Spirit of Christmas

One of my favorite traditions finally hit our house this week. I am so glad, too, because I didn't document it last year and I think it's so fun. We got a treat with a note and a yellow construction paper star on our front porch. The note read:

The Spirit of Christmas is moving quietly and lovingly through the Heath ward. The Christmas spirit is the warm feeling you get inside when you show someone how much they mean to you. The plate of goodies you received represents the special kind of unselfish love that Christ had for all of us. The star is for the bright star of Bethlehem that showed others the way. Place the star in your front window to let others know the Spirit of Christmas has been in your home. Make three plates of goodies with notes like yours. Each plate should have a star like yours and should be delivered anonymously to a home that has not yet been visited by the Spirit of Christmas. Let the star be your guide in choosing homes. Please spread the spirit within 48 hours, for each home in the Heath ward must have it's star by Christmas Day.

Thanks for sharing the Spirit of Christmas! May happiness and joy be yours throughout the season and always!

As soon as we were in full swing Christmas mode, I've been looking for the anonymous surprise on our porch. I was actually kind of sad that it hadn't arrived...thinking maybe we lived too far out in the country for people to bother picking us! Funny how even just after one year I was excited to be a part of this again. The "Heath ward" part could be substituted out for your own church or even your neighborhood. It really does feel cool knowing that all over town this week people will be anonymously dropping goodies off to each other.

Christmas Party!

We went to the annual Christmas party at our church this past weekend. After a yummy meal and a small talent show, all of the children sang "Picture a Christmas". Jack even decided to join the group, even though he's not technically old enough.



After the kids performed, the kids sang "Jingle Bells" as loud as they could until Santa's bells could be heard on the stage behind the curtain. As soon as the curtain was raised, Jack ran by me and said he was going to give Santa a high five! No fear, that boy.



I really do think that both of them had fun visiting with Santa, but my pictures look painfully serious. Maybe it's just very serious business telling Santa what you want for Christmas.



I must say, now that we're rounding the corner into this week I am getting really excited myself! The shopping is done. I think I know where I've hidden everything. I'm ready to roll!

Storytime with Santa

Northpark Mall has a fun story time with Santa that will continue through this Thursday. It's every day at 10:30 a.m. and my kids loved it. Anthony took the kids Christmas shopping on Saturday to buy me a present, which they did NOT enjoy at all, so luckily storytime was happening to jazz things up. Santa stands in front of his cottage and tells stories about the North Pole. Pretty cute!

They also have a Scrooge puppet theater every hour of every day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. that I think we need to check out this week if I can stomach the crowd!

Christmas Ballet 2010

This week Addie's ballet class did their Christmas performance for the parents. In my usual form, I was not aware of what a BIG deal it was suppose to be, partly because we were sick the week before. So, Addie was the only kid in her pink while the others wore Christmas colors and we were late so she didn't get her fancy pipe cleaner tiara. Luckily she kept her cool and still enjoyed performing. Then we came home and she had dinner with a red and black tutu on to match her red pipe cleaner tiara.

Christmas Ballet 2010 from Julie Berg on Vimeo.

It is fun to see how much better she gets every six months. The little girl next to her was having a bad day and broke down several times during the performance. She also shoved Addie in the back at one point...ah the joys. What a busy week! Now school and ballet are over and we can just enjoy the next week.

Christmas School Crafts

This Christmas season I have been especially loving the crafts Addie has done at school. I've loved a lot of things about school, really. On the first day of December they talked about the birth of Christ as an introduction to the month. From then on, every day has had something to do with that - complete with one day when they all brought a stuffed farm animal to school to reenact the setting of the manger.

This week they focused on the letter "J" so she cut out the name "Jesus" in many different fonts and glued it onto a big "J". Then yesterday she did a cute picture of the Wise Men. It has been so great to have some reinforcement of the things we are teaching her! While it might seem redundant to me to put the same name all over a "J", it made for easy conversation about what Christmas is all about. This is something I am sad to be losing next year in the public schools.


The Christmas Coloring book was a gift from her teachers yesterday on their last day before the holiday. It's to the style of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" only it's with Christmas items like stars, reindeer, angels, Christmas trees, candy canes, and presents with Santa seeing the child at the end. It's really cute. Addie will enjoy coloring it for at least a few days and then we can enjoy reading it with Jack.

Twelve Days of Christmas

Yesterday we had the chance to participate in a group "12 Days of Christmas" project and it was so fun (I almost forgot to write about it...)

There is a popular tradition of choosing someone to give gifts to every day for the twelve days leading up to Christmas. My family did it a few times when I was growing up and I've always wanted to do it again. I have the best intentions, but let's be honest: 12 days is a huge time commitment this time of year. While I still think it is an awesome tradition that I may pick up down the road, our friends introduced us to a group version that is pretty cool.

Our friend, Ian, organized a group of twelve families (including his own) to each take one of the twelve days of Christmas. He met a man at his barber shop who had fallen on hard times and was struggling to pay his monthly bills. Ian simply got commitments from all of us, then he sent out an email with first names of everyone in the family, ages, and their address. As each family does their day, they report back to Ian what they gave so that he can forward it on to avoid duplication.

We put together a "Christmas Kick-Off" bag of goodies to get the recipient family into the holiday spirit. We included Christmas movies, popcorn, M&Ms and kisses, hot chocolate, family games, and some cash. Before we went, we read a story about a Christmas drop-off very similar and I think Addie actually started to grasp what we were doing. She and Anthony ran the bag up to the door, rang the bell, and ran back to the car.

I was so grateful our friend asked us to do this. It made me think on many levels. One of the most remarkable things to me was that he simply met this man in a random location. It wasn't someone from work or church that he sees often enough to easily know of his circumstances. Instead of checking his email on his phone, or texting, or reading the paper, or just looking down while he was getting a hair cut he looked around him and engaged with people.

The group was also made up of a variety of people. Neighbors, friends, coworkers and people of varying religions. This cuts away all the junk about keeping your address and name and circumstances secret from everyone and gets down to the heart of a community taking care of each other. Great lesson and a great tradition! I hope we do it many years to come.

Brown Santa

Nothing racial here, folks. The men in my family have a nickname for the UPS truck this time of year, even though he visits regularly throughout all twelve months. Brown Santa. I'd forgotten until earlier this week when Anthony told me "Brown Santa" had left me something.



I do love Brown Santa. He keeps me out of the crazy malls, which I braved this week a little more than I like to. The second day I went to the mall I had to follow it up with a relaxing bubble bath before I could fall asleep. Sounds pathetic, but really it stressed me out. So. Many. People. Free shipping is all around you if you'll just look for it and you have the time to wait for your parcels!

Special Guest Tradition - Emily

My sister, Emily, told me about a tradition their family does for Christmas that sounds fun. On Christmas Eve they "wrap" the kids' windows with fun wrapping paper. The original tradition they got the idea from was wrapping the kids' doors to keep them from snooping on Santa's delivery. Since they have kids younger than ours, they wrap the windows so that the kids can't see Santa when he comes. Good idea to allow easy access to children who are crying or may need a midnight potty break. (I can just see the years of therapy that might be needed from a Christmas Eve potty accident due to walking through wrapping paper in the dark...) In a few years I can see this being really fun for my kids.

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

Tonight I'm making pumpkin cranberry bread and it just feels festive because of the aroma in the house. I consider pumpkin a Thanksgiving and Christmas flavor, as well as the cranberries. This has been one of my favorite holiday recipes for years. I found it at allrecipes.com, but it's just a Libby's recipe. Simple, yummy, sweet (but still considered "real food"), and the cranberries make it look pretty when you slice it! I will be enjoying it for breakfast tomorrow.



To make your own you need:

3 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

Then follow these simple steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans.
2. Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and orange juice in large mixer bowl; beat until just blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans.
3. Bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

*Sometimes I add raw sugar to the top. It's pretty and it gives you a crunchy top after the bread has been stored.

Moravian Star

The Moravian star is a favorite Christmas decoration we brought back to Texas from North Carolina. Moravians settled Winston-Salem in 1766 and used the Moravian star as their official Christmas street decoration, but the tradition began in Germany. The star represents the Star of Bethlehem and is often seen in large outdoor Nativity scenes as well. They hang from the porches in Winston-Salem and I loved the way they illuminated the historic homes in the neighborhood we lived in. Just a little piece of North Carolina I get to pull out annually!

As a side note: If you happen to stumble upon Moravian Sugar cookies during your holiday shopping, just buy them. They are insanely good. Like, by the dozen good. :)

Scripture Advent

My friend Jamie mentioned the Christmas tradition of a scripture advent in a comment last week. Then we got our December Friend and realized there is this cute advent activity complete with visuals for your children included. THEN President Uchtdorf mentioned his own family's use of scripture advent in the First Presidency Christmas Devotional yesterday. So, my interest has more than been captured.

The ideas all revolve around reading scriptures daily throughout December that tie into the birth of Christ. They can be prophecies of His birth, the events leading up to His birth, or the details of the night He was born. Jamie has children just about my kids' age and they involve candy in the nightly routine. It sounds perfect for us. Reading the entire Luke 2 account of Christ's birth of Christmas Eve has NOT gone well with our little guys so far. We are late getting started this year, but we're doing it and let's be honest...my kids won't know I didn't do it perfectly (neither will yours!)

First Presidency Christmas Devotional

Already this month is filling up quickly with fun and festive things. Places we can go, things to see, people to meet up with, food to cook...the list goes on and on. I'm so grateful for the annual First Presidency Christmas Devotional that our church broadcasts every year. It always inspires me to stick to my guns and not get carried away with the details of Christmastime that can make it so crazy.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a talk this past October entitled "Of Things That Matter Most". Just yesterday the words and message of that talk were ringing in my head as we jumped from one designated place-to-be to another all day. Then tonight he again referred to the benefits of slowing down. Ahhhh, I was listening! Just going from my notes, he suggested that we all prepare for Christmas by pondering it's meaning. Rejoice in the birth of our Savior, ponder His influence in our lives, remember Him, recommit, be grateful, forgive, and prepare for the day He comes again.

President Henry B. Eyring described three gifts we can give to Christ this season: A broken heart and a contrite spirit (repentance), doing for others what He would do for them if He were here (service), and pointing others toward Christ (sharing our testimony).

And finally, President Thomas S. Monson shared his hope that we would all have a Christmas filled with love, giving and the spirit of the Savior. I love that he shared his favorite Christmas reading as well, because I love reading a Christmas book every year. He reads "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, "The Mansion" by Henry Van Dyke, and the second chapter of Luke every year for Christmas. Honestly, Luke is the only one of the three I've ever touched so I'm going to have to change things.

It was a great night snuggling with my children in their PJs while we listen to these men share their testimonies and inspired ways to have the spirit of Christ fill our homes this time of year. I'm excited about the many opportunities this month gives us to talk about Christ with our children. Click HERE to listen to or watch the broadcast if you missed it.

Heath Tree Lighting

On Friday night our little City of Heath held their Christmas tree lighting. We had several families come over for chili beforehand, then went to the festivities. The two elementary school choirs sang, Santa came, cookies and cocoa were served, and best of all there was a TRAIN. Here are my kiddos waiting for the train to circle around the park so they can get a turn.


It was hard to keep Jack off of the track (aka sidewalk) while the train was being loaded with passengers.


Here he is, still waiting. Still excited.


Finally, a turn on the train...


And they're off! How cute is this little train?


All smiles afterward!


The first thing Jack said to me when he got off of the train was that he was NOT scared and he did NOT cry. We had a great time at this event. I love going to local Christmas events, big or small. They are low key and close by, free, and full of our neighbors! I hope this becomes an annual Christmas tradition.

Christmas Tree

While a Christmas tree is not an unusual tradition, I have really put a lot of thought into how we can add a personal touch to ours. I love to have a pretty tree, but I also want a child friendly tree. Plus, I'd like for the tree to reflect us. So, I'm working every year to balance beauty and personality.



I expect that every year our tree will evolve with us. This year's tree includes things that represent our family, where we are in life, and what each of us enjoys.

• Every year I pick up a frame ornament with the year on it and put our Christmas card picture in it.
• ABC's, reading, and writing are hot topics at our house - hence the alphabet ornaments.
• Butterflies, a tiara, teddy bears and plenty of sparkles for Addie.
• Trains, planes, and automobiles for Jack.
• I even found a sailboat ornament for Anthony this year!
• I love Santas and snowmen. We have breakable ones on top, and soft stuffed ones on the bottom.
  
• Even the handmade school and church ornaments and the fishing bobber Santas they made at Bass Pro Shop look good on the tree - which makes the mom very happy!

I love the wonder and beauty of a Christmas tree. I hope to pass that on to my children. While we decorated the tree this year, Addie said, "This is going to be the best Christmas tree EVER!" I agree, every year.

As children have joined our family, I feel like the changes to our tree represent the changes in my life. Maybe I wouldn't have picked butterflies and trains for my tree before Addie and Jack joined us, but it's so much more beautiful with them!

Elf on the Shelf

Last year, some of our good friends introduced us to the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition. I was over at their house dropping something off and their little boys bombarded me saying "We have an elf!! Come see!" They excitedly took me to the kitchen and sure enough, there was a cute little elf sitting on top of their cabinets. We've picked up our very own elf this year and the kids are having so much fun with it.

The elf gets his magic when you open the box and give him a name. We aptly named our elf Simon, after the dog Anthony and I loved like crazy for a few years until we had children and then couldn't stand him. Hopefully things will go better with this Simon. Simon watches us all day long. Then while we sleep, he flies to the North Pole and reports to Santa on how good or bad we were. Every morning, he's in a different spot.

The kids are not allowed to touch him, or he will lose his magic. They can, however, speak to him and tell him what they want for Christmas. He is not allowed to speak to them - Santa's orders. Both of the kids look for him first thing every morning and Addie explains the rules to every person who comes in the door. Yesterday he was on a shelf in the pantry. Jack took full advantage of the door and closed it so he could be a bad boy. His words, not mine!

Here is our elf, perched on our shelf.



You can learn more about this fun tradition at www.elfontheshelf.com. We started it after Thanksgiving and it has already been so much fun.

Christmas Time Is Here!

It's December 1st, so Christmas time can officially begin...right? Our halls are almost completely decked and the excitement is already brimming. This year I'm really working to establish traditions while my children are still young. I love traditions and the way that memories cling to them! I've decided to blog about traditions this year. I'd love to hear about your favorite traditions too. You can leave a comment, or send me an email and I'll make a post about it. Some are pretty common, some may be more unique. The point is to find the ones that fit your family! I like to have a variety too, so some are low-key and others can require a little more work.


The first tradition started today and it is new for us this year. It's not terribly original, though. I finally found an advent calendar I liked so we have it hanging on our coat closet ready to countdown to Christmas! The kids are excited to move the candy cane to the next pocket every day and I like that I don't have to find little gifts for little doors or have one child crying while another eats a piece of candy. This one is exciting enough, but sharing will be doable as well. :)

What are your favorite Christmas traditions?

Boots!

I ran the Galveston Seawall half marathon the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was really tough and not worth blogging about, but as I was recovering I got this picture in a text from my mom:

My parents took my kids and their cousins out to Cavender's boot shopping and what a HUGE hit it turned out to be!


I never DREAMED how exciting boots could be. Jack and Joseph were the cutest. Oh they love their boots. Jack wears them as much as possible. They are even more popular than his basketball shoes which I thought he would never turn down. Thanks Nana and Pops!

State Fair of Texas

Whew! We have been busy! Grandpa and Sharon were back this week and the kids and I joined them at the Texas State Fair. We couldn't have asked for better weather and despite my aversion to fairs and carnivals in general, it was really fun.


Here are the kids with Grandpa and Sharon in front of Big Tex. The kids really loved it when Big Tex spoke. Kinda creepy if you ask me, but as long as they weren't scared it was fine.
The State Fair is the place for little boys. Addie was pretty much always wondering when we would go see the animals. Jack was in heaven the whole time with trains, cars, plane rides, etc.

I thought his head might explode over these die cast cars. Jack has learned how to say a few key phrases like, "I like those", "I really love those", and "I want to buy those."


Anthony called my expression in this picture my teenager smile. "I want to buy this" might be what I was thinking. :) A red convertible would be a nice trade off for the mini van on weekends.

Finally, when everyone was dead tired we got to this farm learning center thingy. It was a little more involved then we were up for at that point, but pretty cool if you had more time. We thought we were entering the petting zoo, but instead we fed pretend animals, sowed pretend seeds, reaped a pretend harvest, sold our produce at the pretend market, and bought some Sun Chips with the pretend dollar we earned. It really was cute. I was just ready to go, as were the kids.


One great part of our day: It was Senior Appreciation day. Yep. It's usually my luck that we go on Free Kid day, which is a nightmare of ridiculous proportion. Senior Appreciation day is awesome. Way more quiet. Way easier to keep track of your kids. No lines on the kiddie rides...go figure? The only downside was that the parking guys actually took a good look at me and parked me far away from the entrance because I was young enough to walk. Oh well. Win some, lose some.

Fall at the Dallas Arboretum

I am sure there will be more fall photos taken at the Arboretum this year, but this is our first trip. We went for a playgroup a few weeks ago and had a great time. The creativity with the pumpkins is always impressive! If you live in Dallas and haven't done this - it's really great! I mean, where else do you find a cottage made out of multicolored gourds?? This was just one of four pumpkin/gourd cottages in this years display. I'll get pictures of some of the other displays next time.


These are just sweet pictures of my kids. They have both been a lot of fun lately. I have moments just about every day lately that make me stop and reflect on how blessed I am to have these children in my life. I think it is so exciting to watch Jack and Addie become better friends as his vocabulary improves and he can talk to her.

Rockwall-Heath High School Homecoming

Grandpa and Sharon came to visit us last month. The day they got in we went over to the Rockwall-Heath High School Homecoming parade. The kids had a great time and I think they brought home more candy than Halloween.
Jack pretty much just stood there pointing and saying "cars" over and over again as a new group would roll by in whatever cool car they rounded up for the parade. Here in Heath, there were some cool ones for sure.
When Jack wasn't pointing at the cars, he was all over candy gathering. Notice the full back pocket.
Family photo time!
One issue we are stuck with: Fear of adults dressed up as animals. This is Jack's face after the Jr. High School mascot (a wolf) came up to shake his hand. Addie flips out, so he has learned to flip out. This makes for a fun time on "Dress like a cow" day at Chick-fil-a! A Disney vacation is NOWHERE on our horizon for now. :(
After filling our tummies with candy, we went back to the house for presents from Grandpa and Sharon! It was like Christmas.
The kids had a great time visiting with Grandpa and Sharon after a long summer without them. It really is fun to be back at least near our families so we can see people so often!