Variations of Luke 2

Our family acts out the Christmas story on Christmas Eve – here are some particularly memorable and humorous excerpts:

On their travels, Mary was in Joseph’s way: “Mary! MOVE!”

Joseph, leaning over to whisper in Mary’s ear at the stable after giving birth – he is already straddling the donkey: “Mary! Mary! Mary, I have to go somewhere, I’ll be right back!”

The shepherd was overly enthusiastic about having his sheep talk to baby Jesus (right in His face!) and Mary was not impressed: “Shepherd! My baby is allergic to your sheep!”

The shepherd ran away for a bit and returned “in a minute” with a favourite toy: “I got Muck! Muck’s here now!”

When it was getting a little too tedious to read from the good book, we started to ad lib... As the wise man, I pointed to the light above the manger and said, “I see a bright star over there!” Mr. Man continued to narrate, but Mary stopped us “STOP! Is it a red light? Is it Rudolph? Mom, what are you seeing?”


Needless to say, our reenactment could use some help… but it is definitely a fun Christmas Eve tradition!

Merry Christmas!

Dreamer that I am, I look forward to the day when I get to decorate my Christmas tree the way I want to. I want it to be gorgeous, elegant and classy. I want it to be co-ordinated, themed and I would love it to stay that way throughout the whole Christmas season. Nowadays I hand out the ornaments – which are about two-thirds homemade by little hands, and cannot wait till the little ones are in bed so I can rearrange and even out the ornaments. Somehow when they awaken, and every day thereafter, the kids have the same idea – and no matter how hard I fight this battle, I always seem to lose. You see, there are three of them and only one of me. Three little people creating numerous new ornaments and “things” to place on our tree; six little hands that feel the need to swaddle and then relocate each handmade crafted delicacy on a much too frequent basis. Three little souls, who love Christmas so much and adore being a part of it with all their hearts that I can’t bear to put an end to it. Someday, I suppose, we’ll have to just have two trees. As promised, here is a picture of our tree this year. Yes, it blocks the entire passage way between the dining area and front room! Note the angel is at the bottom of the tree – not the top!

We are really excited for Christmas at our house and I am thrilled to experience the morning of with our children – they are at such great ages! Little E is our knight in shining armour and looks absolutely adorable as he attempts daily to scare us and be ferocious! (Please don't mistaken the dagger in his hand for a medicine dropper!) Mr. T has been loving his preschool and I nearly died when I went to see his Christmas program last week! He did his part so well and it was really special! (Note he is standing beside a mini-Christmas tree he brought home with about a dozen handmade ornaments to add to our collection!!!) Big J is starting to get better and that is GREAT NEWS! We hope that by Christmas morning she will be able to breathe, smell and hear once again!


Merry Christmas to all!

Six & Sick

My little girl celebrated her birthday today – mostly in bed too! Thankfully she wasn’t sick for her party last Saturday with all her little girlfriends. She came up with the idea for a “cookie decorating” party and planned each detail down to the cake. She has been really spoiled and has loved every gift that has come her way. We were working on a few thank you notes today, and she always included a line like “You are such a good friend” or “Thank you for being my friend”. I’m so happy with how my little girl is turning out. Here are some fun pics of the party and her birthday – including her napping on and off due to being so sick! (While resting, and staying home from school, we did enjoy reminiscing and watching all the home videos from birth to age one – which lasts hours!!!) Tonight she didn’t want cake or ice cream though – so we’ll have to lengthen the celebration to another day when she is feeling better.

Happy birthday my little princess!

Decorating cookies at her party - soooo fun!

Her cake - which she designed and looked easy (as I am NOT a cake-maker) but is held daintily together with several toothpicks so that the cupcakes to fall off the sloping cake and slippery icing - UGGGH!

Huffing and puffing!

Breakfast in bed, as requested!

Her princess robe (which has been on her wish list for months now) - her name is embroidered on the front! This was actually a great gift for a birthday of not feeling well.

Poor girl fell even fell asleep in my arms!

Sleeping angel.

Elves

There are some parents who refuse to lie to their children. I believe in extenuating circumstances. Elves happen to be under that window of allowable exaggeration for me. Truth be told, I downright lie to my children about the existence and duties of elves. I feel absolutely no guilt in this regard and feel entitled to helping my children have a childhood filled with unique mystical moments and giving them the gift of imagination. At present, we have a handful of elves who are up on our roof watching us and giving reports to the big elf about the behaviors and attitudes demonstrated in our home. Our townhomes have pretty slanted rooftops and the children will often peer from our windows to the rooftops adjacent to ours watching for these mystical creatures. They are, as you may know, invisible, but that doesn’t stop them from watching and waiting to see one.

Today as we were walking Big J home from kindergarten, Mr. T was sprawled out in the wagon and suddenly sat upright and declared, pointing, “Mom! I see an elf!” The other two were immediately enthralled and our parade paused as we all gazed in the direction of the “visible” elf. “RIGHT THERE --- I can SEE it!” Mr. T was panting at this point and Big J was straining to see what he saw. Unfortunately she didn’t but she did admit to seeing the elf’s footprints on the rooftop! A few minutes later into our walk Big J stopped, pointed and screamed that she saw elves too! This time we were looking at someone’s playhouse in their backyard where two small children (wearing red jackets) were climbing on the roof of the playhouse! We were far enough away that it looked real. The magic was in the air and the cutest moment ensued when Mr. T excitedly declared, “I can REALLY see those elves!” Needless to say, if any elves were taking notes this evening, our children were being really good, for goodness’ sake!

BELIEVE

Yesterday we had quite the eventful playdate over at our house. Our good friend and neighbor Little Miss E was over and nearing the end of our fun time doing Christmas crafts together she announced to Big J her newfound knowledge: Santa isn’t real. Her basis was simple, it’s just absolutely impossible that Santa can do what he does… in fact, reindeer can not fly, and elves and fairies do not exist. Big J was flabbergasted. Could this be true? I asked her what she thought – and she fervently admitted that she thought her friend was losing it and of course Santa was real. Her friend was losing the battle and so decided to up the ante when announcing that even the Tooth Fairy wasn’t real! She was choosing the wrong little girl to approach this subject with; Big J adores the Tooth Fairy, had lost her sixth tooth the day before, was pen pals with the Tooth Fairy and had even decided to dress up as her for Halloween. It was inevitable that she would throw a fit. Little Miss E stood her ground on all the before-mentioned subjects and even added proof: “MY DADDY TOLD ME IT’S TRUE.” Big J shot right back, “Well I’m going to ask your Daddy for myself!”

Our “friend” left and I made a quick call to her dad to let him know briefly what had taken place and to prepare him for the questioning I was sure Big J was going to put him through. He was extremely apologetic and promised to tell her what she believes is definitely true. Halfway through lunch, Big J couldn’t stand it any longer and got on the phone to call our neighbor. He was so sweet: he told her Little Miss E is very confused right now and not to listen to her. He told her that of course Santa is real, that maybe when Little Miss E loses her first tooth then she’ll believe in the Tooth Fairy, and that he remembers a time when he was a child while standing on his front porch he saw Santa and his reindeer flying in the sky. Big J was not amazed by these stories, only confirmed in her belief. She’s been talking about it a lot since then, but I think we cinched it with the help from the Tooth Fairy.

The other day when her tooth fell out (or actually was pulled out by the school nurse – another story I don’t want to get into) she fell asleep uncharacteristically early and didn’t leave out her tooth. So last night she did. Right before I was to fall asleep, Mr. Man reminded me of my tooth fairy duties. I was out of change and didn’t feel like going out to the car in the rain, so I upped the two quarters to a whole dollar bill. Not only that, but on it I wrote the letters B-E-L-I-E-V-E. (Big J is also obsessed with “the Polar Express” right now – and if you’ve seen it, you’ll understand the significance of that word). She was floored this morning and stated that she’s pretty sure the Tooth Fairy knows that her friend had tried to make her not believe, but she’s really glad that she does. Phew. I’m not ready for my little girl to stop believing. In fact, I’m still convinced that when I was a little girl laying in my bunk bed and looking out my window on Christmas Eve, I saw a red light that could only have been one thing: Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. I still believe.

Line Upon Line

The lines my boys use that always melt my heart, even though I know that they really just want something:

"You're the best Mommy ever!"

"You look really pretty today, Mommy!"

Lines I know only because I'm a Mommy:

"Simulation terminated, simulation terminated..."

"Climb aboard, get ready to explore..."

"But Daddy, I love him!"

If you know where those came from, chances are, you're a Mommy too!

Mary Jane

The battle to get everyone ready and out the door is always, well, a battle. I've used every tactic and excuse I can think of to get these kids to hurry up - but they have become pros at throwing our excuses back in our faces. There was once the desperate attempt to declare I would simply leave them and then the police would come and boy would they be in trouble – but my smart 5 year old simply responded (while going as slow as ever) that if they were in trouble, I would definitely be in trouble too!

The other day we were all heading out and Mr. Man announced that whoever wasn’t ready to leave would have to go next door and stay with our elderly neighbor Mary Jane. She is the sweetest thing, and the kids adore her to pieces, but don’t enjoy being in her home very much – and so, the hurried and it worked! This morning as I was rushing to leave early to set-up for Primary, Mr. Man hollered down to the boys who were quite involved in their playing “I hope you’re getting dressed for church!” Mr. T, showing absolutely no sign of movement towards his father’s request, yelled right back , “We’re not going to church; we’re going to Mary Jane’s house!”

So much for that one! Mary Jane had gone to church too, so thankfully he had no choice in the matter! Any ideas for getting three kids out the door without wanting to bang my head on the door in the process?

"If You're Not Dutch You're Not Much"

The kids and I just returned from a wonderful visit up north to Canada. It was unexpected and a little untimely with snow storms beating down and Christmas just around the corner, but worth every minute of it. The purpose of our trip was to meet my mother’s cousin, Wolter and his adorable wife Truus from Holland. Wolter recently found out he won’t be alive much longer and was treated by family to have his lifelong wish to go to Canada and meet the “other” family members. Unfortunately, not much of the family remains in the area he was visiting, and so we made the trek.

I cannot express in words the beauty of Wolter and the inspiration he was to me of living life to the fullest and enjoying each moment – never knowing how much longer we may be able to enjoy it; and still, knowing that with death life does not end. What a sweet sweet man I was able to spend hours playing Phase 10 with, joking and teasing and learning from this relative of mine – who reflects his constant saying of “no problem”. He and his wife adored my kids and not once did I feel like they were “too loud” “to rambunctious” “too rude” or “too” anything. My children learned a few words in Dutch, they discovered how to feed peanuts to squirrels right out of their hands and they grew to love people who hours before had been perfect strangers. Dutch St. Nicholas came and left goodies galore… Oma was there and it was a pleasure to spend time with all the family and even 18 hours in the car with my brother!!!

Today was spent doing laundry, settling back in and getting our Christmas tree of course! It was absolutely freezing outside and quite the adventure dodging stumps and holes (Mr. T even got a bloody lip falling!) But in the end, even though Mr. Man could spend weeks searching for the perfect tree, we were successful! It fills up our whole front room, but is gorgeous! This year was Little E’s first time to put the star on the top of the tree! We’ll post completed pictures later! Merry Christmas!