugar to our bowl of snow for our snow ice cream.  Tesfaye was by far the most excited.   Unfortunately, the poor boy was again disappointed.  He had expected the snow ice cream to taste exactly like true ice cream - it's similar, it's delicious, but quite a different breed.

Hopefully, now that Tesfaye has gained a more realistic perception of backyard snow play, we will be fortunate to receive a few good snow falls for us to enjoy this Winter.

We made the most of this introductory dusting, and sure did have fun!

Cookie Machine

We are a well-oiled-cookie-machine! 
This year, our master decorators iced 22 dozen cookies.   We have enjoyed quite a lot ourselves, and have had fun delivering plates of cookies to neighbors and friends (along with singing a few carols on their doorsteps : )
What a delicious way to spread Christmas Cheer!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning of gift-giving and receiving was incredibly exciting in our household.  It was important for us to keep the remainder of this day low-key with good family together time. 

The kids, determinedly dove into projects: crafting new necklaces, building new Lego sets, and creating fantastic hex bug mazes. (While we prep dinner).

 With dinner cooking in the oven, we all took a break to decorate Round 2 of Christmas cookies (bringing our 2012 decorated cookie total to 22 dozen!).

After our holiday feast, we frosted a very special cake for dessert: Jesus' Birthday Cake.  Christmas is the day we celebrate our Savior's birth - in the eyes of our children, it only makes sense to celebrate with an enthusiastic round of "Happy Birthday" and cake.  (earlier we celebrated with presents!).

The final tradition on Christmas Day is to play our family game.  Gaming is a big part of our family culture, and we always look forward to learning a new game together on Christmas.

Christmas Morning

After such a magical day on Christmas Eve, we try our hardest to maintain our focus on why Christmas is important in our faith - although this is difficult in the face of a pile of presents under the tree!

We take a pause before diving into the gift-giving excitement of Christmas to focus on the first gift of Christmas.  The first present of the day - a great tradition from Amy's family - is to unwrap baby Jesus from each of the manger sets.  We actually wrap up four baby Jesus', one in each of our nativity sets, to allow more kids the special opportunity of unwrapping Jesus.   This is the perfect opportunity for us to teach the kids (again) about the wonderful gift that was given to humanity 2000 years ago.
 

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, 

and they shall call his name immanuel

(which means God with us).

Matthew 1:23

Then it's on to the crazy fun of stockings.  This is the only part of the day when we let chaos reign!  The kids open all theirs' simultaneously, with shredded paper flying through the air.  We keep stocking stuffers simple and fun: play-doh, crayons, baseball cards, Hotwheels, bubble bath, Lego mini-figures, coloring books, Chapstick, toothbrushes, and a little bit of candy (we limit our stocking budget to $10 per child). 

After taking a break to enjoy the stocking gifts and cinnamon rolls, we move on to the presents under the tree.  With a family our size, it's impressive pile of gifts!  We limit ourselves to $15 per child, out-of-town family sent additional gifts, and the kids each spent their own money on gifts for each other . . . that's 3 gifts for everyone plus a few fun family presents - all that really adds up under a tree.  What a joy!  We feel incredibly blessed to be able to gift our children with so much Christmas morning. (Legos, dress-ups, craft kits, board games, books!)

This year was the first where the kids bought for each other out of their chore money.  We are so proud of our big boys for thoughtfully picking presents and learning about the giving (i.e. better) side of the gift exchange.  The presents from siblings were some of the most exciting gifts opened this year!

One rule that may be called draconian is that no presents may be opened if there is wrapping paper on the floor.  Trust us, with 8 kids, this is necessary to maintain sanity and prevent lost gifts. We also take turns opening - it's so much fun to slow down and enjoy each child's joyful reactions : )

What a special day. 
What a joyful occasion.
What a fun celebration.

What a blessing!

Christmas Eve

Christmas is the most wonderful time of year.  A time for celebrating the birth of our Savior, a time to be with family, a time to be intentional . . .

We made the choice to not "do" Santa Claus in our home.  Our kids know about Saint Nicholas, the 4th century patron saint of children, they know the Christmas "Santa" traditions, but they don't believe in "Santa."  "Santa" is not bad, it can be a lot of fun.  But we don't want that "fun" to distract from the true meaning of Christmas.  The birth of a Savior is awesome!

As a family, we still allow "Santa" to be a part of the festivities, but the kids know it's a make-believe story like Frosty or Rudolph or Buddy the Elf.  The NORAD website is an established tradition in our home, but the kids know where the presents really come from!

Some of our favorite Christmas Eve traditions:

• the aforementioned NORAD website all day
• watching "Christmas at Yellowstone" on pbs.org
• hanging the stockings
• interactive (Biblical) Christmas story where each kid plays a part
• singing carols (new for 2012...we think this one will stick)
• Day 24 of the Jessee Tree devotional series
• traditional Christmas dinner
• listening to the Cincinnati Pops Christmas CD
• staying up late and wrapping presents!

It is never our desire for traditions to become the focus of the holiday, because they aren't.  We intend to use our traditions to bring our family closer together in worship.

Handmade Holiday

Christmas is a wonderful time for sharing God's love and giving gifts . . . it's also a great excuse for getting crafty.  We love handmade holiday gifts!

This year's gift projects:

Wooden Ornaments.
The kids used acrylic paints to decorate wooden balls found at our local craft supply store.  We screwed eye hooks into each ball and added hanging ribbons.  After a couple coats of high-gloss clear-coat, the balls are ready to hang on the tree.

Felt hands.
I have stitched together simple felt hands for each kid's first Christmas.  This year, Maclaren's hands were traced and now her hands grace our tree : )

Picture Ornaments:

 Felt Crowns:
Inspired by the beautiful crowns found on this blog.

Felt Superhero Masks, for all of the kids : )

Capes.
Knights cape for Kolpin, Wonderwoman capes for the girls.

Simple Elastic-waist Skirts.

Little Red Riding Hood Capes.
Lined capes to be used as dress-ups or outerwear : )