Christmas is here at last

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and happy new season! (Spring, that is. So I'm still a little behind on this thing.)

December was a fun-filled month. It's always such a busy time of year and it goes by way too fast. One of the things the kids look forward to is decorating the tree, of course. I was ready to cuss by the time I finally got all the lights working well enough to put on it. I think the light manufacturer people purposely program them to self-destruct after two seasons. But only HALF of each strand. Half of each one works perfectly, the other half maddeningly stays non-luminous, despite all efforts to shake, wiggle, plead, cajole, and stomp them to life. I was able to craftily hide the non-working sections by stuffing them into the middle of the tree. Once the light strand deception was complete, the kids went to town with the ornaments.

Hmmm, where should I place the next one?

Done!

Exactly two days later, another strand of lights on our now perfect tree quit working. So I outsmarted it by picking up another clear strand (no doubt programmed to die two Christmases from now), and putting it ON TOP of the burned out strand. Heh heh, no Christmas tree's gonna pull one over on me!

Here are a few random December pictures:

One day while I was doing school with the older kids, Elizabeth got out our Jenga game. She and Avery usually spend their time playing (and/or arguing) while I'm working with Amelia and Shannon. (They watch movies too...but only the educational kind, of course.) This mid-December day she called me over to see what she had created.

"Chinese ladies!," she said.

Speaking of education, I snapped a picture of Amelia's vocabulary for the day. Judging by the looks of number three, it really is vitally important to add that last "s" to "assess."

One of the fun things about the season is making Christmas goodies. The kids enjoy making treats to give their Sunday School teachers. It's also a good excuse for me to try out recipes I would otherwise never make.

This year we tackled chocolate covered peanut butter balls. YUUUMMM. I guess Avery was impersonating one of the Magi with a Burger King crown in honor of the season. If you've ever wondered exactly what "myrhh" is, it's Persian for "Kids' Meal." Wonder if it was the cheeseburger or chicken finger meal that particular Magi brought...and what kind of toy was in it? The world may never know. (Aren't you glad our home study of World History and the Bible are paying off?)

The evening of December 18 we had our annual "Make a Colossal Mess of Rebecca's House Dinner and Gingerbread House Decorating Party." Dinner first, then mess! Way fun!

Jenny and Anne, master craftsmen.

Amelia, Sydney, Alex Anne, and Meg.

This year I was bright enough to buy an already assembled house, thereby effectively skipping the frustrating 45 minutes of pre-decorating angst that assembling a gingerbread house creates.

A.J. and Alison, smiling, which tells me that Alison also bought the pre-assembled kind!

Tozer joined the fun and candy eating too.

Alex Anne and Meg's creation.

Jill and Sydney.

Amelia and Avery stuck with our house the longest. Elizabeth and Shannon wandered by periodically to stick on a piece, eat a piece or three, stick on a piece, eat a piece.

Rebecca and Kelli. Peace out.

 Ruth and Jenny.

Here it is, our masterpiece. They finished it and immediately starting bugging me about when they could eat it. Ew.

The Davidson girls' sad-looking house. I'm not knocking it, it really does look sad. That's a manger scene out front.

Don't you wish this were your house? She will be sticking to her floor for days...

Rebecca displays her creativity. It was easily the best house of the evening, particularly since we had to do without Amanda this time, who up and moved to Singapore over the summer. We miss her. She has a terrific job as a teacher there, and is loving it, so we can't begrudge her desire to follow God's plan for her life, or the happiness that has come as a result of it. But we can still miss her! (Our gingerbread house line up certainly did- she's a talented icing and candy putter on-er!)

We schooled right up until the weekend of Christmas. There's no mercy on the part of this teacher, since we need to be done by mid-May so we can be ready for camp trainings, staff week, and playing in the warm sunshine. I've been reading lately about "summer learning loss," which is one of the things prompting educators to push for year-round school. BAD IDEA, thinks this camp person and mother. There are so many things that can be learned outside of a school setting that could never be learned in one. I plan to schedule some review times here and there throughout the summer, but nothing like a normal school day. We love summer break, we need summer break! Kids everywhere need it!

Okay, stepping off my soapbox.

The week before Christmas it occurred to me that if the kids or any other family members were going to have presents, I would have to escape on a shopping excursion. Though I've said in the past that I dislike shopping, that isn't entirely true. It's spending money I dislike. Well, and standing in lines. If I could get it all done in one day, have no lines, AND get it all for free, it's something I would love! Maybe that's what shopping in Heaven will be like.

I scheduled my mom to come stay with the kids so I could take an entire day and head to a town with shopping a level above Dollar General (i.e., Buford), and the night before I mentioned to Jenny what I'd be doing the next day. Curtis said she ought to go with me. I warned her that it would be ALL DAY, but somehow she wasn't too scared, and it ended up being the most fun shopping trip I can remember in a long, long, time. We hit at least 20 stores, including the Lego store at Discover Mills Mall. We spent about 45 minutes building little Lego people from the bins of heads, bodies, and accessories in the store. We also ate at P.F. Chang's, a delight I had not previously been introduced to. I intend to do that again as soon as possible. I knocked out nearly all of my Christmas shopping in one day, and had a blast while doing it. Thanks, Jenny!

Now for another random photo. Mom found a cute dress at a thrift store, which Elizabeth wore around the house for several days. I love the way she accessorizes.

The red handle sticking up behind her is a sword, which she stuck through the back of her dress.

Mess with me and you'll be sorry, sucker.

Hee hee! Just kidding! I'm a cute, harmless, armed bunny rabbit!

This wasn't a Texas for Christmas year, so we spent the holidays with my family in McDonough. Christmas Eve morning, a Saturday, we headed down in time for lunch at Nanny's with Mom's side of the family. We had a delicious lunch, followed by some presents for the young 'uns (great grandkids) and old 'uns (primarily Nanny).

My sweet nieces and sister-in-law. This picture shows all THREE of my nieces, as we found out that Lisa and Jonathan's next baby is also a girl!

The first gift-opening of the season was very well received.

Saturn?

And then Nanny had to do it. I will never fully understand why grandmas and grandpas who wear dentures have to show the youngest in the family how they can take out their teeth, but it's unavoidable, so...

Hmmm...

Really?

Ewww!!!

Huh?

It was great. I laughed a lot. Which probably means that one day I myself will be an old lady who takes out MY teeth to show the littlest members of the family!

Uncle Don and my cousin Luke, just back from Marines basic training. We're so proud of him! He has since headed off to Florida for the next year.

 Judging from the lack of other family members in photos (Aunt Jackie, Casey, Jaidyn, Uncle Ned, Aunt Dawn, and lot of other folks), I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures at Nanny's house that day.

Working on Legos back at Grandmom and Grandad's house. It was a Lego kind of Christmas.

Jonathan and Lisa had to return home to Marietta after lunch at Nanny's because Jonathan had to finish out the year as the deacon secretary at their HUGE church, Johnson Ferry Baptist. It's been a lot of hours and a every Sunday for the entire year dedicated to the task, but he's enjoyed it. Since Christmas Eve and day were big services (Christmas was on Sunday this year), he had to be there to coordinate things. So Christmas morning we were without their family. We still had Christmas with our own kids, and opened presents from James' family as well.

Quite a pile of loot...

Stockings first.

Hey, they really are stockings!

Scary shark! Aaahhh!

I LOVE Christmas!! Yeah!!

Next, breakfast...

...which, because it was Christmas, included cookies.

On to the good stuff! Presents!

The MP3 player he had on his list, from Mimi and Papa.

Trio Blocks castle! Yes!

Elizabeth with her new baby doll, who she named "Jealous."

Already at work scattering Legos.

Amelia's top of the list item this year was Rebecca Rubin, an American Girl doll.

Jealous had to go potty.

Jason got James a cycling outfit (called a "kit," for the uninitiated), from Mellow Johnny's, which is Lance Armstrong's cycling shop in Austin, TX. Needless to say, it was a hit!

Modeling a new robe. 'Bout time our eight year-old had a new one, since the one she had been wearing was a 5T.

After presents at Grandmom and Grandad's we walked over to Nanny's to deliver some special gifts on Christmas morning.

The best part for Nanny was the elves who delivered the gifts.

Modeling a dress from Mimi and Papa, and a bow from a package!

We love you, Nanny!

This gets us halfway through Christmas Day, 2011. There are about a zillion photos left to post, so I'll save them for tomorrow. Wait, it IS tomorrow, which is why I'm choosing to quit now! It's way too easy to stay up ridiculously late once I get on a blogging roll.

We've been so blessed to have Mimi and Papa here this week, on spring break from Texas. They have to go home tomorrow, which we hate. We also have Uncle Jason visiting. It's been a great week!

The rest of Christmas Day will be here shortly. Until then, goodnight!