The Week of Christmas

The week of Christmas we (once again) were pretty full, but it was all Christmas stuff which was great & was w/ friends which makes it fun.

Monday: Gospel Community Christmas

So like I told you last week we made cookies for tonight. We decided @ Gospel Community that we were going to stand in front of Tower Square in Downtown to sing some carols & hand out cookies to people walking by. People around here can be nervous about taking things from strangers, so we had Alexa & Charlie hand them out. Who wouldn't take cookies from a kid. It was really cute watching them do it, definitely Charlie cause the people couldn't understand her when she would give them the cookies & say, "Merry Christmas" so Alexa would always tell them what she said.

After caroling we did go back to the coffee house (below our house) & do a Christmas party & a white elephant game. It was quite fun & nice just hanging w/ our Gospel Community.

Tuesday: Family & friends night out

Our family plus my mom, her friend Sue & grandson, Xavier went to Graziano Garden. Which is a nursery that fully decorates their building for Christmas w/ nicknacks & Christmas stuff. One full room was a bunch of the lil' cities. Really pretty.

Alexa in love w/ the Disney/Princess city.

Anthony not excited about me "having" to take pics

Charlie, Xavier & Alexa closely looking @ the cities.

I thought this tree was cute, so of course I had to take pics in front of it.

My mom, Xavier, Charlie, Alexa & Sue

Yeah I got a smile & no weird faces.

Anthony found boxing gloves & of course had to play w/ them.

After this we all squeezed in our van & went to Bright Nights

(the light show in Forest park)

Also Tuesday morning we went as a family & saw our 1st ultrasound of baby #3.

It's official we are having a.......... baby, hehe

We honestly didn't look & it's not on any of the dr. forms so we won't find out either, sorry everybody. It was nice taking the girls & letting them see. Although Charlie got bored fast & Alexa was staring but I'm sure she had no idea except when the nurse told us.

Friday (Christmas Eve): The Calisch's

Danielle invited us over in the morning to let the kids bake cookies & decorate them. It was lots of fun & the cookies were yuuuummmy.

Isaac putting his cookies on the sheet

Addison

Danielle displaying the 1st round of cookies.

Decorating time. Big kids 1st

Smaller ones 2nd

The kids were having fun playing so Danielle & decided to do some.

Saturday: Christmas

Me being a dork

Anthony also joining in the dorkiness.

Alexa wanted to be right there when Mama opened her gift

Alexa opened her socks & said, 'hey why is Tinker mad" I thought the look on Alexa's face was priceless after that comment.

The girls being silly. And pretending they were exhausted after opening their gifts.

I know on my last post I said we didn't have any traditions this yr, but I had forgotten about this. This is one of Anthony's childhood traditions he shared w/ the girls. I guess when they were small for Thanksgiving the would have cornish hens instead of turkey & that way there was more wishbones & all the kids could play. But they would save the wishbones from Thanksgiving until Christmas & have a war that day.

This yr we did save our wishbone from Thanksgiving for Christmas day. Anthony wanted it to look like a wishbone (boxing) match. It was fun, the girls didn't really understand 'make a wish' then pull but they still pulled and......

Charlie won.

Side note: You may also notice that Alexa wanted to wear her Christmas dress as soon as she was done w/ gifts all day even if we weren't going anywhere. And Charlie was happy wearing her pjs so we just let them be how they wanted, totally opposite.

Before bed they wanted to show off their new robe & pjs they got from Grandma & Papa

(Anthony's parents in Ca.)

And just be cute

Monday: Snow

The day after Christmas we got a bunch of snow, which was great because I love the snow, but also disappointing cause we haven't had more than a couple flurries before Christmas.

So all day Sunday the girls wanted to go play in the snow, but I made them wait til Monday when snow had stopped coming down.

We just went into our backyard aka the high school field & ran around. The girls had a snow ball fight, (which Alexa was happy that Charlie was big enough to play w/ her this yr & actually wanted to play in the snow w/ her) snow angels, & a slide.

Charlie threatening to throw it @ me, then decided to try & eat it. weird kid.

The parking lot behind our house the girls decided this hill looked like a good place to slide down.

It didn't work to well but they had fun

Alexa's snow angel

Charlie angel

So that was our week. Very enjoyable. I love time w/ my family & friends.

Christmas Feeling

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I did. I have to admit for the last couple yrs that we've lived in Massachusetts our Christmas' have been a lot different from when we lived in California, which is probably obvious since we don't have any family around. We went from split Christmas' spent: half the day w/ Anthony's family & the other half of the day spent w/ my family, or spending Christmas Eve w/ his family & Christmas w/ my family, to the unknown of what we are doing for Christmas. All of our Christmas' have been very nice just different. First yr. spent @ our friend's house & last yr had Christmas @ our house w/ Anthony's brother, wife & kids, plus my mom & our friends the Calisch's.

All that to say that this Christmas just seemed so much different. I was actually looking forward to staying home, just having my mom come over, watching the kids open their gifts, playing w/ them all day & having my wonderful husband cook us a delicious dinner. But the day ended up feeling like just any other day, except the girls got lots of gifts to open. I don't know if it was the non craziness of Christmas that we usually experience, the non dressing up, lack of tradition, the lack of sleep or what but it just didn't feel like Christmas. I'm usually one that is all hyped up on the holidays & I was this yr, which really bums me out that I wasn't feeling it yesterday.

I will say though, I had a huge reality check. Christmas isn't about all the things I have already listed or the things I want it to be, but it's really just about celebrating the birth of Christ. I'm very grateful that I had my mom here (who now lives in Ma), healthy children that were blessed w/ more gifts than we could give & an amazing husband who we got to love on all day. So w/ this Christmas I take w/ me & I hope to remember next yr to really fix my heart & eyes upon what is the real reason for Christmas.

I kept thinking yesterday, how crazy it would be to be Mary (mother of Jesus). Not only how she became pregnant or why or w/ whom, but even w/ all that she had to travel (not in car, train or plane) nearly due & give birth to her baby (son of God) outside (for there was no place for her to stay) & wrap him in clothes. Every time I would start to think about the amazing birth of Christ I realized I am blessed & it's because of Jesus, & that's what I'm thankful for & need to remember. I will not say I won't try to make tradition or lots of fun for my girls (& baby to come) but I will make sure that they know it's not those things that are important, it's about Christ & Him ALONE.

So w/ that I do want you to know I did enjoy my day w/ my family, please don't take me wrong. I guess I'm more use to the earthy things of Christmas & not the spiritual reason for Christmas.

I pray you all had a great Christmas & will have a happy New Year......God Bless

A Week of Good Times

I know for most people the holiday season (Nov & Dec) is really busy, but usually it's the same for me. We don't have a bunch of parties to go to, or lots of family to visit, etc. Which has actually been kinda nice the past couple yrs (since we've been in Ma.) The past week was a lil' different for us, not only for the holiday season but also w/ our normal life. Usually Anthony is the busy one running in & out of the house & doing things throughout the wk but this last week I was the one who had people to see & things to do.

Monday night-Women's night

The pastor's wife from Mercy House (which is our mother-church), Melanie suggested to some of the women leaders of her church & the pastor wives in the other sister-churches to get together. At first I didn't think I would be able to join, since we have Gospel Community on Mondays, but my wonderful Hubby agreed I could go. There was about 8 of us women & we drove down to West Hartford, Ct. to eat @ PF Changs, which was very yummy. While @ dinner we were all suppose to bring something that represents what we are going through right now, (whether struggle or not) & explain. which Melanie asked us to prepare for. All the ladies shared & I must say it's nice to know that in our walks of life we all have struggles, whether the same things or different, & we can share & lean on one another. The best thing is knowing that God is good & is always there to help us in those times of needs. He is the same always, awesome. It was nice just sitting & talking w/ other Godly women who were in leadership & hear what's going on in their lives & churches. When dinner was almost done Melanie also gave us a card w/ some money in it & told all the ladies that we were going to head to the mall (which the restaurant was attached to) & we had to spend that money on ourselves. So we walked around & everyone bought something. Then we headed home. It was a nice night, well overdue. So glad I was able to go. Thank you ladies for sharing & letting me be a part. Thanks Melanie for thinking of doing this, very nice.

Tuesday night- Julie's dinner

Julie is a great friend of mine. Who I met almost 2 yrs ago @ Wellspring church (the church we were attending while trying to get The City Church going). Our families clicked pretty much right away & spent lots of time last yr together, but have been quite busy this yr. Anyway. Her friend Lyla planned a birthday dinner for Julie w/ a couple of Julie's close friends. One of the girls couldn't come, so it was just Julie, Lyla, & I. We went to Osaka's, a Japanese restaurant in Northampton, to experience the hibachi grill. The food was great & the our server/cook was really funny. Then we walked across the street to get a lil' ice cream & just sit & talk. Once again it was nice to just relax w/ them & talk, mostly cause I don't get to hang out w/ them very often, so we got to play catch up, but also just being able to celebrate a great friend's birthday. Julie you're great & I love you. Hope you had a great birthday. I pray you know what a blessing you are to me & the people who love you.

Thursday morning- Surprise

A couple of the college girls from The City Church finished college this trimester. Kristen was one of these girls & had to move to Ca for 6 months t do an internship in a week. Kristen & Kim planned on having breakfast together Thursday morning, so Kim thought it would be nice to invite another girl, Stephanie & I to surprise her & we could say bye one more time. So this simple morning that was suppose to be 1 surprise, ended up being a morning of surprises. Kristen had talked to Stephanie on Wednesday & found out that she would be @ the breakfast on Thursday, but still got the surprise that I was there. So did Stephanie, she didn't know I was going to be there either. I got the surprise that Thursday was Kim's birthday & I had no idea. Kim also got gifts from Kristen & Stephanie (for her birthday) so she got that for a surprise. The morning was really fun. Kim made everyone breakfast & we had a lot of great laughs. So glad I could be there. Kristen I pray your journey to & in Ca in great. I pray you feel God w/ you while you're there & that the time goes either as fast as slow as you're hoping. I'm sure you'll do great. God Bless. Hope to see you when you get back.

Friday night- Women's fellowship

Some of the ladies from Wellspring had a women's fellowship night @ the church. My mom & I decided to go. They had a really nice dinner, LOTS of desserts & a couple crafts (necklace & lima bean reef) for all the ladies. The room was decorated beautifully & the food was great. The ladies did a great job. I had a good time. I think the best part (for me) was just catching up w/ the ladies that I don't see often anymore (since we don't attend that church anymore). There were 4 pregnant ladies, 4 ladies w/ babies under 7 months (but the babies weren't there) so there was a lot of baby talk as you could imagine. Being one of the pregnant ladies there it was nice to talk w/ women & hear their experiences (already having children) & fears (about to have a babies). Good time for sure.

Cookie time

The City Church decided we were going to go caroling this yr in downtown. At the same time hand out flyers & cookies. Maybe talk & meet people walking by. So Kim decided to buy all the stuff & bake a bunch of cookies for us to hand out, & then later on when she got off work on Friday whoever wanted to could come over & help decorate the cookies. So after the dinner @ Wellspring my mom & I headed over Kim's house & helped decorate. There were about 6 of us decorating & Kim baking. It was fun talking & laughing. I must admit though you can definitely tell we were not cookie decorators & we stayed there way past my bed time but I enjoyed doing it. We ended up making 284 edible cookies & plan to hand them out tonight in Town Square.

Saturday-Addison's birthday

We headed over our good friend's the Calisch's house for their 3 yr old, Addison's Birthday. She had a Ocean barbie birthday. It was really cute. All the girls dressed up in dress up clothes & they had part of their dining room decorated to look like the ocean. Then took pictures of each one on a surf board, so cute. Addison got lots of gifts, cake & ice cream. They all played well together. It was a really nice time hanging out w/ them since we haven't in awhile. Thanks Calisch's for another fun Birthday. Hope Addison had a good time.

(sorry are a lil' blury I tok ppictures of the printed pcture)

OH YEAH

Alexa also lost her fist tooth. She was very excited a wk ago when we figured out that it was loose. Then the other day while in timeout she decided that would be the place to finally pull it out. Not really any blood or anything. We can already see the 'big girl tooth' (as Alexa calls it) coming in. She keeps asking when the rest are going to fall out, but none are loose & it's early for her to be loosinf teeth, so we'll see.

SIGH. So that was my week. A lot of fellowship & hanging out w/ friends......all in all just a great week. I know most of it had nothing to do w/ the holidays but it was a long, busy, fun, memory keeper week. Thank you God for each of these people you have put into my life. I'm truly blessed to know each one of them. Thank you also for letting me survive this week & not be too tired to do all of this. God you amazing, thank you.

Yankee Candle & a Tree

On my cousin's last day in Ma. my mom & I decided to take her to Yankee Candle (yes the candles). It's a huge store w/ a bunch of different rooms: candles, candle making, food court, toy section (where Santa is all yr), house stuff & my favorite, a room full of Christmas nick nacks & ornaments. Anyway
We heard Santa was saying "hi" in his own building that day so we went over to see him but there was such a huge line we decided to go in Yankee Candle instead.

Waiting for Santa before we knew how long the line was.

Making a candle w/ Mama

Charlie asked if we could bring one of these home. I asked her "where would we put it & how we would get it home?" She replied "Santa can bring it & he can sleep in my bed"

Yeah I don't think so.

ARRR Matey

Couldn't pass the princess castle

Christmas villages

Then right before we left we decided to go back & see how long the line was for Santa & it was onlly 10 min so we waited.

While we were @ Yankee Candle Anthony was picking up our tree. A friend was getting rid of his (fake) 7 ft tree & a huge box of decorations (which will explain why we have a ridiculous amount of bulbs on our tree), & no one wanted it so Anthony said we would take it. The girls had a blast decorating. I think this is the 1st yr Charlie really took an interest in decorating. So it was nice having the whole family be a part.

Charlie literally kept putting her bulbs under the tree.

Their reaction to Anthony turning off all the lights & turning on only the Christmas tree lights for the 1st time.

And my beautiful family

Merry Christmas & hope everyone is enjoying this great time of yr.