Handmade Christmas

Disclaimer first: Yes, I realize it's been two and a half months since I last updated, and we've gone through a move and a whole slough of changes in my family, and I haven't documented any of it on my blog. On top of that, there are birthdays and holidays I haven't covered. I'm hoping against hope that I'll play catch-up after the new year, and you'll all be so sick of my posts that you'll be begging for me to go back to this nearly quarterly update thing. ;) But in the meantime, I thought I'd cover some stuff that I want to show off now, and not later.

Since Jesse is out of work and we don't have an income beyond unemployment, which, predictably, doesn't cover all of our costs, I decided to make a lot of gifts for the kids by hand this year. We were able to buy some things as well, thanks to some money that my mom and dad sent out, and they also got gifts from Newson relatives... but I was really excited by the things I made by hand this year. So much that every time someone asked me about my Christmas, all I could remember were the things I made.

I started the sewing binge by finally making Melinda, Jacob and Alex some stockings to match the pair I made for Jesse and myself before we had any kids. Here are all of our stockings lined up: Jesse, Becky, Melinda, Jacob and Alex. Melinda and Jacob picked their own accent fabrics from Grandma Newson's stash:

For Melinda, I made:
A fuzzy/corduroy blanket. Honestly, even with sale prices at Joann's Fabrics, the fabric for this was a splurge. But the embroidered corduroy was on sale for the same price as regular corduroy, and I made it big enough that she'll be able to enjoy through adulthood. And I hope she will. I keep wishing I had made one for myself. ;) It was also, by far, the quickest of all my sewing projects. I finished it in one night. And note of interest-- I didn't realize that the embroidered corduroy was not as wide as the pink fuzzy material. My mother-in-law Nedra happened to have a darker purple corduroy in her fabric stash that she generously let me use to supplement what I had purchased (she also did this with various other fabrics for other projects I had!). I *love* the way it turned out... it's like I did it on purpose.

I also made Melinda a matching scripture tote. We got her a new Bible and Book of Mormon, and I took the leftover corduroy and some hot-pink knit and made a tote bag to fit them snugly. It was my second time ever making a tote bag, and only the first time without someone to guide me, so the process of figuring out measurements and everything took me quite a while. It was a two-night venture. And the embroidered pocket still ended up lower than I meant it to. Oh, well.

For Jacob, I made a scripture tote as well. He loves it to pieces. The fabric I used was purchased earlier in the year when I spotted it on etsy.com. I fell in love with it (I *adore* the owls and woodland creatures, and color scheme in general!), and knew I would think of something to use it for eventually. I was leaning towards a cuddle blanket, but this works just as nicely. I very nearly finished Jacob's scripture tote in a single night, thanks to figuring out the process and measurements when I had made Melinda's tote. I only wish I had thought to reinforce the handles a bit somehow, as they're flimsy with just a single layer of cotton fabric.

One idea I had for all three kids was to make a set of bombs. Like I've mentioned before, my kids just love watching and playing video games. Jesse's made toys for them before, like foam swords and cardboard/duct-tape shields, and Metroid "guns" out of drink bottles, and they always love pretending with them so much. So one of the games they love to pretend is The Legend of Zelda. It's got a lot of fantasy elements in it, and you often need to use bombs to clear a pathway, etc. in the environment. So I found a pattern for sewing balls, and then we used braided cotton rope to make a "fuse". Nedra had some fabric pigment markers that we colored orange, yellow and red on the ends of the fuse, to make it look like they were lit. Then we also made a bag, since you can't have bombs without a bomb bag! They knew what these were the very instant they opened them up, and have enjoyed playing with them. I only made three bombs, one for each kid, but Jacob wants me to make more so he can keep more in the bag while someone else is playing with them. Also, this is the best picture I got of them, since I forgot to take a picture when I made them.

I ended up having enough time on Christmas Eve to sew a few very last-minute ideas: A Zelda hat for Jacob, and a couple keys like you would find in one of the dungeons in the game. I'm glad I got to do those, as Jacob has been running around in full Zelda gear the last few days: Hat, bomb bag, keys, sword and shield. He keeps telling me that he wants a whole costume, though... But that's more work than I can handle at the moment. I'd like to make him a harness to attach his sword on his back at some point, however.

Alex's handmade gift was quite an undertaking. I thought it would be quick...and it wasn't. I made a Mr. Potato Head completely out of felt and velcro. It's a lot of fun, and I'm glad I made it, but whew, I'm glad it's over!! (It's just one Potato Head, with multiple pieces.)

Detail of the pocket... I made just a basic pocket first, and I could barely fit my hand in it... forget about 16 stuffed pieces!! So I cut it out and added a bigger pleated section that I hand stitched on. Because there was no way I was unstuffing the thing so I could rip out the pocket and sew one on with the machine. Just my luck, the new pleated pocket fits the pieces exactly.

I was also going to make pajamas for all three of them with some fabric that Nedra and my sister-in-law Rachel picked out for me, but I simply ran out of time to even attempt it. Hopefully I'll get to it before winter is over, though. :) Binge-sewing kind of got me looking forward to more projects again. I've been designing a make-up organizer in my head, and I also need to finish up the baby blankets I promised to my sisters before their daughters have their first birthday!

A Belated Christmas Entry

I could be sneaky and back-date this post so it looks like I actually took the time to write it during the holidays. But I won't. I'll simply admit to the fact that I allowed myself to be lazy and relax as much as possible during the Christmas season, and I don't regret it. Except for now when I'm trying to break out of the laziness and get back into the normal swing of things. That part isn't so fun. But we all need a good rest every now and then, don't we? And what better time to take that rest than during a celebration of the birth of the Savior? I never did like birth to be a chaotic, noisy thing, anyway. Much better to enjoy the occasion quietly. :)

Anyway....

We didn't do our typical drive-around-looking-at-Christmas-lights thing this year. The one where we usually crank up the Christmas music in our car, while we sip on a 7-11 Slurpee because of a random whim we had several years ago which started a tradition, all while driving around randomly, sometimes getting ourselves lost, looking at all the nice and lovely ways people decorated their homes with lights. Nope, didn't do that this year.

Instead, we went down to the Washington, D.C. temple. Which is actually in Kensington, Maryland. But close enough, right? Just after Thanksgiving, they put up a ton of Christmas lights on the grounds, mostly right around the visitor's center. There's also a live Nativity (I really pity the couples who participated in this during the frigid nights we had recently!!), and musical performances, and lots of wonderfully decorated Christmas trees inside the visitor's center. In years past, there was also a large collection of Nativity scenes from all over the world, but this year, in it's place, was a gallery of Christ-centered photographs. They were photographed in the style of paintings... but they were with real people... I liked the general idea behind them, and the sentiment, but I definitely prefer an actual painting to a re-enacted type of photograph.

But there I go getting off track, again.

We made the ~1hr drive down to the temple. I always love going down there, and seeing it suddenly come into view as you come around a bend of the highway. It's really an amazing sight, and such a beautiful temple. If I'm not careful, it may yet become my favorite temple of all! Gasp!! How will I ever manage to say goodbye to Baltimore if I keep falling in love with pieces of life around here?!

It was a pretty cold night. We intended, as I blogged about a couple weeks ago, to go on a Monday night. However, that particular Monday night would have been absolutely freezing. It was in the low 20's outside, with a very strong wind, so it would have felt much closer to 10 degrees. We decided we weren't up for that, so we waited until Tuesday. Which was a wise decision - because, while Tuesday was still cold, in the low 30's, there wasn't much of a wind at all. And the kids still complained about the cold, but at least it wasn't so bad that we were able to wander around outside and actually enjoy the lights we went all that way to see. :)

The lights are just so awesome. I love the way they wrap them around every tree and bush, and even add extra little flower-shaped light configurations on the ground like it's springtime or something. There are so many colors, and then there's even the reflection pond to add a little more sparkle to the night. I love to see it, it's all so wonderful. But it was also very crowded when we went.

I was hoping to get into the musical performance, featuring Jenny Oaks Baker. But there was a line wrapping and weaving all throughout the visitor's center... and with three kids, there was no way I was going to stand in a line going nowhere for half an hour. Or more. So we wandered in and out, enjoyed the lights, watched a short Christ-centered film, saw the live Nativity.... I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how Melinda and Jacob liked the Nativity. I really would have thought they'd be bored. There wasn't much to watch, after all, just a man and a woman dressed like Joseph and Mary, with a narration of the scriptural account of Christ's birth. But they stood and watched it as if it were the most interesting thing they've ever seen. That made me happy. :)

By the time we wandered into the Visitor's Center for the third time, they were just announcing that, due to the unexpectedly large crowd (and boy, was it!!), they were pleased to offer a third show. So we stuck around for a while longer, just long enough to wander around outside a little more, get all the kids a potty break, and hop into the back of the now-moving line. It was getting late by this point, it was almost 9pm. And we still had the long drive back to think about, but half the reason I wanted to go was to enjoy a performance. I think college spoiled me with how easily I could go see something for free, when they were offered so regularly.

So, Jenny Oaks Baker is apparently one of America's most accomplished classical violinists. Neat! But it was truly a wonderful thing to listen to her perform. She got on stage and was just so pleasant and friendly with the way she introduced each of the people performing along with her, and each of the pieces she was going to play. And she played with such energy and spirit! I really feel like I want to run out and buy a CD now, quite honestly! My favorite was the performances of Ave Maria (oh my goodness, I don't think you can top the beauty and serenity they conveyed!), and .... shoot. My mind is drawing a complete, horrifying blank. There was a very up-beat piece they played last, in a Scottish style. I Saw Three Ships? I don't think that was it. But it could have been. I don't know... which is really driving me crazy, because I spent at least half an hour of the drive home humming it to myself. It's one I know fairly well in it's traditional version. Anyway, it was fantastic. I loved the style of it, a very energetic, celebratory arrangement. There was even audience participation - the woman on percussion would stand up and motion to clap during certain parts. Jacob and Alex both got a huge kick out of that. I love Jacob's little mischeivous grin!! Alex spent most of the perfromance craning his head past my shoulder to make lovey-eyes at a Sister Missionary acting as an usher. Oh, he's such a tease! ;)

We finally got back home (with Alex deciding that he was now very tired and very hungry during the last 10 minutes, and letting us know quite loudly!) at just after 10:30pm. Thank goodness the kids went to sleep easily, but the rest of the night went too quickly. I had to work through bleary eyes to finish up hand-stitching the seam of one of the snakes that Grandma Newson sent for the boys, and finished just at midnight. Thank goodness I did! There certainly wouldn't have been any time for it on Christmas Eve. Which is another post that I'll get around to very very soon. :)

AHHHH!! I remembered! It was Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. SEE! I knew I knew what song it was! My brain is just extra fried today, for no real reason. ;)

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy of our night at the DC temple!
Though... again, a reminder that I am a poor photographer, and most of these were taken, of course, not only in the dark, but also often while I was walking, or even just trying to stand still with a baby strapped onto me. So... don't expect fantastic quality. Just enjoy the scenes. :)

This is just outside the visitor's center.

Looking toward the visitor's center again (you can see the statue of Christ through the window), with the reflection pool in front of us.

One of the gorgeous trees inside the visitor's center, to the side of the Christus.

Another tree to the side of the Christus.
Melinda getting grabby with the tree.
Melinda and Jacob in front of the Christus. Ahh, peace...

The whole family, courtesy of a passing stranger, with the temple behind us. Jacob's making a goofy face... licking his lips, I think, but it's still funny to look at.

Same spot, no family, no flash.

Looking at the temple from the end of the path. Deep purple, white, and black make a lovely combination, don't they?

The fountain and purple-lined trees at the opposite end of the path, in front of the temple.

P.S. - Please don't miss the fact that there are two other new Christmas-related posts below this one!! Especially the last one, it's got the most detail and snark! tee-hee. :)

Letter to Santa

Melinda and Jacob really wanted a bubble gun (each) for Christmas. I didn't find any in the stores near me, and the only ones I could find online got very poor reviews. Like, I would regret buying them or having them in my house kind of reviews.

This was their only request from Santa. Now, I keep riding the fence about the whole Santa thing. On the one hand, I don't want to "lie" to my children about a fictional person being real. On the other hand, it makes the holiday so magic for young kids, doesn't it? So, I shove the more rational thoughts away, and embrace the fantastic, like I am wont to do. But this also presents a problem when I really don't want to give them what they ask of Santa. How do you explain it when they don't get that one simple thing, without breaking their hearts?

Jesse's mom suggested that we sit down and have a little chat with Melinda about how you have to give Santa options, because maybe he can't get (or make) the gift that you want. We finally got around to doing that, and I had Melinda write out a list of things that I could... *ahem* e-mail ... to Santa. Because, you know, Christmas was only a couple days away. And Santa must have an e-mail, right? My kids think I can talk to anyone through my computer, truly. And this way I didn't have to waste a stamp to send a letter to nowhere real, too. :)

Anyway, so this is the list she wrote out, with a little encouragement from me. It took her a bit to get going, to think of other things she might possibly like, but once she did, she gave me some excellent choices to work with!

1. Bubble Gun

2. Wood shapes (to paint, like the ones that her cousins sent in the mail!)

3. "Soft girl car". We have a plush car that neither of the kids ever really play with, but Melinda associates with belonging to Jacob. Apparently she thought it would be nice to have one for a girl (maybe in pinks or purples, or something?), with a #5 on the side. Because 5 is how old she is.

4. Rubik's cube. She had to explain this one to me several times, before I pieced together that it was a square with lots of colored squares inside it, that you could turn. I looked it up on the 'net, asked her if that's what she meant, and she happily exclaimed it was. Not sure why she thought she wanted one of those... I'm not sure she's ever played with one.

5. Ballerina costume.... self-explainatory.

6. Painting ornaments. Like the ceramic horse from my own childhood.

7. Tadoodles. Those little Crayola products meant for toddlers. She's been asking for them for half of a year now, easily! She had me write those the next day, since she thought of them that much later.

In the end, I went with a whole lot of wooden shapes and paints (nice and cheap at Michael's), and a set of Tadoodles for each of them. I figured Christmas was as good a time as any to get Melinda those Tadoodles she had been absolutely dying for, and the wooden shapes would make great stocking stuffers, all while fulfilling the Santa aspect of Christmas.

And no, I didn't ask Jacob to make a list. He was being too grumpy to have cooperated nicely, and he always wants exactly what Melinda wants, no questions asked, anyway. I just made sure to tell him about the list so he wouldn't be disappointed by the additional options given to Santa. :)

Christmas Eve

What would Christmas Eve be, without chaos?

Oh, right. It would be relaxing.

Ah, well. At least things worked out in the end! But it was a crazy frustrating day in the meantime.
I had sort of a tight schedule for how the day needed to play out. Jesse would go to work for only a few hours, and during that time I needed to finish the pillows that I was making for Jesse. You know, hand stitching an entire side shut... through thick upholstery fabric... when I'm not even good at hand stitching in the first place. But before I could even get to that fun, I needed to start the Pulla bread, so it would have time to rise, so I could bake it in time for us to enjoy in the evening, and maybe even take to people.

Right. That so didn't happen. And what a learning experience it was!!
This was the first time I had ever attempted to make Pulla. And I'll be honest, as much as the idea and finished product appeal to me, I rarely make bread. So I'm not an expert by any means. But I have worked with yeast recently enough that I should have seen my mistake coming from a mile away. The instructions read poorly. And I followed them without interpreting them.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Stir in the lukewarm milk, sugar, salt, cardamom, 4 eggs, and enough flour to make a batter (approximately 2 cups). Beat until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Anyone else catch what mistake I would obviously make there? Right. I didn't let the yeast sit and activate. I dissolved the yeast in warm water, and immediately started stirring things in and making a batter. As it was beating, it dawned on me. Yeast usually sits for a while and gets all bubbly before you start throwing extra things in.

Crap.

Grab the phone, call mom, double-check with her the proper way to start Pulla. Yup, I definitely missed the mark on the first try. So, out goes the first batch (which, of course, included 2 cups of milk, 4 organic-definitely-not-cheap eggs, a whole tablespoon (I was adding extra) of not-cheap-cardamom, and 2 cups of flour). Fun.

Try #2. Yeast in warm water, with a few fingerfulls of sugar, set into a warm stove to activate. Check. Bubbles, check. Lukewarm milk and beaten eggs ready to go, check. Add everything together and start beating again, check. Hmm... oddly, the mixture seems too liquidy. What's the deal? I start reviewing the steps in my head, double-checking the instructions...

Crap.
Double crap.

I used a whole cup of warm water with the yeast instead of half a cup.

Out goes batch #2 of definitely-not-cheap and limited supply ingredients.

Try #3 starts. I carefully make sure I have the right amount of water for the yeast. The yeast concoction goes back into the just-barely-warm stove to activate, milk gets going, finally I get ready to beat everything. Jesse is now home. I have thrown out more ingredients than I care to admit, I'm super flustered, and no, I have not started on finishing those surprise-for-Jesse pillows yet. Awesome. Oh, and did I mention I had a cold, so I wasn't feeling great to start with? And I hadn't even showered yet? Mmm. Lovely.

And I think I called mom again sometime during this process to clarify the amount of flour to add. Or the type of beating to do. Or something. Point being, I called, probably a bit flustered.

Anyway... I finally beat it all and added all the sugar, and got it turned out into a bowl to rise. I set a cloth over the bowl and put the whole thing in the warm (not cooking heat) oven, and let it sit there for an hour, just like the directions said. In the meantime, I retreated back to the bedroom to hand-sew those darn pillows, grumbling about now having to make Jesse aware that I was even working on a surprise to begin with. After the hour is up, and my fingers tired from stitching, I check the dough.

It's barely raised at all. It was, according to the directions, supposed to have doubled in size during this time. It's raised maaaaaaybe half as much as it's original size.

Crap.

Grab the phone, call mom again, exclaiming that I'm giving up and the universe hates me or something like that. She calmed me down, and told me that it usually takes a few hours for her dough to double in size the first time around, and she always plans on at least 5 hours to make her Pulla. So, I got the oven warm again (it had cooled off by now), and let it sit again.

I took off to go buy those Santa gifts that Melinda wrote on her list, and when I got home an hour later, it still didn't look like it had changed all that much, but was maybe close to being somewhat doubled from its original size, so I punched it down and let it sit some more, still in that warm oven.

Finally, after waiting all day, and even eating dinner, I decided enough was enough. It was now 7pm, a good 7 hours or more since I had orignally set it to raise. I didn't think it looked quite raised enough, but I sure as heck wasn't going to wait any longer. I had things to do still that night!

So I rolled it out and braided it, and completely skipped the part where you let it raise another 15 minutes before baking it, because, I told myself, I couldn't see how it was possibly going to raise anymore after sitting all day long. And finally, I took it out of the oven, and it looked just right. I'm not sure how. After it cooled a bit, I sliced it up and tasted it. It even tasted just right!! A Christmas miracle!! It was maybe a little bit dense (I may have added too much flour?), but otherwise, I couldn't complain. Except for all the botched tries it took to get me there. ;)

And of course, the fun doesn't end there. The kids were now in bed, and wrapping must begin. Since I had just been stashing away gifts as they arrived in the mail (YAY for internet shopping!!), we had to wrap everything in one night. We didn't have a ton, but it was enough to keep us pretty busy. And then, of course, I pulled out a gift for Alex that I had totally forgotten was battery-operated. I sent Jesse out to Target to grab some batteries (because, yeah... we never have C batteries on hand!), and guess what? It was closed, completely dark and empty. Duh? I guess it's only the movies where stores are open all night on Christmas Eve. In the real world, employees get a holiday, too! He ended up stopping by 7-11, which was still open, to grab a Slurpee (call it a vice?) on his way to discover what stores might still be open which carried batteries, only to find that, yay! 7-11 had C batteries. And he came home, and we finished the wrapping.

But not, of course, without Alex waking up from his nap (darn, I was really hoping he was asleep for the night!), and wanting to terrorize the wrapping scene. I tried gating him into the playroom while we finished up, but that didn't work too well. He only wanted to come out and grab everything, and his frustration built quickly until he was having a full-blown meltdown. We ended up compromising and taking turns holding Alex and wrapping gifts. And then, finally, it was done, and only about 10pm, too!

We decided to watch Serenity before bed. Because what Christmas Eve is complete without a little action and adventure, Josh Whedon style? Oh, no. Really, it was because we watched the whole Firefly series in order a few weeks earlier at hulu.com, and then Jesse watched our copy of Serenity without me, the stinker!! So this was just a convenient time to get me caught up. :) I was surprised at how little I remembered of the plot of the movie. It was almost like watching it for the first time, again!

And then we went to bed. And that, my friends, is finally the whole of our Christmas celebration, because I already added the actual Christmas Day bit. Isn't this freeing? I feel like I'm finally caught up! Mostly! Kind of! Okay, not even close. But I'm getting there. Even if I did have to do three separate posts in one stinkin' night. ;)

Oh... and here's to hoping that next Christmas Eve, things will all go according to plan. :)

Tour of the Ornaments

Before Christmas is totally a thing of the past, it's about time I got around to one of my intended posts. ;)
I wanted to share my Christmas ornaments!

I love a good beautiful tree as much as the next person, one with a well-executed theme... but my favorite is when every ornament is unique and has a history. So here are my favorite ornaments!


This one was from my "Enhanced Learning" teacher in 5th grade. My parents (and siblings?) teased me and called it "Enchanted Village" (which was what a local theme park was called, back then).... The participants in Enhanced Learning were bussed to a central school for part of a day a few times a week. We were tested and if found to be "advanced", we were put in the Enhanced Learning class. I didn't make it the first time I was tested (in 3rd grade?). It certainly was more difficult than the typical elementary classes. I remember being pretty frustrated in that class, reduced to tears many times, not feeling like I quite fit in, or couldn't measure up, and I opted not to continue in 6th grade. But I wound back up in the program in 7th grade, after some friends talked me into it. Of course, it was much different by Middle School - instead of being bussed out to a different school, we just had a different homeroom. It was a much better experience by then, and set the stage for me to take more advance classes and eventually AP classes, earning me college credit while I was in high school. One of the best parts, of course, was having those same friends I made in elementary (and then middle) school stick with me through my core classes all through high school. That 5th grade class, with my Enhanced Learning teacher, was the foundation of it all. So this simple apple has a lot of memories attached to it. Not to mention the fact that it was the last year I went by Rebecca. As soon as I hit middle school in 6th, I had everyone call me Becky. And here I am!

This was an ornament given to Melinda through an online ornament exchange. I joined a forum when I was expecting Melinda, and continued posting there all the way up until about last year, when everyone sort of drifted away. We had a couple gift exchanged over the course of the years, and I love this ornament she got from one of her "due date buddies". She even loves Hello Kitty! This ornament has much more of a stained-glass look than the photo shows.

This is another ornament from an exchange from that same October '03 due date board, given to me this time, instead of Melinda. It's a fairly large glass sphere, with a glass Rudolph, and a sparkly blue background. I pack it away very carefully each year, it looks so fragile!

Jesse's mom, Nedra, gave us a set of these cookie cutter ornaments a few years ago. They're lovely, tied up in ribbon, with beads and a jingle bell dangling inside. Definitely a favorite of the kids, too, always doing their best to wiggle them to make them jingle. :)

This is an ornament I bought in Washington, after one of our family tree-hunting trips. After the tree was cut down, we went inside the owner's garage/gift shop, and enjoyed some hot apple cider. There was a Christmas tree displaying many small ornaments for sale, and this was one that really caught my eye. It's very small, just over an inch tall, but I love it. It always reminds me of cutting our Christmas tree on a cold day, the smell of pine everywhere, and the promise of hot apple cider afterwards.

This was another ornament we received as a gift. I think it was just last year, and I think (but don't kill me if I'm wrong!) that it was Jesse's sister, Sarah, who gave this one to us. I love it for it's simplicity, crafty look, and perfect reminder of the reason for the season.

The next two ornaments were made by my mom, in 1987 (I was 7). She cross-stitched them, and even painted the frames. I love having something so old to keep and enjoy year after year. Every time I look at them, I think I should take the time to make something for my kids while they're young like this, too.

This photo shows two ornaments. The sequin tree was made by Melinda two years ago. It was a craft from Oriental Trading. I didn't think I'd hang it on the tree after the first year she made it, but it turns out I do enjoy having it on the tree: Melinda's proud of it, and I like how it sparkles. And you know, the crooked sticks have a certain whimsical appeal to them. :)

The carousel horse ornament was one that I made with my mom at a Mother-Daughter Relief Society activity. Well, the shape itself was already made, but I painted it! The poor horse's front legs broke off many years ago, but nothing a little glue can't fix. You can see the seam if you look closely. I was deifnitely in a loves-horses-to-death phase when I painted this ornment, too, which made me love it even more.

This ornment is very simple and unassuming, and was given to me by one of my Seminary teachers when I was a teenager. It also serves as another reminder to focus on the religious meaning of the Christmas season.

Here's another two-ornament photo. On the left is a felt star, which I also made for my Primary class kids last year. It went along with a lesson we had that week, close to Christmas, and I also liked the thought of seeing a star at Christmas time and associating it with faith.

The ornament on the right is yet another one from an October '03 due date forum ornament exchange. 2005, even Jacob was on there. There sure were a lot of thoughtful women I made friends with out there on the internet. :)

Here's another ornament that Jesse's mom made for us. She's really good at making wooden Santas, and has a whole big collection of them that she painted in different styles. I think this ornament version is really fun, with his poofy chenille details! I think this one is one of Jacob's favorites, too.

I have a thing for Cardinals this year. If I would have managed to send out Christmas cards, you can bet they would have featured a cardinal in the snow. I spied this tiny little guy while we were shopping at Target, and he became the only new addition to our ornament collection this year.

I got this lovely ornament from a Visiting Teacher a few years ago who made a big difference to me, during a year when I was really suffering emotionally. She said it reminded her of a stained glass window, the type you'd find in a really old cathedral, and I have to agree.

Another two-ornament picture. On the left is a picture ornament I bought when Melinda was just over 1 year old. I can't believe that's my same baby girl in that photo! She's grown so much. I've really slacked off, and Jacob and Alex don't have their own ornaments. :(
On the right is another ornament Sarah made for us. I just *adore* this pengiun! He's nice and big, has that hand-crafted look, and definitely an original on our tree. Did I mention I love original ornaments? :)

And this next one is so not an ornement.... but I couldn't resist showing Jacob's handiwork... maybe you'll laugh as much as I did!

Did you know Mary had a day job as a construction worker? ;)

Merry Christmas!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas. I have what seems like a million pictures to share, but I don't want to spend hours doing it. I wish I had the energy to make this a totally insightful, spiritually-minded post, but I don't. Suffice it to say that I'm pondering things in my heart, and reflecting on the meaning of the season. I'm so thankful for the Light of the World.

We had a pretty smooth morning. Melinda woke up about half an hour before everyone else, but stayed fairly patient in our bedroom while we all slowly woke up. Jacob was difficult - Melinda tried a lot of tactics to get him up, but we let him take his time (and ours!). Alex can be a very heavy sleeper when he wants to be, and only finally woke up when Melinda started bouncing all around him and clacking loud toys in his ears. The whole process took long enough that I was even able to sneak a quick shower in.

We went out to open presents at about 8am. I just love watching kids see all the presents. It was especially impressive this year, since we didn't have any presents out until after the kids were in bed last night. We guessed, rightly so, that Alex would attack any presents if we put them out. He woke up while we were still wrapping last night, and couldn't go back to sleep. So he had plenty of time to terrorize the presents while the older two were oblivious to the situation. Jesse and I watched the movie Serenity before we went to bed. I had a really hard time falling asleep last night - I'm getting a cold, so my nose is all stuffy, and my throat was sore (today I have a slight cough...yay).

Alex gave the best attempt an 8-month old can give at opening gifts, and tore off some loose pieces of paper when I showed him how. But mostly, he batted at it, as if he could hit the gifts out!

Alex got:

New shoes (just in time for him to grow out of the old ones!)
Pajamas
a small toy that blinks and plays a very quiet (thank goodness) tune when shaken
a stuffed snake from Grandma Newson
a Playskool air-powered ball popper (which, oddly enough, Melinda and Jacob love even more than he does)
Books from Grandma & Grandpa Newson


Jacob got:

a stuffed snake from Grandma Newson
new Crocs (which he will grow into before long)
Wooden dollhouse family
Book of animals (made from pictures from National Geographic) from G&G Newson
Webkinz Frog from Aunt Rachel
Aang figurine from Avatar: The Last Airbender
Bag of Lego Duplos


Melinda:

Aquadoodle Mat
Magnetic color maze
Hanna Andersson dress/leggings set
Doll w/ basket, pillow, blanket, bottle, clothes, etc. from G&G Newson
Webkinz Monkey from Aunt Rachel
New Crocs

Melinda and Jacob both got:

tangram puzzles
wooden shapes and boxes to paint
several animal figurines
Tadoodles paintbrushes (Melinda has been asking for them for at least the past 6 months), pad of paper
Smencils (10 each) ("gourmet" scented colored pencils)
Wooden people (painted by me)
Hot Wheels car
Scissors
Glue sticks
Sheet of stickers



Jesse:

Pillows (finally) made by me (that was my secret project, which I barely finished)
Pajama pants
Warhammer Online video game (won from a blog giveaway)
Socks
Book sequel to Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card (I can't remember the name of it at the moment)
X-Men movie
Crocs
Crocs hat
Crocs shirts



Family:

Christmas stories booklet from Ben & Brea
Orange & Lemon bars from Layton, UT Newsons
Pop-up play tent/bus from Markos family (THANK YOU Sarah, they All love this one to death!!)
Emergency crank flashlight/radio/phone charger. Awesome.

Becky:

2 handmade necklaces from Colorado Newsons

Book: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (Oprah Book Club)

Clip-on Book light!!! YAY!!

Knife/scissor sharpener

Monkey Ball game for the Wii
Mary Jane styled Crocs from the Colorado Newsons

Jesse reminded me at about midnight last night... that we should have had Melinda and Jacob each wrap a gift for someone, so they could help out. That sure would have been nice... too bad I was in a stash-things-away-for later mode and never thought of it until too late. However, Melinda did take her favorite snuggly blanket and wrap a bunch of random toys in it for Jacob to open. I pulled it out from under the tree last night while I was cleaning up, and she had a melt-down. I didn't know what it was, then, but obviously it was very important to her to be able to give a gift to her family. When she decides something, she really decides it with her whole heart. Giving gifts included. Next year I'll make a point of involving both of them more in the gift-giving process.


Christmas Eve happenings, Christmas Ornaments, Alex updates, etc. to come later. Maybe today, maybe in the next several days. :)

Merry Christmas, everyone!