so this is Christmas

                    

I know. Christmas is the last thing on your mind. But I am still basking in its glow. Maybe because I really started to feel the Christmas spirit only about five days before Christmas. (Not good, I know.) Maybe because my live tree still stands in my living room - unwatered since New Years Day, and unadorned since last week. Maybe because the actual day was wonderful and we enjoyed staying home with cousins and grandparents-a-plenty. And then we continued to celebrate with them days after the actual day.
You can enjoy Christmas again/still too. Walk with me down Christmas lane.

  

 

 

the one for me, you are

This is the oversized Valentine I made for Mark this year:
2 x 3 feet, taped to the garage door, so he'd be sure to see it before he left early that morning.
Image from here. Enlarged at Staples for under $5.
He loved it! And so did the kids.

repeat the sounding joy

Our traditional Christmas. a la instagram.

Tradition: All dressed up for Christmas Eve dinner.

{Vintage dress found at Mesa thrift store.}

Tradition: The teen table - Christmas Eve.

New Tradition: Danish Christmas.

Tradition: New Christmas Eve pjs.

Tradition: Mesa temple lights.

Tradition: New ornaments for the kids. {Silver fox was an after-Christmas sale at Target.}

I bought these decorative straw orbs in Prague 8 years ago. They've been mostly stored away. They are now my new favorite ornaments since I realized I could attach some string and hang them on the tree.

My latest Gilbert Temple photo - December 2012.

Christmas Eve will find me

Merry Christmas! I hope you feel the Savior's love this season!

it's beginning

Are you in the mood for a little snowy Christmas photo haze?
I thought so.

 OK, enough of that.

Remember these advent bags I made last year? This year, I decided to string them inside a big frame. I just stapled some twine to the backside and used clothespins to hang them. After I filled several bags with goodies, I left to answer the phone. When I returned, Hank had opened every bag and was hoarding the loot. So now, I have to just fill one bag the day of its opening instead. He is still taking off the clothespins to see what's inside though.
For now, the frame leans against a wall, but I've got to hang it soon, out of his reach. So far, the days' treats have been: 1) 6 green jelly shooting frogs 2) marshmallows (for hot chocolate) 3) peppermint chocolate snowflake pretzels 4) Ice Cubes gum.

I bought this fiddle leaf fig tree at Ikea last week, for $13. (Yay, pinterest!) I love it but I don't have a pot or a permanent place for it yet. It adds some nice festive green to my entryway for now. And that Christmas print is free, here.

Last year after Christmas, I punched holes in all of the Christmas cards and put them on big rings. I thought it would be fun to have this little book out and peruse it often throughout the year. In actuality, it sat untouched on the bookshelf until Thanksgiving, when I decided to put it in a more noticable place: the entry table. Now the kids enjoy looking for cousins and friends whenever we are waiting to leave for school, etc.

 I love love love Christmas cards.

 More Christmas haze. You were just hoping I'd bring that back, I know.

How are your Christmas plans coming along?

we gather together

I hope your Thanksgiving was great. I know I have much to be thankful for, and Thanksgiving is a good time to be reminded of the goodness all around me.

Here are a few glimpses into our day:

Initially, I was going to fill these jars with nuts and twigs. But it donned on me, while making a last minute run to the grocery store, to use some Arizona citrus that is plentiful and in season right now.

I copied this polka-dot table runner from Jordan. I used a fingerling potato cut in half, instead of my finger, for the painted dots. It was the perfect size. Super easy.

 The adults ate inside.

The kids ate outside.

The kids enjoyed playing tetherball, thanks to Mark and his cement mixing skills just a few days ago. Grace has been begging for this for months and months, so Mark and I thought it would be fun for the cousins at Thanksgiving. We borrowed the idea from some friends, who told us all you need is a 10 foot pole from Home Depot, a nice man at Home Depot to drill a hole at the top, an eye-hook, a shovel, some cement, a wheelbarrow, another helpful friend to bring over his level, and VOILA - a fun sport for the whole family! (Also a nice place filler for the empty spot where our trampoline used to reside. It now resides at the dump.)

The kids also played croquet. The weather was perfect.

The women-folk posed for photos. In bad lighting. It wouldn't be a family get-together without that.

I love Thanksgiving. It is inching up to be my favorite holiday.

a cape and a mask make anything cute

The boys in our family prefer commercially produced valentines with superheroes like Spiderman and R2D2 (yes, he's a hero of sorts). But Grace and I were smitten with a different kind of superhero on Pinterest and we couldn't pass it up. He's a little Nacho Libre-esque, if you ask me.

After much cutting, and a much-too-late-in-the-evening run to Walgreens for suckers, we brought this superhero to life.

We cannot get over how much we love this little guy (even if I did buy the wrong kind of suckers with extra wrapper twisted at the top). Grace is excited to give them to her friends today.

 Happy Valentine's day and Happy 100 years Arizona!

and now, the rest of the holiday story

1,2,3} george tripped and fell onto some rocks 3 days before Christmas and had to go to the e.r. with dad. they pulled 8 little rocks out of his forehead and gave him 2 stitches. 

4} jonah's flag football team won the league championship

5} molly and her fake eyelashes shined in camp rock

6, 7} molly received the superintendent award of excellence for her school (one per school per semester) 

8} more football glory

1} our tree 

2} molly played guitar for the family 

3} hank tried on grace's new shoes

4} stocking joy 

5} h and g took a break from presents 

6} milo was the beatbox champion 

7} happy grace 

8} happy owen

9} pearl and hank

1} mark and boys at the temple 

2} molly at the temple (to see the lights) 

3} nana and grace 

4} molly and her cousins' twin cousins. molly shares 2 aunts and 2 uncles with these sisters, but they do not get to be officially related. too bad they only get to hang out once a year, or so.