Christmas Portraits

 

A few months ago I broke my “good” camera and now, finally, I got it back from the repair shop, just in time for Christmas, and our annual Cody kid Christmas tree photos. These were taken right before our Christmas Eve service and I was so happy with how they turned out. Of course, Abigail decided to act like a 2-year-old and refused to get in a picture with her brother and sister so I couldn’t get a good one of the 3 of them together. But she at least smiled for her individual shots, after much coaxing and convincing!

        

And these were taken a couple weeks ago, on a cell phone, which is why they aren’t the best, but they work!

 

Santa & Christmas Eve

 

What a busy month it has been! We’ve had a lot of fun together as a family getting ready for Christmas!

Last Saturday we took the last chance we could to go visit Santa at a local small business. Leah and Andrew both put their requests in, but Abi didn’t want to go anywhere near him! We have heard so much this year about whether to tell your kids the truth about Santa, and how other families approach the myth, and we’re still not 100% certain that allowing them this belief in Santa is the best thing to do, but I do know that they love it so much and it is such a magical part of childhood. Both Leah and Andrew will be quick to tell you that the true meaning of Christmas is Jesus’ birthday and that Santa is a great gift giver, but Jesus was the ultimate gift giver. We also know when they get older, we will be the ones to tell them the truth and we will be sure they understand that the spirit of Christmas is believing in things we can’t necessarily see or even comprehend.

As an added bonus, Anna & Elsa from Leah’s favorite movie were there too! And we had no idea. I think Leah was even more excited about seeing them and was literally bouncing up and down to see them! Andrew was a little nervous about pretty girls…

 

Abigail has been hard at work acting 2 years old lately. Tantrums are a regular thing. But her cuteness outweighs the trouble.

Christmas Eve was a lazy day, not much different from many of our days. We did make cookies for Santa, though. And only ate a few. :-)

    

Christmas Eve night we went to a Candlelight Service at church. It was the first time I’ve attempted to go with all the kids, and Abigail was a little rotten to deal with but we only had to go out once, and Andrew ended up falling asleep before it was over! Brett led the choir in several songs and there were several congregational songs, followed by the candlelight portion. It was the biggest Christmas Eve service I’ve ever seen, with about 80 in attendance. Leah even got to sing in a little trio with two of her little friends at the very beginning of the service. They did so well!

 

 

Afterward, we came home, and per tradition, left cookies for Santa, opened one present (plain pajamas this year, rather than Christmas ones, since they already had Christmas pajamas), read the Christmas story from the Bible and went to bed—it was almost 9:30 before they were even in bed, then another 20 minutes before they were asleep! (Abigail really didn’t want to get her picture taken…)

More Snow and an Igloo

This past week we experienced our first big Vermont snowstorm. It snowed about 3 days in a row—I’m not sure how much accumulated, but it was enough to cover most of the way up to my knees when I walked in it. Though they are pretty good about plowing the roads, we didn’t try to make it to school on our usual school day, since it’s about an hour drive and there was still some lingering ice and slippery spots. We did make it to town for groceries, though, and then came home and a friend from church, a native Vermonter, helped us build an igloo in our own yard. It was so much fun! Another couple stopped by (the guy who comes and plows our driveway every time it snows) and ended up helping some too. Here is the whole building crew.

The kids started out by using a small bucket to make the bricks but then we got a bigger laundry basket and had it all put together within a couple hours. Leah and Andrew—while not really too helpful in the actual building process—got along so well the entire time and kept us all laughing with their antics in the snow. (Abigail was asleep most of the time but did come out and get in it with us once it was done. I think we only convinced her to get in the snow because she got to wear her snowpants and boots—she’s a bit of a fashion diva!)

 

This gives you an idea of how tall it is. Brett can stand up inside without ducking much.

Inside is actually pretty warm, and very quiet. Apparently this will last most of the rest of the winter—it’s that sturdy! Andrew was loving licking the snow!

   

See, Abigail is actually smiling in the snow!

That was a really fun day, and so worth missing school for! Here are some other pictures from our drive to town. The snow really is so pretty!

 

 

Christmas Memories

The month of December has been so busy and full of so many fun memories. It’s flying by and the kids are having a blast!

With our Advent Activities Calendar, we are doing something fun together every day. Some days it’s as simple as playing a game, or baking cookies. (My pictures make it look like these children always get along and play well together, but trust me—that is not the case. There are usually many arguments going on amidst all the happy snapshots!)

One day we went to a friend’s house to learn how to make a wreath. They also happened to have chickens. Andrew & Leah got to hold one and gather the eggs.

This year we attempted our first gingerbread house. We used a pre-made kit to make it a little easier. It was tricky getting the base together but once we realized we had to let it dry a little while to get it to stay together, then the kids worked together to decide how they wanted their candy on it. For Abigail that meant eating two pieces for every one she put on.

  

 

The finished product turned out really cute. And (5 days later) it was pretty tasty!

 

Church had a Cookie Baking Day, where we all brought ingredients & things to bake and decorate together. Leah & Andrew had some fun with decorating sugar cookies while I tried my hand at Cake Pops. They are a time-consuming venture, but my littlest critic approved of the final product! These happy kids really enjoy being at church and just being around other people! We’ve also had an Open House for church members to come by our house for snacks and to hang out and enjoy our Christmas decorations. About 40 people showed up over the course of the night, including most of the kids’ little friends. It was so much fun and we genuinely enjoy being around the people from our church.

 

 

We also made & painted these salt dough ornaments. They may not make it to our Christmas tree, but they had fun with them, even Abigail!