Christmas day

Christmas has come and gone.  While we are somewhat sad, we also have had a lot of fun and have some great memories to look back on.  We enjoy Christmas day, because it is a very relaxed day.  We do not plan anything so that we can go at our own pace.  After letting everyone sleep in as long as they would like, we enjoy a nice breakfast and some play time.  Soon enough, the lure of the gifts sitting under the tree and hanging in the stockings becomes too great, and we gather round the advent house for one last door to open: baby Jesus, ready to lay in the manger.

Fire: Check.  Stockings hung: Check.

Waiting for the last door to open.

Soon after, we begin the process of opening gifts.  We like to let each person take a turn, allowing everyone to see what was in the gift, and also to allow the one opening a chance to play with or investigate the gift before moving on.  Like I said, we have all day, why not make the most of it.

Ian opens while Eliza waits.

The gift wrap is as much fun as the gifts.

A reminder that it is not always fun and games. Or sunshine and rainbows.

Stephanie's mother joined us for Christmas day while Jason's family came out the day after Christmas.  It was two very fun days and a great time of fun with family.

Nine Simpsons in one house.

Christmas break fun

Our apologies for being somewhat quiet for the past week.  We have been enjoying some of the sights and activities around town now that we are on break.  It has been nice to pick and choose our schedule, not having to rush somewhere to make it for just an hour or so.  Our adventures this past week have included going to Jolly Days at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.  They have a fun baking area for the kids to create some fun holiday treats and meals.

A sandwich and cupcake.  Yum!

There is also an 'ice skating' rink, where the kids can slide around in their socks.  It is just slippery enough for the kids to twirl around and slide a foot or two, but not so bad that they careen out of control.  

Man down! Man down! (he's fine, laughing actually)

The kids have the chance to get up close to some of Santa's reindeer to brush their fur and feed them some lichen.

Pretty reindeer, soft reindeer.

An activity that spans the whole area is a scavenger hunt/checklist for the kids to do, and if they are successful, they can earn their elf ears.  Way to go!

4 little elves went out to play...

Of course, what would a winter time trip to the Children's Museum be without a run down the slide.  This year, Caroline was begging to go down the slide from the moment we pulled into the parking garage.  Lydia was very clear that she did not want to ride, but Ian was gung-ho about hitting the slopes.  This of course gave me the chance to have a go at the slide myself.

Weeeee!

Our adventures also took us to the State Museum to visit Celebration Junction, located on the third floor.  I mention that, because the lobby is an awesome 3 stories high, and once you travel up the elevator, you have a really cool view looking down.  This time of year gives a great vantage point for all of the decorations that adorn the lobby.  They have a replica train of the one that used to run through the downtown L.S. Ayres store that you can ride.  It takes you in a short loop, where you get to see some fun critters playing in the snow, and there is even a fun friend waiting to pass out a surprise along the way.

Riding the rails.

After the train ride, we did a scavenger hunt for some hidden items in a mural on the wall.  It changes each year, so there is always something new to find.


Our travels took us next door to the State Museum for Jingle Rails at the Eiteljorg Museum. This exhibit was way beyond what I was expecting.  To quickly sum it up, Ian was slack jawed and wide eyed the whole time.  Not only is it model trains chugging through various settings, but everything is made out of wood.  All of the bridges, buildings and landscape has been carefully crafted out of wood pieces.  It was a beautiful exhibit that alone was worth admission.

Look! Train!

We then headed downstairs for the interactive family experience, which is a place with some fun hands on activities for everyone.  Down there you can set up and raise a totem pole, learn some basket weaving, what life in a hogan is like, dress up for the period and what a stage coach was like.  This was a fun area that we spent over an hour in, working in each area.

She made it 8 seconds, then wanted down.

And now here we are at Christmas Eve.  A tradition that we have is letting the kids open one present.  They receive new pajamas each year, and this lets them get out a little bit of that 'I want to open a present' tension, and they get fun new sleep wear for this most magical of nights.

Posed shot turns into tissue paper fight!

Each year, I find myself sitting, contemplating, enjoying the still and silent time that Christmas Eve brings.  I take the time to reflect on the past month, glancing at our advent house, thinking about what we have done to lead up to this point.  I ponder the new memories made, the experiences had, the new found understanding of what Christmas is and what this season has to offer.  I smile to myself as I wind down.  God is in his place, all is well with the world.

Merry Christmas.

Slow my roll

Admittedly, it is my nature to have a plan or a schedule, hit the ground running in the morning, and try to keep going through the day.  I like the feeling of staying busy and feeling that I am accomplishing something each moment.  I end up hurrying from one thing to another.


Today was the first day of Christmas break.  The first day that I didn't have any commitments to work that I had to worry about.  The first day that I wasn't trying to get things done and cram them in because I've had a busy week and am anticipating another one.  Today was the first day to get to all of the fun, Christmasy stuff that I have been wanting to.  So, did I hit the ground running this morning, rallying the troops to get a move on?


No.


We slept in.


Every person got up when they were ready to.  Some of us hours before others.


I went to bed last night with the intentional thought of not planning anything, not trying to cram everything into today.  Instead, we had a late breakfast, played for awhile, enjoyed a light lunch, and then got on with the day.


It was GREAT!


We then went up to Conner Prairie for their Holidays on the Prairie activities.  On the weekends they have some of the buildings open in Prairie Town for guests to interact with the characters.  It is fun to get into the period with them and banter back and forth.  They also have a gingerbread house competition on display inside the main building.  This part is open for the rest of the season.  Next in line was Discovery Station, their indoor play area for the kids with a market, train station, and farming activities.  This area is always a hit with the kids.

Eliza ready to do some yard work.

Lydia picked an armful of apples.

Caroline and Ian working in the wood shop.

We headed home for a nice dinner of beef, potatoes and carrots that had been simmering all day in the slow cooker (see, more slowing down).  Afterwards, we enjoyed a live nativity put on by Epworth UMC.  They have some live animals from Conner Prairie, warm fires, cookies, and a large collection of nativities from around the world.  

Something that I have to remind myself of, and I pass along:  Slow down.  Take in what this holiday season has to offer.  I think that I will be better off if I miss a few things on my to do list but really enjoy the things that I do get to.  Try it for yourself.

The village and a boy

Last night we had a fun time building a gingerbread village for our advent activity.  We used a kit by Wilton that contains 5 buildings, which is very handy when you have several kids that each want to put their own design touch into the creation.  We used the same kit last year, and it seemed to work out well enough that we went for it again this year.  Stephanie and Eliza teamed up to put together one of the houses while the rest of us picked our own to work with. I like that each of the buildings is a different shape, so there is no competition of whose is done better, each one is a unique creation.  Ok, starting to sound like a Sunday School lesson, on with the photos!

Jason piping out the icing

Eliza is using the force to hold the roof up.

Tornado Ian struck, so Jason is re-erecting the house. 

The village all lined up.  The house on the left is what Caroline made at school.

Close up.

They didn't stay upright, but didn't fall over, either.

This evening Ian had his Christmas program for the Early Childhood Center at Church at the Crossing.  Since it is all 2-5 year olds, the kids are on stage for a quick song and then get to go back to Mom and Dad.  Short attention spans on the kids part = short show, and with cookies afterwards for a sugar buzz, everyone wins!

Ian rocking the claps, and I thought he would be the one not into it.

Cookies!

We made our first round of Christmas cookies with the kids tonight for our Advent activity. First, we mixed up Stephanie's favorite sugar cookies to chill overnight and bake tomorrow. She has a reprint of the same 1960's Betty Crocker Cooky Book that her mom used when Stephanie  was a child, so we include many of the same Christmas cookie recipes that she's made for 25+ years in our holiday baking each year.


Once the sugar cookie dough was chilling, we mixed up, cut out and baked a few dozen gingerbread cookies together. Thankfully, things went smoothly, so there are no epic stories, but here are some photos from our evening:

Eliza decided to play with the butter box. 

Waiting patiently for instructions.

Adding ingredients.

More ingredients.

Someone sneaking a taste of the dough. She thought she snuck it.

Cutting out the cookies.

Getting them ready for the oven.

Waiting to bake. Messy hands.  Good times.

Decorating with snow

So as my wife so ecstatically put it earlier this evening, "It looks like Buddy the Elf has visited our house!"  For those of you that don't know who that is (and by now I will admit I am a bit surprised at your obliviousness), Buddy is the character that Will Ferrell played in the movie, Elf.


This evening, we opened door number four from our advent house (follow the link to read about it).  The slip of paper instructed us to decorate the doors of our home.  We pulled out ribbons, bows, wrapping paper, tape and scissors.  The safety kind that are made for the kids to use. To cut paper.  Responsibly.  Under adult supervision.  


Anyways, the kids then set out to decorate anything less than 4 feet high.  They had to come to me to get tape to hang things, so I was able to (constantly) guide them towards the door that we were currently decorating.  Moving swiftly from bag of bows and ribbon to dad for tape to each door throughout the house, the kids soon had each door sparkling  and rattling with ribbons and bows with Stephanie following behind to re-stick items that were falling off from being too hastily hung.  


Then came out the paper.  As a side note, we both admit that we have pack rat tendencies, and this holds true for wrapping paper.  We have a box filled with previously used paper, sometimes four or five times, that we will reuse as many times as we can for smaller and smaller gifts.  This is made possible by our meticulous opening of gifts to preserve the wrapping.  The kids just shred stuff.  They have more fun, hands down.  So, culling from this resource, I procured some remnants for the children to cut up or fold to their liking for decorating purposes.  They mostly stuck rectangle-esque pieces to the doors to represent presents.  I was able to fold some pieces for a more three dimensional representation.  


Then we pulled out some white paper and sat the kids down at the table to start creating our snow flakes.  The original intent was to make a few for each person, but I sort of brought over a large stack of paper (no short supply, see pack rat tendencies), so we just went at it until the paper ran out.  After a quick tutorial on how to fold and cut the paper, and seeing the results, the kids were off in a flurry of paper scraps and cutting sounds.  I had a hard time keeping up with them both in having paper ready and making my own snowflakes.  Meanwhile the sparkle in my wife's eye just got brighter and brighter the more flakes we cut.  I did not realize the decorating plans that she had in her mind, and that it was growing with each flake that we cut out. 


I will admit, I thought that this had the potential to be a 20 minute activity and that the kids would probably throw a few things on two doors and then get distracted.  What happened was almost 2 hours of paper shredding fun.  Yes, we made a big mess, but did we ever have fun doing it.


These are the Christmas memories I want to make.  Thanks kids!

Caroline working on their bedroom door. 

Ian hanging wrapping paper up.

Stephanie demonstrates how to fold the paper for snowflakes.

Eliza had fun playing with all of the scraps and watching.

The aftermath.  Peekaboo, Lydia.

The fruits of our labor.  They are strung all around the house.

Advent: What are you doing while you wait?

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a purest when it comes to celebrating the Christmas season. I'm outspoken in my stance of not being a fan of Winter and choose to cling to Autumn for as long as it is around--to the bitter end of November.


However, December 1st is upon us, and with that, our family joyously ushers in the Advent season and throws open the door widely to celebrate this time of waiting in anticipation of Christmas. Waiting is a life lesson that I am still learning into my 30's, and I expect that I always will be in that process. But when you are little, waiting is a challenge of near impossibility--especially if what you are waiting for is Christmas! For our family, this means a day full of special meals, a few small gifts to open, a crackling fire in the fireplace and a day spent together at home with our little family and no agenda--and the arrival of Baby Jesus to our Nativities.


That's a lot to look forward to. And that's exactly why we celebrate the Advent season of waiting by celebrating each day in December leading up to Christmas in a special way, making each day exciting as we wait and count down to Christmas.


A few years ago I picked up a small wooden house to serve as our family's Advent calendar and each day from December 1-25 we open a door and find an Advent activity for the day.

The list of activities that we have planned for this year are as follows. They are in no particular order, and subject to change. As much as I plan ahead, I am also a last-minute kind of gal--so if something comes up that sounds fun, it may be added to the list as well!

• Make Christmas Countdown chain
• Decorate the doors inside our home
• Visit Celebration Crossing at Indiana State Museum

Caroline and Ian ride the LS Ayres train at Celebration Crossing.

• Go to Christmas at the Zoo
• Visit Jolly Days at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum

Ice Fishing at Jolly Days at the Children's Museum

• Go see the Gingerbread Village and Christmas events at Conner Prairie
• See Jingle Rails at the Eiteljorg Museum
• Visit a live Nativity (we like the one put on at Epworth United Methodist Church)
• Bake and Decorate Christmas cookies (this takes more than one day!)
• Deliver cookies to our neighbors
• Go see the Christmas lights at Reynold’s Farm Equipment
• Attend Ian’s preschool Christmas program
• Pack Spread Some Cheer boxes for Crosspoint
• Make a gingerbread village

Ian works on his Gingerbread house last year.

• Make ornaments for our Christmas tree
• Make a Christmas gift for grandparents
• Mail and ship Christmas cards/packages
• Make and wrap gifts for teachers
• Attend a Christmas Eve service at Crosspoint
• Watch a Christmas movie
• Read a Christmas book
• Read the Christmas story from Luke Chapter 2
• Color Christmas pictures
• Visit the Gingerbread Bazaar at Heritage
• Go Christmas caroling at a local nursing home

Another great source for more Advent activities is the Family Fun website. Also, you likely have unique holiday activities and events in your area that can be included as part of your Advent celebration.

This year we are also adding in a scripture reading each day that goes along with the Jesse Tree idea of tying all of scripture together, leading up to the birth of Christ. While I don't plan to go all out with a tree and elaborate ornaments this year, I appreciate tying the Bible stories that our children are learning together in a meaningful way. And knowing myself and my kids, we'll probably make a little tree and create our own ornaments as we go.

The season of Advent is upon us. What will you be doing while you wait?