December 2015

We had a really great month celebrating Christmas!

When I started thinking about ways our family could enjoy "the holidays" this year, at first I was feeling kind of bothered about how Christmas seems to roll around and all of a sudden I feel the need to focus more on being "good" and being a "better Christian."  As the guilt was seeping in about that, I decided that life gets pretty unruly, and I think it's understandably normal to need to purposefully carve out time every now and then to refocus and regroup.  I reassured myself that I'm not being insincere simply because I want to press in more intentionally during certain seasons - like Christmas.  I did set three ground rules though:

1) I wasn't going to do anything just to check off boxes to feel better about myself.
2) I wasn't going to do anything that left me more stressed out than filled up.
3) I was going to let my kids lead the way as far as what spiritual content to include when talking about why we celebrate Christmas.

And keeping inside those perimeters, we had a great Season!

I’m a huge fan of meaningful traditions.  It seems the older I get, the more I find myself reaching back to my childhood trying to grab hold of things that satisfy my nostalgia.  I think Charlie finds himself doing the same, and as we’re bringing up our own family now, we’re always looking for ways to blend our childhood traditions and combine them with new things that can be ours.    

a special cellist storyteller at the library Christmas Gala

Christmas Party at the Dino museum

One tradition that we started last year that we wanted to repeat this year was setting up our empty manger.  We talked about how we celebrate Jesus being born at Christmastime, and that the Bible asks us to "prepare the way of the Lord."  We talked about what that could look like, and we handed out hay to each other whenever we noticed each other doing things that honor God.  We also talked about how we can give "gifts" to Jesus by loving others and we did some activities together like stuff a bunch of winter socks with trail mix for the homeless shelter, put together a care package for a deployed friend, and baked banana bread for our neighbors.  Then we also talked about how "a thankful heart prepares the way" and wrote down things we were thankful for on pieces of paper "hay" and added those to the manger everyday.  Both kids really enjoyed this - reminding me at lunch that it was time to write on our hay strips, asking if they could get some hay when they did x or y thing, etc.  It was really sweet.

Abby reading to Bruce

One tradition that my family kept while growing up, was lighting the advent wreath candles.  I haven't done it in years, but thought it would be fun to bring back that activity this year.  And I'm glad I did, because it was Abby's favorite thing we did!  "Light candles up!  Light candles up!"  She'd say every time we sat down at the table for a meal.  And still asks, even though Christmas is over.  I know different families do it differently, but we used four candles, and lit one the first week of advent, two the next week, and so on.  We didn't say a special advent prayer, or read special advent Bible verses, but we did have a sort of script that we said when we lit them, and Abby always chimed in with all the answers.  For us, we said the first candle was the Candle of Prophecy, and that whatever God says will happen, always happens.  The second was the Candle of Preparation.  Jesus came that "first Christmas" and he promises to come again, and we need to prepare our hearts.  The third candle was the Candle of Joy - God loves us so much, and that's something to be joyful about!  The fourth candle was the Candle of Peace - God's love is for everyone, to bring peace on Earth.  It was something simple to do, and it laid out the "basics" of why we celebrate Christmas.  God has a plan.  We need a Savior.  God loves us.  We need to share that Love with others.  

Another Christmas activity that we did last year that I wanted to become a tradition for us, was going to the Botanical Gardens in OKC and Santa's Workshop at the Devon Energy Center.  Charlie was out of town the one Saturday we could go, so it almost didn't happen this year, but at the last minute, I decided to brave it alone with both kids, and I'm glad I did!  Aside from one epic meltdown over not being able to drink scalding hot chocolate the moment it was handed to us and then not wanting to drink it with the lid on... we had a great time.  I was able to find a perfect parking spot so I didn't have to drag the kids across the entire city, we were practically the only ones in the gardens and felt like we had the whole place to ourselves while exploring - and Bruce didn't run off even once!  Santa's Workshop was kind of a bust seeing as how my kids aren't much arts and crafters, and even if they were, it was impossible to get both kids to be interested in the same thing at the same time and there's no "divide and conquer" when I'm solo-parenting.  It was supposed to rain, but held off just long enough for us to discover the best playground ever!  Too bad it's so far from our house, otherwise I could see us there on a daily basis.  It was a little hard to wrangle the kids off the equipment and back to the van, but we made it with at least five minutes left on the meter.  Success!

 

Before having kids, it was easy to figure out where we'd go to spend Christmas, and the guaranteed travel aspect of it was no big deal.  Since having kids though, things have gotten a little more complicated - trying to balance between both sets of grandparents, and feeling a little selfish, wanting to spend Christmas at my own house, not traveling.  I can't believe it took me FIVE Christmases to come to the realization - We don't have to celebrate Christmas on December 25th.  We can have all the specials of our own, cozy family Christmas - every single year - just on a different calendar date.  I completely understand that when you're doing an extended family Christmas, there isn't much flexibility because you're dealing with multiple families with different work schedules, kid schedules, in-law schedules, etc.  But when it's just the four of us?  We can be flexible.  So we were!  We had our family Christmas halfway through the month - and it was great!  

One of Charlie's family traditions while growing up was driving around looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve.  On our "Christmas Eve" our small town happened to be hosting a fun event where we walked the trails around a park with tea light candles and sang Christmas carols.  Afterwards, we drove around the neighborhoods for a bit looking at all the lights.  This year there was a town competition, including a "Griswold" category - so a lot of houses really amped up their game and there were some spectacular displays to ooh and ahh over.  Perfect.

Santa and Mrs. Claus came to the park to read A Visit From St. Nicholas

Mornings always come early around here, but Christmas morning came even earlier than most and everyone was out of bed around 5 am.  Woo hoo!  The kids tore into presents with gusto and then we spent the rest of the morning playing together happily.  

Bruce got me a Lego set and Charlie some Light Sabers... hmm...

Princey can't hardly wait for her gift

Our family talks about God and Jesus throughout the year, but as the Christmas Season approached on the calendar, I wasn't sure what the best way to share the Christmas Story with Bruce would be.  I've found that the most effective way to share my faith with Bruce, is to follow his lead, answer his questions, and use what he's interested in to pique his curiosity in the matter.  Last year, I spent the advent season trying to answer his question, "Why did Jesus have to come to earth?"  This year, leading up to Christmas, Bruce was becoming fascinated with the stars in the night sky, and as a modern-day pirate, he is naturally obsessed with treasure.  Those two things combined made me instantly think of the Wise Men.  So we spent a few weeks talking about the Christmas Story, with a special emphasis on the Magi.  I posted daily reflections on what we talked about on Facebook, but I'll also link a compilation here in case anyone is curious about how the Wise Men stirred my heart this Season.  I'm not sure how it impacted Bruce, but at least he was excited to hear the story over, and over, and over again, and he loved participating in the activities that accompanied our study.

we built a fire and made Middle Eastern flatbread!

Bruce calls this "King Herod Bread"

We went on a grand adventure where we had to follow clues to take us to our final destination!

Bruce, Abby and Charlie rode the train one stop down the line, where the next clue led us to...

a post office box with a clue that led us to...

a safety deposit box at a bank with a clue that led us to the library and then to the mall for some chocolate doubloons!

Bruce's school let out for Christmas vacation on December 18th, and we packed up and headed out for our Louisiana-Texas Christmas Tour the next morning!

Charlie's brother Willie was getting married a few days before Christmas, so we headed to Lafayette for the first leg of our trip.  Charlie's other brother Frank and his family were willing to let us stay with them for a few days which is always so much fun for us.  Not only do we get to enjoy family and let the cousins play together, but because they have similar-aged kids, their house is a wonderfully stress-free environment which lessens some of the anxiety that accompanies travel with small children.

We spent the entire day driving - eleven hours... but we made it!  Bruce was perfectly content watching the same movie over and over again, practically the entire trip.  Abby on the other hand, was fairly cranky the entire time, but still managable.  She couldn't settle on a movie she wanted to see, and we learned that Abby is done with "car naps" longer than her 45 minute sleep cycle...

We hung around Lafayette Sunday morning before driving to Baton Rogue after lunch to begin the  wedding festivities!

After checking into the hotel, we went to a nice cajun restaurant for the rehearsal dinner.  We had a long wait for our table and food, but all things considered, the kids were champs and we had a lovely evening.

Charlie found Bruce a Lego Star Wars encyclopedia which he's been attached to for the past two weeks!

The next morning we took our circus to IHOP for breakfast and then to see the battleship.  Even though the website said it was open for touring, we found out when we got there that they were closed for renovations.  Bruce didn't seem to mind to much though - it was still fascinating just walking along the river looking at it from a distance.  

Next was brunch at Willie and Becca's house.  Even though it was raining, they had made arrangements for a water-compatable bounce house to be set up in the back yard.  Let me tell you - best wedding for kids ever!  It was a little chilly, but the kids didn't seem to mind, and it kept them occupied for hours!

sportin' jammies while clothes are in the dryer!

After some down time for naps and movies, round two started with the actual wedding.  They had a string quartet come and play which was really fun, and more amazing food was set up for dinner.  The only people invited to attend the wedding were immediate family, so it was a cozy gathering and a simple ceremony.  Becca's family was great - the kind of people you feel like you've known for years - and we had a great time celebrating Willie and Becca.

Bruce snatched Abby's scarves and became "Captain Red Beard" for the rest of the night

Abby and Becca's niece, Willow, became quick buds

The WHOLE gang!

Bruce photo-bombed the cake cutting, and then tried to snag the fondant owl cake topper.  He's a quick one...

We drove back to Lafayette after the wedding and spent a couple more days there.  We went over to St. Martinville one afternoon and were able to spend some time with Charlie's Aunt Christine and Uncle Dan, and the next day, Charlie's cousin Emee came to spend the morning with us.  Then we had our Kolarik Family Christmas.  Michelle was having a replacement refrigerator delivered that week, so we ended up eating out at a Chinese buffet before coming back to the house for more presents!

a walk down the bayou

Christmas Eve morning, we loaded up the van once again, to make the jog over to my mom's house in Texas.  We got an early start and were able to arrive before dinner!  Again, Abby fussed and barely napped, but Bruce hardly made a peep.

For Christmas Day, my brother and his family, Rick's daughter and her family, and some other family friends all came down to my mom's house to celebrate.  After a great meal, more presents, and nice family time we drove into Marble Falls so we could enjoy the "Walk of Lights" together.  The perfect way to end the day.

a quick duel

he's got a good mix going - half pirate, half dark jedi

"doing tricks"

ok... so Abby wasn't really here for this photo.  She was throwing a fit in the parking lot.  But there was an empty hole, and she was the only cousin not there, so we just photoshopped her in...

my favorite part - the tunnel of lights!

The next day, the weather was gorgeous, so we set off to explore Horseshoe Bay.  It never gets old.

sometimes I like to hide chocolate doubloons for Bruce to find

because I get this face every time

man, I love this guy.

and this girl is pretty great, too.  

we discovered these awesome hammocks!  

so we took a little rest from our adventure!

exploring the creek near my mom's house

the creek bed was dry in some parts, leaving an amazing emerald moss pathway

Even though it was a short visit, we needed to head back home that Sunday.  Not only did Charlie have work to do, but the weather was looking nasty and we needed to get home before a possible blizzard blew through.  With severe weather threats looming overhead, we didn't waste any time on the drive home, either.  We stopped for a quick lunch and that was it!  Bruce finally had had his fill of car time, but only voiced complaints and never reached the strange-and-annoying-moaning-from-the-backseat stage.  The roads were starting to get slick by the time we were an hour from home, but we didn't have any difficulties getting home before the more serious sleeting started.  It ended up not being too bad of an ice storm for us, but it did provide a little slush for us to play in!

Abby just wanted to eat the ice

but Bruce perfected his iceballs

Quick Kidbits:

Bruce will assure you that he still loves pirates.  BUT, we've had a major change this month!  He has discovered Star Wars!  Charlie found a huge stash of legos in a cheap Craig's List deal, and with them came a bunch of little Star Wars mini-figures.  And it definitely helps that with the new movie coming out this month - Star Wars advertisements and promotional products are everywhere!  No surprise, his favorite character is Darth Vader, or as he calls him, "Dark Vader."  We haven't let him see any of the movies yet, but you can find a Lego Star Wars movie on YouTube, and that's right up his alley.  He also will assure that he still loves his Playmobil toys, BUT we've definitely entered into the "Lego" world.  Right now, Bruce will build little things, but mostly just likes playing with the guys while you build things he asks for.  Thankfully, he's not too picky about how my creations actually turn out.  Charlie is a little more particular, and will usually fix my things up, or build superior things all together. As much as I'm sad to see pirate life get put on the back burner, I keep reminding myself that it's a good thing that he's interested in new things.

my TIE fighter I built Bruce.  I don't have a picture of Charlie's.  Just imagine it a lot nicer.  

flying his pirate ship kite Charlie brought back from his trip to Vegas

Abby is busy, busy, busy.  She never stops moving!  Like her brother, she loves little things, and loves collecting treasures.  You can often find her carrying a purse, bucket, basket, bag, etc - filled with a random assortment of whatever strikes her fancy.  She still loves all her babies, but doesn't insist on having them ALL with her at all times.  She seems to be mostly interested in "Garage Baby" lately, which is much more manageable.  She also got some puppets for Christmas, and has to bring all four of them everywhere with her now.  She can even tell, in complete darkness, which one of the four has fallen out of her crib and will ask you to retrieve it for her...  I've noticed this month her surprisingly strong preference for pink things.  It begs the question - which came first?  Are all "girl things" pink because marketing experts determined girls have an affinity for pink?  Or do girls want pink things because all "girl things" they see in stores are pink?  I know I'll never know, but what I do know - is this girl loves pink now...

I can't believe we're wrapping up another year!  Tonight at dinner we decided a fun tradition to start would be to look through pictures from the past year and talk about our favorite memories.  We made it to "May" before both kids were fussing to get down and quit.  I guess that's just how it goes.  So we had some sparkling grape juice, which made Abby cry, and made toasts.  We each said something we were thankful for about the previous year, and something we're excited about for the coming year.  Bruce said it best:

"I'm looking forward to adventures that go on and on and on!"

Cheers!!!

Happy New Year!!!