This Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas!

Naomi not happy that she has
to be in the kid picture without
Mommy, and Elise helping.

In a way, that's all there is to say. It happened! We were there! Yay! But none of our typical Christmas festivities can happen without a North Pole's worth of Christmas effort--and that's what we had this year. Here's the rundown:

Not sure why we dwarf the
poor Christmas tree. It was
small-ish, but so are all of
us.

Matt: Managed to track down the very last non-weird/yellow/busy white pine tree on the lot. It was an easy decision once the tree had been discovered. We like white pines. He also hung the lights (which the girls, for the first time, were a bit disappointed in as they surveyed the huge displays on other houses), made gingerbread with the girls and put up with all of my Christmas music.

Me: Decorated the house, helped the girls sing a few Christmas carols, sent cards, found the "perfect" gifts and pieced together a homeschool unit on Jesus at Kalina's request (if you type in "Bible" and "homeschool" you get enough results to open your own mini-university). I also headed up the frosted Christmas cookie project (I frosted, Elise sprinkled and then ate sprinkles, and Kalina sprinkled the rest), took the bigs to the Nutcracker, read a Christmas story almost every night, headed up a few family charity projects, and adeptly changed the subject when too many questions about Santa were being asked.

A note for Santa ("is rodowf Ledne
the slaey?"), cookies for him and the
Mrs., and carrots for the reindeer.

The true story of Christmas Eve.

Kalina: Wrapped a significant number of presents, wrote her own letter to Santa, set up the nativity scene several different ways (at one point the wise men were visiting a gingerbread house) and read a few Christmas stories as well. Kalina filled our house with the sounds of Jingle Bells and O Come, All Ye Faithful as she memorized them on the piano, and aided in decorating the heck out of our Christmas tree, which was about ready to fall over by the end.

Crafting with Grandma! Elise always has
to stand when she makes any kind of
announcement.

Elise: Queried, "Since Santa is so big and our chimney is so small, how will he fit?" She helped decorate by making a paper chain with me and bringing home some crafts from preschool. Elise was also often "tape girl" as I wrapped, and enjoyed choosing labels and stamping the occasional Christmas card. She sang loud and proud--and occasionally a beat or two ahead of everyone else--in the preschool singalong, a favorite tradition this time of year. And she managed to secure at least one tiny taste-test of every treat that came near our house--often, I imagine, without my knowledge.

Naomi: Didn't pull the tree over or unwrap any early Christmas presents, and woofed or roared at most of the animals in any nativity scene she walked by. She also sat nicely through Christmas Eve service, having succumbed to her Christmas dress and tights (but not the nice shoes). Naomi was happy to offer help unwrapping presents on Christmas Day, and played cutely with everything she opened.

Naomi imagines the
possibilities, made greater by
the fact that she also
received Christmas
goldfish in her stocking.

Christmas day was filled with fun--even a little too full, if you ask Elise (toys are getting cuter and cheaper/freer). She found a Rudolph in her stocking from Santa, and Kalina unwrapped a stuffed bear from the same jolly old elf--amazingly, they had written to Santa asking for these very items! Naomi found no less joy in her two new snack cups and small puppy, which were, from the looks of things, exactly what she would've asked for if she'd been able to verbalize her demands. 

Grandpa Tom constructed a pretty big hit!

The tree held lots of delights as well. As evidenced by all her new accessories, Elise's favorite gift was pop beads, and demonstrated by the fact that despite all the activity, Kalina had all her new sets completed by the time she'd been awake for an hour on the 26th, Legos were a favorite of Kalina. Naomi loved anything that woofed. We video-chatted with Aunt Nancy, during which time  Naomi was delighted to spot Poky once or twice on the screen, and enjoyed a meal with Uncle Tom and Grandpa.

And for the next week, all the girls played happily and nicely and nonstop. It was paradise. And they still are--which is probably the only reason I've been able to complete this blog.

Possibly the best part of Christmas was seeing lots of friends and family. This year, Kalina was extra excited about the aunts and uncles, geocaching with Uncle Tom and trekking through all kinds of rough terrain to find the caches, and hoarding Uncle Chris, Aunt Laura and Uncle Brian in her room as she regaled them with tales of her Lego animals, and a few actual books as well. This left room on Grandma's lap for Elise, who pretty much never left it, basking in the glow that is Grandma. Naomi was certainly not left out, however. Having decided that anyone named "Grandpa" is pretty great, she warmed up to Grandpa Les within a few hours and was soon pulling him all around the house and even allowing him to pick her up. 

Any grandpa will do, as long
as they read me stories.

Staying up till "midnight" New Year's
Eve!

Although we were all pretty tired out after our Christmas, we managed to stay up a little bit late for New Year's Eve with the help of some friends. The kids, who hadn't seen other kids in a week and a half, dressed in pajamas, spread out sleeping bags, microwaved smores and played their hearts out while the grownups tried to whittle down some of the desserts. At 8:30 the living-room clock magically read midnight (how does it do that???), and we loudly cheered in 2015. 

And with everyone's help, it's sure to be another memorable year!

Three very favorite gifts from Matt's
side of the family!

A lovely family dinner and all I can think
about is how darn cute Elise's hair is. :)

Naomi had a lot of fun
and Grandpa Les had a
sore back!

Three generations very intently
enjoying marbles.

The fireplace was so warm that we
wisely decided to bring the presents
to it. Nevertheless, Elise kept her snow
pants on. Naomi doesn't stray far from
Grandpa Les.

The Odegaard/Stoutenborough family
2014!

Forging a path to a geocache!