Silent Night, Holy Night

Singing Silent Night at the candle light service.

Early Christmas Celebration

We let the kids open some of their presents today because we'll be traveling to visit family over the holidays and we didn't want to take all the gifts with us.  We didn't tell them until right before time to open presents - so they were super excited.  Graeme and Blaire had purchased things for all of us at the Holiday Boutique at school and Paige went with Grandma Dolly to Walmart to get us each a little something.  This past week she has been telling us "I got you coffee, but don't open it until Christmas because it's a surprise!"  I kept telling her to not tell me the present, but she didn't quite get it.

All 3 kids got Legos this year and the girls were quite thrilled to have their own sets and not have to stay out of Graeme's.  He had an interesting experience with that - he wanted to jump in and help them build, but forgot to ask if they wanted his help.  It was a great teaching opportunity for him to learn what it's like for them when he has some new creative building going on and they want to be a part of it. 

The kids got Duncan a new mouse pad to use by his laptop and a cool tripod flashlight. They got me a blender that I really wanted.  I fell in love with the blender while visiting my brother this summer. We couldn't afford the $90 price tag so when I saw one for $40 I snatched it up and told Duncan to have the kids wrap it.  While it took some of the surprise out of it, I was happy to keep to our budget and still get what I wanted for Christmas. We're bringing our stockings and one gift to open at Grandma & Grandpa's.  Should be fun!

 

Preschool Christmas Party

Paige loves her preschool class and was very excited for the Christmas party.  She was quite happy during the practice session though she didn't end up singing during the performance,

so I'm glad I shot some video during rehearsal.

Early Christmas Present

 We walked a bit and got to ride the horse & carriage on a quick

tour around downtown Poulsbo on Saturday, December 5th.

We then went home and let the kids give their gifts of homemade trivets to Grandma and open their Christmas present from Grandma Dolly since she was only going to be here for a week visiting us from Rhode Island.

  They were quite happy to see that it was a Wii... 

...and they put it right to use.

Gingerbread Men

We are headed to quite a few Christmas parties where we need to bring a plate of goodies.  I baked about 14 dozen Gingerbread Men yesterday and the house smelled delicious!  Later that evening Duncan gave me a hug and exclaimed over the lovely scent of gingerbread I seemed to be wearing... at least it's a nice smell!

What is your favorite thing to take to holiday parties?

GINGERBREAD MEN

2/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
2 tsp ginger
pinch salt
3/4 cup molasses
1 egg
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Cream together first 6 ingredients. Add egg & mix. Add molasses & mix again.

Mix flour, baking powder & baking soda in a separate bowl. Add to the creamed mixture and stir until well blended. Chill 1 hour or more.

roll ti 1/8" thickness and cut out shapes. Bake 9 minutes @ 375.

Christmas Decorating

White Christmas

Sitting in the 'entrance' to the cave

With an unusually large amount of snow this past week, we have had quite the experience. Duncan made the kids a snow fort/tunnel that they thought was amazing. We spent a lot of time outside, building snowmen and sledding down the little hill behind our house.

We have thankful hearts that we were all together during this snow onslaught and that we could play in it without any injuries. We lost power at our house for 30 hours, but are so blessed to have such wonderful friends that let us hang out for the day and another family even let us spend the night in their guest room! We stayed nice and cozy and enjoyed the sleepover.

The Infamous Kids' Table

We had a great dinner with friends on Christmas Day - the Atwood's & Davies came over - bringing their 2 & 3 kids respectively to play with ours. As tradition would have it, the kids scarfed down their bites in record time and hurried off to play before the adult table had a chance to really dive into the mashed potatoes.

We hung out and chatted over tasty treats from the Davies' UK heritage as well as yummy treats leftover from all my Christmas baking. The kids played well with only a few minor scuffles and no broken bones. By 9pm we had all had our fill and realized it was 2 hours past the kids' bedtime, so we wrapped up the leftovers and sent our friends on their way with wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year.