Sharing Christmas!

We hope all of you had as Merry a Christmas as we did here in Parma. Santa was good to the kids (better than maybe they deserved :)). The kids are carrying on the holiday by singing Christmas songs and wishing everyone they meet a Merry Christmas, so aside from all the presents being removed from under our tree it's still Christmas here. Here is a pictorial review of our Christmas celebration

Traditions

So our little family will be spending Christmas by ourselves in Parma again this year, and while we are getting more used to the idea, it still makes me a little sad to not be around family. We could drive to Greg's parents house 5 hours away, but the years we've planned to do that the weather hasn't cooperated and it's hard for "Santa" to find us there and then we have to transport all of the presents back home. So we decided it's best if we stay at home and start having our own family traditions. So while I have a plethora of traditions from both our families to choose from I was wondering what some of your favorite traditions are. What do you do on Christmas Eve that makes you giddy with excitement for the next day? What do you do after all the presents are opened on Christmas day? What do you do to make it last longer. My mother was notorious for making sure Christmas lasted all day. I love that!

Book Review: Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

This is my all time favorite Christmas book. My mother has read this book to me at least once a year for as many years as I can remember. I even had her read it to me when she came around Christmas time a couple of years ago, just after Madalyn was born. It has now become a tradition in my little family to read it the night we trim the tree. However, my kids love it and I read it many more times than that. It just doesn't feel like Christmas without Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree.

It is the story of Mr. Willowby who gets a giant Christmas tree and puts in up in his house only to find that it's too tall. So the butler chops off the top and gives it to the maid who finds that it's too tall for her room and chops off the top. The top keeps getting passed from person to person and from animal to animal. It rhymes delightfully and it's just fabulous. Read it, I know you'll love it! I got all excited when our Christmas tree this year was too tall for our house, so much so that I took a picture of our tree that was exactly like Mr. Willowby's. See?

Guess Who's Two?

Our little Madalyn turned two last Saturday! Time just flies by. She still seems so little, although I know that will change with the new baby coming in March. She is such a cuddle bug and loves to be held still so I guess I still think she's a baby. But she's a big girl. She loves to play, laugh and rough house. She'll tackle her 6 year old brother and laugh while she's doing it. There is never a dull moment with Madalyn around. We love her and her sparkling personality. Here are some pictures of her party. We were at Greg's parents' house over the Thanksgiving weekend. That little doggy has hardly left her side since she got it on Saturday, she loves it!

To shop or not to shop?

I was wondering about the people that get up at 3 a.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving to sit in the cold outside of Target (or some other store)and fight the crowds (apparently they aren't the only crazy ones) just to get a good deal on something. As someone who used to work retail, I hated working the day after Thanksgiving, partly because Friday is just as much a holiday in my family as Thursday, and partly because a lot of the customers were not morning people. But I have sisters-in-law that sit down on Thanksgiving, ads in hand, and plan their attack. It just isn't for me, no deal is worth waking up that early for (I am not a morning person either, maybe if they had midnight sales, hmmm...) and I really don't like being shoved around. What about you? Are you a shopper or a sleeper?

An Emma Do

So ever since I first saw "Emma" with Gwenyth Paltrow I have studied the hairstyles to see if I could master any of them. They are so intricate and so beautiful. You can ask my younger sisters, as they were the poor souls that sat through some rather frustrating attempts. Well, I think I finally figured at least one out, or at least as close as I can come without being able to get up close and study it. So this one is for Alissa and Stephanie. Luckily my 4-year old was accomodating on this day. She calls it her "Fancy Nancy" hairdo, which works too. It may or may not be too grown up for a 4-year old but it was beautiful. Start with extra curly hair. I convinced Lorelei to wear foam curlers to bed, so her hair was nice and curly. Then starting from the bottom of the hair, pull the hair into at least three ponytails. You start from the bottom to hide the parts. Then just start pinning the hair up until it looks right. I left a little down because that's how Harriet is wearing her hair at the end of Emma while they are in the greenhouse. Then just take little ribbons and tie in some bows or whatever else pretty you have. If the ends of your ribbon stick out funny just use your curling iron to curl them. She loved it as you can see in the last picture.

Halloween Pictures

So here are some pictures of our very fun Halloween. We had a pixie, a princess, and a paleontologist (a scientist who studies and finds dinosaur bones). Aren't they adorable? I have to say we had the cutest kids out trick or treating. I hate the gory scary costumes that little kids wear these days. Just give me a princess, a clown, or a scarecrow. They had a lot of fun until Jacob started complaining that his bucket was getting too heavy, a sure sign that it's time to go home. The best thing about living in a small town is that they don't have a lot of trick or treaters so they give you a handful of candy instead of just one piece, which means, fewer houses, more candy. HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Hope you had a good one too! Oh by the way, Jacob and Lorelei drew the faces on the pumpkins (Greg cut them out of course), I think they did a pretty good job. Lorelei's is the spooky one and Jacob's is the happy one.