Christmas Snapshots

We had a really nice Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had invited our music minister and his wife to supper, but her MS acted up and they couldn't come. :( So we had our chicken and dumplin's alone (but in a really clean house!) then went to a simple service at our church, then came home for our birthday party for Jesus. (Rabbit chase: we celebrate our own family version of Passover in the spring. We sit on pillows and hide yeast for Daddy to find, among other things. Christmas Eve, Rebecca asked, "Aren't we going to sit on pillows?" and "Oh, is it time to hide that stuff for Daddy?" tee hee) As I sat and listened to Mike read from Luke 2, my view was so beautiful I had to take some pictures.

After we ate our birthday red velvet cake, we sang carols played by Jessica. I video taped "O Holy Night," but she got frustrated and quit before the end, so I'll try to share that with you another time.

I couldn't sleep that night. As usual! I am still too excited on Christmas Eve to sleep. I woke up every hour, looking at the clock and listening to make sure the girls were all asleep. They all 3 slept in Jessica's room, so they could all get up and jump on our bed at the same time in the morning. Which they did promptly at 5:30! And they were so happy with all their presents. One of my favorite moments was when Jessica's stocking started to ring. First she looked around on the couch to see if she was sitting on someone's cell phone, then a lightbulb lit up over her head and she dumped her stocking out lickety-split to find that phone. She was so surprised. I loved Mikayla's face when she opened her AG dress for Elizabeth, and I loved how she and her sisters acted so loving and happy for each other. Rebecca made me laugh because one of her most favorite presents was the toothbrush she got in her stocking. It spins and has stickers to personalize it!! She was so excited!! She also loved her "Barbie dream house" (which isn't, actually. It's not Mattel...it's "elf-made") and her make-up kit.

Mikayla wrapped her present to Rebecca, then put it in a gift bag, then put it in this HUGE box and wrapped it again! It was a play-doh cake factory.

Look what I got from Jessica:

So that's what we did. As soon as we could eat breakfast and pack the car, we headed to my mom's house, where she and my aunt and oldest brother and his wife and 3 of their kids were waiting impatiently to open more presents.

I was learning to use my new camera :) so these pictures are terrible, but my mom gave all the girls these beautiful music boxes. Inside each was a letter from her telling that the tartan plaid fabric under the glass was a piece of wool my dad brought from Scotland before they were married, and how much he would have loved them. It was precious.

This one is a little better (not much!) But I love her face.

These are all good faces!

And then there are a few silly faces...

(Look at my mom saying, "ooooh!" to my Aunt Sue's present.)

And then there are the bow heads...

After presents we ate a bountiful scrumptious lunch, then took naps watched "Despicable Me."

My brother Mark brought it because he said the3 girls in it remind him of my 3 girls--and he was right! It was funny.
There were a bunch of 80's movies on that afternoon, too. Nothing says Christmas quite like "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure"...sitting next to your mom's pig tree...
We went to church and saw lots of good friends the next day, and Mike and I did a little shopping, and that night we all played pick-up sticks. When we came back home on Monday, the girls immediately started playing play-doh (even Jessica! and me!) and Barbie and pet shop and American Girl.

As Laura said in one of her Little House books, it was a rich Christmas.

Fun Christmas Activity #24

Put on some Christmas music and dance like crazy!
We danced to "Feliz Navidad" on the Veggie Tales Christmas CD--and I must say, it was evident we've been watching Dancing with the Stars! It was just what we needed to do this Christmas Eve morning.
And now, Merry Christmas to all,
and to all
a good night!

Fun Christmas Activity #23

Take your family on a winter walk. When you get back, thank God for His blessings.

My candy cane house!

Fun Christmas Activity #22

Make candy-cane milkshakes.
For my family, that implies that tonight is the night we drive around to look at Christmas lights! This tradition started when we lived in Lewiston, Idaho. Our first Christmas there (and every Christmas for 12 years after that), we had supper with our friends Tim and Denise, and they drove us around to all the best lights, then took us to Sharp's Burger Ranch for candy cane shakes. Mmm-mmm! We haven't been able to find any that good since we moved, so we make them ourselves with vanilla ice cream, milk, and candy canes. And while I love the Celebration of Lights at SAU the night of the Christmas parade, and Wentworth Place did a great job on their lights,

nothing compares to the city display at Locomotive Park that we always went to in Lewiston. Pictures and videos don't do it justice, but seeing this one on you tube did bring back memories!

(The flashing lights were in sync with the music that played, and the arches changed color when you walked through them. They also had a mat for kids to jump on to make things light up, and a fireplace with hot chocolate available.)

Looky, Looky!!!! + Fun Christmas Activity #21

Look what I won in Vicky Courtney's "12 Days of Christmas" blog give-away!

I already loved Vicky Courtney. She is full of great advice about keeping kids pure in an impure world. I really loved 5 Conversations You Must Have With Your Daughter. She has written one for your sons, also, but I don't plan on reading that one. :) Jessica and I both enjoyed her "You and Your Girl" event. So she didn't even have to give me all this free stuff...but it was so much fun!! Like an early Christmas present. And if you read this in time, you can leave a comment to enter her drawing tomorrow (Dec. 22). Click here for more details. And even if you don't get there in time, you should check out her blog. It's full of good information.
Fun Christmas Activity #21 Watch a Christmas movie and eat popcorn!
We're watching The Nativity Story. Last night we watched Polar Express and had hot chocolate. I hope all my running around balances out all my holiday indulgences!

Fun Christmas Activity #20

#20 Take bubble baths!
No photos available. :)

Fun Christmastime Activity # 19

Fun Christmas Activity #16-18

#16 Make goodie plates for friends!

#17 Hug everyone in your family. (This was more of a challenge for my center child than you might imagine.)
#18 Clean your room without being asked. Okay, so I got a lot of these ideas off the internet. This one just didn't happen. So let's substitute: Choose some of your toys to donate to a local homeless shelter. We did pretty well at this one; I was proud of them. And yes, even our small town needs and has a homeless shelter. And sadly, they can use the toys.

Fun Christmastime Activity # 14 and 15

#14 Dress up fancy for dinner.

This one may be girl-specific, too. We had fun doing our hair and make-up and lighting candles and playing music.

#15 Pajama day! (No pictures available.)

Fun Christmastime Activity # 13

There really are 3 candles lit. I'm still hoping for a new camera for Christmas.

Okay, so we're "a day late." (and a dollar short?) We had a super busy day yesterday. Our morning worship service was our choir musical, and all 4 Sandusky women sang! I loved it, and I would have enjoyed it even more if I had been able to breathe. Thankfully I made it through my trio, and after that my knees quit shaking! We sang this song, although not this well.

After church we had a choir potluck celebration (Mike got to go, too) and then we ran home, changed clothes and drove an hour-and-a-half to First Baptist Bossier City to see their Christmas production, with special guests Point of Grace! It was...wow...a pretty big production! And very festive and fun. Point just sang 4 or 5 songs, and I didn't get to talk to them afterwards, but I still get a kick out of seeing girls I shared a dorm with on stage like that. And I loved their new song "I Wish"--please look up their video on youtube. It's so great!
After that we drove to the Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier City. Ever since Thanksgiving I've wanted to go see this:

Doesn't that sound exciting?! Fun?! Snowy?! I anticipated a snow machine and perhaps a sled hill like they make at Six Flags. We talked about having a snowball fight and possibly even making a small snowman. We wore our warmest coats and gloves (which we really needed, because the temp. was in the 20's with a biting wind). We hurried through the cold, dark, windy outdoor mall and found...this:

Those are soap bubble suds being blown by a fan. We laughed so hard!!! It's a good thing we were so cold that we didn't feel much like playing anyway!

This is them "playing in the snow." If you click on it and make it bigger, you may see the tiny suds sprinkled around the ground where they're standing.

And from there we went to see Dawn Treader! Yay! All I'll say about that is I still like the book better, and was a tad bit disappointed in a scene or two, but loved the ending and enjoyed the whole movie. Except that my lungs hurt and I could hardly breathe. But my wonderful dr gave me wonderful drugs today, so I'm sure I'll feel better soon.

Fun Christmastime Activity #11 and 12

#11 Make Christmas cards for special friends.

We made ours for Mrs. Susan, our children's librarian. She plans wonderful activities for our homeschool hour every week, and is such a generous and loving person. We love Mrs. Susan!!

#12 "Camp" by the Christmas tree.

This is the aftermath. And no, Mike and I didn't make it--we ended up in our nice, comfy bed before midnight!

Fun Christmastime Activity #9 and 10

#9--Have an inside picnic by the Christmas tree.

#10--Have breakfast for dinner--we had pancakes and bacon, mmm-mmm!

Fun Christmastime Activity # 7 and 8

#7 Have family devotion time by candlelight.
(Confession: We did this last night because the electricity went out! Ha! And it turned out to be a really sweet time. We were "supposed" to go out and look at the stars, and I forgot. Tonight it was too cloudy--we have a 40 percent chancce of snow tomorrow! Please, please, please!)

#8 Paint toenails!

I guess this one may work best for those of us with daughters...:)

Fun Christmastime Activity # 6

Fun Christmastime Activity # 5

 Make a gingerbread house!

Fun Christmastime Activity # 4

Wii tournament!
We competed in synchronized swimming, and here are the results:
1st place--Mikayla
2nd place--Mike (wouldn't you like to see Mike synchronizingly swim?)
3rd place--Jessica
4th place--Rebecca
Major Loser--Kecia
You can kind of see our bracket in the background!

Fun Christmastime Activity # 3

Go to your local Christmas parade!
They're really fun when you haven't lost your voice and you can yell at everyone you know and embarrass your 12-year-old daughter. This year I had to settle for playing with Rebecca's light-up spinny Tinkerbell thingy.

The third girl closest to us is one of ours. :)

This sign just struck us funny.

We have students in the choir, too.

This is our church's handbell choir.