christmas

christmas is so much more exciting with young children in the house. i love being the mom who gets to coordinate the christmas and advent activities, and create traditions and stimulate the excitement that the kids have for this day.

my mom was like that in our household growing up. she died when i was 15, and we tried to keep a semblance of christmas together for a year or two, but the magic had flown. i remember that first christmas; here's how my dad did presents: we all went on a shopping outing at some point in december. he gave us each $50 and told us to buy ourselves christmas presents, and to meet back in an hour. it was kinda fun, but it wasn't christmas. my mom had always known what to get that we would love, even though we never made christmas lists in our family. after a few years we didn't even bother setting up the tree anymore because we couldn't be bothered to take it back down again. i am so glad that it has all become fun for me again.

the other thing i grew up with in my family and plan to continue for my children is the lack of the santa claus fable. of course we knew "about" santa claus--how can you not these days--but my parents never made him out to be real, and i am grateful. people who grew up with the fable of s.c., for example, and then become christians, have the dilemma of what to do about santa, because they remember how magical it was to believe in him, and yet probably don't want their kids having that focus instead of Jesus. for me--not an issue at all, see? i didn't know what i was missing! christmas, let me tell you, is magical for a child, period. santa or no santa.

well every time december rolls around, i start singing christmas carols to sparrow in the car. i know she loves it when i do these things for her. this year she would ask for christmas songs at various times. like one night when she was going to bed. "can i have a christmas carol?" "ok," i said, "which one do you want? joy to the world, deck the halls, or silent night?" she said, "duck to the holes!" alright!
"duck to the holes with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, lala la laaaaaaa..."

another great christmas moment happened this year when we encountered our neighbor janny out in the parking lot one morning. she was wearing a sweater with houses, snow, snowman, etc. depicted on it. sparrow said, "is janny wearing a christmas sweater?"
me: "yeah!"
sp: "christmas lives in winter."
j: "and you live in warm weather."
sp: "no, i live in january!"
oh, naturally! i was half expecting her to say california.

it was a lovely christmas season. we did advent every night that we could manage it, including a wreath with candles, and a jesse tree with specific readings about jesus' ancestors, and crafts. i haven't got a lot of advent songs down yet, but christmas songs work just as well. i cut out a jesse tree out of paper grocery bags (the blank back side) and made up the crafts as we went along. i had gotten some suggestions for characters and their symbols from a website (abraham-star, boaz-sandal, etc.) but we improved the craft and method according to our materials and creativity. sparrow still asks for advent crafts, and the jesse tree looks so fun that i don't want to take it down!

we celebrated christmas eve and christmas a day early because we were supposed to be traveling on the 25th. it was all really fun, i made a nice dinner on our "christmas eve." and mince pies--vegetarian (the idea of sweet beef grosses me out)--which i had been really excited to try, but have concluded that a simple apple pie is more satisfying. and we read the nativity story and had good family times.

From december 08

From december 08

on our "christmas day" we had french toast, bacon (which i seem to never eat anymore but on christmas), sweet chicken apple sausage, and opened presents and packages from germany! these are my favorite nowadays. my sister sent a fabulous one, as did this woman erika motzkus, who was like a second mother to my mom. she never forgets us at christmas time, even though i bet it's been over 10 years since i've seen her. it's not christmas without the german chocolate. a friend had given me money to buy sparrow (and golden) christmas presents, so i had thought about it and ended up buying her s bunch of clothes, which she really needed. i had gotten a bit panicky about which gimmicky toys she would like best and then i remembered: she doesn't need more "stuff." she says she wants something but usually doesn't end up playing with things that much unless i am playing with her. what she needs is more focused time with me. that is what she'll remember. but i had the best time picking out clothes at naartjie. we had been praying for months for some long-sleeved shirts for sparrow, expecting them to show up at the doorstep, but this is how God provided for that. along with another friend who had asked us what she needed and bought shirts for her! her really special present was a pair of real ballet slippers. she had been confiscating golden's mary-jane socks and stretching/wearing them out, calling them her ballet slippers, so i thought it might be time she get some real ones. melissa had also found a kids' ballet bar and saved it for us. the other favorite was a pink suitcase/backpack with stuffed pig included, from uncle. and a pink princess blanket/pillowcase that i had found at ross several months earlier, and had saved for chritmas. as for golden, she didn't care that she didn't get much. the only year i can get away with that! but i wrapped for her a little stuffed dog and soft blankie that cybil had given me for golden's baby shower. and a blanket that larry and paula had handed down, that we hadn't used yet. basically, golden just wanted to eat the paper and curly ribbons. yeah!

we had several soups, as well as crackers with a cheese torta thing, dates, cuties, cookies, etc. set out to eat throughout the day. the soups was an idea from one of the MOPS ladies. she said her family never cooks big meals on christmas but has a variety of soups cause no one wants to be that busy in the kitchen all day long. what a brilliant suggestion. plus, it was really christmas eve for everyone else, so we were going to church in the evening. i think we should have church on christmas night every year. a great way to end christmas. and when the kids were in bed, i listened to christmas music and sipped mulled wine while i packed our things for arizona. too lovely, and the weather all cold outside. see, the kids brought the excitement back into this, but it lingers on even when i am by myself.

From december 08

From december 08

From december 08

From december 08

in our christmas (eve) finery

christmas cards 2008

well... in the interest of saving stamps, time, etc. but mainly stamps, the christmas card will be an e-card again this year. and there will be two of them! here they are:

From december 08

From december 08

sorry that first one is a little small. anyone whose email i have will be getting one emailed anyways. i haven't quite figured out yet how to work the picture function here in the best way yet.

a blessed morning

this morning as we were praying before thomas left the house, sparrow said "pee! pee!" we had JUST asked her before we'd started praying if she had to go potty and she hadn't responded, so i whispered to her now that she would have to go by herself. she ran off in her footed pj's. i was a bit concerned about her ability to get them off in time, but resolved to stay with the prayer. but sure enough, a minute later she started to wail. she had not been able to loosen the button, and had peed all in her pajamas and undies and all over the bathroom floor. i had gotten a pretty good night's sleep, so i wasn't gonna trip too much. it was only pee. we'd clean it.

when thomas left, i resolved to give sparrow a bath so she could wash the pee off. i also planned to wash her hair, which is always an enormous challenge. but i was letting her play in the tub a little before we started that process. i had to tend to golden with something for a few minutes. it was rather quiet in the bathroom. finally i hear sparrow's voice cheerily coming from down the hall, asking me to come in there. i walk in and sparrow says "look, mama!" and points into the tub. whot! poop! she had made a whole loaf in the bath water! i quickly got her out and told her that that was not really an ok place to go poop. then i drained the water, scooped the poop out with paper towels, and cleaned the tub. then she got back in and we did the hair washing. and though i talked to her a lot about pooping and where it's supposed to be done, i can tell you that i was thinking about my great blessing in being a mom to these kids. i should be so lucky as to get to scoop their poop. here's jen and joseph who will forever feel the loss of their baby sarah, and here i am with not one, but two healthy girls. who am i to deserve this. i know i don't. and today that knowledge was with me as i wiped out that tub. on a tired day i might have yelled. but reading the sarah pages blog last night made me completely sober. i was a better mom today because of it.

new and improved baby burping!

thomas and i discovered a new and improved baby-burping method the other week. why the need for such a thing, you ask. well. i was sitting around one day just thinkin' "hm, i wonder what it feels like to golden when i smack her back like this to burp her all the time!" because seriously, the nurses in the hospital will tell you, "don't be shy! don't be timid! give the kid a good solid whack!" i think one of them even laughed at me when i first tried to burp sparrow with nice, gentle taps. well here's news to the nurses and to every mother out there: getting hit on the spine by hard, bony hands is NO fun! it rattles your brain! try it on yourself.

so my innovative husband comes along and takes this information to the next level, creating a back-burping alternative. instead, you can use this very effective method: tap the baby--gently--on the side/back right about where their ribs end, near the stomach, but not on the front side of the belly. (if i had a scanner i would draw an illustration of exactly where and add the visual. perhaps i can do a video tomorrow!) this works so well that the baby usually burps huge burps in a matter of seconds. when thomas tried it on himself, it worked on him too! he wouldn't stop doing it and burping. anyways, the medical/social peeps are soooooo concerned about people shaking their babies (legitimately), and spankings (way too paranoid), yet they inoculate youngsters with poorly tested rabbit-brain, monkey kidney, formaldehyde vaccine cocktails and tell mothers to hit their babies on the back 8 times a day!

golden the smiley and other short tales

golden is an amazingly smiley and sweet baby. she has wide cheeks and it just kills me when i look across the room and she is beaming at me for no reason. she learned to roll over about 2 weeks ago or so, onto her belly. by now she has even rolled herself back a few times. anyways, at first she didn't so much like being on her belly, but she felt the urge to move, so she would roll anyways. then she'd be stuck on her belly and would start to complain a little. now that she can lift herself up with her arms a bit more it is loads more fun. she just stares at everything and smiles. she loves to stare at sparrow in her activities. i just can't believe how mellow she is. at naptime today i put her in her pack-n-play and sparrow in the crib, and told them both to go to sleep. neither of them did, but they were both very quiet, and i must have slept for about half an hour. when i got up, golden was turned all about with her head on the foot end of the pack-n-play, but she was all shiny and happy and sweet!!! m, i want to eat her all up!

we took the girls to the sb museum today. i told sparrow that when we woke up, we would go see picasso. i told her who he was and everything, and she said "he was a man" and "he was a daddy." all true. anyways, she remembered after the nap, because when i asked her to tell daddy what we were gonna see today she whispered "picasso." it was the last day of an exhibit of "picasso on paper," and sundays is free. i was really excited to get to go see it. there was also a gorgeous chagall with the red horse; i think that is one of the museum's permanent pieces, which is SO COOL! i love it. i wanted a shot of me and golden and the chagall, so i stood in front of it with her and took it myself. i love those kinds of pictures, and i was not at all embarrassed to do it, but soon enough someone came along who offered to take the pic. for me so i let them take one too. then i felt a little embarrassed. hee hee! but i do love art.

here are sparrow and thomas with one of the picassos:

From december 08

here is golden with picasso:

From december 08

golden and me with the chagall! sorry about the blur in all of these, they didn't allow flash in the museum.

From december 08

more detail on the horse head

From december 08

the cage

sparrow's favorite toy at the moment is the laundry basket. she goes under the empty basket and says, "you're in a pet store!" she pretends to be a lion or tiger. yesterday she spent 20 straight minutes in "the cage!" she insisted on going in there at nap time. i told her that when she changed her mind about sleeping in the cage, she could come out and get in her bed, but she would have to tuck herself in because i was going to sleep now. and i dozed off. but i was still aware of her little shuffles and sounds 20 minutes later. i realized she hadn't changed her mind, and yet she couldn't fall asleep because she was too cramped, and i couldn't properly fall asleep because she was stirring! HA! i had her get into her bed at that point, shaking my head in confounded awe over her cage-endurance!

tree decorating adventures

today was such a lovely day; the family got to go get a christmas tree at home depot. sparrow and i were REALLY excited and were chanting "christmas tree! christmas tree! we want a christmas tree!" in the car as we waited for thomas to join us. thomas ended up picking out one of the all-tied-up ones without us even looking at it; we were going in faith. and it turned out perfect! it has the gorgeous A-line that you want, with a nice, full bottom. tonight as we decorated it, i was half encouraging sparrow to get involved, half directing her with "NO!"s because she really wanted to throw the globes around and such. she was in complete christmas glee and was jumping around in a fairy dress while vigorously swinging around her crazy purple swirl/bell ornament that she had picked out at the store. this ornament is huge and i don't believe any of the branches on our douglas fir can actually support it, but nevermind. i had told her i would let her pick one out and that is what she chose. i like the tree decorated in just white and red, so it was quite the exercise in restraint for me not to direct her to the red ornaments and say, "no, pick one out from heeeeeere."

well, purple ornament in hand and bouncing around with her dad, she was laughing vigorously until suddenly she began to shriek and jump, crying, "hurt! hurt!" and clutching her bum. wot! we realized she hadn't put her panties back on after going potty last time around, and that she had scooted onto a pine needle! thomas got it off her and showed her what it was, but she made no change in her behavior and kept screaming "hurt, hurt!" and dancing about. i thought there might be a spider in her dress or something, so we took it off, and finding nothing unusual on her body, i realized i had to check the butt again. sure enough, in the anal cavity there was another pine needle, stuck perfectly straight in! i extracted it at last, which required some precision. immediately sparrow returned to her happy play as thomas and i continued to chuckle. naked toddlers and pine needles are evidently a dangerous mix. panties back on, the evening continued in peace, harmony, and the glow of twinkling little lights.

From december 08

From december 08