Christmas 2011

After we enjoyed Christmas at home, we drove over to Roslyn, WA to
spend some time with Corey & Sarah's family. We had such a
nice visit. The highlight of the trip for the kids was our trip up to
the Salmon La Sac area. It was beautiful and even I enjoyed
the snow. It has it's rightful place on earth, and this is one of them.

Here is a picture of Katelyn and Ezra being pulled by Corey's dog, Sitka.
(with a little help from Sarah)

Ready for a ride!

Alaina had a great time

Audrey, Ezra & Katelyn

Sarah & Claire

Beautiful scenery, great company. What more could you ask for?

playing in the snow
We saw lots of snowmobiles, cross country skiers and dogs!

Justin is getting ready to take Alaina sledding for the very 1st time.

Even though he sort of went over the top of her, she still loved it.

I think this was Katelyn's 1st time sledding as well. She was scared,
but I made her do it and she too loved it and wanted to keep going.

The gang (minus Justin)

After enjoying some hot cocoa

Christmas Day 2011

Santa was super nice to me this year and brought me a
Silhouette Cameo! Very excited to play with my new toy :)

I got this idea for a tie rack from Pinterest.

Katelyn with a couple of her new toys.

Alaina was up for much picture taking, but I snagged this one
of her hugging her pee wee pillow pet- penguin.

Katelyn with another present. Play-Doh (my favorite!)

Christmas Eve 2011

We have kept with the tradition of letting the girls open one present on Christmas Eve.
It's always new pajamas.
Here they are strutting their stuff.

We left some goodies out for Santa and his reindeer.

We were out of cookies, so we left pizza instead. Figured Santa gets
too many sweets anyway, right?

reflecting on Christmas

Today I invited my Japanese neighbor over to make bread. I have really enjoyed getting to know her over the past two and a half years. She is adorable and funny and very kind.

While she was here, we had an interesting conversation about Christmas. She is native Japanese, so I asked her about Christmas in Japan. She explained that they celebrated Christmas, but of course, it wasn't about the birth of Jesus, it was mostly about Santa Claus. I also picked up over different conversations recently, on the impression that they only get their children one gift. I wanted to know for sure, so I just came out and asked her. She confirmed that yes, they only do one gift. That is how she was raised in Japan. They only got one gift, and gifts were for children only, not for the adults. So, she is still getting accustomed to how Christmas is over here in the US and her husband, who is American has also had to adjust to only getting one present, as he was raised the complete opposite of that.

I have to admit, it made me feel a little silly and embarrassed as she stood there in my living room near our Christmas tree that has presents spread out all over around and under it (and I have always tried to keep Christmas fairly minimal). But it has really given me a lot to think about.

Each year I almost ALWAYS have an inner struggle when it comes to the idea of buying Christmas presents. I don't want to go crazy, but then at the last minute I always worry that I haven't done enough. And it's just plain silly. Of course I have done enough. I have done more than enough, as is evidence by our spread under our tree.

It makes me feel frustrated to be honest. I truly hate how Christmas has become so focused on the presents. If you are honest with yourself, you know that is true. Not for everyone out there, I know, but for the majority- I would be willing to say that it is a bigger focus than we even realize. Even amongst those of us who are Christian and know what the true celebration is all about.

I don't like it, but I wonder if I would be willing to let myself be different. I hope so. I know I definitely want to try. Next year will be the start, obviously. I want to challenge my little family to see if we will be willing to give each other only one gift. That's it. Could be interesting....