Pre Christmas & Christmas Eve

Christmas this year was simple. Just time at home being a family. It was very nice not having to pack up and go. I think Rebekah spent 90% of the time in jammies. Here's some highlights.

Uncle Michael and aunt AmySue sent Rebekah a package which arrived a few days early and since Rebekah is 7 and simply can't wait, we texted uncle Michael permission and got to open an early gift.  I wish I got the look on her face when she saw the shirt. She truly loves it and it fits purrr-fectly. Seriously though, right size and everything. 

We quickly wrote thank you cards. Thanks uncle Michael and aunt AmySue!

A friend from our church came over to give us a treat. Rebekah went right for the bows. Got to love it!

The Saturday before Christmas I wrote a long list of everything I had to get done before we headed up to mom's for a pre-Christmas sleepover. With help from Don and Rebe we got everything done, including "play with Rebekah" - so glad she knows how to spell and use list app on my phone.

Sunday we went to church for the Christmas program and then we headed up to moms. Usually we decorate sugar cookies with a friend of choice but this year we had no luck. I guess we are still new enough and haven't put in deep enough roots. But that's okay because it meant we got to decorate as a family with grammy!

The final product.

After cookie decorating we went outside to "collect leaves."

Among the leaves we found a ball and created fun games with it.

...while Don took a nap....

Rebekah and I painted sparkly toes to match.

The next day Don and I went to Meijers to find a certain pair of pants for him. He wanted to be there to try it on so I couldn't do it early and I was beyond scared to shop on Christmas Eve morning. However it turned out it wasn't so bad. Don even got a few really good deals. After shopping we went out for breakfast and talked.

When we got home mom left to pick up Frank and bring him back for our traditional Christmas Eve spread.

While she was gone I got cleaned up and tried to inspire everyone else to do so as well. I failed miserably. But I suppose one can spend Christmas Eve day in jammies. So after I gave up we played with play dough.

Until grammy announced Rebekah could open another early gift.

It was a shirt Rebekah could color with washable markers, wear, wash, and color again.

Then mom got out the spread.

We had a wonderful time eating and talking. Eventually it was time to head back to Columbus and get ready for Santa. Don always looks his route up on the internet and Rebekah still gets very excited. This year we even had cookies to leave out for him. 

That evening Rebekah and I made a video for family and friends. 

It's so hard to be away from loved ones but I'm sure glad to be together with my little family.

December Things

I got Rebekah Perler beads for her birthday so she could be creative. When opening them I accidentally tipped a few beads into the wrong color and I painstakingly corrected my mistake all the while apologizing to her about mixing the colors. Little did I know a few days later it would look like this. But I'm not sorting them back. I see that as growth on my part. 

I'm working on shoe tying with Rebekah but without much luck. One day I picked her up from school for a doctor appointment and she excitedly told me she tied her shoes, ballet style. I didn't think much about it until the nurse asked her to take her shoes off to get an accurate weight reading. It took me and the nurse 3 minutes to untie it. 

Rebekah has recently decided to brave the lunch line and purchase school lunch. I visited her on a day she got the "health bag." It came with a store bought PB&J. Peanut butter full of sugar. Rebekah informed me it tasted much better than the ones I make. And yes, I do notice the "on WHEAT bread." Yeah, whatever. It's missing that simple "100%." Not fooling me. 

Thanks, public school system. 

Rebekah decided to invade my closet. She makes my clothes look pretty awesome. 

We had the builders come back and repair a few things. This guy was amazing. Notice how he hovering over our very old and delicate hutch. A-ma-zing. 

Rebekah decided she wanted a pet for Christmas. I told her we might be able to talk daddy into one of these.

Rebekah wanted "Abby" curls for school so we braided her hair for the night and woke up to this:

Not sure how this one came about but she's so precious.

Made the good cookies one Sunday. 

Rebekah highly approved. 

We sent some of Rebekah's old jackets to her cousin Katie. Rebekah and Katie look somewhat related. So fun to see her in some of Rebekah's things. 

Hat day at school, Rebekah chose her dad's Tony Stewart hat.

Complete with pony tail in back.

We were invited over to the bishop's house to make gingerbread houses. I tried to assist Rebekah but was told, "I've got this." Don says Rebekah is the most confident insecure girl he knows. I tend to agree.

Caught Don and Rebekah having this moment.

Uncle Michael and Aunt AmySue sent Rebekah a Christmas present and were kind enough to let her open it early. She loved it! And it fits her pur-fectly.

December Art Work

Meet "Sose" - pronounced Susie.

Happy snowman family.

One of Rebekah's Perler creations. It's a skateboard and skateboarder.

More of Rebekah's creations (plus a few of my own). Rebekah wanted to make one for each of her school classmates. And yes, the beach sunset on top left is my creation. 

Love notes from my snuggly.

A Christmas snowman

Rebekah made a Christmas gift at school for her dad.

Joy truly is hugging and kissing.

Joy is also love - in the heart Rebekah drew our family.

Starry night - the Rebekah version.

Rebekah's holiday elf.

The Tree

The weekend after Thanksgiving we decided to get out Christmas decorations. Rebekah was very intrigued by the attic and wanted to join dad. I am very proud of the way she was able to get up there. This was huge! She was so scared but her desire to see was stronger and she overcame. She only stayed up for a few moments but still it was a win.

Before we continue something must be said about the chair below. This was a chair my mother purchased for me right before Rebekah was born so I would have a chair to rock her in. It was a great chair and many memories were made on the chair. I remember how much I loved it because my feet could actually touch the ground. Yes, I'm short and that's a huge selling point. It's all about continual circulation. 

Right before we moved to our current house I noticed the chair had what I referred to as chair leprosy - the leather started to bubble, peel, and fall away. I didn't want to loose the chair so I bought a cover for it. 

I stopped sitting in it because the more I did the more I noticed. Finally I couldn't handle it anymore and told Don the chair had to go. We took the cover off and said our goodbye. The leprosy apparently got much worse than we had imagined. Very sad. But we are grateful for the memories. 

And so we took the chair away and then began to get out the tree. I have no regrets with purchasing the pre-strung Christmas tree. It has worked well and Don has it down to a science.   

We also found Rebekah's little felt Christmas tree. First year we used this the tree touched the floor and Rebekah had to reach to get the star on the top. Someone has been growing. Not sure how much longer we will use this. Maybe next year we will get her a little tree she can have in her room.

Rebekah put up a Christmas Carousel which grammy gave her. If you look close you can see lego people riding each animal, except for the elephant which was too big to have a lego rider. 

In case you wanted more info on the said carousel:

But then the decorating had to stop because daddy had stake meetings. So Rebekah and I had a girl's night. We played cards then we build a card house. This is as tall as we were able to get and if you look closely you can see the card on the top left is in the process of falling down.

We also played with Dominos: 

Then Rebekah decided we should do a puzzle. She lasted a few minutes. I however cannot leave a project undone and a few days later....

I left it up long enough to show Don and Rebekah and then put it away. Puzzles are hard: they NEED to be done and I seriously don't have the ability to walk away, or put it away not done. 

But I digress: back to Christmas.

Sunday we finished the decorating. Actually, Rebekah decorated while Don and I watched while snuggled under a blanket on the couch. Most decorations on the tree are things that Rebekah made.

I even had a few presents to place under the finished tree.

Here's to a Merry Christmas Season!