Merry Christmas in Georgia (lots of pictures :)

Merry Christmas!  Our first Christmas in Georgia was a great success, in all aspects.  We were able to have fun times as a family. I was able to share my violin playing talents at church on Sunday which I love to do this time of year.  Tim had the choice of having Christmas Eve off of work or the day after Christmas, and he chose the 26th, but he unfortunately woke up sick, with flu-like symptoms. We blamed it on eating a diet high in sugar and um, nothing else. He hasn't been sick like this for a while, we hope it's not the flu.

The weather for Christmas Eve and Christmas day was festively foggy.  I prefer that over snow, as a transition from Gilbert's usually beautifully sunny Christmas weather.  The temps weren't too cold which is good for me, I'm cold-phobic, not really because I don't like it, but because I'm really not prepared for it.

We felt so included for the annual tradition of opening gifts from Grandma/Grandpa Jensen on Christmas eve, and also reading the nativity and talking about what Christmas is really about. We also read the story of the Christmas Orange (makes me cry EVERY time!)

The girls loved their lovingly homemade pillow pets from Grandma Jensen. She rocks! And the girls have found permanent place for them on their beds for sure. Thank you Grandma, your love is felt all the way over here!

Kennedy loves purple!

Happy girls modeling their new Christmas PJ's and Pillow Pets. We really could have stopped there, and they would have been perfectly content. I need to remember that for next year...

Audrey being... Awesome Audrey!

Don't forget to feed the Reindeer, added glitter helps them find their goodies...

Lots of sparkle for Rudolph's nose to reflect off of...

Beautiful spread, tiny rooms make the spoils feel even more bounteous!

I absolutely love our Christmas tree. I'm sad we left some of our Christmas decor and tree in AZ, but hopefully it will be well taken care of until we can retrieve it.

Some happy animals ready for some Christmas morning lovin'!

The girls catch first sight of the goodies... (yup those are moving boxes in the corner, taking up a quarter of the room)

Behind Santa's chair you'll see the girls dragging their jaws across the floor looking at what was left for them.

Pure Joy, those animals have no idea how much love they are gonna get.

Let the unwrapping begin!

Kennedy is super excited for her sparkly boots and new coat.

Kennedy gave some plush toys to Audrey and this is what came next... Melts my heart!

Here's to Audrey and some trips to Hot Wheels to get even more proficient with her skates. She is an animal!

Mele Kalike Maka is the thing to say, on a [Georgia Christmas morning] Day!

Loving the chocolate gold!

Here comes some decorative duct tape accessories!

Some backyard fun.

Today I saw the girls outside running around, riding "horses" and having lots of fun on a rare clear sunny day, so I grabbed my camera, which I'm trying to do more, rather than just using my phone camera, and got these pictures. Some of them are pretty good, due to the subject matter for sure! Enjoy!

Its like pure joy captured!

Can you say "Gap Kids advertisement" That's if she were wearing Gap clothes, but she's cute enough without the high price tag.

Audrey was awesome at riding her stick horse all around the back yard.

Traditions

 We are getting ready for Christmas, doing what we can to keep/start our own family traditions. Tim is working so much that he is having a hard time getting into the Spirit of everything. His job is really, really stressful and takes a lot of time. I am finding that I really miss working, ( didn't see that coming ) and I'm in the process of getting my license here, so I can start working again at least 1 day a week.  I have so much self-actualization happening here as the at-home parent, away from family, and trying to tune out all the stuff that is fluff and and tune into what I really need to be doing and it is hard. Crud, it is hard. So, I am clinging to our traditions here this Christmas season. Not that they are amazing, but because they bond us to each other. They invite the spirit of family. Their actions say, "This is important because family is important."

The traditions that we are doing our best to keep alive include but are not limited to:

• Christmas caroling as a family
• breakfast with Santa
• making candy together as a family
• seeing Christmas lights as a family (hopefully we will do that soon)
• serving as a family (finding others with a need and filling that somehow)
• watching Christmas movies as a family
• making Christmas music as a family (piano and violin)

And now we have new traditions we are adopting, and I don't know if you can technically call it a "tradition" if you've only done it once, but I believe that if it strengthens family unity, then it earns the title of tradition.

                  

We had a really fun time with the girls last Saturday morning at the Church where we had a yummy breakfast, and then a special visitor.  Emma and Audrey were ready for the conversation, but it took quite a bit of coaxing for Kennedy. I just love, love, love the stages and ages that my girls are at right now.  They are so sweet and innocent and want good things. They are such good girls.  I feel so blessed to have them in my life. I need to say that because lately I have been taking way too much for granted, and not looking an my basket of blessings that is overflowing.

I enjoyed this moment with Kennedy last week, after a really, really rough  morning, I was able to spend some good time talking with some dear friends I've made here, and then capture pictures of Kennedy doing this.  Through this activity she was able to help me see that life is in the moments right now. Not about tomorrow, or the to-do list, or what I didn't get done (I'm really good at focusing on what isn't checked off my list, ugh). So, thank you to my family for keeping my grounded, and my friends for being listening ears, for my kids that make me laugh, and my husband that makes me see what I need to focus on.

So, here's to raking together the proverbial pile of leaves and jumping into them, just because we want to and we can. May this week before Christmas be filled with activities that not only make you happy, but also bring peace and joy to those around you. Merry Christmas Eve Week.

Hanzel and Gretle can move in now...

We spent Wednesday afternoon sugaring up the 1st annual Harper Gingerbread House. I must say, the end result was beyond what I expected. The girls were very creative in their ideas for where to use the different types of candy, and we all had a good time.  The house turned out a lot bigger than I anticipated, we had a some lack of structural integrity in the roof, but the royal icing came through and hardened like cement to keep it together.  I found the recipe for both the house and the icing online here and it worked great. I'll do it again next year, but be more precise with my cutting and measuring of the pieces. Every time I walk by the house, it smells beautifully like gingerbread and I want to scratch and sniff some more, like I did when I was a kid when I read this book, "The Sweet Smell of Christmas"   

We are trying to make more traditions for our family.  I want each one to accrue our anticipation for Christmas, like the Advent Calendar, with each tradition repeated, the sense of anticipation for the celebration of the birth of our Savior increases, our love for our family increases, and the smiles on our hearts get bigger.

 Emma was good at piping the icing.

 Audrey was good at testing the sweetness level of the candy.  I got all the candy at Dollar Tree for about $7 and used a bag of leftover Dots from Halloween (good reason to buy Halloween candy on clearance after the holiday, to stock up for this project.

 Our sweet neigbor Elise came over to help with the festivities, she had a good time, and we were happy to have her there.

 The finished project, proudly displayed on our corner counter/bar so we can easily enjoy the sweet smell of Christmas.

 We used peppermint disks, small candy canes, large candy canes, sweet stripes (the straight candy canes), spiced candied gumdrops, dots, "Rudolph Red Noses", and Sixlets.  Now that we've inaugurated this tradition, I will definitely be on the lookout for candy after Halloween for this. It was really so much fun.  I thought it would not turn out, but it was only about $20 for all the ingredients,(the molasses and heavy cream I didn't have on hand) and candy to decorate it, and it turned out way better than the $10 box houses, and smells so much more fragrant too.

A video tour of the house, in all it's imperfect sweet glory!!

 Audrey got a hold of my phone, and may be a budding photographer.  Here are a few of her photos, and it is a good snapshot of some every day life here in beautiful Woodstock.

 The Christmas tree, always should be photographed to remember. This is our new one we got this year.

 The train under the tree, we'll see how much longer it lasts, it's been repaired a few times, and will get crunched with a few more gifts coming up (when I get around to wrapping them)

 The tippy top of the tree with our glowing star that we've had for 10 years. It almost didn't glow this year, but I worked it over, gave it some TLC and now it glows beautifully.

 Who needs elf on a shelf, when these move around your house all by themselves!

 The inside of our front door, I love wreathes, and these are old, and crunched, but they'll do for this year.

 The front view of the house. It is such a friendly looking home.

 My porch is graced beautifully with black Friday poinsettias. They are so colorful and festive. They always remind me of when I was in high school and I played in a double stringed quartet and the Poinsettia Festival in Phoenix at Gardner's World on Baseline Road. It was so awesome to sit in the middle of thousands of colorful poinsettias and play Christmas music for hours.

 Some deadwood that has been kicking around our yard, until it gets cold enough we take the saws-all to it to fit it into the fireplace.

Our porch with bikes ready at a moments notice. 

The cranberry muffin I'm making for our RS brunch on Saturday. Should be lots of funny and lots of yummy! And me practicing my Christmas songs for the violin parts for Church. I'm playing in Church every Sunday until Christmas. I love doing it, and I am so thankful for my violin talent.

Georgia Gingerbread

Heather's family has a tradition of making a huge and ornate gingerbread house each year at Christmas. I wondered weather I could even make ginger bread, so I attempted it on Saturday. It was somewhat of a success, definitely needs some tweaking, but for the most part successful.  We waited until tonight to decorate cookies, and I assembled the house, but it needed to harden before we attempt to put any candy on it (my first kitchen carpentry project). It was fun, and motivated the girls to finish their tacos fast!

Sweet November

November was a good month. It was full of thanks, and that's the way it should be. I often find myself wanting to post on this blog when I'm feeling frustrated or upset or otherwise ungrateful in some way, but I know that everyone feels that way time and again, and I don't want to practice being the person that dwells on that. I want to perpetuate the positive, and I am thankful that I'm able to do that.

I feel so blessed. I am home with my kiddos, even today, when Emma and Audrey are home from school sick, I love to be with them. They are good kids. They have good desires in their hearts, and I have to keep that at the top of my "list-type" mind to remember that they are kids, and they do what kids do best.

Amid all the mess, disorganization and occasional frustration that comes with a stay at home parent (I'm careful to use "parent" in that phrase because Tim was such a good stay at home parent and I don't discount the many, many dads that are at home with kiddos while moms work) I feel like I am new at this whole full time parenting thing.  I feel like I'm starting a whole new life.

It is a cross roads.

I can either choose to be dumpy about missing all my friends and family and familiarity of Gilbert, AZ now that I am home and could enjoy all that more, or I can get out, learn and enjoy all this area has to offer, meet and make new friends, and learn to cook, clean and keep a home with more depth and detail and happiness than before. 

So, as I am home with my kiddos, I realize the weight of consequence of the way I choose to spend my time.  I am still trying to figure out how my baby is 4 1/2 years old. I'm trying to figure out how to cook, where my creative muscles went, how to keep up with my running routine, and do it all with a smile in my heart, if not on my face.

I've never really been a good writer, but I aspire to improve.  I don't know if I want to be great, but I know as I work on the things I feel are important and are valuable, I will improve.  Writing is one of them.  I appreciate anyone who wants to read and give tips and/or suggestions or just spend a virtual moment with me here on this blog. We've been private for a few years, but I am trying out a different setting for a few posts and we'll see how it goes.

Thanks for reading.