Merry Christmas, 2011

As Ella recited from Luke 2 in church this morning:

"And while they were there the time came for the baby to be born.  And she gave birth to her first born, a son.  She wrapped him in strips of cloth and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified..."

The baby has been born, the Lord has come!  We wish you a Christmas that shines with the Glory of the Lord!

Love, Dave, Jen, Ella and Delia

JOY!

After last night's present opening extravaganza, a huge thank you goes out to our always-thoughtful, always-generous family members.  I think I captured the JOY! on everyone's faces...

Delia gives Ella the Disney Store doll she was wishing for.

Ella gets Marble Works from Grandma and Grandpa.  Now she can recreate that cool ball drop we saw at the Museum of Science and Industry!

Delia busts out some meowin' music on her new kitty keyboard from Grandma and Grandpa.

Playing pretend camping is gonna be waaay more fun with this fake fire and marshmallow roasting sticks from Uncle Kyle.

Ella will get more practice illustrating with this Learn To Draw Princesses book from Grandma and Grandpa.

Kristen gives me, and my family!, a delicious gift in this long-wanted cookbook.

Dave reads the note Ella wrote to go with the Sharks/Blackhawks hockey tickets she gave him.

Delia gets her monster feet on, from Auntie Kris, Uncle Eric, Cole and Miles.

Delia opens her last gift...and it's the #1 thing she wanted this year!

Ella opens her last gift...and it's undies!

Just kidding (it's her own fault for being so darn fun to tease!).  Her big gift this year was a keyboard to practice her piano skills on at home. 

Thank you, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Chris, Auntie Karen, Calvin, Aidan, Theoren, Uncle Eric, Auntie Kris, Cole, Miles and Uncle Kyle!

The Tradition List

I recently heard a speaker at a Christmas dinner challenge us to not be afraid to cross things off our Christmas to-do lists that added stress and detracted from the meaning of Christmas.  Though I appreciate this message, I couldn't really come up with any family traditions that I felt kept us from being joyful at this time of year-- the opposite in fact!  The things we do are not done to just keep us busy, they have special meaning and are done to truly celebrate this wonderful time of year.  I hope that some day the girls will continue these traditions with their own families!

VM Family Christmas Traditions List (some of which you've read about already):

1.  Roaming around the Christmas Tree Farm to choose and cut our own pine.

2.  Learning about the terror and delight of Sinterklaas and Zwarte Pete.

3.  Beaming with pride as we watch a daughter perform in the Preschool Christmas Program.

4.  Snuggling in front of a roaring fire and a lit Christmas tree to watch Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

5.  Hosting and planning fun winter outings with a visiting family member.

6.  Reading aloud Barbara Robinson's The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

7.  Letting the girls browse the CRWRC Gift Catalog for their teachers' presents (this year it was desks to Honduras, they've given library book sets, chalkboards, fruit trees and goats in the past.)

8.  Going on a Dollar Store shopping spree to fill boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  The girls carefully and thoughtfully pick out the goodies themselves. 

9.  Shooting Red Rider BB guns, seeing the stuffed reindeer and coloring the Christmas hunting picture at the Bass Pro Shop.

 10.  Creating a gingerbread masterpiece.

11  Being entertained by the kids playing bells, speaking lines and singing in the Sunday School Christmas Program.  Listening, with all the kids on the stage, to the Christmas-themed children's book Dave reads aloud each year for his sermon.

   

12.  Reserving a night for cookie-making, hot-drink-sipping, kid-playing and adult-conversing with good friends Jeff, Amy, Jonathan, Grace and Benjamin!

13.  Popping some to-go popcorn then driving around admiring Christmas lights.

14.  Savoring the sounds of the season.  Listening to The Messiah.  Practicing lifts and jumps with our own little ballerinas after they've watched The Nutcracker Ballet (this year we've been hooked on a "Battle of the Nutcrackers" marathon on the Ovation channel!)

15.  Cooking a fancy dinner and opening the gifts on Christmas Eve. Talking and caroling with far-away family via speaker phone, getting toasty by a fire made from last year's Christmas tree.

16.  Baking dozens and dozens of cookies that our church staff serves to the whole church on Christmas morning.

White Christmas

This season God gave our family a bit of a surprise that I think most of you know about.  Part of this gave us reason to be in Chicago for a weekend.  And, of course, any time we have reason to be in Chicago we jump at the opportunity to spend time with family!

On Friday night we all gathered at Chris and Karen's house for some Giordano's Pizza.  There was much laughter and play among the cousins.  The kids even busted out a VM Family Talent show, starring Ella on the piano and Calvin on the recorder!

 On Saturday morning, the girls woke up at Grandpa and Grandma's house with that familiar and magical wonder of seeing the world outside the window covered in a new layer of soft snow.  While we hoped to avoid extreme weather and keep our travel plans the way we booked them, the girls were desperate to see some snow.  The white dusting we experienced on Saturday was just perfect!

Obviously, we had to run around the front yard catching some snowflakes on our tongues and throwing snowballs!

Also on Saturday, Mom and Dad took us to the always-incredible Museum of Science and Industry.  We were especially excited to to see a new Dr. Seuss exhibit and their Christmas Around the World celebration.

 The Dr. Seuss exhibit was SO COOL!  We saw original paintings and illustrations from some of his famous stories (like How The Grinch Stole Christmas, pictured below) and learned quite a bit about him personally and his famous work.  Did you know his real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel and that "Seuss" does not rhyme with "goose" but instead "voice"?  Or that Green Eggs and Ham was born out a $50 bet between Dr. Seuss and his publisher that he couldn't write a coherent and entertaining story using 50 words or less?  Or that The Grinch is actually a bit of an auto-biography describing Dr. Seuss' personal annoyance with the commercialization of Christmas?  While we adults soaked up all these interesting facts, the kids loved building crazy Seussical instruments and seeing an Oobleck demonstration.

For 2 years now, Ella has had school lessons about Christmas Around the World, so we knew she'd love this grand exhibit at the museum.  It features 60 trees all decorated in their county's traditional garb with descriptions by each of what that country's Christmas traditions entail. On The World Stage there is one cultural act after the next and we got to watch Irish dancers. 

 We were excited to find the Netherlands tree, covered in klompen, Sinterklaas and Delft ornaments. 

Every half hour in the great hall that housed the World Trees, it would snow!  Soooo awesome!  Now we can say we truly had a "White Christmas"!

We spent several more hours roaming around all the famous Museum of Science and Industry exhibits-- the model trains, the fairy castle, the chick hatchery, the always-moving development of an in utero baby exhibit.  Dad said this museum is Illinois' #1 tourist attraction.  We remembered why after yesterday's visit!

A Favorite Find

Sinterklaas put these cool window crayons in Delia's klompies and we've really been enjoying them!  If you need some window decorations or a fun new activity to delight your kids, we recommend.  I hear Sinterklaas got them from Target. :)

Another Babysitter Married Off

Dave's job allows us to get to know a big group of potential high school babysitters really well!  We've been blessed through the years to have Carla as our main babysitter.  While Dave and I don't go out tons, it's always neat to see HOW excited the girls get to have a babysitter and to watch special relationships develop between Ella, Delia and the few gals who do come to babysit them. 

One thing about being in one place for this long and plucking your babysitters from the youth group, is that you start to see them entering that next stage of life.  Last night, Carla got married and specified that she wanted the girls there because of what they mean to her.  It was Delia's first wedding, but Ella's done the babysitter wedding before-- being a flower girl for Sarah.  The girls loved dressing up, watching Carla's ceremony and eating a fancy dinner.  Friends sitting in front of us in the sanctuary joked that they enjoyed listening to the ceremony with commentary (Ella during the vows: "Oooh, I like this part!"  Delia after the Unity Candle lighting: "Is this the part where they dance?").  Another favorite of the night was making their way around the room to visit with church friends.  As we watched them independently skip from Gramma Jean, to Sunday School teachers, to Pastor Bruce and Mrs. P., to Miss Sara the piano teacher, we felt blessed by our church family once again.  A big community of people truly knows and loves our kids!

Li'l Angel

Last night Delia was thrilled to present her Preschool Christmas Program to us.  And the "Sneaky Angel" (aka "Speaking Angel") part she wanted most, she got!  She delivered her line about her happy news perfectly and sang her song in the microphone very nicely.  Delia's asked us about 20 times now, "Were you soooo proud of me?"  She also spent the morning re-enacting the entire program with her Little Ponies since she amazingly has the whole program-- each part!-- memorized! 

Watching one our of girls sing in a Preschool Christmas Program has been the tradition for the past 4 years now.  We're sad that our time with this preschool is winding down, but celebrate all it has done for our kids and how much they've grown and and learned.  At her parent-teacher conference this fall, it was obvious how well Miss Debbie, Delia's teacher, knows and loves her.  We've been truly blessed to have the opportunity to send our 3 and 4 year old girls here. 
.

Part of that attending the program tradition is getting a special ice cream treat afterwards!  Delia did such a wonderful job and we are so proud!

Sinterklaas

To Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet from Ella and Delia:

(On the back of her picture it specifies that these klompen belong to girls.)

To Ella and Delia from Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet:

 (Guess what?  As Ella observed, Sinterklass has the same wrapping paper as we do!  Oops! :)

Two happy Dutch girls! 

Though you wouldn't have known that the celebration of this tradition would have such a happy ending last night.  Delia was being her feisty self at dinner and Ella was hysterical that Black Pete would stuff her naughty little sister in his sack and take her to Spain.  And Delia, who is not so down with people in costume, wouldn't go to sleep, afraid of Sinterklaas and Black Pete roaming around her house at night.  When we reminded her how fun it would be to find little presents in her wooden shoes she said, "NO!  I DON'T WANT THEIR PRESENTS.  I DON'T WANT THEM IN HERE!"

Looking Down

If you are a stay-at-mom like me perhaps you can relate to the frustration of "looking down."  I feel my whole day is spent looking down at something I find little joy in seeing.  A floor covered in toys.  A table hidden under a puddle of spilled milk or the remnants of a glitter craft.  A pile of laundry to fold.  Yet another round of Chutes and Ladders.  A garden teeming with weeds.  A grocery list to compile.  A bunch of notes to craft into a church newsletter.  A line of dirty dishes on the counter.  Some days I feel my life is very small and the things that have become a part of my job description are tedious and pointless.  And, honestly,  because completing these tasks seems so boring and unimportant at times, I struggle with distraction.

Then I hear the words of my new favorite Steven Curtis Chapman song and I remember that my job is of utmost importance because it is what I am called to do and doing it gives me an opportunity to glorify God!  How cool to also remember that I have been equipped with the gifts needed to fulfill my calling at this exact time.

Do Everything

You’re picking up toys on the living room floor

for the 15th time today

Matching up socks and sweeping up lost

Cheerios that got away

You put a baby on your hip and color on your lips

and head out the door

And while I may not know you I bet I know you

Wonder sometimes does it matter at all?

We’ll let me remind you it all matters just as long as you

Do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you

Cause He made you to do

Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face

And tell the story of grace

With every move that you make

And every little thing you do
.

Other times when I'm looking down, at a piece of art Ella has made for me or her fingers on the piano keys or one of Delia's 100-a-day leg hugs or a Bible study lesson that speaks right to my heart, the view is so good and so meaningful that it makes me just want to cry with happiness.  Then I can't help but feel like I have the best job in the world and I'm outrageously blessed.

That Book that Hooks

I like to think I know a little something about reading, kids reading and the books kids like to read.  And I like to think my theory of "Readers aren't born, they're made" has some merit.  It's why I'm so passionate about discovering good children's literature and teaching kids how exciting a good book can be.  I have this passion because, once upon a time, I hated reading.  Through most of grade school it was a simply a chore with no enjoyment...until 4th grade when I stumbled on a series of books that hooked me.  Suddenly I couldn't stop reading.  I've heard a similar story from others and would be interested to learn what book or series of books turned you or your child into someone who loves to read.  I'll admit, with a bit of embarassment, that mine was Sweet Valley Twins, then Babysitters' Club, then Nancy Drew.

Ella is just beginning her journey as a reader and she does pretty well at reading books out lout to us, but I wouldn't have said she LOVES to read yet.  She'd never read a book voluntarily to herself.  However, that all changed when Uncle Kyle gave Ella her first Babymouse book last week.  Like me in 4th grade, suddenly she couldn't stop reading!  She'd say things like, "Can I keep my lights on and read in my bed for a while?" or "I wish I could just curl up on the couch and read all day!"  I am jumping for joy because Ella is hooked!  Oh how I relate to her desires to pause life until she reaches the end of her beloved story!  There are quite a few of these Babymouse books and Ella helped me put a few more that she's dying to read on the wishlist.  My daughter may be a book lover way before I ever was, but she seems to be proving my theory right-- it just takes the right book to hook you!