The Odegaard family: in progress: Christmas!

Ballet pose in front of the
Christmas tree Christmas
Eve.

At our house, Christmas lasts a full month. It's more fun that way, plus there's no way we could pack in all the crafts, projects, caroling, shopping, reading, wrapping, decorating, baking and general celebrating in just one day. Or even one week. Barely in one month, in fact.

First, we decorated. Tossing any romanticism of the holiday aside, we decided to get our tree from a hardware store this year. Matt, who would rather have a fake tree but was outvoted 4-1 (I'm assuming Naomi's vote until she knows what voting is), took charge of choosing the perfect one. And for $20, we actually did walk out the door with the perfect tree--one that I thought would be too large, but Matt was sure would fit. Astonishingly, it did, as long as we didn't top it with a star.

Many hands make light work?

I was thrilled to see the girls take charge with decorating this year. Before
I could get my bearings around the new flora in the living room, they had two nativity scenes unpacked and nearly set up, and were well into the "When are we going to decorate the tree? Can we make Christmas cookies?" All in good time. The tree got decorated within hours, and the Christmas cookies were finally made once everyone was done with their 4-day December fevers, none of which overlapped more than a day or so.

Crazy ballet pose in front of
the Christmas tree Christmas
Eve.

We wrote very reasonable letters to Santa, and illustrated them as well (Elise wanted to be certain of receiving the exact coloration she was looking for in a stuffed kitten). Santa wrote back and sent books of stickers to each, which immensely impressed Elise, especially. She figured she must have been especially good this year (she was). She continued to be good by very sweetly helping Naomi make a sticker picture.

We looked through catalogs and decided that for Christmas, Kalina wanted: a zipline, a real kitten, a tree swing and a real fairy. Of these, she received...0 (our yard not being ideal for a tree swing nor a zipline). Fortunately, in her letter to Santa she wrote that she wanted tubes for her mice and Rainbow Magic books (the Jewel Fairies, to be exact). Elise wanted a weaving set from Santa as well as a Molly kitten (exactly like Kalina's). Elise added plenty of things to her mental list throughout the seasons, from beads to clay to candy to a real fairy, and fairy garden things.

Of course, Mommy always makes us think of others at Christmas, so we caroled in the neighborhood with friends and attended a craft night at church to make decorations and cards to brighten the holidays for those in tricky circumstances. We also made scarves...soooo many scarves...for friends and family members and precious part-poodles to warm their hearts and their necks. Each girl contributed some help (Naomi handed me the right colors, while Kalina could make a scarf from start to finish in less than 20 minutes, and Elise could complete one over several sessions), and also decorated the wrapping paper for each scarf. Although Matt has banned me from taking on such a biggish project next year, I insist that it was fun, and the girls seemed to enjoy the enormity of it. Especially Kalina, who could work as fast as I could cut them out, and who really hung in there.

Elise enjoys her cookie
creation.

Just ask Elise and she'll remind you that it's not really Christmas without treats, so in several baking sessions we produced enough for Santa's entire workshop. Baking session #1 produced so many queries of, "Can I have a taste? How about this one, it fell on the counter? When can I have a taste?" that baking session #2 came along with a few extra rules about tastes and, more specifically, asking for them, that were actually followed quite well. Kalina volunteered to take on some of the (to me) less-desirable tasks, like spreading frosting, and again stuck it out to the end, while eventually Elise, unable to handle any more sprinkles without tasting them, declared her part of the project done and joyfully started nibbling a festive cookie. Naomi ended up decorating cookies just for herself, as her methodology seemed to include a "one for me, one for the cookie" mindset when it came to sprinkles, resulting in cookies that were a little damp for anyone's liking, although her coverage was generally excellent. They were segregated into a plastic baggie within the general cookie tupperware. Well done everyone!

We visited Santa during a magical afternoon in which the children did not act like crazy monkeys in the mall (maybe they knew he was watching?), and we waited in line only behind a really cute baby that cried through her pictures, and whose parents didn't seem to see the humor (we did, in a very good-natured, "we've totally been there" kind of way). We ogled Christmas ornaments at Macy's and dolls at the American Girl booth, rode escalators with me only freaking out a little and only handing down a few rules about what to do if you feel yourself falling or get separated from the group, and spoke with the jolly old elf himself so that Elise could relay very specific requirements regarding her Christmas kitten and Kalina could learn a little about elves. Naomi eyed Santa suspiciously at first and stayed near Mommy, but was interested and probably would've warmed up if we'd had more time.

The obligatory Christmas
morning tree shot.

Extra holiday entertainment included a trip to the Nutcracker with a friend, several Christmas TV specials, and performances, both official and unofficial, from all the girls.

With Daddy finally off of work for 2 weeks and Christmas looming, Kalina came down with a fever and spent the better part of four days on the couch. We had high hopes for lots of family fun, but narrowed it down to driving around seeing Christmas lights, as this would neither wear Kalina out nor infect anyone. She was better by Christmas Eve, and we spent a lovely morning at the zoo.

Elise is knee-deep in a
potholder just minutes after
pulling off the wrapping. Check
out the concentration on this
girl's face!

We also decorated a gingerbread house, with the reasoning being that you don't eat them anyway, so they're not technically contagious.

And then it was Christmas! The girls dutifully let us sleep until their clock turned green at 7:00, but Kalina later confessed she had been awake since 5:30. We found that Santa had, indeed, visited! Each girl received the exact gifts she was hoping for, and dug right in (it helps to ask for reasonable things). Elise had most of a potholder finished by breakfast, and soon after we were digging into other gifts.

Poor Uncle Tom & Co. couldn't make it for Christmas due to a stomach virus (or, rather, politely offered to not come, which we took them up on due to impending travel to Matt's family, who we'd already given the stomach virus to in a Christmas past, and who had a new baby), but Grandpa soon showed up and we celebrated with dinner, more presents (including a video chat with Aunt Nancy and kind of with Uncle Tom & Co.), treats and lots of excitement.

This was the year of the "wow" for Kalina, as she seriously contemplated with sheer wonderment the amazingness of her gifts. Most notably from Christmas morning was the lap harp, as it brought the number of instruments she could play up from three to four. Plus, it totally sounded magical.

I have no idea what these reactions were
specifically related to, but it was
certainly a joyous morning for all!

Possibly one of the most enjoyable, yet slightly frustrating part of the holiday was watching Elise use up all her gifts. Being who she is at age 5, most of her presents were the consumable type--and we're not talking candy canes. She plowed through a whole pack of air-dry modeling compound, handfuls of beads and at least half of her loops for her potholder loom. The next day she continued to whittle through her modeling compound, her beads and her loops, plus cracked open half her geodes. This trend has continued, to the point that a disproportional chunk of her year's worth of Christmas presents are virtually finished. She's designed a plate, mined minerals, built and rebuilt a Lego set, made all the potholders she can make and used most of the modeling compound from two separate kits. But the girl is happy!

Kalina in total awe at her lap
harp.

Naomi totally understood presents and was eager to help with any and all she was allowed to. She also gave a cute little gasp of excitement whenever anyone told her that one was for her. Naomi: Is this one for me? Us: No, that one's for Daddy. Naomi: Is this present for me? Us: No, that one's for Kalina. This one's for you, Naomi. Naomi: *gasp* For me??! *big smile* *busy fingers* Repeat. She also seemed to think that presents should continue to show up all day long. Us: What would you like to do, Naomi? Naomi: Open a present.

A little fairy girl in a big new
princess tent. Aw!

Two days after Christmas, we were on our way to Minnesota to continue the festivities. The trip was uneventful in a good way. We had an extra passenger who helped lighten the mood, plus a book of Mad Libs, so we were set. The time almost flew by, except the last 30 minutes which were considerably improved by the handing out of m&ms.

And then we got to spend the better part of a week with Matt's family, which included more treats, more Christmas stories, more decorations, more crafts, more celebrating and, of course, more presents. The girls were all silenced (hard to do) by beautiful jewelry and jewelry boxes from Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Brian, and immediately busied with a couple additional craft sets from Aunt Laura and Uncle Chris.

Elise sneaks her reindeer antlers into
the traditional family photo (notice
the scarves!).

Even better, they met their baby cousin for the first time! They all agreed that Dean was adorable, and Naomi seemed grateful to not be the youngest. "I'm a big girl now," she commented at least once. Kalina amazed everyone with her baby-whispering as she helped play with and care for Dean, Elise eagerly pitched in with some entertainment, and Naomi happily shared toys with him. It helped that he was generous with his smiles and super-cute, too.

Wow! Elise opens an awe-inspiring
jewelry box from Uncle Brian.
Moments of silence followed, which
is a lot for Elise.

Minnesota delighted us with the perfect amount of snow, and weather that wasn't too cold for lots of sledding. The girls (and Daddy) sledded as though they might not again until 2017 (entirely possible) and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We also adventured a little bit at an indoor playground and through the Minneapolis skywalks, where Naomi threw a giant tantrum it was pretty impossible to escape from (where do you go when your toddler tantrums in the skywalks?). Grandpa Les kept stealing kids' toes (which delighted especially Naomi to the point that she stuck out her foot every time he walked by) and Grandma was prepared with not only the gingerbread and cranberries we were hoping for, but wool fairies and crafts.

The grandkids all show off their new
jammies.

The girls slept well, ate like birds (I think Elise ate more snow than anything else), behaved quite well, actually, remembered pleases and thank-yous, didn't dawdle nearly as much as usual and had lots of fun. We were sad to leave, but handled the drive home really well, which speaks well for their chances at returning sooner rather than later.

We have yet to undecorate, but serendipitously received the Rudolph DVD from the library after the main event, so the girls are looking forward to our Rudolph-themed undecorating party planned for this weekend. We're all also looking forward to next Christmas and, until then, whatever the new year brings.

Matt and his sweet little girls in
Minnesota.

Kalina is soooo sweet with
babies, and especially her
cousin!

The cousins meet for the first time! As
Grandma noticed, Elise is entertaining,
Kalina is adoring and Naomi is ignoring.
They are all blessed to have each other

The long-awaited gingerbread house!

Naomi finally has her own
umbrella, Elise finally gets
to crack open something shiny,
and Kalina finally gets to
read...more...just as she was
hoping to do!