Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Christmas

Amid the hustle and bustle of the season, I have been trying to enjoy the little things too.  I love the smells of cinnamon, cloves, oranges, and pine that dominate my kitchen. I love the red everywhere... normally I don't have much red in my house but it's sure pretty at Christmas! I love Christmas music, especially the Mormon Music Channel on mormon.org. It's a perfect mix of religious and traditional (with no commercials)! 

One thing I have been thinking a lot about is giving versus getting. I saw a little story on the news of a study someone did where they asked kids what they wanted for Christmas. Then an elf held out two chocolate bears, one large and one small. The children almost all chose the large one for themselves. Then they asked another group of kids what they were giving for Christmas. Afterwards they held out the same bears, and most of them chose the small one and let the next child have the big one. I thought that was so telling of how just the way we talk about Christmas can change the actions of kids. One of my favorite things to do as a family is the 12 Days of Service (thanks Angee!). We have a jar of 12 tags with different people on them and we chose one every couple of days and put it on the tree, and think of something to do for that person. My favorite this year was "stranger." I took the girls to the dollar store and they taped quarters on the gumball machines. The comparison between how they usually act at a gumball machine and how they were so happy and excited to leave a quarter for someone else was heart warming.

My visiting teacher recently said that a mother's job at Christmas is to create "magic"... my mom was so good at that and I have such happy memories of home. I hope I can fulfill that in some measure for my kids. Of course daily life is also filled with sibling rivalry, weeping (sometimes wailing), and lots of motherly reminders, but today I am choosing to remember the sweet things. 

Our friends the Johnson's invited us over for a pizza night and gingerbread house decorating. It was so generous of them and the kids had a blast.

At this time of year my kids always seem to want to pull each other like Santa and the reindeer. Ty has been obsessed with why they're called reindeer, so we've talked all about the harnessing and Santa's "reins".  My kids favorite song on the radio is the Boston Pops rendition of "Sleigh Ride" because they love hearing Santa's whip and the horse whinny by the trumpet. They remember when we heard it in person at Uncle John's symphony a couple of years ago. We actually went this year too (American Fork Symphony) but I didn't take any pictures.  

I love watching the winter sunsets while I make dinner. Now if only there was some white stuff to reflect on... Ty's "winter wish" is for snow! (He tells me that all the time.)

The Christmas train has provided countless moments of magic this year. Ty and Jake look like this much of the day.

My sister took us to see the Draper "Tree of Life" a few weeks ago. It was beautiful!

The cousins had a blast together rolling down hills and running around the park.

The especially loved our stop at Leatherby's afterward, when we ate ourselves silly!

This year the kids' ornaments were taking over my tree, so I bought a little tree for the playroom. It won't last long at our current rate of acquisition, but the kids love having their own. My mom gave me the felt tree skirt from our own kid tree growing up, and I tried to find bubble lights like her's but I settled on colorful big bulbs for now. The kids have already enjoyed many sleepovers around the kid tree.

Another thing my mom's kids tree had was cinnamon ornaments. We had never tried them so it was a fun activity one afternoon after school. They smell soooooo yummy!

Ella was my super helper putting tags on our neighbor gifts (she cut all the ribbon herself).

They said "Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day. Hope your Christmas is Paradise!" They also enjoyed delivering them together... Ty was thankful for it in his prayers that night.

Both girls have been learning new Christmas songs in their piano lessons. It's so fun to hear homemade Christmas music!

Fisbee is a huge favorite at our house. He has found some funny spots this year and the kids can't wait to get up and find him every morning. 

Here's another one... and I love the Christmas cards everyone sends! It's so lovely looking at those familiar faces every day.

Can't forget the magic of unopened presents... especially when they are this big! This one from Grandma and Grandpa caused quite a sensation.

For my own self I want to remember my Christmas tree... these snowflake and teardrop ornaments date back about 13 years to my days as a Gift Girl at the BYU Bookstore. I love them.

I always seem to add or change a little something each year. Last year I added pinecones with ribbon hangers for a more natural feeling.

This year I added great big snowflakes I found at the dollar store. 

I remember when I was little, I would lie on the couch or under the Christmas tree and just stare at the lights until they blurred. There is just something so pretty about white lights!

I heard a message on Music and the Spoken Word last week about evergreen trees. A line that stood out to me was "You're not growing unless you're green." I have thought a lot about that since... 

Couldn't leave out another one of the boys and the train. They cannot get enough of that thing!

Jake is obsessed with trains in general right now. He carries these Thomas trains by the handful all day long!

Onto other things... last Thursday was the Christmas Sing at school. Ella was a rock star and sang "Jingle Bell Rock" and "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas," which we already love at our house! (Daddy sings it falsetto, and I danced to it at the Festival of Trees growing up.)

Maddie sang "Christmas is a Feeling" and "When Santa Got Stuck Down the Chimney." Such cute songs that I had never heard before! It was fun hearing them sing around the house leading up to the performance.

That afternoon I helped with Maddie's Christmas class party, which was themed "Sugar and Spice." Ella was my helper at the craft station where we made tree ornaments with cinnamon sticks for the trunk and buttons for the ornaments.

There was the paper plate drawing game...

...and some super cute Minute to Win it games.

Mrs. Scribner helped with the treat station where they decorated gingerbread men and drank melted snowmen.

At our ward Christmas party we got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. Our kids were nervous but they posed for a quick picture.

And that brings us about up to date... we are getting excited for the family festivities in the next few days!