So why is it…

…that Christmas trees always start smelling so lovely just as you’re about to take them down?

I’m in denial that the Christmas season officially ends tomorrow.

“Twas the Night,” Dino-style.

As we were getting the kids ready for bed one night, I noticed Dinosaur sitting on the edge of his, wearing a Santa hat and a pensive expression.

ME: Anything wrong, sweetie?

DINOSAUR: ‘I spwang from my bed,’ Mommy, ‘to see what’s the matter.’

“Twas the Night Before Christmas” was THE story for the children this Christmas, thanks a good deal to Grandma having given them a copy of the story that is a recorded book with her voice reading it.  Dinosaur has about half the story memorized, with a few addendums of his own.

DINOSAUR: “With a wittle old dwiver, so wivewy and quick, I knew in a moment, it must be Saint Nickawuss.”

I am so going to miss his little vocal idiosyncrasies as he gets older. On the other hand, I guess it wouldn’t sound as cute when he is seventeen.

 

{pretty, happy, funny, real — Christmas edition!}

Capturing Contentment in the Everyday…

Pretty, Happy, Funny, & Real

It was all of these things and more.  It was the sticker shock of LEGO buying subsiding in the realization that we’ve just provided years of imaginative creations for them–and watching it start to happen.  It was the happiness of a girl very satisfied with her ankle-length snowman nightgown.  It was the joy of driving around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve.  It was the joy of waking up on Christmas morning, opening our stockings, going to our first-ever family Christmas morning Mass (usually we’ve gone the evening before), and then coming back to light the fire, eat the cranberry-orange bread, and open the presents.  It was the fun of having grandparents stay over and decorating their room before they came.  And the real that all this happened because HE came.

So here’s this year’s Nativity according to Trooper:

This year he guided my hand to the place where he wanted the stickers only about 60% of the time. This was the first year he actually allowed himself to touch the sticker, to hold it in his fingers. Amazing.

This lovely shot of the hearth.

This one from Christmas Eve, after the Christmas light drive.

Egg Nog and cookies! (except for Trooper, who is having mac & cheese)

Before Mass, the stockings!  The children race to the couch in anticipation.

Present opening after Mass provided Sunshine with an excuse to sneak Trooper’s iPad and get some playtime.

Trooper does about 85% of his school on the iPad. It has been amazingly beneficial for him academically. In this picture Sunshine is playing around with the BOB Books app. However, it's not all academics. The family favorite is still Angry Birds.

I don’t have pictures of the dinner that followed present opening.  My camera battery had died earlier in the holiday, and needed to be recharged.  Fortunately it’s up and running again.

"Robin Hood and Little John, walkin' through the forest, laughin' back and forth at what the other had to say...."

He got his "diny-saurs."

I got my mug. I wanted this pretty badly, I admit, hinting repeatedly to Haus Meister. Not only does it fit in with my British obsession, but with at least one resident Princess and a son who sometimes acts like a Rajah or something, I wanted a tangible reminder of my superior rank in this household.

and a smile to end the post.

 Merry Christmas to all.

Christus Natus Est

Rejoice, rejoice, 

Emmanuel

has come to thee

O Israel

Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you.

Mitt Hjerte Alltid Vanker

My cousin is doing a superb job finding old carols to discuss for Advent, but I’m going to get to this one before she does….

Mitt hjerte alltid vanker
i Jesu føderom,
der samles mine tanker
som i sin hovedsum.
Der er min lengsel hjemme,
der har min tro sin skatt;
jeg kan deg aldri glemme
velsignet julenatt!

Akk, kom jeg opp vil lukke
mitt hjerte og mitt sinn
og full av lengsel sukke:
Kom, Jesus, dog herinn!
Det er ei fremmed bolig,
du har den selv jo kjøpt,
så skal du blive trolig
her i mitt hjerte svøpt.

Jeg gjerne palemgrene
vil om din krybbe strø,
for deg, for deg alene
jeg leve vil og dø.
Kom, la min sjel dog finne
sin rette gledes stund,
at du er født herinne
i hjertets dype grunn.

And because that’s probably beyond most of us, here’s it in plain English (I found it here)

My heart doth always wander
To Jesus’ manger bed.
His lowly birth I ponder;
To Him my thoughts are led.
My yearning finds assurance,
And faith renews so bright,
When I recall with reverence
That blessed Christmas night.

Ah come, dear Lord, be with me,
And in my heart reside.
Sweet comfort Thou shalt give me;
Come, Jesus, here abide.
To my heart be no stranger -
Thy home it e’er shall be.
And as within the manger
My love shall cradle Thee.

Thy holy crib I’ll honor
And round it palm leaves lay.
To Thee alone, dear Savior,
I give my life each day.
Come, grant me heav’nly pleasure
And true delight impart.
For Thou art my soul’s treasure,
Born deep within my heart.

I loved this song when I first heard it a few Christmases ago, from the same album that I posted about earlier.  Sometime the following summer I suddenly recalled it, couldn’t stop humming it, and sat going through all the Scandinavian music on our playlist (yes, we have about three albums of Scandinavian songs in our music library.  Another blogpost.) to try to find it.  Then I remembered, “It’s a Christmas song!”  And really, it’s lovely.  Now compared to the amazing music history lesson Dulce Domum keeps posting, this post is pathetic, but it’s 12:30am Christmas Eve and I am not feeling very original.  I’m just listening to the song on repeat as I type and thinking, this needs to be heard! ;)  So, here you go.  I did gather from forums that the Danish, Norwegians, and Swedes all claim some part of this carol as their own, whether translation, original lyric, or melody.  However, the validity of information gleaned from internet forums is also up for debate.  Moving on.

Our other random tradition…

…starts 19 hours from the time I’m writing this post.

I turned on this video to show the kids, thinking they’d get a kick out of seeing all the different cities in the world.  Instead Rascal–Mr. Practical–decided to offer his critique of the animation.

RASCAL: Those aren’t reindeer! They’re cows!  They’re cows with reindeer antlers!

(or on a second viewing)

RASCAL: Silly reindeer dressed up as cows.

Ok, so when he gets up tomorrow morning, I’ll see what he thinks about tracking Santa and his bovine team.

b

Still here…

It’s the Most Hectic Time of the Year….

• Finishing Christmas cards still (the ones I was going to send early, right?)
• Finally baking my Christmas bread (trying not to feel bad that all my best friends will NOT be getting their packages before Christmas Eve…)
• Second Quarter Tests!
• Wrapping Presents!  Ok, THINKING ABOUT STARTING to wrap presents!
• Trying to make cookies for the neighbors.
• That includes our old neighbors since we still know them better than we know our new ones.
• Sleep.
• Eat.
• Eat something other than Christmas cookies.
• There are no Christmas cookies in the Haus at the moment.
• Four kids eat them faster than I can make them, but they share them so well…

So, as I try to take time to savor the little things as Advent winds to a close, here’s a geeky commercial that made us laugh.  You’ve all seen it a million times, no doubt, but hey, we don’t have a TV so it’s still funny over here.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

Capturing Contentment in the Everyday…

Pretty & Happy

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the Haus….

(ok, stopping the rhyme now as I might need to use it on next year’s Christmas card….)

We’re feeling pretty festive over here.

Wishful thinking.

My father-in-law made this Advent Tree for Trooper’s 1st Birthday.  It isn’t being used very well this year, as the Princess keeps thinking it’s some sort of town home for Nativity Scene figures (probably as I had hidden some of the sheep behind the doors).   Next year I’ll have it more organized.

I picked up a coil of white pine roping last Saturday with this greenery-hanging scene in mind as I purchased it.  By Sunday night I had haphazardly hung it over all the doorways in the house that I possibly could!

And around a few pictures as well.

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care…

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon will be there!

Funny

He’s back in costume.  That’s an apron, by the way.  Last year he would hardly take off this ensemble for Church and sleep.  This year he is a little more practical, but I love that he remembered it.

Funny Real

Plumbing with Sunhine

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…

…with every Christmas card I [still need to] write…

Tonight the moon is amazing.  I can only imagine what these hills would look like under such a moon if only there was snow.

(Never mind the fact that if there was snow, we’d be stranded.  I’m feeling nostalgic at the moment — not practical)

So I’ll share with you one of my favorite Christmas carols of recent history, while I get some cocoa anyway, snow or no snow.

And hopefully get back to those Christmas cards….

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

Capturing Contentment in the Everyday…

Pretty

Taking out the decorations a little at a time… trying to find how the old decorations look in a new place (it seems we’ve always been here, but it is still our first Christmas in this house).  That large pillow was never in the bedrooms before.  I’m afraid I’m hogging it, but then, I always did…

Happy

Someone had a birthday on Tuesday!

Funny

Our Fontanini Nativity set turned Advent calendar.

Each day a new figure (or two, in the case of the flock of sheep) appears from the basket on the bookshelf and is taken to the stable, where they will not be left quietly on display.  That little chair is almost always at that table, and Sunshine is usually in it.

And the Schleich barn animals routinely make an appearance.  The Shire horse has officially taken over the stable.  It looks as though he defeated the Bull and some sheep while doing so.

The year after we were married I bought a new St. Joseph for our nativity set.  I’m one of those people who prefer thinking St. Joseph was NOT 60 years old when he married Mary, and so I wanted a younger looking Joseph.

So here’s the current St. Joseph.  I think he looks a little younger, and I like his “hat.”

Now what to do with the previous Joseph?  Make him Shepherd Patriarch Joseph, of course!  Those sheep need more shepherds! (what, you don’t make up backstories to your Nativity figures?)

This morning I pulled him out of the basket and handed him to Princess, saying, “Here’s another shepherd for your sheep.”  She scowls and looks at him, then at me.  ”That’s nawt a shepherd,” she insists. “It’s GOD.”

Well well.  I demote him, she seriously promotes him.

Real.

Also, every now and then Princess will remind me of my sister so much it turns back the clock 24 years.

This is one of those moments.