The gift-giving gene definitely made it from Rebecca the namesake to Rebecca the child...this little girl not only my Christmas helper, but (as you would expect if you know her) had some plans of her own...
In Target, she NEEDED to spend her money on these two boxes. She wouldn't tell me who/what they were for. Christmas morning they were under the tree with everything else, filled with all sorts of Rebecca-esque treasures for our family - her toys, some snacks, a toilet paper roll...etc. etc.
We love our church. Could go on and on. They created THE BEST Advent guide for families this year - it built on what they did last year so we already had the ornaments - but they created an entire book that goes with the Jesus Storybook Bible (best kid's Bible ever). We didn't get to it every night, did better than we have done before - and the older kids actually got into it - it often surprises us what they know! Here is the scene - it sort of looks like wrestling which isn't far off. Maggie playing with a (loud) princess wand, Little People nativity set all over the floor...
One afternoon we went over to my mom's house to help her decorate her tree and its bazillion lights. Rebecca and Owen were surprisingly good and evenly dispersing the ornaments. Maggie was not-so-surprisingly good at raiding the Santa cookie jar that keeps chocolate covered marshmallow Santa candies.
Bee telling the story of My Ornament (the one I broke in the church gift store when I was like 2, so we had to buy it) - it is a white ceramic rocking horse that is held together by years and years of super glue...Maggie trying to jump up to
Okay, last year we did the Austin Trail of Lights. Fun-ish, but whatever. This year we drove to Burnet for Bethlehem in Burnet and it was out of this world! I am telling you, if you are within a 4 hour drive (I picked that distance sort of randomly, but you could do it in a day) of central Texas you HAVE to come to Bethlehem in Burnet. It may sound cheesy but it is NOT. It is so well done. Its an entire city block with real buildings, everyone is in character, it is amazing. It really puts a realistic visual to the Christmas story. The streets are crowded with people because of the census - so there are people trading and trying to find places to stay - the Inn is, of course, full - which you can see - there are homes, a jail, a synagogue, an entire market, a stable w/ live animals (way cooler than just a basic live nativity scene) and then the cave/stable w/ the manger. There are shepherds periodically coming to to proclaim what they have seen, Roman soldiers harassing people, etc. etc. Here we are watching people come up to the tax collector to pay their taxes (along w/ take census info). Profession? Wife? How many children? How many sheep?
On our way to Bethlehem we stopped in Marble Falls to eat way too much brown food and pie. Perfect gluttony. Oh, and we went to Walmart to buy Maggie a pair of shoes, since we left Austin without a pair. :)
Okay, I'm kicking myself for leaving my real camera at home because this
day deserved so much more. All I had been hearing about for weeks from
Owen on the way home from school was nutcracker this, nutcracker that. They had been studying the music in class, Tchaikovsky as a part of history and even made these great nutcrackers in art class (toilet paper bodies, held up on CD bases) - Owen's is the one on the left with the blue shirt.
So, the first graders put on this great mini-nutcracker for us - where they sang and recited a condensed version (w/ lyrics) - like a highlight reel - of the Nutcracker. Parts of each class had parts - the boys in Owen's class were all nutcrackers - which he was thrilled about. He made his little vest (complete /w epaulets on the shoulders). They did such a great job. I wasn't prepared to be as entertained and impressed as I was.
Bee and her boy.
And now for one of our favorite Christmas traditions - cookies!
Maggie was an actual helper this year! A Christmas miracle!
Owie on icing duty, Rebecca on sprinkle duty.
All together now!
How did I not get a pic of all the finished goodies??? Plates and plates of them...well, I don't have a photo but I can assure they were as interesting and laden with sprinkles and icing as you would expect and quite yummy.
Okay, on to our final pre-Christmas Christmas-tradition - our preschool's "Las Posadas" procession/program.
Maggie following her teacher in to the church - she's in the lime green shirt.
Rebecca wanted to wear "special" Christmas clothes - so she's wearing a pink sequin vest she cut and made herself out of scrap fabric of Bee's a while back. Christmas + pink sequins = win.
Maggie's sweet little class of three year olds. Maggie's front-row nose-pick. Priceless.
Loving the hand motions!
Okay, now for the bigger kids.
Rebecca on the left, hasn't seen us yet. Rebecca on the right has.
She's outgrown the nose-picking, but still loves the hand motions.
Since I took so few photos this Christmas (actual Christmas) I am just including them here.
We spent the evening of the 23rd at D/Ps - a great evening that (like years past) was too crazy (and dark in their house!) to take any photos. Rebecca got some ninja turtle stuff and Owen got an R2-D2 robot so pretty much Christmas was bound to be downhill from there. :) And the kids spent the night so Kyle and I went to see the 3rd Hunger Games movie and slept in on the 24th.
On the 24th Kyle had to go in to work at 3 (all night) and the kids and I went with my my to her church for the candlelight service and then back to her place for stew and jammies. Once I got them home I did a little gift assembly and then waited for my wake up call of 3 little voices.
Christmas morning, waiting outside my room for Kyle to change clothes out of scrubs and my mom to arrive and coffee to get brewed...
(I have so many pics of the 3 of them w/ R & O looking at me and M looking at them - I love that about her - loves her big sibs.)
Ya'll about ready?
Amen!
And just like I didn't take any pics of the actual cookies we baked I didn't get any photos of the actual gift-opening or breakfast-eating festivities. But you can rest assured that there was lots of both. After our breakfast casserole and monkey bread we said goodbye to Bee and JoJo and just spent some time hanging out and then we eeked every minute of our allotted naptime to sleep - Kyle didn't get a wink the night before and I'm just generally prone to need naps. :) Oh, but before that, Owen and I played his first ever game of battleship - he won.
After naptime we loaded up and went to Franny's for dinner w/ the Other Mezgers which again I didn't capture on film of any kind - thankfully, Mel did.
After a chaotic gift-unwrapping frenzy, we made it outside with all of the kids' new roller skates from Nana - so much fun! Can't believe they're all (mostly, not Beau) old enough for these!
Owen fell down a lot but kept getting back up!
Rebecca mostly walked around on the toe stopper.
When she wasn't also trying to ride a glider bike.
Maggie's didn't fit but when we get the new pair I'll be sure to update you - should be interesting
After dinner we sung Happy Birthday to Jesus and had a birthday cake (thanks, Mel) - not sure where Maggie was for the candle blowing-out. Oh, I just found Maggie - she's barely visible behind Owen!
Brothers!
Mel, next year you and I need a photo!!!
Okay, so 3 days of Christmas, then a few more of break and now it's 2015 and we're back in the swing of it...crazy.
Merry Christmas!
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