Our Tree

I wrote this post last year about Christmas and the trap one might fall into when comparing your own celebrations, traditions and decorations to everything else out there.  I called it the Martha Stewart Syndrome, or MSS.

I'm happy to report that this year, I have not yet let MSS into my life.  Do I still want that giant, flocked, 8ft tree with matching blue glass ornaments and silver bells someday?  Of course.  But this isn't our season for such things.  I have three toddlers and a baby.  This is our season for finding magic is paper chains and foam figured nativity sets found at the craft store.

And of course, every Christmas season is about the Savior.  I'm trying to teach my little ones that.  It's their first year of really getting what Santa Clause is all about.  And instead of trying to fight the whole Jesus/Santa debate, I think they go rather nicely hand in hand.  Forgive me if any reader finds this blasphemous, but a kind man who gives gifts to children out the kindness of his heart definitely has some Christian qualities about him.  So we are going to focus on the kindness of the season and how we should also be kind, like Jesus. (And Santa, I guess.)

So, in honor of my Christmas with toddlers, I'll share with you one of our activities.

We have this beautiful, real tree in our home this year.  It's large and lovely and my heart was so happy when we strapped it to the roof of our car.

We got out about 1/8 of the ornaments I have in boxes.  It's just too tempting for little hands to not touch all the little hanging wonders.  And by the time they finally learn to REALLY leave the ornaments on the tree, we could have some causalities.  So, we are making a few of our own decorations.

The paper chain!  I had plans to do this one and imagined cutting out strips of construction paper. Because last time I made a paper chain, in my 3rd grade class, I'm pretty sure this was our method.  But I found this great thing called Lickety Strips.  So much easier.

The boys worked on it for about 4 minutes, and Sunny was focused for a good 20.  It's been on ongoing project.  The paper came in pre-cut strips and you simply lick the back in order for it to stick together.  Easy peasy!  Perfect for my little elves.

We'll add a little something each week, and on Christmas Eve, we'll add the star.  Did you know in Germany, the parents decorate the entire tree Christmas Eve and it's a lovely, beautiful surprise for their little leiblings.

What are your favorite toddler friendly Christmas activities?

The Days After

So it begins.

Those cold and long days after Christmas.  Tree still up.  Halls still decked.  Fridge full of leftovers in the form of an over-indulgent breakfast casserole.

I know it has to all come down eventually.  That's the hardest part about these days after.  Going out to the garage to fetch my giant, plastic totes seems daunting (and freezing).

I'll give it a few more days.  We did, after all have a wonderful few days of being merry and bright.  So I'll let it all linger just a while longer.

Sausage casserole, anyone?

My Christmas Decor (or lack thereof)

Is there such thing as The Martha Stewart Syndrome?  I'm too lazy to check facts right now.  Let's pretend there is.

Here is my definition of having The Martha Stewart Syndrome:

Your Christmas celebrations, decorations, food, traditions, sugar cookies  and any other effort you put into holiday time at your house is NOT good enough.  

Harsh, right?  This syndrome can creep up on you if you don't have your guard up.  It almost hit me this year.  Almost.  I recognized it though.  I saw it lurking in my window, judging my empty mantle and complete lack of garland on every post and railing we have.

In fact, it came close to halting me from even opening my totes, full of eclectic yuletide cheer, peeking through my blinds, asking, 

"What's the theme here?  Nothing matches!  Why don't you have a snowflake tree?  Or a vintage collection of silver bells in your hutch?  You haven't even baked cookies yet?  Did you see _________'s place?  Sheesh.  Their house looks waaay better than yours.  Don't you even like Christmas?!"

These are the thoughts it sends my way.  But like I said, it almost got me.  I have my wee ones to thank for stopping the ugly thing from actually coming inside.  It started when we set up our tree.  Our poor, little tree.  At least that is how I have thought of it for the past few years.  It looked just right in our first apartment.  Our first Christmas, our little tree in our little living room.  It was perfect.

But then we moved to bigger living rooms, and suddenly, the tree wasn't good enough.  I was still thinking this when we hauled up the box from the garage.  The MSS (Martha Stewart Syndrome) was whispering in my ear that now we had kids, we had to go cut down an eight foot Douglas Fir and flock it and get coordinating bulbs, bows and baubles to adorn it.  

But we didn't.  We set up our little, fake tree, hung non-matching, uncoordinated ornaments and my little guys loved. every. second. of it.  I was humbled and sent MSS on it's way.  You would think I learned my lesson from the Whos.  Seriously.  Christmas isn't in a giant, flocked tree.  

Days later, I pulled out my totes of random Christmas decorations and adorned my house in holiday cheer.  I unwrapped each little figurine from my $12 nativity I bought our first Christmas together.  It will probably always be my favorite.  

We've been singing lots of Christmas songs together.  Today, Sunny climbed in my lap and said, "Baby GG?"  (Baby Jesus)  She's been doing this lately.  It means she wants me to sing Away in a Manger.  

So I sang to her, the same song, four times at her request.  Then she smiled at me, climbed off my lap and went off to play again.  

We may never have to buy another bell, bauble or bulb ever again.  That was enough.

Merry Christmas.  

     

Christmas Time is Here

Lucy wanted a big, pink, aluminum tree.  Charlie Brown came back with a small, sparse little green one instead.

I feel like Lucy sometimes.  Except my pink tree is some 8ft fir, waiting to be found in the forest.  We go in our horse drawn sleigh, bundled up, singing Christmas carols.  We bring our giant home to decorate with ornate and elaborate ornaments, ribbon, tinsel, lights and one giant star on the top.

But really, sitting in our garage for eleven months, we have a tree we pull out of a box every year.  Like Charlie Brown's tree, it seems to lose a few needles each time you touch it.

But it's ours.  We don't need a pink, aluminum tree.  We have each other.  And our humble tree reminds me of a humble birth.  

I love Christmas time.  

The Goose Done Got Fat

Christmas has came and went! Sometimes I feel like I live in a time machine. The forward kind that goes really fast. Instead of a lengthy post of what we've been up to in the last month and how the babies loved their first Christmas, I'll give you some bullets:

• Sunny is now crawling on her hands and knees. Boo yah.
• Christian stood by himself the other day for like 4 seconds. Boo yea.
• Gabe has developed the most infectious laugh. It's definitely contagious. Boo hah.
• Santa should've brought a bunch of tissue paper and empty boxes.
• The kids are actually playing and laughing with each other. I can't describe how high my heart leaps when I see this.
• Family pictures with the in-laws turned out fantastic.
• The food. Oh, the food.
• Nothing is more important than family.

2010 has been quite a year. Reflecting would be an understatement of what I've been doing the past few weeks. Being able to stand witness to so many miracles over the last year has been quite extraordinary indeed.

As we celebrated the birth of the Savior, we also celebrated the change He has made in our lives. We celebrated the grace we've been given in the form of three angels. We celebrated how our lives will never be the same. We celebrated being a family of five.

Christmas morning 2010

Hope you and yours enjoyed this wonderful season!

A Reinbeer Christmas Party

This is a tale of the IBC Reinbeer Family Christmas party. All of the root-reinbeer children decided they wanted to have a party.

"We should have a Christmas party!"

Of course they needed their parent's permission.

"Hey Momma Sprite! Can we have a party with all of our family and friends?"
"Well children, I think that would be okay...but we'll have to clear it with your father."

"Dear, all the children would like to have a Christmas party. Is that alright with you?"
"Well, I don't see why not! Ho ho ho!"

Poppa Barq and Momma Sprite told the children the good news. They were all really excited.

"Yea! We're excited!"

Techy Reinbeer was best on the computer, so he was in charge of sending out e-vites to all their friends and family. The rest of the family got busy with other party preparations.

Wrappy Reinbeer helped wrap presents for the white elephant gift exchange. Man that silly straw will sure make someone laugh. A straw!

Decky Reinbeer helped dad trim the tree. They wanted everything to look just right.


Dishy Reinbeer helped get the kitchen clean and all the dishes washed so the guests would have plenty of room to fill their plates with delicious food.

Looky Reinbeer hoped it wouldn't snow too much the day of the party. The snow was really coming down. They were especially worried about the walkway up to their house since no one had any arms, therefore, shoveling would be done ineffectively.

Finally, the day of the party!



All the food looked delicious! They couldn't wait for all the guests to arrive.

"Wow! All this food looks delicious. I can't wait for the guests to arrive!"

Cousin Lemon was the first to arrive.

Aunt Pineapple came! She always has such fascinating hair styles.

"Hi Grandpa Milk! You made it! We're so happy you came! Yea."

Grandpa Milk was happy he came too.

"Hey! Cool Cousin Banana! Did you bring your jeep? Can you take us on a ride? You're the coolest!"

"Uncle J.B.! You always have so many stories. Forty-nine in fact. Don't tell the story of the black licorice, no one really likes that one."

"Neighbor Squash! We didn't think you came out at Christmas time. We mostly see you during the fall harvest."

It was a great party. Everyone really was having a great time.

The food was delicious.

"Faster Cool Cousin Banana! You're the coolest!"

("Psst, hey who invited Dr. Crentist?")

Everyone was having a really great time. The white elephant gift exchange was a big hit. Everyone laughed at the straws.


Picky Reinbeer could not get enough of the pickles.


The party was a blast. Little did everyone know that their fun party was about to be interrupted...


Accounts vary of how exactly the party was tragically crashed. Some say it was the e-vites. Party hackers. Others say it was the loud noise and merriment that attracted the...

GIANT BABY! OH NO!



How could this have happened? The Reinbeer's party was quickly turning into the Reinbeer travesty. Maybe it would have been okay if it had just been the baby. But the baby brought company. What was once an afternoon of merriment and festivities turned into a nightmare of mayhem and disaster.





Oh the humanity!

Oh the irony of the silly white elephant gift! No longer funny. Now tragic and sad.


All the preparations, the invitations, the decorations. Only to come to this. A few Reinbeers and their guests did survive. (You know the squash made it through - babies don't know how to cook squash!) Yes, some lived to tell the tale of the most anticipated Christmas party gone awry because of a big giant baby and her gang of root beer guzzlers! Let this be a warning to all reinbeers out there. Beware of the giant party crashing baby. You never know when she might turn up!


This image is enough to make one shutter. The party atrocities committed by this baby and it's gang are almost unspeakable. But speak up you must. If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of this baby, please contact the soda pop police at 1-800-pop-pop-fizz-fizz.

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love Christmas.


I can't hold back anymore. I've waited patiently to give Thanksgiving it's proper time to be celebrated. Not to mention Halloween and Arbor Day. If I truly followed my heart the moment it got really excited for the Christmas season, I would have a tree up in September.   There are too many wonderful things about Christmas. I am going to try to name them all. Don't worry, I'll pace myself. 

For starters, let's talk music.  I've been given gifts already!  Thank you FM 100 and Cozy 106.5 for your twenty-four hour dedication to Christmas music the day after Halloween! In the privacy of my car on November 1st I am able to sing along loudly with Bing, Mariah and Harry Connick Jr. Thank you for this pre-season gift.

Now for a few specifics. I love almost every type of Christmas music with one exception - current pop. I'm not a big fan of the Backstreet Boys singing "O Holy Night," or Sum 41's version of "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree." I actually don't know if there are such renditions by above mentioned artists - just giving examples. (Okay, one more exception here, I actually like Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You." Sue me.)

I do have one favorite Christmas song that I play again and again every year. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir does an amazing rendition of "Twelve Days of Christmas." This is from their This is Christmas album. (Tambourine Noel is second favorite.) Each day is sung in a different style of music or musical era.  Imagine the days of Christmas coming at you "Ride of the Valkyries" style. Or "Stars and Stripes Forever!" With big, big brass and drums and strings. Yea, awesome.  This song stays on repeat in my car pretty much the whole week of Christmas.  The best part (okay, there are a lot of best parts) is that the whole CD is live and this is the last song, and at the end of the song you hear the audience just erupt into monstrous applause.  It gives me goose bumps every time.  I imagine every single person couldn't help but springing to their feet the second they had the chance to give their standing "o."  My mom was lucky enough to be one of those on their feet clapping for a reprise, which the choir joyfully granted. 

Also, I would like to thank iTunes for their gift of two free Christmas songs last week.  Yes, Tony Bennett, I am listening to the sleigh bells ring.  And yes Harry, I agree it does look a lot like Christmas.  I've seen the Five and Ten lately, it is glistening beautifully! 

I have a new favorite Christmas song this year.  Enya's "O Come, O Come Emmanuel."  So beautiful.  

Rejoice! Rejoice! For Isreal,  to you shall come Emmanuel.

I am rejoicing.  Our Emmanuel has come.  And I love this time of year to remember His birth, which lead to the most wonderful gift of all.  I sometimes like to imagine I might have been one of those angels singing Hosanna! Hosanna! to the humble shepherds on the hill over 2000 years ago.  And maybe that is why my spirit is so happy when it hears really great Christmas music.  It's remembering the first Christmas music it ever heard.