Christmas Day

Stockings, traditional egg casserole and donuts for breakfast, and gift opening.

 

Christmas Morning Worship

 

After lunch (traditional pigs in a blanket) we finished opening gifts. Some highlights: egg incubator, Nature Friend subscription, Atlanta Botanical Garden family membership, and ….Xbox!

 

We enjoyed a simple but tasty Christmas supper of turkey*, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli casserole, cranberry sauce, and rolls, with pecan pie and ice cream for dessert.

*Our friend Norma taught me how to prepare her famous turkey injected with a garlic-orange juice-bullion potion; stuffed with beef, dried fruit, nuts, potatoes and carrots; and studded with almonds, prunes, and chips of bacon. Oh my. Thank you Norma!!

Mommy and Kate

During our school break I took each child on an outing. Kate and I went to lunch at the American Girl Bistro. Kit borrowed Mia’s formal gown for the occasion, and since it was raining Mia also loaned out her rain gear.

Mommy & Kate

 

 

Sweet girl!

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For the record, Caleb and I also had an outing, but he kind of got gypped: first we had to run some errands (I actually bought his Christmas gift with him sitting right there in the cart!) and then we did go for a cupcake, but he only ate one bite (I realized later that he was getting sick), and I didn’t take any pictures. So really I owe him a redo!

Mommy and Nate

Nate wanted to ride MARTA for our outing. When I mentioned that a cupcake shop was within walking distance of one of the stations that sealed the deal. On the way back I put him in charge of navigating: identifying the right track, the right line, and the right stops. That was right up his alley.

Saving all the frosting for last.

Mommy and Nate

What a great boy!

Mommy and Meg

Meg also liked the idea of lunch at AG, so she and I went together the next day. We arrived at the shop early and she helped me choose some clothes for Kit as a gift for Kate. Mia would have been wearing the green formal in this photo, but Meg graciously let Kit borrow it again as Kate was going to a friend’s house and really wanted Kit to dress up for that outing as well. (Since Kate/Kit received several lovely dresses for Christmas, in the future the borrowing can go both ways.)

Matching hairdos

Mommy and Meg

Precious little Meg!

Gingerbread Houses

To all you gingerbread house decorating friends out there: have you discovered the bliss of pre-assembled kits?! This was the most pleasant gingerbread experience yet, due to our already constructed houses (Thank you Maria!) and helped, no doubt, by the advancing age and dexterity of the children. They were quite independent in their artistry, ate a high percentage of the embellishments along the way, and had lots of fun! Kate won the prize for perseverance (read: she was the only one still at the table when I remembered to take pictures.)

Nate reads the Christmas Story

A few years ago my parents sent the kids a book containing the Christmas story and striking illustrations. The text is directly from Luke 2. They included with it a cd of my dad reading the story (and ringing a bell for the page turn signals). During the whole Advent season the kids listen to it over and over at home and in the car, following along in the book, and most of them have it pretty well memorized.

This year Nate wanted to recite it at the Christmas hymn sing we hosted. At the last minute he decided (although he had it down cold) he wanted to read it from the Bible. When it was time he hopped right up in front of 50 people and “read” the whole thing beautifully.

This part isn’t included in the clip, but after the final verse he automatically said “The End,” which is how my dad ends the recording. We had teased him before about remembering not to say this, so as soon as it slipped out he got a shy and disgruntled look on his face and sped to his seat.

 

Caleb reads the Grinch part 1

One afternoon I heard Caleb reading to himself “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” so I snuck over to record him. I wish I could post the whole thing, but it’s too long. This edited version actually cuts out very little of his speaking--just most of the long pauses, back-and-forth page turns, and pondering about what should come next, which really made the whole thing as cute as the talking.

Transcript: “…that doesn’t light up, so I’m taking it to my shop…my dear…I’ll fix it there and bring it back here…and he went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up…and the next thing was the brick for the fire…and the crumb was too small for a mouse…and he did that to the other Whos’ houses…and left crumbs so small for the other Whos’ mouses”

Caleb Reads the Grinch–part 2

“….ok…and when he got to the top he started to dump it, and he put his finger like that…and it sounded like merry, but it couldn’t be merry, but it was. And he stared down at Whoville and he hadn’t stolen Christmas yet. And now the Grinch thought he was good to go…and he served the roast beast.”

Brunch Decor

I had fun inventing table decorations for our women’s Christmas brunch. We had a great musical program, and a wonderful chef in our church prepared crepes—yum!! A lovely morning all around.

Christmas Programs

Our church doesn’t have big children’s productions at Christmas, but the preschool and elementary choirs each have an opportunity to present a few songs. Kate was  a sweet little angel with rhythm sticks and Meg and Nate sang a French carol in our hanging of the greens service.

Family Photo

As our Christmas gift, Bethany and Nate orchestrated, shot, edited, and delivered a series of family photos. Here are some of my favorites. (Also, photo credit for the previous post: all the good pictures were by B&N.)

Thanksgiving

We spent a fun-filled week with Erik’s family in Connecticut over the Thanksgiving holiday. Some of our activities included:

a sandbar hike to Charles Island,

 

pottery painting,

 

LOTS of screen time (I think Caleb is saying, “If I have to spend five more minutes in front of this computer I’ll poke my eye out”—no wait, that might be me projecting again),

 

and a day trip to NYC. Here we are at the Milford train station bound for Grand Central.

 

Ground Zero

 

“…I lift my lamp beside the golden door…”

The sun was a little too bright for a good photo beneath Lady Liberty.

 

Rockefeller Plaza

Another Blue Cast

Kate observed Veterans’ Day by slipping off the zip line and breaking her arm. (Nate was just a few months younger than this when he broke his arm riding his scooter.) She was very brave as we went to various doctor appointments (we weren’t able to get the cast until three days later.) She was also very independent, figuring out how to do many things with just one arm, and she took good care of her cast. I took a cute close up shot of her with the cast on (and she was wearing her favorite red dress up outfit) to document the event, but I guess I deleted it :(. This snapshot will have to suffice (She is St. Patrick’s Cathedral; more photos of our day in NYC coming soon.)

 

Celebrating cast removal with a milkshake. Happy girl!

Rides