Christmas 2009

I have to apologize because I have been meaning to post about our Christmas for days now.  It has definitely been a different holiday this year as we have been taking turns being sick.  It started a couple of weeks before Christmas with both Tyler and I both having sore throats.  Then my arthritis decided to act up a whole bunch which it hasn't done in a long time.  Thankfully it is much better now but it was quite painful while it was going on.  Also a couple of days before Christmas Tim came down with an awful upper respiratory virus which got passed on to Christian and a little bit to Tyler.  Then on top of all that as my parents traveled to our house form Wisconsin my mother came down with the flu.  We are really grateful that wasn't passed on to anyone one else but she did have to spend much of her trip in bed. :(  Somehow my father and I made it through unscathed.  I am thanking God for that as we needed a couple of healthy people to take care of the sick ones.
I know that sounds rather bleak but it really wasn't as bad as it sounds.  We did miss out on some of the things we would have liked to have done but we were able to enjoy a bunch of our regular traditions too.  We really loved doing a Jesse Tree this year for the first time.  I know both Tyler and I were really sad it had to end.

Here is Tyler putting the last ornament on the Jesse tree.

This is something I think we will be doing every Christmas now.  It was a wonderful thing to spend part of each day reading scripture and focusing on the true meaning of Christmas.

One thing I had wanted to do this year is to make more homemade gifts with the boys.  Because of all the illness this didn't happen as much as I would have liked.  Tyler did want to make a special gift for Christian however and so that was a big priority.  I helped him to make a Christmas sensory box and Christian is finding it very interesting.

  We took a plastic ornament box and hid some jingle bells, snowflake beads, bendable snowmen, and other small objects and hid them in cotton which is our snow.

We also made a little I Spy type book to go with it that shows all the hidden objects he can find.

He had so much fun making this for his brother.  It makes my little mommy heart happy to see him do something special for Christian.

Tyler also made a dvd for his grandparents of him singing songs which is becoming his annual tradition too.

That is about all we accomplished for homemade gifts.  We will try to start a little earlier next year and hopefully make a lot more.

We were blessed to all feel well enough to open all our gifts together on Christmas Eve.  It was a good time and we were all thankful to receive such generous gifts.  Christian got a big fuzzy blanket from my parents and an MP3 player and digital picture viewer from us and many more gifts he is really enjoying.  He is hard to find gifts for so I am extremely happy to see that he seems to be enjoying all he received.  Tyler got some cds and a new Alphasmart from my parents and some games and Star Wars action figures from us and many more gifts.  He is loving them all but did tell me today that Blokus is his favorite.  He played it twice today alone.  Tim got a Ipod docking station with a digital picture frame from me for his desk at work, some games form my parents, and a calender and nerf gun from the boys.

I got a sewing machine (my very first)  from Tim.  I have been wanting to overcome my fear of sewing for awhile.  I have been reading through the manual before I go out and purchase any fabric and even though I am having some bad home economics class flashbacks I am pretty excited about it all.  Tyler got me Greg Mortenson's new book Stones Into Schools.  He wants to read it with me so I was really moved by that.  I am touched that he shares my passion for Gregs work in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Christian got me a new mouse for my computer.  My much loved mouse of the last 4 years died and so this was a much appreciated gift.  My parents gave me a lovely teapot and a sweater.  I loved all these gifts and the others I received.

I am going to share just a couple of pictures of Christmas Eve.  I took a lot of pictures but I don't want to make this too long so I will just pick a few.

Tyler waiting to see what Grandpa is getting.

Christian is loving his new MP3 player!

 

Tyler was very excited to get Snow Buddies!

Here I am opening up my sewing machine. :)

Grandma with her presents from Christian.  He gets her a teddy bear and a candle every year.

Tim opening his gift from me. Electronic gifts for him always bring big smiles! ;)

Even Lucy got gifts.  Here she is checking out the big stocking of treats Tyler got for her.

 That is all the pictures I am going to post for now.

It was a nice Christmas overall.  Everybody is finally starting to feel a little better now and so we are just enjoying some nice family time together while Tim has off.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas!