Christmas 2015

Christmas 2015 was perfect!  Maybe it was because I put more into the spiritual preparations, but this Christmas was such a good one.  The snow that arrived the week prior obviously helped add to the whole feeling of the season.  It wasn't even wet, sloppy snow, it was dry, fluffy snow and lots of it.  Midnight Mass was beautiful and peaceful, and the kiddos slept in til 8:00 the next morning so no one was too tired from staying up way past our typical bedtime.  It was delightful.

Again, we celebrated all twelve days.  It makes it feel as though all the preparation ~ spiritual and material ~ is worth it.  It's not just one wild day and then back to business as usual.  I've begun packing up some of the decorations, but can't bring myself to take down our tree. Perhaps as cobwebs begin to collect between it and the windows I will feel a little less nostalgic!

I'm putting up all my pictures from the month because I'm too lazy to write separate posts.

Saint Nicholas's feast day.

Nickles thinks the day is all about him now.    

Max's blanket needed washing and I wasn't sneaky enough getting it to the washing machine.

He cried for the two hours that he could see it in the washer and dryer. 

Note....never, ever, ever get a washer and dryer with windows again.

Doing Kath's hair for the Christmas dance.

My beautiful daughter and her possessed father ;o)

Sledding and Christmas trees.......

........and snow, smoke and hotdogs.

My boys were pooped!

Watching the big boys bring the tree in.

The evening shaped up well for Max...he loves to climb 

and can scale a ladder quicker than most.

Mr. I-can-do-it-myself making tea for his brothers and sisters as a surprise.

It may have been honey with a little tea.

Then, the snow began.

A few days of shoveling and snow blowing and plowing. 

Then more shoveling and more shoveling and more shoveling.

But it was so beautiful!

Making cookies with Kath.

Muddy buddies for his own stash....at least Dom thought so.

I had  them all stored away. Then the container was empty.

He said he made them so he ate them. 

Cookie decorating with cousins.

My only rule is to TRY to avoid a mess.  

I'm still cleaning up little candy beads.  

A sleepover under the Christmas tree afterwards.

It was a shock that any of them slept.

Marshmallows for breakfast??

Yes, please!

Sewing pillowcases for gifts.

And painting chalkboard mugs.

I was dreading haircuts, but Andrew took over and cut the little boys'.

They didn't whine for him! 

My favorite part of Advent....gathered around the wreath in the dark

for night prayers and the St Andrew Novena.

Because pictures of him sleeping make me happy.

Peeling potatoes with Annika.  

I'm not sure how much Max accomplished.

Christmas Eve dinner....cheese fondue.

Mmmmm.

Daddy reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" after midnight Mass.

Christmas morning.....some look more awake (and excited) than others!

Max wasn't sure about the unwrapping business....

....Nickles was more than willing to help.

Playing and resting after breakfast.

Poor Stacy. 

I think both Lauren and Max wanted her lap to themselves.

Max actually got a charge out of Uncle Matt.

Who knew?!?

Annika loves having a baby girl cousin...she'd love a  baby sister!

Teaching Aunt Carolyn how to play Peanuts. 

How many kids ski in their back yard?

Twinkle, twinkle little star..... 

Our gingerbread people were a little, well, strange-looking this year.

Another sleeping kid that makes me smile.

The end!

A Little of This & That

Biggest brother and littlest brother ~

An afternoon crystal mining with a geologist friend ~

We learned a lot!

Helping Katherine cook ~

The view out our classroom window ~

not many can claim bald eagles hang out in the trees around their house.

An evening after-hunting snack and conversation with Daddy ~

What kid doesn't love Rosaries wrapped around their neck?

Nickles didn't care about shoveling the deck off....just digging his trike out of the snow.

"Adios, Mom.  I'm off with the big boys."

A New Advent Tradition

Each year we seem to tweak our Advent traditions.  This year we added a single white stocking hanging on our wall ~ "The Jesus Stocking."  Throughout each day during Advent we are writing what we are thankful for on slips of paper and placing them in the stocking to be read Christmas Eve. One day Dom kept asking how to spell different words.  I didn't even question why he needed to know the words til he said, "Wow! There are just so many good things!"

Right then, I sat down and wrote down a few things myself because there are so many good things, but I often forget in the busyness of each day.  Hopefully, this will help us focus on what we are grateful for, avoiding pessimism and materialism during this blessed season of Advent.  Just maybe the stocking will be stuffed to the top with notes by Christmas as we offer our thanksgiving for all the goodness He has given us!

It looks a little lonely now, but as we decorate in the 

forthcoming weeks maybe it won't look so out of place!

Michaela ~ you could keep a little pile of notes too and add them to the stocking when you get home.

   

November Funnies

My seventh child cannot be disciplined. No matter what we do, he cannot stop smiling.  When asked why he was covering his face while he was spending some quality time on the naughty bench, he replied, "I'm smiling and I can't make it go away!"

What are we going to do with him??

Nickles snuggled up for book reading the other day, but smelled awful!  I asked him if he had wet his pants, to which he replied, "I couldn't come inside because the snow might melt!" 

Boys and snow.....it has been nigh impossible to keep them focused on school since the white stuff arrived.  

Nickles and I were just beginning school for the day. While practicing writing his name, he threw his hands in the air, "Pleeeeeeease, God, just let me be doooooone!" he groaned in his most exasperated voice. 

When I asked him what that was about he stated, "That's what you do."
Ouch.

Dom, walking through the kitchen with his eyes closed, "Mom, have you ever tasted a jellybean in your mouth....it's not really in your mouth....but you keep chewing and swallowing and the jellybean is still there?  It's kind of my imagination." 

I'd say it's all your imagination, Bud!

Looking at Max and Nickles in the rear view mirror I said, "Holy smokes, you look like a little Nistler, Max. Nickles, who do you look like? I can't figure it out."
Nicholas looks at me like I'm stupid or something, "Um. Captain America, Mom."

We were playing Telephone at the dinner table one evening. Shannon began it with, "I love peanut butter and honey" and it ended with "Underwear."  Somewhere it changed to "Underwear and honey" then the "Honey" was dropped.  It was a good laugh!

Walking into the bathroom, Max was standing near the toilet with a toy boat, water dripping everywhere.  Before I could even react, he swigged the water down and darted past me out the door.  
I wasn't sure what to do....give him a bleach chaser?  With Max's recent bathroom fascination, I should probably begin cleaning the toilets daily, if not a few times every day.    

We have been going to the pool a lot lately. Josh was swimming laps by himself when an older guy asked him if he was on a swim team.  Josh replied that he was not and the older gentleman told him that he should be because he was a really good swimmer.  Josh, in all his glorious humility, said, "Yeah. I know!" 

Eric went hunting with Grandpa tonight.  Eric saw some elk while Dad (Grandpa) and he were not together, so he picked a cow out and began shooting.  He was so scared of it getting away that he just kept right on firing.  Dad told Shannon that he had never heard someone fire that fast.....even in the military.  

When I told Nicholas only the older kids were participating in a geography fair, he took matters into his own hands, snagged their leftovers, made a few "diagrams" of his own, 

and glued them all to a piece of cardboard.

Voila! 

Nicholas' geography board. 

Because who doesn't need a sombrero for school work ~

Apparently, it's our new thinking cap.

How many kids can a daddy push-up?

Nickles can typically peel a 10# bag of potatoes. 
 I figured it would keep he and Pierce busy for a while one morning.

Pierce lost interest after half a potato and Nickles followed suit about three potatoes after that.

Darn it! I had to peel them!