Christmas Cookies 2016 will go down in history as the year-to-date that produced the 1) messiest kitchen, and 2) most awesomely decorated cookies, ever.
This is where the mess began. Flour (or was it powdered sugar at that point?) + speed 10 = whoa!!!!!!!!
Here is some whoa for you. And I can't even describe the floor. Ya'll, I mopped and I never mop.
Rebecca and I almost went to blows over this cookie because I am ridiculous. She made it to look like Kate (high pony tale). But it got all fat in the baking so she wanted to turn it into Santa. It's a great little Santa cookie and it almost didn't happen because I was being a persister and didn't like her changing her mind and not making the Kate cookie. I know, ridiculous.
Too lazy to rotate this picture. Minion. Bee/angel. Merry Christmas.
Happy bakers.
Random pic of "Rebecca's" Christmas tree upstairs. She puts all sorts of crazy stuff on it and loves it. And I actually love letting her have her little space of Christmas crazy.
"The birth of Jesus" - by Rebecca
(Closely inspired by the Jesus Storybook Bible)
We had a different Christmas schedule this year than we've had in the past. We celebrated with Bee/JoJo and Alex/Deidre on the 22nd, with Dahdo/Pam and that crew on the 23rd - but without Kyle because he was on call that night (also, perhaps our best white elephant gift exchange yet!), then "fake" Christmas morning on teh 24th - the kids woke up (right after Kyle got home from the hospital and we pretended it was actual Christmas morning, then Christmas Eve service that night at church (because he had to work actual Christmas day from 7a-3p). Then a relaxed day at home on real Christmas day which ended with time with Franny and the Other Mezgers on the afternoon/evening of the 25th. Whew - we made it! Clearly - I have gotten worse and worse at actually taking pictures over the holidays.
#lettinggo #butIwantmorepictures
"Fake" Christmas morning. Oh, did I forget to mention that Maggie had a major puke-fest on fake Christmas Eve? Yep, cute Christmas PJs definitely ended up in the wash in the middle of the night. Kyle was working and Miss Kate definitely earned her Aunt title - she cleaned up the bed/carpet while I bathed Maggie and washed her hair, then helped me shake chunks off of sheets in the street. It was a real bonding experience for all of us. Maggie was pretty much back to normal
The stockpile after Bee arrived - need more under-tree-space!
Jesus' birthday cake at Nana's.
We've had a few iterations of this guy over the years but my favorite has been this one - with the Little People nativity people on top. I hope we're still making this with the cousins (or at least eating it with them) when these kids are all teenagers and in their twenties, etc. Just kinda love it.
As quickly as I put Christmas decor up this year...that's how quickly I took it down. I always look forward to the clean-slate feel in my house after all the extra goes away - love starting the new year that way.
Family & Friends – Merry Christmas!
No
time (or page space to waste) so here is our Mezger family snapshot for 2016.
Owen is nine. He’s in 3rd
grade and for him that means a move upstairs at school, homework that isn’t
always easy, an increasing love for chapter books which now includes everyone’s
favorite wizarding boy, and football references to catching like Odell (google it). He’ll be taller than me in just a
couple of years. (Did I mention he’s almost halfway out of our house? Can you
tell we’ve entered the everything-feels-like-it-is-speeding-up
phase with this one?) He was on his first lacrosse team in the spring – he
had a lot of fun learning a new sport (and we had fun watching something other
than tiny soccer-tots kicking each other in a pack). He spent his birthday at
Kyle Field (his first game) cheering on the Aggies toward an epic win against
Tennessee (which made both Daddy and
Mommy happy). His love runs deep for Star Wars, Minecraft, strategy board
games, and trying to convince his sisters to do his chores.
Before
I move on to the girls, I want to introduce you to the newest member of our
family, beloved by all: Vader Tot,
the hamster. Our gift to Owen on his birthday (no, he didn’t ask for a
puppy…but maybe now he won’t?), she (yes, Vader is a girl) has already
persevered through much in our busy household. She is right at home in
Rebecca’s ever-expanding Vader Village comprised of, you guessed it, toilet
paper rolls. She appreciates it when Owen tries to enforce all of his rules for
playing with her, but handles the drops and glitter well when the girls don’t
obey. And she went on a harrowing
adventure in our ice machine (aka Planet Hoth) thanks to Maggie of course – and
survived! Hamsters typically live 2—3 years but given the harsh environment of
our home we’re feeling pretty great she’s made it three months! We’ll keep you
posted.
Rebecca is seven. She still wows
us with her creativity, stockpiling of potential party supplies, recycling-through-art,
and ability to go through scotch tape in mass quantities. Her baking continues
to be “experimental” in nature – part hypothesis-testing, part parameter-less
dreaming, part sugar (lots of sugar). But don’t let her creativity fool you –
she’ll rattle off facts in her robot encyclopedia voice about any number of
subjects: Mexican history, the Orion Nebula, and her latest Minecraft world. In
the spring she (and Maggie) played kickball in an all-girls league which means
75% of the little kid team names included Unicorn.
No surprise, Rebecca has a super-intense ninja-like kicking stance. We’ll
definitely be back next year – for all the benefits of a team sport, and for
the laughs. The transition to first grade from half-day kinder went super
smoothly and we are beyond thrilled that reading has clicked! It’s like a
switch went off. Most of the credit goes to Dr. Seuss who wooed her with his
silly rhymes. Combine her new lyrical repertoire with her dramatic flair and
sometimes it feels like we live in Seussical
(the musical)…and it’s pretty wonderful.
Maggie is five (sometimes going
on 2.5). The best way to describe her is to say that for Christmas she asked
for a hugging, napping, back-scratching
minion robot. If you are feeling sad and need a smile and a bear hug and 37
sloppy, sticky kisses, she is your girl. If you are feeling sleepy and need a
snuggle buddy, she is your girl. Basically, she is all joy and heart (and goo).
Her favorite phrase right now is By the
Way, I love you. She says it often, always without prompting, and she means
it with all of her heart. If she’s not right by my side, she’s hiding somewhere
with the iPad or Vader or both. She loves swimming (finally!) and kickball
(though if there is too much action going on at 1st base she might
just skip it and make a b-line for 2nd), minions, deer hunting with
daddy (just sitting in a deer blind watching animals), and naming all the
letters on anything that has letters. She is usually missing at least one
important article of clothing (varies by situation) and can’t wait to start
kindergarten next year – a combo that should be very interesting.
Kyle is…wait for it…FORTY.
Yep, he crossed over. We celebrated pretty big with a surprise
trip to Estes Park (with a party diversion) then an actual party (with a
date-night diversion). I may have overdone it a little bit but it was worth it.
He took another guys-only backpacking trip to Wyoming and is already dreaming
about his next adventure. But the biggest news of the year was his confirmation
as an elder in our church. It is a privilege that is weighty and humbling and
beautiful.
Alison is not forty yet. Wahoo!
I am loving my role in women’s ministry at our church – planning classes and
events, teaching some, and the occasional use of a walkie-talkie pretty much
make it my dream gig. When I’m not working or mom-ing I’m in the carpool line
which is where I think best about both. Throw in our love for hosting events at
our house and every day I don’t mix
up field trip duty with my team meetings with a Costco run is a banner day.
As
a family, we enjoyed another fun-filled road-trip to Colorado for a week during
the early summer – there was still snow on top of Wolf Creek Pass so the kids
had a summer-snow-day. And we spent Thanksgiving in Mexico with extended
family, where Kyle lead the cenote-exploring and Alison lead the
hammock-reading. What a treat to get to be in such beautiful places and expose
our city-kids to the glories of hiking, fishing, snorkeling and street chicken.
Trips and battery-operated Halloween costumes aside, the best moments of the
year were shared with family and friends, including two very special gals that
each lived in our guest room for half of the year. Miss Sam and Miss Kate will
always have a place with this family.
Every
night our kids ask us for “the story of tomorrow.” They want to know the plan,
the play-by-play. Some days unfold just like we told them they would the night
before. Other days we get surprises – both good and bad. But one thing is true
of all of our days – they are written by a God who loves us enough to write
Himself into the story - as a baby born for sacrifice, as the King of
everything who became a servant to make our way back to Him. He is writing a
better story for us than any we could write on our own. So this Christmas we
are grateful for the shapshot we find ourselves in, grateful for or all of you,
and grateful for our great Savior, Emmanuel – God with us.
Love,
Kyle, Alison, Owen, Rebecca & Maggie Mezger
