Merry Christmas!

This year we spent Christmas in our jammies (with throw up bowls nearby) snuggled together watching Christmas movies. 

Awesome timing for the flu to hit. 

Ugh.

And so, even though it's now the 28th and our Christmas decorations are already down and put away (yup- I'm one of those crazies that needs her house back right after Christmas) I still wanted to come on here and wish you all a Merry Christmas.

From our little family to yours, we hope you had the most wonderful Christmas, celebrating with those you love.

May the joy of this beautiful season continue to be yours ;)

Just hear those sleigh bells jinglin'....

We have been in full Christmas swing around here. All my shopping is done. Yay! The presents are all wrapped. Yay!....I even have all the stocking stuffers ready to go. Yay, Yay, Yay!!! Please don't hate me :)

I love that with all that done we can just slow down and really enjoy this season. The kids have been LOVING our advent activities. But I seriously think the highlight of their day is the Christmas story they get to unwrap each night and read together by the tree. I love that it's the little things that always seem to make the biggest impact :)

We have also been enjoying the Christmas tunes. Today while driving my all time favorite Christmas song came on "Do you hear what I hear".

Man, oh man do I love that song. I remember recording myself on one of those fisher price recorder thingys when I was in jr.high singing that song... and that is when I discovered (after playing it back) that I was completely tone deaf. Not a pretty sound. How is it that when I'm signing along to music I think I sound pretty good and as soon as I take out the music I sound like a dying animal?!

Anyways, I thought it would be fun to ask the kids and Chris what their favorite songs were too and here's what they said:

Chris "O Holy Night"
Evan- "Angles we have heard on high"
Abby "Go tell it on the mountain"
Selah "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer"

I was a little surprised by the boys answers, but knew exactly what the girls were going to say. Especially Abby. She is ALWAYS singing that song  ;)

But, I didn't want the fun to stop there, so I posted this question on my facebook page too and I have really enjoyed reading the responses.

And now, I'd love to hear which one makes the top if your list! 

Hop on over and share your favorite Christmas song too.

:)

Traditions

Some of the things I love most about the Christmas season are the traditions we have started as a family.
While some of them are simple and fun- like the new pajamas we open on Christmas eve to wear on Christmas morning, others are so much more than that.... like the Cookie Countdown we started a couple of years ago.
Last week Evan asked me if we could please deliver our cookies to the homeless again. Oh how my heart swelled at not only the fact that he remembered but also that he was hoping that we could do it again. When I told him of course we would his face lit up. "Awesome! That was so much fun!"

Could his response have touched his mama's heart any deeper?

This year we are going to add in a couple of new traditions...
The first one is super simple and easy. I saw this idea on Pinterest.

I wrapped 24 Christmas books and tomorrow we'll put them under the tree. Each evening after dinner the kids will unwrap on book to read together before bed. Fun, right?
And since I only had a handful of Christmas books laying around, I borrowed the rest of them from the library :)

The next new tradition is one I am super excited about. This year we are going to do a family advent activity calendar. (I got this cute little house last year on clearance boxing week!)

Each day the kids will open one of the doors and inside will be a little piece of paper with a fun activity to do together.

Some of them are things we have done together in the past and others are brand new. I think that in a season that is busy and crazy and seems to fly right by, this will give us a way to be intentional about spending time together. And also a way in we can teach our kids what Christmas is about... family, giving to others...JESUS!

I plan to just stuff in the activity we will do together the night before. That way I can kind of control what we do on what days... I don't really want the kids to pick out a slip like "Go skating at the lake" on a day when it is -30C outside! Brrr! :) 

Here's our list in case you may want to do some of these activities with your families too :)

* Make paper (or coffee filter) snowflake decorations
* Make snowman donuts
* Go for a drive to look at Christmas lights (and bring along hot chocolate in sippy cups!)
* Make and paint salt dough ornaments
* Build a fort and lay in it while we watch "The Grinch"
* Go skating at the lake
* Make Christmas tree crafts using popsicle sticks
* Host a gingerbread house making party
* Make peppermint chocolate popcorn and watch "The polar express"
* Make ice castles using sugar cubes
* Build a snowman
* Have a sleepover under our tree
* Make reindeer food to put out on Christmas eve for Santa's reindeer
* Make popcorn garland and paper chains to decorate our home
* Write letters to Santa
* Visit Santa at the mall
* Make and than give a secret gift to someone
* Play a board game in front of the tree
* Go to the dollar store and buy presents for your siblings
* Deliver gifts/baking to our neighbors
* Make teacher gifts
* Pick out food to donate
* Pick a family member's name and serve them secretly this week

What are your Christmas traditions?

Are you starting any new ones this year?

We're on vacation!

See you in a week!

xoxo

sara

What I'll remember from...

Christmas 2010

Ornament making.

Tree trimming.
House decorating.
Excitement building.
HaPpY "Happy Birthdays" to Jesus.
Baking a plenty.
A trip downtown to meet new friends.
Homemade Sugar castles.
Bible Story Bedtimes.
The wonder of Santa.
THREE lost teeth.
Excited toes, ready to run down the stairs Christmas morning.
Pancakes & Eggs.
Turkey and Stuffing.
A whole bunch of the white stuff.
Sisters playing kitchen.
Big brother "DS"ing.
Driving around looking at lights with Hot Chocolate in sippy cups.
Hearing Christmas worship from the backseat.
Family, family, family.

Hope you all had the Merriest Christmas Ever!

crazy hormones...

I was driving this morning and this song came on the radio.
I cried bawled through the whole thing....

"Quality Christmas" gifts

Our kids are crazy spoiled.
CrAzY SpOiLeD!!!
They have papas and grandmas,
aunties and uncles,
great-grandmas and great-grandpas,
who all LOVE to spoil them.

So rather than buying more toys for our kids, the last few years we have thought a little outside the box when it comes to Christmas. We've done a family trip to Edmonton the last couple years, but this year Santa is on a little tighter budget :)

So rather than toys or a family trip.
This year Santa is bringing our family "Quality Christmas" gifts.
Gifts that will bring fun memories for our little family throughout the holidays.
He's giving us:

A family bowling night

A night out at the Movies

Dinner to a kid-friendly restaurant

A movie night at home complete with popcorn

And a trip to the Science Center.

To make them, we simply ordered gift cards using our airmiles points {translation= FREE!} Bought a few sheets of scrapbook paper, a couple packages of Christmas stickers and Voila!
Our Quality Christmas gifts were made in no-time. Easy-Peasy.

Can't wait to enjoy them over the holidays!

PhotoCards From Shutterfly!

I am happy to report that I am almost done everything on my Christmas list! Woohoo! I am really looking forward to baking like crazy again in December, skipping the stress and truly enjoying the holidays as a family.

One of the last things I have left to cross off my list are my Christmas cards. I love both giving and receiving cards. It is very rare for me to receive any type on non-bill related mail throughout the year so this time of year always makes me excited. When I see those colorful envelopes in my mailbox I just can't help but smile :)

Since having kids I have always included a picture with our card (one that I have usually just printed off myself.) This year I am SO excited to order my Christmas cards through a fabulous company called Shutterfly. They have over 800 designs to choose from and I can hardly wait to make ours.

I love that you can personalize them with your own special message and add more than one picture if you want.
It is so hard to decide which one we'll use, but here are a few designs that I am loving:

"Family Wall Red"

I'm also really liking the folded style.
I like that this one has a place for all three of my kiddos.

"Peppermint Peace"

This one might be my favorite...
"Seasonal Chic"

Can you tell, I'm all about the brown and red theme? Ha!
Oh, and I'm really loving this one too...

"Merry Montage"

Have you started thinking about Christmas Cards yet?

Shutterfly is generously offering Bloggers 50 Free Holiday Cards!
Find out more details HERE!

Darth Vader, a Dragon and a Giraffe

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween too!

:)
And now, I just need Chris to find a place to hide all this candy....
My willpower is non-existent!
Ahhhhhhh!

Christmas list already????

{Christmas 2009}

Last year I was super organized.
For the first time ever I had all my Christmas preparations done by the end of November.
Yippee!
I was then able to really enjoy baking and celebrating the season with my family all through December.

No stress.
No panic.
No fighting the crowds.
No driving around trying to find a parking spot at the mall for 30 mins.

Just happy fa la la-ing
and time to hear those sleigh bells jingling
ring-ting-tingling too!

So, after years of crazy December stress how did I do it?
Simple.
I was determined.
I planned ahead.
Made a list.
Crossed it off through November.
And enjoyed a stress-free Christmas.

I want to do the same thing this year. And so, it's time once again to sit down, write out my list and focus on getting it crossed off.

That gives me just over a month to complete my Christmas list.
Think I can do it again?

Christmas List 2010

• Have our family picture taken for our Christmas cards
  
• Print/write up Christmas cards
• Mail 'em out
  
• Write out a list of people we are buying for and ideas for each one of them
• Purchase gifts for family and friends
  
• Decide on and then make teacher gift
• Decorate our home/tree (outdoor lights- check! shhh, don't tell anyone they've been up since last year ;)
  
• Buy stocking stuffers for the kids
• Make up our "Quality Christmas" family gift (rather than our yearly trip to Edmonton, we've decided to do something a little different this year for our own little family gift. Details to come :)
• Purchase our new Christmas PJs {we open new PJs every year on Christmas Eve to wear Christmas morning}
  
• Make our gingerbread house
• Christmas Baking. Mmmmm!

Have you started thinking about Christmas yet?
Are you a 'plan ahead' or 'last minute' kind of shopper?
What's on your list?

Christmas '09

Merry Christmas 2009!

Filled with lots of Family.
A visit from Santa.
(in which both the girls were scared and would only give him high fives)
Yummy, yummy food.
And awesome memories.

Oh!
And getting to play with my brand new camera!
Yippeeeee!

We hope you all had a great one too!

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours,

We wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Teacher Gift Idea

I had hoped to post this earlier in the month but I somehow lost a little steam in my Christmas prep once we hit December and actually just finished these baskets over the weekend.

Our son's last day of school is tomorrow and so I thought I'd show you what we made for his teachers (he's in a teacher shared class where he has 2 teachers.)

This year I decided to make a Hot Chocolate basket.
I started by making a jar of hot chocolate mix:

Then I made a set of cute little coasters. I love how they turned out. They were super easy and super cheap to make. All you need are tiles (I found mine on clearance at home depot), Christmas napkins, cork board, modgepodge and acrylic sealer. Check out this awesome tutorial.


I also included 4 Christmas mugs and some of the chocolate dipped candy canes and oreos we made. Mmmm, a hot cup of cocoa with a chocolate dipped candy cane to stir and oreos to dunk.
Yup, sounds good to me!

Then I just threw it all in to a cute Christmas basket. And wrapped it up pretty :)

Simple and easy works for me!

It's beginning to look a lot like.....

C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S!!

Yup, it's official.
The Christmas music has been playing softly in the background and we have jumped in with both feet to celebrate the season.
Some might think we're crazy for pulling out our decorations this early (cough Tammy cough).... and to that all I can offer up is the fact that I just simply love Christmas.

And nothing screams Christmas more than a fully decorated home! Really, it just makes me smile as I look around :)

So, on Wednesday night the kids and I set to work.
They were all so crazy excited as I pulled out the boxes and could barely contain themselves as each box was emptied.

About halfway through our son decided that he needed to write a special letter to the big jolly guy and set to work quietly drawing and writing while the girls and I finished up. Here he is showing it off!

I am pretty sad that I used the flash, because you can't really see the writing... and I would take another picture of it but he so expertly taped it up that it would rip if I tried.
:)

Here's our crazy two year old sitting still for abut 2.3 seconds, just long enough for me to get a half decent shot!

And our baby....
A couple years ago my Dad gave us this music carousel and all the kids love it, but our littlest has taken a very special interest in it. She is so taken with it and is quite often found standing in front of it watching it go round and round.


Oh, I can't wait to put up the tree this weekend!

I have to say, I am doing quite well with my Christmas list and am fairly sure that I will be done by the end of November. Then I can start my baking project (more on that a little later!)

So, what about you? Do you think we're crazy for putting up our decorations this early?
When do you pop in the Christmas tunes and set up yours?

Makin' a List & Checkin' it twice!

Christmas always seems to creep up on me. Every year I have good intentions to get ready with little stress, but somehow I still end up at the mall on the 23rd frantically trying to find that last present.

Sadly, Christmas and stress always seem to co-exist in my world.
In the attempt to change that I've decided to write out my Christmas Readiness List early.... and get started today crossing them off!

• Have family picture taken for Christmas cards
• Write and mail out Christmas cards
  
• Write out a list of people we are buying gifts for and some gift ideas for each one of them
• Purchase gifts for friends and family
  
• Finish my homemade gifts for the kids
  
• Order passes and book hotel for our family Christmas present (we are going to do the same thing that we did last year)
• Christmas Baking... this year I plan to have all my gifts and cards ready by the end of November so that December can be focused on baking up a storm!
  
• Make teacher gifts (I have a few ideas.... but haven't narrowed down what I'm doing for sure)
  
• Buy stocking stuffers for the kids ( I already have a few little things, but need to pick up a few more)
  
• Buy our Christmas PJ's (for the last few years on Christmas Eve we've opened new pajamas to wear Christmas morning! I {heart} this tradition!)
• Make our Gingerbread house
  
• Decorate the house and tree (Chris has already put up the outdoor lights....and I'm already itching to do up the rest of the house!)

I will likely add to this list as I think of things and cross off as I complete them.
What about you? Have you started to think of Christmas yet? What's on your list?

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!

Tonight I took our big girl out trick or treating for her first time. Big brother and little sister stayed home to hand out candy with Daddy.

To say our two year old loved it would be a huge understatement.
She didn't want to go home. I was actually very surprised that she lasted as long as she did. Thankfully it was a gorgeous night out. I can remember as a little girl many times we'd be slipping along the icy sidewalks, running through the snow and wearing our snowsuits under our costumes!

We were out for about an hour and in that time our
little one sure did collect a loot!
(I think there was a bit of a cuteness factor, as most houses gave her a
double portion because she was "just so cute!"

But more than all the candy she collected she was most excited to meet all the puppies and kitties in our neighbourhood.
She would squeal with delight and practically invite herself into any home that had a four-legged friend.
It got to the point where instead of saying trick or treat,
she would peek her head in the house and yell out:
"Puppy?!" "Kitty?!"
:)
One house in particular was her favorite. It was the one she talked about all the way down the block. In that house the puppy was dressed up as a lady-bug.
She loved that "lalybug puppy!"

Oh, I had a so much fun spending this one-on-one time with her and will remember this Halloween for a long time!

Hope you all had a wonderful evening too :)

Thanks Santa

We spent the last two nights in Edmonton. This year rather than bring a bunch of toys for the kids Santa sent us to Edmonton for a two night stay. Thanks Santa!

We left baby girl with her grandparents and drove the two older ones to Edmonton. We had a wonderful trip! The second day was spent at West Edmonton Mall. We swam at the Waterpark, rode the rides at Galaxyland and cruised the mall for sales. Our big boy loved the giant pirate ship in the middle of the mall and had a blast pretending that he was 'Jack the Pirate'. Big sister loved the Waterpark. She enjoyed splashing in the pool and loved the waves. She was a little hesitant with the waterslides though :)

After a long day of fun and shopping Daddy decided to go into one more store. I stayed outside with the kids and waited on a bench. While we were waiting my son made up a game called 'Try to kiss me mommy'.

The goal, as you can guess, was for me to try to and kiss his face while he tirelessly tried to hide it in his hands. I'd pretend I wasn't watching, then he'd get really close to me and I'd quickly grab him and give him a big kiss. He'd then proceed to laugh hysterically and the game would begin again.

As we played I couldn't help but mentally freeze that time in my heart. I though ahead 10 years and tried to picture my son at 15 wanting to even hang out with me at the mall- never mind allowing me to kiss him in public.

My heart smiles as I remember his laugh each time I would beat him and plant a kiss on his little cheek. How will I ever allow him to grow up?

Merry Christmas!

From Our Family To Yours, A Very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a BLESSED New Year!!

Mmmmm.....

So I finally finished my holiday baking today.

Usually I like to slowly do my baking. Making just one or two recipes each day.
I like to freeze them as I go, always having something made, ready to pull out when unexpected company drops by. I also love making baking tins to give to friends and family.

This year I left it to the last minute and so I had a marathon of baking over the last two days....seriously if you could have seen the state of my kitchen you'd likely run for the hills! Oh, but the results are so worth it. And to be honest it felt good to get it all done at once....with three little ones I'm finding I don't really have the time or the energy to be in the kitchen everyday baking.

So this year I decided to make some of the classics I always make but also add in a few new recipes. I am excited to say that they all turned out very yummy indeed.
Here are the good ol' classics I make every year:

Chocolate Clusters


Crunchy Caramel Popcorn


Mars Bars Squares


Here's a new one. I tried out this recipe and it turned out great....hubs and i find them a little sticky but the kids love them!!

Pink Popcorn Balls


While searching the Internet for new recipes I stumbled upon the Joy of Baking website. Where has this site been all my life??!! Mmmmmmm!! I just sat there drooling over all their yummy pictures. I found their recipes easy to follow and most of the ingredients was stuff I had in the pantry. I really must say I am very pleased with how they turned out! (All except for one, that is!) It was hard to pick just a few to make but here's what I finally decided on:

Peppermint Bark - a new family favorite! Though instead of using just 6oz of each type of chocolate, I used 1lb (16 oz) It made enough for me to give away and also keep some for us to enjoy :)


Chocolate Mint Squares - Yummy in my tummy! I love mint anything and these babies did not disappoint. They were easy to make, just a little time consuming....but that first bite made it all worth it!!


Molasses Cookies - Ahhhh....my favorite. Crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside. I wonder how much weight I'll gain because of these little treasures?? Hmmm....


Butter Tarts (I made these last and to be honest I was just a little tired of baking and so I cheated and used a pre-made crust....next year I'll attempt to follow the recipe and make my own!) Some of them turned out ok...but some of they went horribly wrong. the centers just sank right in...hmmm, I guess practice makes perfect. I'll have to give this receipe another chance.


All in all a good two day bake-a-thon!
:)