We love Christmas at our house. It is such a magical time of trees, lights, decorations, snow, cookies, and visiting family. But it is also a time for us to try a little bit harder to serve others in the name of Christ.
Guys I'm just going to tell you, Costco trees are where its at.
We were excited to do the Light the World project our church put on, which is an advent calendar with service ideas for each day. I printed a giant tree with ornaments on it and each night the kids would put up an ornament on it and we would talk about how we tried to light the world that day. We would also watch the video (there was a video for each day) and talk about how we might serve the next day. Logan and I decided right off that we didn't want to feel obligated to serve in the exact way that was presented with the campaign, just as long as we were trying it didn't have to be anything extravagant. I decided on one "challenging" service opportunity and the rest were all really small but I think we all felt the spirit of Christ enter our home as we made the conscious effort to ponder and pray to know what we could do for someone each day.
My Grandma Volmer gave us a Santa's workshop advent calendar a few years back and Elsy was always up next to it opening the little doors over and over.
My grocery helpers.
Where we live our church works with several other churches to put on a Festival of the Nativities. The church building is completely transformed into a forest of Christmas trees (we counted in one room alone there were 85!), nativity displays, tents full of activities for children, a theatre room, and my favorite - a room all about Christ's life full of artwork and props of sandals, bread, mangers, fishing nets, a crown of thorns, and even a beautiful, empty tomb. The kids loved it so much I took them back a second time so they could participate in a nativity scavenger hunt.
Oh and there was also a photo room as well. And, *cough* that angel outfit smelled so bad of BO I thought they couldn't take the picture fast enough. Elsy was Mary, Logan was Joseph, and Tommy wanted to be a shepherd.
We had a lovely ward Christmas party full of crafts, carols, Santa, and tons of cookies. Tommy asked Santa for some Rescuebots.
Elsy was bent on getting a jewel for her forehead for Christmas. We aren't exactly sure where she got that idea (maybe Jasmine, since that's her favorite princess?).
There was a primary video program that showed each of the primary kids answering questions about Christmas that was pretty cute. Tommy cried and cried after because he wasn't in it. The poor fellow barely misses the cut off to move up to primary this year and has to spend another year in the nursery. I told him he could go up and sing with the primary "Christmas Bells Are Ringing" because he knew all the words. He was so excited and belted out all the words.
A project I finally got around to finishing is a chore chart for the kids. It has velcro pictures that the kids can move from one side of their poster to the other when they have completed their job. There are morning, day, and night chores (such as getting dressed, brushing teeth, putting away shoes, taking plate to the sink, saying prayers, etc.) as well as a Saturday chore that is extra. This one they draw out of an envelope and they drew cleaning the bathroom sinks the first week. They have been pretty excited about it, excuse me... maybe its just Elsy... Tommy really could care less!
Here they are!
My little Elsy girl is such a snugly thing. I love cuddling together on the couch reading Little House in the Big Woods after we put Tommy to bed.
Elsy is quite the bossy pants to poor Tommy... but he is slowly learning to dish it right back. For example one day she and Tommy were playing and Tommy was her pet kitty. Elsy: Tommy do you want a treat? Tommy (In high pitched voice): Yeah! Elsy: Okay but you are going to have to work for it! Tom just said there and looked at her. Elsy: You are going to have do do exercises. She then procedued to make him run back and forth, hop up and down, etc. and then she hands him two imaginary treats. As she begins to make another request to Tommy he, who has decided that imaginary treats aren't worth it, begins to get upset and says, "I don't want to!" They are constantly telling each other what to say in the games they play together.
Another fun thing Elsy told me the other day, "Mommy, I just hurt my wrist that attaches my foot to my leg!" I thought I would let her know that that body part is called an ankle.
My men. <3
I couldn't get enough of this little guy and his excitement for "Squismas". Recently he saw a picture of Christ's hands with the nail marks in them. He said, "Jesus got an owie. Wets give him a Paw Patrol band aid and den he can feel better." He is a tender heart.
My kids think if they call something "special" then they can automatically have it. If Elsy has Tommy's bike he will shout "That's special!" Fighting over things that are "special" has gotten quite out of hand.
As I mentioned before, we tried to make an extra effort a couple of times for the Light the World advent calendar. On one of the days the kids went through their toys and decided what they wanted to donate to the Food Bank. Elsy was more generous than I thought she would be. However, she did want to take a picture of everything she was giving away so she could "remember it forever". Tommy also gave some things away (although he didn't give away his Jackson Storm car shown in the picture... he held that tight in his hand the whole time to make sure it
didn't get donated!) It was fun having them help in the process and they even got to help deliver the box which was fun.
The big project I chose to do with the kids ended up being a little bit harder than I realized it would be. When Tommy broke his arm we were given a handmade quilt at the hospital that was such a comfort to him. He still sleeps with it on his bed to this day. So I looked it up and it is a donation group called Project Linus that gives homemade blankets to kids that have to stay in the hospital. We talked about it with the kids and they agreed they wanted to each make a blanket to donate. They had a lot of fun picking out their fabric at Joanns. Sadly we were number 30 at the cutting counter and they were only on 16 when we were ready to check out. Which was sad news, I had to take a picture of the kids forlorn faces.
We took our time getting them sewn together. I committed from the beginning to have the kids help through every part but that ended up being a bigger challenge for me than I realized. They each got to sit on my lap and take out the pins as I sewed and Tommy just loved pushing the back-stitch button at random times. They are both wiggly and giggly and the blankets didn't turn out quite as straight as I had hoped but it was a good experience for all of us to learn to serve together.
Elsy shed a few tears because she couldn't keep hers when it was done. I thought they both turned out so cute! They both carried their blankets into the donation spot and handed them to the lady. She kindly showed them a bunch of other quilts that were being donated. I could tell they both felt proud.
We also had some fun Christmas activities to attend! We went to Snowflake Lane and were so glad we did this year because they added a parade with Santa, Mrs. Clause, and many other winter characters (whereas in the past they just had drummers and dancing girls).
I love seeing the Christmas magic shining through my kids. I love the wonder, the giant eyes, and the squeals of delight.
The fake bubble snow was great and the parade ended just in time for a terrible hail storm!
Logan worked hard during the month of December. He started with 17 videos he was working on and then he kept coming home to say they signed him on for another! He ended up having to do 20 or 21 videos! He was stressed but he still managed to stay positive.
He would bring what he could home to work on. The kids always love it when they get to play with the props he brings home!
The perks of having a dad who does video shoots I guess!
I wrote before of the babies on the sidewalk so I had to include a picture.
I have been teaching Elsy to read using the "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons" book and she is doing so awesome. She is always sounding out words in books in the car or on boxes and elsewhere. She can still get quite frustrated sometimes with it but we have a lot of fun together too.
Another thing we did for Light the World was make cinnamon applesauce heart ornaments for all the kids friends. As usual the kids had a blast and I realized I had bitten off more than I could chew haha!
We went to the Tri Cities for Christmas and stayed with my parents for a few days. My Grandma Merkley had a Christmas Eve brunch on Saturday. The kids all participated in a nativity reenactment. Elsy and Tommy wanted to be sheep but a few minutes later Tommy decided he just wanted to watch instead.
In the end, Tommy decided to join while everyone was singing and Uncle Carl held him up to hold a toy star.
After the nativity we usually have a talent show but nobody seemed ready. When my grandma stood up and asked if anyone had anything they wanted to share Tommy suddenly jumped off my lap and shouted "I Do!" which I felt was very out of character for him in front of such a big crowed and I was also curious to know what he wanted to share. He climbed up on a chair in front of 60+ people and shouted, "RESCUE BOTS!" and then jumped down and ran to me to cover his face in my lap as everyone clapped and cheered. I think he thought he was supposed to share what he wanted for Christmas. :)
On Sunday was the Volmer's Christmas Eve program which is a lot more formal than the Merkley one. At the Merkley's people just do and share whatever they want but at the Volmers there is a lineup with parts that were assigned over the last couple of weeks. I really appreciate both types of programs. They are both so special in different ways. Elsy sat next to her Great Grandpa Volmer during the program.
Elsy was asked to be the star in the poem reading of The Nativity Song. She memorized her part and was so cute! "This is the new star, shining so bright, lighting the world on that first Christmas night."
We came home to my parents to watch Mr. Kruggar's Christmas like we do every year and then it was off to bed for Santa to come!
And come he did! The kids were overjoyed at all the things they were able to receive. It was even fun to watch their excitement in giving each other the gifts they had gotten each other. We had taken them to Target to pick out a gift for each other and they loved hiding from each other whenever we spied the other in the store. Elsy got Tommy a Power Ranger motorcycle. She ran and grabbed it for him to open before we even started anything that morning. Nobody noticed until Tommy was done unwrapping. She is such a sweetheart. Tommy told Elsy what he got her the minute he got in the car with her after Target, but we told her he might have been trying to trick her to keep her thinking haha! He got her a grabber and was so excited about it.
There were no other little kids around this year at my parents. Just Lenise, Carl, and Riley and Kelsy with her new husband Brett. But it was still just as exciting and fun.
And I got to sit on our favorite chair with Logan and watch the kids squeal with excitment after spending a month of planning, budgeting, wrapping, ordering, and returning. The hard work does pay off.
The classic "Here-Is-What-I-Got-For-Christmas" photo. Tommy got the Rescue Bots he had been dreaming about as well as two light sabers.
Elsy got the jewel she wanted for her head as well as a sparkly unicorn sequin shirt. We also started her on Lottie Dolls. I have always felt a little uncomfortable about having Barbies around because I have a son. I grew up with mostly all sisters so I never worried about it, but I just don't like the idea of having naked replicas of women laying around my house for my children to see. So I did a little research and found Lottie Dolls and we already love them. They are similar in make to a Barbie but a little smaller and are patterned to look like a 9 year old girl instead of a mature woman. They come with underwear and the such cute outfits. We also found that the IKEA doll house is the perfect size for them. She loves them and I do too.
We got the perfect blanket of snow to make a white Christmas for us. We raided Grandma's old snow pants in the storage room and went sledding in the yard and driveway.
Pure bliss!
Playing the new fishing game with Grandma!
We were sad to leave but we had so much fun with everyone!
I decided on a whim to start potty training Tommy the day after we got back from the break. I had him run around in underwear for a few days and then we added pants. It was a lot simpler than I thought it would be in the beginning, just like it was for Elsy. Its like, 3 weeks later that always gets rough for some reason. So we are kind of in a rough phase. He went through three pairs of pants yesterday and pooped in the tub today. The pee hasn't really been all that often (yesterday was an exception), its the pooping that I am just going crazy over. He just wont tell me when he has to go. I finally broke down and bought him another Rescue Bot (Brushfire) that he has to earn. He has to poop in the toilet 5 times. Sadly, Brushfire is STILL on top of the fridge and I am loosing hope of him ever earning it. :(
Since we had to come home a little early from our Christmas vacation because of the many videos Logan was working on we had New Years to ourselves. We decided to go into Seattle to explore for the first time on our own.
The kids loved it and we discovered a few new spots as well.
It was Tommy's first underwear outing and he did awesome.
The Pike Place Piggy!
And Elsy was to disgusted by the gum wall but Tommy did it with me! We wanted some Pike Place Chowder but the line was so long we went home to Issaquah and got some yummy chowder at Coho Cafe instead. A wonderful outing to end a wonderful year for our family!
We had so many ups and downs this last year with surgeries, broken arms, illnesses, changing jobs, new callings, lots of weddings, reunions, and travels! I feel like we grew so much as a family this year and looking back I am grateful for all the hullabaloo of life and how it always pans out right if you are doing your best to follow the Savior. Here's to a new year of many great things to come!
