Really. The Last Christmas Post For 2012. Promise.

I'm a big kid at heart, and I love to see everyone's Christmas lights.  In fact, there are certain neighborhoods in town we Must Drive Through.  A certain retirement community comes to mind.

But we have a couple of favorites not far from where we live.  We're particularly in awe of this guy.  He must have twenty-five huge Douglas fir trees in his yard, and he wraps the trunks in Christmas lights, about twenty feet up.  (There are more behind the house you can't see in the photo.)

And - yes - I did take the photo right out the car window, because I am classy like that.  Also, it was the evening of Christmas day and we were on our way home and we were just DONE.

Here's a closer look.

And then Kerry started to drive before I was ready and it looked like this.  Or maybe that was the sugar coma from all the Christmas cookies.  You be the judge.

Actually, I kind of like the effect.  Yah?

And then we went around the corner... to The Wrong House.   Because it's just so very wrong.

Actually, they've updated it a bit, since I wrote about it in 2010, but it's still just wrong.  Too many junky pieces, all out of proportion to each other.  But at least this year Santa isn't hovering menacingly over the manger.  Small blessings, friends, small blessings.

But everything still flashes on and off, and gives a sort of Las Vegas strip effect.

There were others, much more tastefully done, but by then they all started looking like this.

In fact, I think it's my favorite ;D

Grasshopper Days

Grasshopper Days

For today, January 7, 2013

Outside my window...  Wyatt just headed out the door to catch the bus, and it is dark as midnight and raining.  I know the days are getting longer (right?!) but I'm not seeing it yet.

Hearing...  the wind blowing, but otherwise quiet.  Tate and Gunnar have a few minutes before we launch this week of homeschool.

Pondering...  the Mother Load.  Ugh.

Praying...  that 2013 will be better.

Thankful...  a warm, dry house, a full freezer, and three healthy boys.

Wearing...  blue jeans, white T, blue long-sleeve shirt (yay, Value Village!), wool socks and slippers.  *sigh*

Going...  To do some sewing (hemming) - I have five pairs of pants that need attention today.  The boys are getting taller...

Reading...  with the boys, The Kite Fighters, Tales of a Korean Grandmother, and another one about Eric Liddell.

Looking forward to...  we're almost half-way through our school year.  How can that be?

In the kitchen...  we've been cleaning up a lot of leftovers this weekend, but now... ???  Let me guess... venison ;D

In the learning rooms...  Wyatt - Mendelian genetics, the Reformation, and loaded questions.  Tate and Gunnar - shifting our study from Korea to China.  Tate - fossils and rock layers, simple and compound interest, and writing descriptive paragraphs.  Gunnar - helping verbs, ungulates, and finishing his fifth grade math book (already!)

Around the house...  legos and books.  And a new bookshelf (bought in OCTOBER, but finally painted and brought into the house) to organize.

The Mother Load...  much too overwhelming to even consider this early in the morning.

Noticing that...  Gunnar is VERY moody lately.  Could the hormones be hitting already?  He's only eleven!

A quote for today...

Life wasn't meant to be easy.  

Malcolm Fraser, former P.M of Australia.

A few plans for the rest of the week...  I think we're all hoping this can be a "normal" week - get back into our routine.  Headed to the orthodontist with Wyatt after school.  He's had a few brackets pop off and I don't know why - he's not eating things he shouldn't.

A peek into my day/world...  if it were light enough to see out the window... that's the view.  *sigh*

Rain.     Rain.     Rain.     Rain.     Rain.

Christmas House

I like to decorate for Christmas.  It's part of our tradition and I make no apology for it :D

Yes, I know, we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  And maybe someday I'll reflect and share more on why I/we do all this extra stuff.  But for now, basically because it's a celebration!  He came here to live among us and to do that He became one of us, with a body.  He lived in the real world and ate real food and felt the same things we do.

And we all like to celebrate.

And some of our decorations reflect Jesus... 

... and others are just plain fun, like these stockings my aunt made for us. :D

I love these pictures of the boys, Naomi,

and my dad and uncle (my dad is on the right, on Santa's lap.)

I have candles all over...

even these electric ones, in the windows.

They remind me of my grandma, who had candles in her windows every year.

And the tree...

... we have to have a real, live tree :D

This year the tree was so big we couldn't fit most of the presents under it,

so we stashed them around the house!

And our tree?

It's a little different.

Most people's trees look kind of like this.

Round shiny balls.  Maybe even color-coordinated.

Not at our house.  That blue ball is a lone ranger.  All the other ornaments tell stories...

Like our family trip to Disneyland...

... the boys' obsession with Toy Story when they were younger...

... my Japanese sister...

... our family vacations to the Oregon Coast...

... Tuba Christmas...

... handmade treasures... 

 ... my favorite ornament (this year... it changes) is this owl we got at Bryce Canyon on our big trip...

... this little owl reminds me of a grandma that collected owls...

... Kerry likes glass and I like bright...

... and I also like traditional red and white.

But maybe my favorite ornaments of all,

are the boys' first Christmases :D

Wyatt

Tate

and Gunnar :D

What's your tree like?  Tastefully coordinated?  Or a joyful jumble?

Tell me all about it :D

Christmas... the Photo Bomb

Which is weirder... to stop enjoying Christmas so you can post about it while it's all fresh, or to be posting Christmas pictures almost two weeks late?  I guess you know where I fall on the spectrum ;D

If you're all Christmas-ed out, just move along... these are our memories.  And one of my favorites is doing advent devotions by candlelight.  And we sing - at least one traditional carol each evening, because I want the boys to know them.  Long after we've forgotten sermons and lessons, we'll remember the songs... so choose them well.

Christmas morning starts early at our house... still dark outside!  The boys open their stockings even before we have breakfast.

We try to find clever little things to tuck into their stockings.  This year the boys all needed some winter gloves.  Oops... looks like Wyatt has left a few candies behind on his strip... that won't last long!

I think their favorites were these air-soft pellet "grenades".

I made an actual cooked breakfast (french toast) and we had our last advent devotion before opening our family gifts.  Then...  

off to Grandpa and Grandma's :D

And since we're the first to arrive, we have some time to fill, so why not...

... break out the potato cannon!  Sure - that's festive!

Doesn't everyone celebrate with artillery?

Ah, but soon enough the house filled with family :D  I'm not trying to post pictures of everyone.  We get together with my parents, my sister (single), my cousin and her husband and daughters, and - this year - my brother, SIL and baby.

Wyatt decided to be a Christmas ninja (?) and Kerry wanted to join him.

Wyatt wanted a hat...

... hope Naomi likes hers.

Gee, can you guess who the paparazzi are after?

Yah. ;D

I think she was trying to pick the dots off her quilt.

Naomi certainly got her share of attention :D

About four in the afternoon, with the gift-opening still going strong, I ducked out onto the deck to check the sunset - gorgeous - and give my ears a quick break ;D

 Most unique Christmas gift this year?

Probably this one, now proudly hanging by Tate's bed.

Or maybe this tree ornament Kerry made for my brother.  

Joy to the whirled ;D