Doin our own little thing before the big giant thing

 We had plans to go to Washington for Christmas. As a means of preserving our own little Christmas traditions, and to save ourselves from the hassle of trafficking toys, we celebrated a few days early at home. We did Christmas Eve jammies. Matching horses. Hey Elise, every picture of you in jammies for your entire childhood will be in this print because now we have them in every size. Hope you look good in yellow.

I wish my very first inclination whenever I put on new clothes was to spend the next 15 minutes dancing in them. Just to be sure they're gonna work out. 

 And then if they pass that test you immediately need to tackle someone to see how it feels to wrestle in them.

And then we opened our game, which turned out to be Nerf guns, because nothing says Peace on Earth quite like a Christmas war. And then, after the kids went to bed, and the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, Braden gave me a .357. A real one. I definitely suspected a sweater from the Gap so a gun was way off my radar. And way better in every single way.

The girls were so excited for her to get a present.

A sled for my snow bunny

An American Girl doll ( or the knock-off equivalent that is one tenth of the cost. Which is even more American to me. Yeah capitalism). Her name is Daisey.  Maisey and Daisey. That's cute.

And Lila got one who is already dressed for Valentines Day.

They spent the month secretly making blankets for each others dolls. This added up to a lot of time with me hiding in the office cutting a sewing. It was really a sweet thing. We all did our darndest to help Maisey keep it a secret. I do think Anabelle knew but she tried really hard not to know. By the end of the month Maisey got the hang of the secret.

The other thing we did this year was have the girls get each other a present. But I didn't want to hand them money or buy it for them. I wanted it to be really be from them. I wanted them to take time thinking about each other and making personal sacrifices for one another in order to be able to get what they wanted. Braden taught Anabelle to knit using a loom and she set out to make Elise a hat. She did a lot of extra chores and odd jobs to make six dollars, enough to buy Braden a new pair of soccer socks. Maisey did chores to buy Lila this Cinderella dress (which Lila wears each and every day and absolutely loves). I loved seeing the kids talk about it and work for it and then be able to give each other a gift that they had worked hard to give. Plus let's not forget how many times I got the dishwasher unloaded or the laundry put away for a quarter. Winning. 

A helmet for her large cabeza (thanks Dad! for giving me both!). 

All those presents under the tree and what made the tears flow was a laminated card with her picture on it saying to look at it when he feels stressed. 

Since toast is one of three foods Maisey is eating this year, I thought she would like to have a toaster of her very own. 

Opening the book of all her pictures from the previous year I made for them. 

True to strategy, she eats every single gummy bear in the bag before she is even willing to look at anything in the stocking.

Each of the girls got these bottles in their stocking. They stay in the car with water in it. It was maybe the smartest thing I did in 2013. PLus, it took up basically the whole stocking so I didn't have to buy much else to put in it and they weren't eating rubbish for days after. That was like three smart things in a row. What a way to wrap up the year for me. 

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

This Christmas season was a bit different for me. With Anabelle in first grade and Lila in kindergarten, I found that I was no longer their main source of information/influence regarding the meaning of Christmas. It stung a bit, I have to say. I was really disappointed at all the commercial Christmas that I was competing with. Anabelle came home from school with a list for Santa full of things costing over a hundred dollars. She didn't even know what some of it was ("isn't an Xbox something you use to play CD's?). And Lila wasn't quite as mesmerized by "the baby Jesus movie" and also started talking about presents about an hour into December. It felt like all my efforts to be simple and sincere in our observance of Christmas were being run over. Something akin to how Grandma felt after that dag gum reindeer, I'm sure. We said no to several unnecessary parties and tried to limit greetings with ol' St. Nick. But let me tell you what, that guy is everywhere. Keeping our schedule to a minimum was helpful and it allowed us spend time together in meaningful ways. One night I invited our neighborhood to go caroling to a nursing home I had made arrangements with. It was such a beautiful experience. Several of the residents were crying, or singing along with us, or following us through the halls. The kids didn't want to stop and they didn't want to leave And the next night they wanted to go again. It took one hour of our time and zero money. It was the best hour of the month, the time that felt the most sacred. The time that our hearts were the most drawn to the Savior maybe. Something about spending your time doing what you know the Savior would do- uplifting and comforting those who are so often over looked. I wish I could say more of my time is spent that way. 

The ward Christmas party. Elise is the only baby or small child that did not cry when she saw him. She's probably looking deep into his eyes and hoping desperately for an Xbox too. 

You will notice that Anabelle didn't take a picture by the tree in her Christmas dress. Something about not wanting to have her hair done. Or wear those tights. And she doesn't like that sweater. Believe it or not, I chose not to capture that moment. Although a month later, I wish I had. It seems funnier now than it did then. 

I will miss this as part of our Christmas festivities. Maybe by next Christmas the feeling will come back to my fingers and toes. It was cold.