On having a Merry Christmas

1) Have a baby around for Christmas
It makes everything more fun.

2) Celebrate with family

Make sure adoring Grandmothers are around, if possible. And lots of cousins for kids to play with...
And for aunts to play with too...
3) Give up on getting a perfect picture of your kids in front of the tree. Just take what you can get and stop driving everyone crazy with your obsessing...
4) To ensure that there is no mistaking you for "the perfect family" do something dumb to liven things up a bit
This is what I did:
(SANTA SPOILER ALERT)
We've never been huge into Santa. We are not opposed to him, but we just don't talk about him much. In fact, at first Tate learned what he knew about Santa "on the street". He kept referring to him as The Santa Claw. It sounds like a Christmas horror movie to me. But I think Santa is a fun Christmas tradition. Anyway, the two older kids don't believe in him. Jack does. Or should I say, Jack did. Until I exclaimed to him on Christmas night, "Oh Jack! I forgot to put something in your..." Long pause. I hoped that maybe he had missed it. But he got a huge smile on his face and yelled, "Were you just going to say you forgot to put something in my STOCKING???!!!". He knew he had caught me. But i don't think he was even thinking about the secret of Santa. He just wanted the missing present.

5) Have a white Christmas

(Confession time...on that last picture I "airbrushed" my wrinkly lips with the touch up feature. I highly recommend it. I'm way too scared of plastic surgery, but cyber-surgery is a-ok with me!)

6) Have a family church service

Due to the aforementioned snowstorm, our Christmas Eve service was canceled. This turned out to be a special part of our Christmas as we sang and shared together all as a group. Here is my brother-in-law"Pastor Alvin" greeting his congregation...
That night we shared some of our favorite Christmas memories. Jack shared his favorite memory was the service we were having right then. He may have changed his tune as the service went on a little longer than he anticipated. But it will always be one of my favorites.

7) Keep your treasured family traditions

Like opening their presents of jammies on Christmas Eve. I wasn't thinking and waited to have the kids open their jammies until Lulu had fallen asleep...
I'm still adjusting to having a fourth child, I guess. Jack, was so excited about his jammies he decided to change right in the middle of the living room with 20 people around...
Another tradition is all the cousins gathered upstairs on Christmas morning waiting until everyone is ready for them to come down...
They play games to keep busy...
This is how Jack felt about it...
Being stuck upstairs waiting for two hours is not exactly a treasured tradition to my kids.

But they do love the tradition of the kids running down in ascending order of age to find their stockings overflowing...
Lulu was a bit overwhelmed by it all...

Another tradition is Jesus' birthday cake. Is it just me or does it look like someone took a bite out of His cake on the upper right edge?
Was Jack the first one you suspected? Poor guy. But if the shoe fits!

I missed out on our family tradition of singing the prayer before dinner that my family grew up singing. I was feeling sick to my stomach and lying upstairs in bed. From there I could hear them singing...

Thank you God for happy hearts
For rain and sunny weather
Thank you God for this our food
And that we are together.
Amen.

I sighed as I listened (and prayed along) thinking how much I love this family and wanted to be with them. I was sad, but my heart was so full. Then at the end I heard Gunga yell "WE MISS YOU MISSY!" This is not a perfect family by any stretch. But this is a loving family. And I'm so glad to be part of it.

It was a very Merry Christmas for us. And I hope it was for you too!

How I feel this Christmas...

I know there are a lot of people who don't feel very blessed this Christmas.
This is a very happy Christmas for our family,
especially with our sweet Lulu celebrating with us.
Whether joyful or painful (or some of both),
may you have hope this Christmas.
The Hope of Nations. The Savior of the world. The Son of God.
Wishing you many blessings to you this Christmas
and in the coming year.

These I love...

I love the stockings my sister Georgie made for our family.

I love this yummy treat: cake balls. Also known as cake pops. Or L'il Rounds, as we like to call them. Go here for the recipe. So we did do a little holiday baking after all, but I forgot to play Christmas music and I barked at the kids a few times. But the finished result was all kinds of YUM. And Bill did all the dishes, so maybe I'll even do it again next year.


I realize this is not the typical attractive family picture you want to represent your holidays, but it is so precious to me because it is US. No matching outfits. No perfect smiles. No make up. Heck, I don't think I even have on proper undergarments, if you know what I mean. But I love this picture from our own little family Christmas celebration. In the past I would buy gifts for the kids to give one another. This year, we told them that they could do jobs around the house to earn money to buy each other gifts (they don't get an allowance) or come up with something on their own. They chose creativity. And re-gifting. It was the best gift exchange EVER.

Jack really thought carefully about what he had that would bless his brother and sister and gave sacrifically. To Tate he gave his stuffed Chick-fil-A cow because he knew Tate liked it.
To Luci he gave a stuffed monkey he is special to him because he got it from his preschool graduation. And to Em he gave the first gift he ever received, a stuffed dog from my parents that looks like their dearly departed dog.
I wanted to protest that one, but how can you argue with generosity?

Tate gave his brother and sister (to share) his old ipod shuffle. He even made a scavenger hunt throughout the house for them to find it.
After this gift, Jack was in his own little world singing and dancing intermittently to "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Heartless" for the rest of the celebration. Exhibit A...
Em gave her brothers coupons she made to clean their rooms, do one of their jobs around the house, sleep in her room, etc. And she purchased trophies at the dollar spot in Target and wrote "Best Brother" on them. Jack is so proud of his trophy.
She made Luci this precious ornament...
Tate was pretty clever. He realized Luci didn't have a clue what was going on, so he wrapped up one of her own toys...
This strategy was employed by all of them for other recipients...their parents. Bill got the stapler off his desk and some of his own books...
I got my own robe and Bill's sunglasses, among other things...
But we did get some gifts that were legit. Em made us "Best Mom Ever" and "Best Dad Ever" ornaments...
The kids received gifts from their parents, but we got them each a real present instead of wrapping up their own stuff. Em was happy with a puffer vest. I love that clothes and shoes are not only acceptable, but desirable gifts in her book.

Tate is now packin' heat. Air soft, that is...
I hope that isn't a decision I will regret. Can you say choking hazard?
Jack was getting a lego set. To throw him off, I wrapped a decoy gift for under the tree. It was one of those little toys that poops out brown jelly bean like candies. I know I shouldn't encourage potty humor, but I can't help it sometimes. I thought he would be a little disappointed that this was his big gift from his parents. I was wrong...
He loved it. Although he was also excited when he found the lego set hidden in the oven.
Little Lulu got her new crib bedding.,,
My friend Beth made it all. She is amazing. Lulu is making the big move from a pack-n-play in our room to the room she shares with her sister. I think Lulu is thinking, "Thanks for the bedding and all, but I'd kind of like some jammies that fit. The keyhole look isn't in for sleepwear this year..."

Love this time of year, though I may get distracted by the busyness. Love this family, though I may not always show it well. Love the One who came to rescue me.

The one where my heart is so full it almost bursts open

The social studies classes in 6th grade are doing a unit on Africa, so Tate's teacher asked him to do a presentation about Ethiopia and his trip there. Tate agreed. What he didn't realize is that all 6 teachers in his team wanted their classes to be there for it. So, at 12, my son had his first public speaking engagement. In front of about 150 of his peers.

He worked hard this week on putting together a power point presentation. It was fun to see the things that were significant to him about the people and the culture of Ethiopia. He brought in souvenirs that we purchased while we were there. And he had the best visual aid ever, Luci...

(The coordinating outfits were completely accidental, though I am not above such things.)

This sweet boy was so NERVOUS. But he met the challenge and did such a great job...
At the end of the 20 minute presentation, he took questions from the other kids. And he answered almost all of them himself. The questions went on for half an hour. My favorite question and answer combo was "Does she speak their language or ours?" Tate's answer, "Well, she doesn't really say anything yet...but when she does, she'll speak English, like us."

I know I'm bragging a bit. I'm just slightly proud of the boy. Maybe I'll go out and buy those "My kid is on the honor roll" bumper stickers. Only mine can say "My kid is a motivational speaker".

Sadly, I don't have many pictures or any video because I was too busy clicking the power point slides and trying to hold it together emotionally. I tried so hard not to cry, even though my heart was bursting with pride within me, because I knew it would embarrass him. I was moved because my son was able to rise above his fear. And I was moved because it was confirmation (again) that taking Tate with us to Ethiopia was the right thing to do. And I was moved because this is my family we are talking about and I'm a crier. But, maybe more than anything I was moved at the thought of these 11 and 12 year old kids being exposed to the needs of the world beyond their lives of Nintendo DS and cell phones. And who was the one exposing them to this need? A 12 year old boy. My boy.

Excuse me, I think I need a kleenex. There's a little bit of ugly crying going on at my house right now.

The teachers were so sweet to get him a free kids meal at a local restaurant to thank him for his time and work. They got one for each of his siblings, including the visual aid herself. Beyond that, they gave us a gift of a beautiful frame that says "Family" and a framed copy of the poem "The legacy of the adopted child". How sweet is that?

More ugly crying. But not in front of Tate (or worse yet, his friends) of course.

You know what is so funny? For years, I have been dreading my son going to middle school. And it has been an overwhelmingly positive experience beyond what I could have imagined.

To celebrate, we went out that night and used their kid's meals...
So much about this adoption has been life-changing for all of us. Luci, you've given us Africa. And Africa, you gave us Luci.