random holiday stuff

This may be overload. But I'm going to attempt to sum up our 2007 holiday memories in one post via photos and a good ole' list. (Yep Linnie, I am still into making lists.)

2007 holiday memories:

- Emma's holiday medley began with "Away in a Manager", followed by "Happy Birthday Jesus" (both were learned for her school Christmas program), and ended with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer... sung twice (for Rudolph I mean).

- Emma finished off her first season of school. She has made so much progress in her speech development, she takes naps again!, and she has made lots of new friends. There is one little girl inparticular that she talks about all the time, and apparently this little girl talks just as much about Emma at home too. It is so sweet to see them greet each other in the morning with a big hug, then they reach for each other's hands and take off to play. Here they are in all their cuteness:


I love that she has made a special friend.

- Emma finally understands the reason for celebrating Christmas, as basic as that concept might be for her right now. But how wonderful that that seed has been planted and she understands we are celebrating the birth of Christ.

- Santa. This is also the first year she has had a firm concept of Santa. How fun! And after our first visit with Santa this year (see earlier post), we helped her understand that you can ask Santa for a special gift. Well, I think we might have been making suggestions, like dolls or Barbies, and she decided she wanted a Barbie house. Except that whenever anyone asked her what she was asking Santa to bring her this year, her response was always, "a house". This cracked me up because hey, I'd like a house too!

- Emma's first handmade contribution to our Christmas tree:

(Don't know how well it will hold up for next year seeing as it was made from applesauce and cinnamon, but it was special for this year.)

- Spending time with friends. We are grateful. We are blessed. We are oh so lucky to have the friends that we do. They are loving and accepting; they are giving and thoughtful.

They love our children as if they are their own.


They share yummy treats, like special Christmas cookies, made with their own two hands.

And tamales too. Can't forget the tamales!

They send special Christmas parcels, share thoughtful gifts, and enjoy spending quality time together during the holidays. We love our friends.

- Holiday cards. I so enjoy sending and receiving holiday cards. I love that they become their own holiday decoration in our home. I will stop many times a day to admire them. They represent friends and family, love and friendship, times not forgotten, lives being shared.

I was especially excited this year to receive from our childhood family friends, The Singers, photos from their daughter's wedding (bottom left corner). My sister and I used to take dance lessons from the Singers when we were little. Then we both babysat their daughter. I think I first started babysitting when she was 2 or 3... That ages me, doesn't it? She was the cutest little girl, full of personality and spunk. Always gorgeous. And now married. Yep, I do feel old.
Thanks so much for sending me those photos... I will cherish them always.

- Two gifts made me cry this Christmas. My sister and family gave Daniel and I tickets to see:

I did not see this coming and I was shocked when I opened the envelope with the tickets. Then I started crying. It was just such a perfect gift. I love going to the theatre, but I haven't been in ages. I was dying to see Wicked, but I honestly didn't think I ever would. You know, things like that easily pass us by these days, worrying about not having the time, not having the money, what are we going to do with the kids, etc. Daniel isn't much for surprising me with tickets to a show, even though I would love it if he did. So this was just the best surprise gift.
And we LOVED it! Left the kids with Jerrie and had a great time out. Dare I say it? It was Wicked! I've listened to the soundtrack maybe six times since Saturday. Loved every bit of it. Thank you Bryan and Donna!

- And I've already posted about the other gift that made me cry, the bracelet Emma gave me. Had to take a pic of it.

She's so cute... She asks me where the circle is if I'm not wearing it. Then she brings it to me to put it on. I love my bracelet.

- A new tradition?
This year the kids and I had lunch with Jerrie, Albert and Helen on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. It was so much fun sharing that bit of holiday time with them. We talked about making it a new tradition and I hope we do.

- Established tradition.
For the last maybe five or six years we have spent New Year's Eve with our good friends, the Gallaghers. This year was no exception, despite that Daniel was feeling under the weather. We never do much, except talk and eat. But we love this time with our friends who are like family to us. We love that our kids will grow up with this holiday tradition. We love that we are so comfortable with them. It's something I look forward to every year. What a nice way to bring in the new year.

It's actually become a combined Christmas and New Year's celebration for us because we let the kids exchange their gifts on this night. This year the kids gave each other books which was so much fun since both our families love books.

- Ethan. I haven't mentioned him much, have I? Poor little guy, seems to be left out, but not really. He is only 18 months old so he's still oblivious to the holiday festivities. He did do a lot of Christmas shopping with Daddy and supposedly he helped pick out Mommy's new pajamas. :) He actually helped unwrap his own gifts this year, although he wasn't really too interested. He didn't tear down the tree like I thought he would. And he didn't cry with Santa Claus like I was sure he would. He didn't sing in a Christmas program (although he did try to sing along when Emma practiced) and he didn't make his own holiday ornament.

But he did contribute joy and entertainment throughout the holiday season. He is such a funny little guy with the greatest sense of humor. He makes us smile. He makes us laugh. We love having a little boy in our lives.

I know that I forgot a couple things so I reserve the right to come back at any point and add to the list. If I don't write it down here it won't be written down at all.

Thanks so much for letting me share my list of holiday memories and thoughts. Time to move on in 2008! Blessings to you all.