Scenes from Christmas

Photo by Scott

This is how we do it . . . do it.

Lutece, ready for Church on Christmas day, bike bell and pig hat in place.

Photo by Scott

Phoenix, sporting new jammies and Red Sox hat.

Don't mess with the shark gloves. His old "dragon" gloves have gotten too small. He was surprised when he found out recently that you can't just buy them that way. "Nope. I have to buy gloves and then make them into a creature." Really?! He requested a dwarf shark.

So many presents! (We appreciate all the givers. Thank you :).

Hand-painted frames for Scott (we DID try to inject a handmade element into Christmas, though probably not as much as Courtney).

Playing dinosaur bingo. This year turned out to be the year of the GAME. It's hard to beat games though. The gift that keeps on giving.

Merry Christmas 2011!

Tribute to Scott

Scott left this morning (EARLY this morning . . . ugh). We are so glad he came for Christmas. He and Phoenix had some fun with iPhone apps and panoramic photos while Lutece and I went on our very first mother/daughter after-Christmas shopping excursion. It won't be our last.

Lutece wanted in on the action when we got home. Here she is in the new skirt I bought her. She wanted something that made her "pop" . . . her word, not mine.

Note: I should add that when Stayc asked about our shopping trip, Lutece informed him that it was "ok." Just ok? "Well, I like spending time with mom and getting a pretzel and trying on the jewelry, but I really don't like to SHOP." Good girl.

Day 19-21: Make Sugar Cookies

It did, in fact, take us three days to complete the sugar cookie-making process. We made the dough on Dec. 19, the day designated by the advent calendar, but then, you know, the dough has to chill for a couple of hours, and by then . . . well, it ended up chilling for two days.

On Dec. 21, while Phoenix was playing basketball outside with Dad, Lutece and I rolled out the cookies, cut them, and baked them. I iced them the very same day and we took most of them to the Youth activity at Church that night (although we saved some for Scott, but of course he didn't get to eat them until the next day, due to his 19-hour layover in D.C. A story for another day.) It felt good to give most of them away. Less extra pounds on me.

Hello Santa

The kids had some time with Santa at our Church Christmas party. I have no idea what they asked for. They are old enough to wait in line, get their pictures taken, and talk to Santa all by themselves now. (Someone else took the picture and sent it to me :). I find it very satisfying to see the kids change from year to year though. Also, this is definitely the last year for candy cane striped dresses . . . I can't believe we've gone through so many!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

There are only five things I want for cristmas. They are: A two wheeled scooter, a pillow pet, money, snow, and candy. Hope you have a good christmas!

ps. hope your reindeer are well. Tell them I said hi.

from, Lutece

Dear Santa,

I would like a pillow pet panda and candy for Chistmas. Those two things. And I hope Everything is going well.

- Phoenix

[Note: There will be no pillow pets for Christmas. I took the kids to Walmart to see them. "These are so small," said Lutece, "I thought they'd be bigger." Me: "Look, the fur on them is already starting to come apart. Do you still think you want one . . . (for $20!)?" Lu: "Not really." Whew. Thank goodness I averted that one.]

[Other note: The niceties at the end of both their letters (i.e., Hope everything is going well, hope your reindeer are well) were added when I told the kids I didn't think their original letters were good enough to warrant much from Santa. "He likes to be buttered up a bit."]

[Last note: Day 8 of the advent calendar was "Fold Christmas origami with Mom." I purchased Montroll's Easy Christmas Origami and we had a good time with it. The stockings are a holdover.]

Day 13: Christmas Playdoh

This activity was a favorite last year, so I included it this year too. It was fun to unwind and squish playdoh after a long day at school.

Playdoh in Christmas colors, of course.

All Dressed Up

Lutece played in a Christmas piano recital last Sunday, so she aptly wore her new Christmas outfit (courtesy of Gma & Gpa DuBravac). So CUTE! Phoenix followed suit and everyone was dressed for Christmas except for me. They still get mistaken for twins all the time. You can see why.

Lutece played piano beautifully. She played Hark, the Herald Angels Sing and We Three Kings. Did I mention how CUTE she looked?

Kentucky Basketball

There is no better place than Kentucky to learn basketball. Seriously. People live and breath basketball this time of year. So it's no wonder that Phoenix spent months asking to play basketball. The only problem? We are not a basketball family, and sadly, Phoenix had rarely even touched a basketball, let alone dribbled one. I was so stressed out to sign him up for basketball. SO STRESSED!!

Thankfully, he has the best coach ever, three other dads who serve as assistant coaches (including Stayc) on a team of eight boys, which means a lot of individual attention from kind coaches. So far, it's been a wonderful experience. Phoenix has yet to get a basket in a game (he finally got one at practice last week!), but he is having fun and learning a lot (he's also the youngest kid on the team, by two years in some cases). We've been really proud of him.

Yes, these photos are terrible, but that's my baby playing basketball!

Day 10: Make Treats for Friends

And by "treats," I mean cookies, because I'm none too creative with the Christmas treat making this year.

Peppermint spritz cookies was the best I could come up with, but the kids enjoyed it.

The obligatory pained smile.

Lutece, in her old age, doesn't want my help anymore. "I can do it myself!" Most of the time, she can.

Phoenix still lets me help him . . . my baby.

Day 9: Make Popcorn

. . . and watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas . . . a family favorite.

It's so dang funny!!

Third-grade Field Trip

Lutece's class went on their second class field trip last Friday (I was in Boston for the first one . . . sniffle) to the Living Arts & Science Center in Lexington. All the third-graders have been learning about habitats and animal adaptations and this field trip provided some fun, engaging, interactive reinforcement of those subjects.

I always love to see my kids in their school/class settings. It lets me know that they are in good hands during school hours, that they are experiencing engaging learning, that they are around good people, that they are being good people, and that they can take care of themselves.

Afterward, I took a picture of the whole class (with the help of three other moms). We're going to print out a copy for each of the kids to put in a frame that they will be painting at the class party on Thursday. Such a funny group of kids.

The silly picture was Lutece's teacher, Miss Willis' idea. This is her first year teaching, which worried me a bit at the beginning of the year, but she has been fantastic! Of course you have to have the crazy picture too!

Day 6: Make Ornaments

There are a lot of things that have become Christmas "traditions" that I never intended to make such. This became clear on the day before December when Phoenix declared, "Tomorrow we will be having 'hot cocoa with all the fixings' for the advent calendar." "How do you know that?" I asked. "Because that's what we ALWAYS do on the first day of the advent calendar." Huh. He was right.

Luckily, they were just as excited to have hot cocoa on that first day as if it had been a surprise. So it has been with many of the advent activities. When we made Christmas ornaments last week, the kids recalled all of the other ornaments they had made over the years and found many of them on the tree.

This year, I had two crafty ornament ideas. I found the little wooden ornaments at Michaels for 74 cents each and thought the kids would have fun painting them.

The second idea came from this crafty blog, and the kids were finally old-enough to do it (almost) on their own. Lutece had a couple of minor melt-downs (it was late in the day and she wanted hers to be more perfect than Phoenix cared about), but in the end, it was fun.

Phoenix really enjoyed the yarn wrapping, and so I just let him keep doing it while Lutece started her painting. He wrapped; she painted.

Assessing the final product.

As you can see, I helped Phoenix with his first couple of ornaments, then he went for it on his own.

Lutece did NOT want my help. Sigh.

Buckley Wildlife Sanctuary

Thanksgiving weekend was beautiful here in KY, so of course we decided to go hiking that Saturday (why shop when you can hike?)

Every time we drive the back roads to Frankfort (or Louisville, for that matter), we pass a small brown sign that points off the main road to Buckley Wildlife Sanctuary. What is this sanctuary? Why do I never hear about it? What wildlife does it contain? These are the questions we decided to answer.

In fact, it is a lovely little nature reserve and Audubon center (there's a great bird cover) with fairly short trails that wind through farmlands and sparse woodlands. A nice place to get away from everything.

Everything online indicated that it was free to the public, but when we arrived, there was a "pail" in which to place your admission fee: something like $4-6 per person. As we hadn't anticipated a fee, we had no cash with us and were unable to pay the fee. The kids suggested that next time we go, we can pay double . . . uhm, if there is a next time (which I highly doubt at those exorbitant rates!)

It was definitely a ONE TIME deal.

As for the wildlife . . . surely there were some forest animals lurking in the grasses and trees, but we didn't see any. We did see some deer prints, and we did see some wild turkeys, which we promptly scared off.

Do Phoenix and Lutece count as wild animals? Only when they're wrestling in the underbrush.

Day 4: Trim the Tree

Actually, day four was supposed to be "Make cards for teachers and Santa," but I had a loooong meeting after Church on Sunday, and the tree was still sitting bare, having been put up the day before, and, well, sometimes you just can't do it all. We chose the tree.

The kids are old enough now to hang the ornaments by themselves. Occasionally, I hang one just so there will be ornaments on the top third of the tree, but for the most part, I'm just back-up.

A curious difference between this year's tree and past years' trees is that all the "best" ornaments are hung on the back of the tree. Odd, I know. Like I said, the kids were in charge this year, and they had a definite plan. I found another list, much like the tree-picking list, that detailed all their favorite ornaments. When they came across one while unwrapping the ornaments (or "ordaments", as Lu calls them), they would hang it up in the back corner of the tree.

They explained to me later that it's because the back corner behind the tree is their "special" place, where they go to truly enjoy the Christmas tree. Of course they should be able to see their favorite ornaments in their special place.

Lutece wanted to show me her very favorite ornament . . . the glass ball she made for me last year in her 2nd grade class.


Getting out the Christmas ornaments was one of my favorite parts of Christmas as a child. It makes me happy to see that Lutece and Phoenix enjoy it just as much as I did.

Baldwin Farms ~ Year Six

The Christmas tree farm we go to every year is such a fun, cheesy, Kentucky locale. Every year they take pictures of all of their patrons (often with silly hats on . . . see below). Then, when you go inside the shack to pay for your tree and get your free hot cocoa and candy canes, there is a big photo album with pictures from the previous year. If you can find yours, you're welcome to take it home with you.

These are not those pictures, since I always take our own, but it's fun to see ourselves in the photo album every year. The pictures are not always flattering. If I had a scanner, I'd post a series of them. (Not like these pictures are very flattering either.)

Anyhow, it's a *tradition* for our family to not be able to take flattering pictures . . . as evinced here, here, here, and here.