Christmas Pictures Past and Present

I gathered these pictures while I was writing the Project 365 blog for Saturday and just had to post them. What a great look at Christmas over the years. I don’t have pictures scanned in the computer from most of the ’90′s so I’m missing all sorts of memorable shots. I’ll have to see if I can get one of the children to spend some time scanning them in.

Here’s a picture of Christmas in Michigan when Tim and I were dating. Wow, where do the years go by?
michigan christmas

I still have this Christmas quilt on the wall behind Joshua. I bought it at JC Penney’s and it looks as pretty now as it did then (although the colors might have been a little darker). Joshua must have been around 4 or 5 in this picture.

joshua pie

The year we moved to WA we didn’t have a Christmas tree (for the life of me I can’t remember why). We put all our presents on an IKEA bookshelf. Our decorations were all packed in boxes in the garage. Kids didn’t mind as long as we still celebrated Christmas. Ha!

ikea christmas

Christmas with David as the baby (2001) then Sarah as the babe in arms (2002).

david babysarah pie

Several times Rachel and I traveled to Minnesota before Christmas to see Nana, my mom, and her sisters. Tim liked to send me off so I would remember what a REAL winter feels like and appreciate the nice, warm rainy temps of WA.

MN christmas

Rachel, Nana, Aunt Stephanie, Aunt Kate, and Mamie.

How is it possible that the last couple of years we haven’t done this adorable pose (from 2003)??? Next year I’ll be sure to get one of the kids sitting in front of the tree. Don’t let me forget!

christmas kiddos

This was the only picture I could find of all the children in front of the Christmas tree in 2004.

2004 kids

This gorgeous tree was in the church lobby – 2005. What a bunch of sweetie pies – if you look closely you can see one of the children is trying hard not to cry (feeling sick but bravely carrying on for the sake of the photo).

2005

Last but not least, a picture from 2006 of the children out on the property – marching about after opening Christmas presents with G’ma and G’pa. Ah, how the years do fly by. We seem to favor the color red – Very Christmasy (also works for Valentine’s Day LOL!!).

2006

Kathy

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Project 365 – Day 20 (Christmas tree)

There comes a point in most people’s lives when they have to take down their Christmas tree. It’s inevitable. Some people put away their decorations the day after Christmas, others wait until New Year’s and then begin the process, and then there’s our family: we try to make it until Valentine’s Day.

sarah and the tree

Sarah helps by posing sweetly in front of the almost empty tree.

Yes, that’s right, Valentine’s Day.
In February.
The middle of February.

Today I was called Mrs. Grinch, by my very own beloved husband. And why? Because I was taking ornaments off the tree and packing them up.

ornaments

Last year I convinced Tim and the children to buy an artificial tree. I found a gorgeous one at Lowes after the holidays. It was on sale and turned out to be a great deal. I think the kids hoped I would forget about it and end up buying them a real one anyway. I’m not sure how you can forget about a big huge, eight foot long box sitting in the garage but then I’ve seen our garage, it’s easy to get lost out there.

tim and joshua

Tim and Joshua worked out in the garage this afternoon.

The artificial tree was a terrible disappointment to the children. It’s amazing they survived Christmas at all. Joshua would barely speak to me about it. Rachel gave a whole devotional during school, one day, on how people with FAKE trees are like people who have a FAKE relationship with Jesus (definite emphasis on FAKE). It was truly inspiring. Everytime a visitor remarked on how beautiful the tree was and how it looked real (actually touching it to be sure) it was like rubbing salt in a wound. Poor dears! The only thing that helped them get through this tragedy was the large mound of presents that lay heaped under the (FAKE) branches.

When we lived out in the country (away from the convenience of Home Depot tree lots) we drove up into the mountains to cut down our own tree. One year Tim was sick and our neighbors were kind enough to bring us a freshly cut tree. We managed that two years running although eventually they realized Tim was faking it and we had to go and actually find a tree ourselves, preferably one that was for sale.
kathy and kiddos

Kathy, David and Sarah in November, 2003.

We were all very excited about getting our own tree. We were especially proud of Tim as the valiant tree conqueror.

tim and jay tree
tim tree hauling

Who gave these children an axe for splitting wood???

christmas tree ax

When your Christmas tree is real (be it fir, spruce, pine, etc) and you put it up in November or early December, by the time Christmas arrives the tree is standing up by sheer holiday spirit alone. One good breeze and you have a shower of needles on your beautiful tree skirt. No matter how thorough a sweeping and vacuuming job we do, it’s usually not until we move out of a house that we seem to get rid of those pesky tree needles.

Well, who knew that the purchase of a fake tree would result in a rather large, eternal, green living room center piece. I think Tim and the children would have been content to leave our tree up until next year. Mind you, now that I’ve spent half the afternoon taking down decorations, finding the Christmas bins, labeling things, and on and on, I’m more inclined to see their point of view. Lol! Especially since I’m no where near finished.

playmobil calendars

Stacks of Playmobil Advent Calendar boxes–empty now of their little pieces, ready to be filled next year.

I’m not sure why the Christmas un-decorating falls so squarely on my shoulders (although Tim and the boys do the box/bin hauling to and from the garage, no small task when you have over 10 bins). Does that happen in other houses or just mine? Is it because I attempt to be ultra organized and it’s impossible to follow my directions? Do I micro-manage? Is it that Christmas has passed so long ago that no one really wants to think about it? Putting away of decorations is just another ‘chore’ I’m trying to assign? Is it a passive/aggressive attempt to punish me for destroying the spirit of Christmas in January? Is it only fun to take OUT the decorations (“Yay, Christmas is coming!”) and therefore sad to put them AWAY. You hardly ever hear any one saying, “Yay, Christmas is over.” At least not the children or husbands in my house.

These are questions I ask myself as I wrap up ornaments, go around the house taking down bows, lights, Christmas cards, etc., knowing full well that no matter how hard I look, how organized I am, it won’t be until I stack all the bins neatly and tightly on the shelves (full to the brim with their lids pressed on securely) that I will find the last of the Christmas decorations. I try to stay ahead of the little impish elf who hides these things and keep a half empty bin ready and waiting but invariably I put that container on the bottom of a big stack. Sigh.

On a delightfully positive note, as I was pulling the lights off the tree this afternoon I found two Christmas presents tucked into the branches – both addressed to me!! Two cd’s from Tim that must have been forgotten. Surely that makes all the work worth while. Right? Don’t worry about answering, I’m too busy trying to turn these red bows into Valentine hearts.

Kathy

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Project 365 – Day 19 (Fri – S)

Rachel says I have a “million” pictures of Sarah. Ha! I just sent her outside to take some photos of Sarah. Tim is working in the garage – trying to organize things – David and Sarah are “helping” him. I told Rachel I didn’t have enough pictures of Sarah and needed more, since it is her Special Day. Rachel looked at me in utter disbelief. “You may not have enough pictures from today, but in general you have millions of pictures of Sarah.” She is off by a few zeroes but I certainly have taken my fair share of photos of Muffin Sarah.

Sarah works

Today our homeschooling co-op resumed. The kids were all VERY thankful to be back with their friends; starting new, interesting courses. Sarah (age 4 1/2) is in the kindergarten class. I am with her for the second period as the teacher. Last semester I was in the classroom for two periods – an assistant for one class and the teacher for the other.

We did some crafts – bead necklaces on ribbons and Fruit Loop necklaces on yarn. Sarah loved the craft, it was a perfect choice for her. She wore her Fruit Loop jewelry the rest of the entire day, finally eating it this evening.

Sarah's jewelrySarah smiles

Sarah has several friends in her kindergarten class – there are some sweet little girls, just Sarah’s age, in the co-op. The teacher for the second two periods wasn’t there today so Sarah went into David’s class. She was tickled to be a “big girl” in Grandma Honey’s class (don’t you love that name!).

This evening, Tim and Sarah played Feed the Kitty again for Sarah’s game time. Right now they are stretched out on the floor, reading I Spy.

I spyspying and smiling

Sarah LOVES her Special Day time with Tim. She smiles and laughs, is almost giddy, with the joy of having uninterrupted Daddy Time. I think that Sarah and David have a special bond with Tim because he was home for much of their early years. Sarah was four months old when Tim lost his job with AT&T. His unemployment continued for almost a year and a half. What a blessing for the little ones in the midst of a very difficult time.

Kathy

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Project 365 – Day Eighteen (Wed-DJ)

You never know what things will impact a child, what special outing or conversation will take root in their heart and be important to them. I started this Project 365 because I was intrigued by the idea of taking a picture every day for a year. As I worked through how I wanted to organize and structure it, I decided it would be interesting to give each person in our family their own day. I could base my blogging around a particular family member and always have some sort of inspiration for my post.

David in water
Here’s today’s little star!

As I began collect pictures and journal about our days, I discovered this blog was turning into something more than just a place to share photos with friends and family – it was becoming a family journal where bits and pieces of our adventures (big and small) are gathered together to paint a beautiful mural of our life together.
David wild cat

On Wednesday, when the home was full, again, of children, Rachel said to me, “Joshua, Daniel and I didn’t get our special computer days.” She looked at me very accusingly. Ha! I told her I couldn’t blog about the kids on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. She said, “I know!” and shook her head at me sadly.

I let the children read the blogs after I post them but I didn’t realize that they had started to CARE about them, that they would feel left out that their day had passed and it wasn’t captured in the blog. I overheard Rachel telling a friend about her Matthias post and how much she loved it. Interesting how much we long for special attention, for recognition, especially from our parents. Even if we know we are loved, we want to hear it again and see it demonstrated.

Today is David’s (age 5) Special Day. He will be 6 in February (much to my chagrin as I didn’t want him to turn 5, much less 6) and regularly asks me how many more days until his birthday. We went to Chuck E. Cheese this morning for a friend’s birthday party. The children had GREAT fun riding the different cars and trucks and other rides, playing games, winning tickets, and devouring pizza.

Joshua and Daniel took excellent care of their little buddy, David. Rachel watched Sarah and was in high demand from the other little girls at the party.

joshua and davidbrothers

In the late afternoon we had swim lessons. David continues to do well. “I think they’re going to move me up soon, Mom,” he told me, “because every time I do something my teacher says, ‘Good Job, David!’” His face was so earnest and pleased. Last session he went from Pike to Super Pike and it was very thrilling to be advanced to a higher level. He’s obviously ready to jump ahead again. He is torn between swimming and wally ball – he would like to stay and play (still working on that serve) with us instead of going off to swimming with Sarah. I don’t give him a choice, just bustle him off to class.

fierce facesmiling
I couldn’t resist this background – nice fierce and then smiling kiddos. Silly!

In the evening, David selected Labryinth as his game of choice. The boys played while the girls went off for a quick visit with a friend. David won which surely makes a Special Day extra-special.

game 1Daniel helps Daviddavid wins

One last picture of David Buddy to end the blog.

david's bike

He is a special boy and dearly loved.

Kathy

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Chuck E. Cheese

I took all sorts of pictures at the Chuck E. Cheese birthday party we attended this morning. The birthday girl was a 3 year old from our church Small Group.

hannah

Originally I was going to send Rachel to help with Sarah (and the other little girls) but then David begged to go. Since I knew Daniel would be sad if I let Rachel go with David and Sarah, I decided we’d just all go and I would stay as well. Thankfully our wonderful hostess rose to the occasion and managed to find coupons for more pizzas (do you want hungry 13 and 9 year old boys at YOUR pizza party???) and tokens so the whole family could join in on the fun.

ready for fun
Here we are, ready for some fun!

We had the place completely to ourselves for most of the party. Excellent planning on Leah’s part. Of course, it did cut into our school day but the children worked before and after the party and got most of their studies completed. I even finagled in a little nap before swim lessons (thankfully no one captured that on film – ha).

Joshua managed to sneak in a game or two for himself when not taking care of David.

j fliesJoshua flyingouch
Crash landing ahead! Ouch!

Rachel stuck close by Sarah and was a wonderful helper to me and the other mothers. Thank you, Rachel!!

rachel trolleyclose up

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters.

rachel helps s
rj and SSarah flies

Sarah had a fabulous time – the rides were just her speed (super slow and not too long).

sarah's carriagesarah's clock

I had trouble getting a picture of Rachel and Joshua to work – Joshua is just too tall. How did he grow up so fast?? Of course, Rachel is petite so it makes Joshua look even taller. Still, they aren’t my little ones anymore. Sniff, sniff.

j and rjsmiling

I haven’t managed to get any pictures of our weekly wally ball games. Hmmm. I’ll make that a priority for next week. Tim meets us at the Y on his way home from work and we play some wally ball while David and Sarah are at swim lessons. It’s lots of fun and everyone is improving. We are definitely quite something (not sure what) on the court. Lol!

I was very impressed with the children at the end of our time at Chuck E. Cheese. They had a good sized collection of tickets from their game playing – Joshua had won the grand prize on one game, 250 tickets – and yet when I suggested the give their tickets to Hannah, not a single child complained. They didn’t have quite enough to buy a big toy but they could have spent every bit of their tickets on little toys and candy. Instead, they cheerfully ran over to Hannah’s mother and gave her their receipts. My heart was warmed by their generous spirits. It was a fun party.

daniel and david

Kathy

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