Christmas Day!

While I loved seeing all of the wonderful pictures of everybody's perfectly wonderful Christmas morning, we were grateful for something quite different: That we didn't end up in the ER.

Camille came down with a case of croup. Unfortunately, that meant I got maybe one hour of sleep on Christmas Eve. It was rough- made rougher because I knew I couldn't sleep in.

However, after I made breakfast I was able to go upstairs and take a three hour nap. That's the one good thing about having a sick kid on Christmas: Ben is home so we can tag team.

Regardless of the croup, we did have a nice (although exhausting) Christmas. We didn't go over to my in-laws like we usually do, but they did stop by over here for a few minutes to see the girls which was nice.

And, we didn't go to the ER- hallelujah!

Audra wanted to make a skirt for Claire. We made one, but it was way too small. Luckily, it fit Camille- and she loves it.

I made aeberskivers again, like last year. They seem to be a good hit. Audra says she wants them 100 million times a year. Once a year seems good enough to me! I'm glad I read my notes from last year, that helped. I made chocolate ganache, lemon curd, and used raspberry jelly for fillings.







The girls had a lot of fun playing with their new toys- Magformers, a couple of Wii games, art supplies, books, card games, and more. The girls were spoiled, but not overly spoiled- just the right amount of spoiling. Claire's big gift was a Hello Kitty camera, Audra got a doll car seat.

I'm not sure what videos I'm getting. Blogger will only let me upload really short videos, so most of the ones I took won't work. Whatever ones will work are the ones I'm uploading for Grandma to enjoy.

Here's my Grandma High's recipe (it's not the one I used, but I think I will try it next time):

Merry Christmas Eve!

The mall has a really cool Christmas gingerbread house that we took the kids to see yesterday. It was very fun and festive.

Any, Merry Christmas Eve!

Dinner In Bethlehem

We started this tradition last year, and I hope to continue it for many years to come. We did our "Dinner In Bethlehem" last night- complete with hummus, couscous, beef jerkey (dried meat), pita bread and more. The girls got really into it, and were thrilled at the candle light and everything.

They took their costuming very seriously, and changed outfits several times. In the end, Claire was Mary, Camille was the Bethlehem Bunny, and Audra was a shepherd.

Lest you think that this night went off without a hitch, let it be known that before dinner started the Bethlehem Bunny kicked Mary in the face and caused a horrific bloody nose.

Such is the life at our crazy Bethlehem. But, hey, that's real life- what can I say?

After we ate, we watched this Nativity video- it's a wonderful video that portrays the birth of our Savior:

We also talked about two things that I learned at church on Sunday that I didn't know before:

1. It is significant that the shepherds were watching over their "flock" and not the plural "flocks." Because it is singular, it means that this was a very special flock- this was the flock of sheep that were being raised to be sacrificed at the temple. The shepherds were literally watching over the sacrificial lambs- think about that for awhile. Very powerful.

2. Apparently in those days Inns were not nice and quiet like they are today. Instead of having individual rooms, inns were more like an open market- with open spaces where people slept. It most certainly would not have been an ideal place to deliver a baby. Perhaps, rather than the inn keeper being seen as a cruel man who carelessly tossed Mary into a manger, perhaps instead he was being sincere and helpful by allowing her a place alone- without the company of strangers- even if it was in a manger with animals. Just a thought, but an interesting one to ponder.

It was nice to be able to have these discussions with the kids. Hopefully some of this will sink in.

Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Seeing Santa!

The library puts on a wonderful "Visit With Santa" every year. You have to sign up a month in advance, and this year we were lucky enough to get in.

So, yesterday the girls donned their holiday best and we headed to the library.

The girls were all very excited, but in the end Camille chickened out. She clung tightly to me, but did allow me to get in the picture with her.

Santa was fabulous. Before he met with all the children (we were given a number to wait in line- it was all incredibly well organized), he sang songs with them and told them "Twas the Night Before Christmas." He also answered their questions- apparently Rudolf recently had a baby boy named Randall. I did not know that.

The library had a couple of crafts and a photo booth area to help keep the kids occupied as they waited for Santa as well. It was all very well done- we will hopefully be back again next year!

Sledding!

I desperately needed Ben to take the girls away from the house for a couple of hours today so that I could get some work (read: wrap presents) done. The girls had all kinds of ideas- roller skating, go swimming, etc.

With all the snow, however, Ben chose sledding.

We have already had a very wintry winter, even though winter has not yet started. Along with the snow, it has been COLD. Thankfully, though, today was pretty warm. So off they went, and they had a wonderful time.

Based on the weather patterns thus far this winter, I think there will be a lot of sledding days in the months ahead.

Gingerbread Houses

Last night we went over the Nieyehuis' house to decorate gingerbread houses. Audra ended up having a Birthday party to go to, but Claire and Camille loved making their houses, and they did a great job!

Update: Audra finally finished her gingerbread house:

 She started out quite ambitious, but ended up in tears because it wouldn't hold together. I am pretty sure it is my fault- growing up we always used melted sugar to hold our houses together, so I don't know the recipe for good holding icing. I used regular icing, and it just didn't hold the houses together very well at all. She was very sad, but ended up liking her new house- an A-frame house with a really cool floor.

Dance Recital

The girls had their Nutcracker Recital on Thursday.

They have all loved taking dance this year. We were lucky that Audra was able to do dance this year. Normally Ms. Muffy stops teaching kids after 2nd grade because she doesn't teach in the evenings. But, since we homeschool, we were able to get both Claire and Audra into a class with all homeschooled kids, and 3 of them are in 3rd grade. It works out great for everybody!

The recital was great. I love how Ms. Muffy does her classes- she teaches in her basement, has for decades. Even the recitals are in the basement- she brings in benches and it all just works.

Without further ado, here you go:

Here's Audra and Claire: