Christmas 2011

I am bound & determined to get our 2011 Christmas season documented before 2012. And I've got 7 more hours to do it. Goodness, next year I pledge to blog as I go. But this year, you get the whirlwind December 2011 post. Here are the highlights of the past month (some with, some without pictures. Sorry! I'll do better with that next year also):

We started off the Christmas season with a visit to the Rolling Bay Presbyterian Bethlehem exhibit. It. Was. Awesome!! They had the entire scene from the Nativity set up in their huge parking lot, complete with Roman soldiers, Jews coming to be taxed, tents, and village shops. I didn't think to take pictures, but I really hope they will make it an annual thing so that I can take pics next year.

Next came the making of our family Gingerbread houses. Hooray for Costco kits! We bought 2, and the kids worked in teams.

Jared & Adana were focused! Jared had to work fast with the icing before Adana ate all the candies.

Micah & Emma worked great together too, although Emma kept getting distracted by the TV. Nathan was playing the Tabernacle Choir dvd, with David Archuleta. :)
Torah just watched it all while munching on graham crackers.

The final products!

Nathan wrapped up the evening with an impromptu concert on his saxophone. I think it was the first time that the kids had heard him play. He's still got it!

As we do every year, we celebrated Finnish Independence Day, although due to Nathan's schedule we had to do it a day late. No worries, though. It was still a great feast!

I took the little girls to see the Holiday Village and Model Train exhibit at Bloedel Reserve. They were really neat.

The kids especially enjoyed the free hot chocolate & cookies at the end.

We had another raucous Islandental staff Christmas party! It has become tradition to have a white elephant gift exchange. Things can get pretty tense as people strategize with family members in order to leave with the best gifts. I totally scored with a dozen eggs from Trista's (our receptionist) chickens!

Here's what Adana won. I found her sound asleep in it one day.

Yet another Christmas season must-do: the annual elementary school Holiday Christmas program. It's the same every year - same songs, same packed gym, same careful-not-to-mention-anything-remotely-religious narrations. But I still love going and watching my kids & all their friends.

Smack dab in the middle of all the Christmas festivities each year, we get to pause to celebrate Adana's birthday. She turned 6 this year. She is growing into such a fun, energetic, always happy girl. She got a new doll house, and it has been perfect for her! She spends half her life in a make-believe world, and it's so fun to watch her create stories and situations with her toys.

As soon as the kids got out of school on Friday, we caught the ferry to Seattle. We love Seattle at Christmas time - all the lights and songs and festive feel. We also enjoy staying at the Sheraton right downtown. They've got a great pool on the top floor.

And a hot tub!

The Sheraton hosts the annual Gingerbread display. These things are amazing!

And they have such remarkable detail!

The next day, we strolled the streets of Seattle, listening to carols and watching all the shoppers. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and it was packed! We were especially lucky to have Gma & Gpa Russell visiting with us.

Adana quickly figured out that Gma was a pushover when she begged hard enough for something. :)

Baba took the girls on the Christmas carousel. It was a fast one, and he looked like he was going to lose his lunch.

When we got back to the island that evening, we went to the Ward Christmas Party at the Boundy farm. Again, I wish I had more pictures, especially of the creepy Santa! But I did snap one shot with my phone as we were on our walking tour of the Nativity story. They had sites set up around the farm, depicting scenes from the Nativity. This was such an amazing image looking across the pond at the angel appearing to Mary.

Fast forward through the days of shopping and festivities . . . to Christmas Eve!

As we do every year, we took the kids to the Christmas Mass at Bethany Lutheran church. It is always the official start of our Christmas.

Then we came home to open Christmas Eve jammies, eat pizza/chicken wings/sushi, and watch A Christmas Story. Our friend, Jordan, joined us this year. He's getting ready to go on his mission, so I love having him around my boys.

And then it was Christmas morning . . . The kids woke up at 7am and we headed downstairs to see what Santa brought.

For the boys, a weight set and punching bag.

For Emma, a unicycle.

For Adana, exactly what she wanted - a stuffed Orca whale.

Torah didn't really care much about the gifts. But she sure loved the Christmas cinnamon rolls!

Nathan got some Harley Davidson rain gear (which he later exchanged for a "much cooler" Harley jacket).

I loved having Christmas on Sunday! It was perfect to enjoy the Santa gifts in the morning, then go to church and sing some Christmas songs, and come back to open our family gifts. I wish we could do it that was every year.

So that about sums it up. It was a fun, busy month - a bunch of parties for the kids, Nutcracker with the girls, dental appointments, dinner with my brothers & their wives, two ski trips for Jared, sleepovers, play dates, and a fair amount of shopping. We had a wonderful month, but I have to admit that as soon as Christmas was over, I promptly took down all the decorations and got my house back to normal!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!