Another Christmas has come and gone. It saddens me a little bit more each year because the time goes quicker and the season is fleeting. I even make an effort to extend the season by decorating in early November and being intentional about doing all the Christmasy things, but still it flies by. I am so grateful I stay home with the kids, though, because it does help us to savor all the Christmas we possibly can. And this year was another good one. Let's start at the beginning.
A highlight for us is our special little advent books/activities that we do every day. The kids have a book and coordinating activity waiting for them in the kitchen every morning. We always start out on day 1 with making countdown to Christmas chains. A new thing I also introduced was a family puzzle, set up in the corner, to be worked on all season long by anyone that walks by. Isla and I had a lot of fun putting it together over several days! We also ushered in the season with a big snow and warm cookies, especially after a hard night of saying "goodbye" to our Aussie Lou.
Me and the kids hosted a "Grinchmas Whobilation" for our co-op. We made Grinch slime, ate green popcorn, read the story of the Grinch, decorated Grinch ornaments, and even got to watch the 1960's version of the Grinch. The library where we hosted didn't have any tvs available for us, so I lugged my 1999 VHS player tv all the way to the library in our wagon to show a true viewing of the Grinch on video! The kids got a history lesson too I guess, as most of them had never seen a video tape before :)
This year we did "Christmas School", which is basically just a bunch of Christmas stuff we were already doing that we dubbed "school" for the day! I actually did write a little unit study for us that included studying a different famous Christmas story every day that included art work, Christmas carol studies, history of time periods, writing, reading, etc. One of our first studies was of the Nutcracker. We read the story, listened to the music, watched part of the ballet on the tv, painted a nutcracker to add to my collection (that was started in 2019 by Isla), and had the "four dancers" tasting including coffee, tea, chocolate, and candy canes. This is another reason I just adore homeschooling. What kind of education includes all those fun things, while also learning about the rich story of Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker, all while eating candy canes?! Only in homeschooling.
Other Christmas school activities included visiting a live Nativity with Nana, crafting and baking nonstop, dancing to "Hot Chocolate" from the Polar Express a billion times, and making gingerbread houses! Every day was a fun new thing.
One of my absolute favorite traditions is walking around in Uptown Normal to see the Christmas lights while sipping on homemade hot cocoa. This year, we went out to eat beforehand which is usually stressful for our family, but was actually a lot of fun. Another thing we got to try in Uptown this year was the big kids very first movie theatre experience. The old theatre shows old Christmas movies all December and the kids went with me to see "A White Christmas". They loved the whole experience, although I'm pretty sure Ewan was just there for the popcorn. About halfway through he kept leaning over and whispering "I'm boring", but I think he meant he was bored :)
Back in November, we got pictures with the big man himself. And we finally got them back in time to print for Christmas cards. In our house we have never confirmed or denied Santa. I feel sort of icky about the whole concept, but I also know believing in Santa is a really magical and special part of childhood. We've decided to just let the kids decide and we don't really play into it either way. This is probably the last year because Isla started to ask questions and I could only deflect so much. But at least we got some pictures to hang on the wall every year.
We had one more co-op day for December where we all brought a toy to donate to a child in need. The kids all decorated the box we were using and then went around and shared why they loved that toy and why another kid might like it. It was a lesson in giving and selflessness for sure. Ewan wanted to donate all his trucks, which was so sweet, and Isla thought a pair of scissors might be ok to give away. We'll have to work on this ;)
One of the highlights for my December was a Christmas party with my mama friends. We all decided it's going to be an annual tradition because we had SO much fun. First things first, I shipped my kids off to their Nana and Pop Pop's house so we could have the whole house to ourselves. (It looks like they had fun too).
For our favorite things party, everyone brought 3 of the same item that is a favorite thing of theirs. We all explained why it was our favorite thing and then went in number order picking out 3 different gifts to take home. Everyone was so creative with their gifts and I ended up getting a hair mask, cast iron handle holder with olive oil, and a beautiful seek and find book.
We also had a cookie exchange where everyone brought their favorite cookie so you went home with a plateful of a variety of cookies. And we painted ornaments, which was a good practice in letting go of our perfectionism. I just love these friends of mine and I'm so thankful for such wonderful mamas to do life with.
On the 13th, Michael and I celebrated our TENTH anniversary. Somehow we have been married for a full decade. And I can happily say I am more in love with him than the day we got married, which feels successful in today's world. I love the life we've made together and I am honored to partner with him in everything. We are looking forward to sneaking away in January for an anniversary trip. It'll be the first time we've ever travelled alone since having kids and we are really excited :)
This year I stepped a little into homemade gifts. Rather than getting another material gift that will someday end up in the landfill or the back of a closet, I thought it would be special to incorporate some homemade gifts. Isla and I spent a lot of our time in the garden all summer growing and caring for our food. We then spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and canning. Isla also spent time making items to gift too. I just think a gift of our time, love, and energy means more than what we can spend on gifts. We didn't completely go Amazon-shopping-free, but maybe someday we'll offer more homemade gifts than bought gifts. If anything, teaching my kids to grow their own food and preserve it for later is invaluable. And then they were able to deliver those gifts to neighbors and family while experiencing the joy of giving.
Between Christmas school and all our festive activities, there was plenty of time for crafting, baking, and playing. Isla is going to be starting violin so we've been wathcing and listening to violinists. Michael built us a new art table that has been wonderful for all our little crafts, artwork, playdoh, tinkering, etc. We've played in the snow, blasted Christmas music, and generally just really enjoyed each other's company.
On December 21st it has become our little tradition to make a yulelog cake and eat by candlelight in honor of the Winter Solstice. I never knew much about the natural and cyclical celebrations like the solstices, equinoxes, and seasons; but, the older I get and the more I learn about history, the earth, and life in general, the more I think celebrating these special days are cool. The winter solstice (although considered a pagan holiday) is the shortest day and longest night of the year. It is a time to pause and honor the darkness in our life, but also remember the hope that light brings. We will make it through the darkest night and be renewed that we get a little more light each day. That's a powerful message and rhythm to remember in our lives. I really believe connecting with nature and the cycles of nature are a way to worship God and see Him in the seasons and world around us. So even though it may sound strange to some, I believe it to be a beautiful celebration. Besides, did you know Christmas is derived from Yuletide? It was the church's way of making a pagan holiday a Christian one. Interesting!
And then it happened, Christmas arrived! We started with Christmas Eve at my parent's Bloomington house. The kids were absolutely spoiled, just like I was at my Grandma June's house every Christmas. Then we had a wonderful meal of prime rib and gingerbread pie. The favorite gift for the big kids was their sleeping bags haha. They are really excited to go camping this summer. And Eleanor's favorite gift was the candy and white trash mix from Great Grandma June. She carried all her sweets around with her all night. It was a fun time!
Then we raced home to beat Santa. We read The Polar Express and set out the milk and cookies. There is nothing like the magic of Christmas Eve as a parent. I love it so much. Santa had a late night at our house because those little eyes would not shut, they were too excited :)
And like a kid at Christmas, I was up at the crack of dawn making our Christmas breakfast. The kids slowly woke up and we made them all wait for everyone. Of course Ewan, who normally is the first one up every day, slept until 8:00 on the most exciting day of the year! Once everyone was up, we read the story of Jesus's birth in Luke and enjoyed our breakfast by candelight. Then we opened stockings. At the bottom of the stockings was a piece of the wrapping paper that matched the presents under the tree and told them which gifts were theirs. The big gifts this year were a horse pillow for Isla, a gymnastics bar for Ewan, and a wiggle car for Eleanor. Other gifts included instruments, trucks, board games, art supplies, horse and unicorn toys, legos, and books. Ewan and Isla both had homemade gifts that they made with Nana and Pop Pop to gift to everyone. It was one of my favorite Christmas mornings we've ever had. The ages of the kids right now made it so magical.
Unfortunately our Christmas Day celebration was a little different this year. Sarah's family ended up with a tummy bug, so we missed them this year. But we went to Nana and Pop Pop's and had our own little Christmas celebration with them. We snacked all day on yummy little appetizers. The kids opened presents and played with their new toys. We stayed all day and it was really relaxing and nice. We are looking forward to celebrating with everyone in January. Oh and Ewan wore his daddy's 30 year old suit, complete with his work gloves and truck slippers.
Now all the decorations are down (a fulltime job on it's own) and we have been spending the week playing with new toys, snuggling, playing new games together, and eating all the food. We are looking forward to 2025 just around the corner!
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