Christmas!

What a fun Christmas Season! While I completely enjoyed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I think I loved the whole month of December as much as anything. I really tried to celebrate advent and not rush through it. It was probably the least busy December I've had in some ways, and yet full of so much fun! I did most of my shopping early and online, and avoided stores as much as possible (though I couldn't avoid it completely). We used an advent wreath this year and lit it each night before dinner and read part of the Christmas story each night. It was really neat how much Hannah enjoyed this time. And she'd get so excited each Sunday because we'd light another candle. And it's neat to me because she can basically recite the whole Christmas story fairly accurately. (Although sometimes she takes poetic license a bit...one day she acted it out with the nativity set and added a "HIIIYAA!" kick from the angel to the shepherd!). She can also point to all the candles and tell you what they represent. And she definately knows Christmas is Jesus' birthday. She was heard very often throughout the season singing "Happy Birday to Jesus". She also learned all the words to Away in a Manger and Jingle Bells. Besides that, she sings the whole tune of Joy to the World, but doesn't quite get the words. (pretty funny actually!). And she sings the first line of "One Small Child in a land of a Thousand" over and over. :-)

We also tried something new for me that I read about on another blog. I created 25 envelopes (one for each day Dec. 1 - Dec. 25) and numbered them. Inside each envelope was one of the gift tags that fold like a card. I wrote a fun activity on each card. Each morning, Hannah opened a new envelope and I read her our activity for the day. She then hung the card on the tree. I included things I knew we had planned anyway such as Polar Express night at church, Christmas Eve service, sing in children's program, local Christmas parade etc. And then I filled in the rest with other things. It was SO fun and really simple. I made sure to make our "through the week" activities easy - some as simple as "color a Christmas picture" or "play with red and green playdoh". Weekends were reserved for more time-consuming things "go buy grandma and granpa's present and wrap them", "Go see Nutcracker", or "Make cookies", etc. Some of our activites had nothinig to do with Christmas, just fun things such as "paint fingernails" or "go out for lunch at a Chinese restaurant". Hannah loved the activites, but as much as anything she loved opening the envelope each day and hanging the card on the tree. What I enjoyed was that all of the activites were things that I did with Hannah. Even if it was just coloring a Christmas picture, I sat at the table and colored with her, even if only for 15 minutes before dinner. I think it's definately a tradition we liked and will try to continue! This first picture is what happens when the activity of the day is "Go out for lunch at a Chinese restaurant" and I tell my 4 year old "please go get dressed and put on something that matches". HA!

Two days before Christmas, we went to Beth and Wayne's house (Nana and Grandaddy). We had a good time with them. They gave Hannah this cool "ready bed" / inflatable mattress. Hannah loved it!

Hanging out with Nana and Granddaddy

For Christmas Eve, we went to a special service at a nearby nursing home with a group from my church. Hannah sang with the other kids. I know this is a bad picture, but it was so cute to see her up there singing. She's a performer anyway. She was the youngest singer, but she had been there all the Wed. nights they rehearsed and really wanted to go sing. So we tried it and it went great! Hannah's in the front on the end and you almost can't see her. Oh well.

We then went home and enjoyed a fairly quiet and normal evening. At bedtime, Hannah left a piece of candy, an orange, and a diet dr. pepper out for Santa. (I convinced her that Santa got milk at a lot of houses and really would enjoy something different..liked diet dr. pepper!). Christmas morning Hannah had a blast. She giggled and giggled that Santa ate her stuff and drank the diet. dr. pepper. She told everyone who would listen about that! Her favorite Santa gift was her tinkerbell suitcase, but she completely enjoyed the calendar too. She played "school" and made me count and do the days of the week with her. She also enjoyed her doctor's kit and her poor baby doll got SO many shots and ear drops put in that day!

(Great way to get your living room clean on Christmas day - just give your kid a suitcase and she'll pack all her other presents in it!)


New fairy pajamas. Wow that Santa is cool - he gave me fairy pajamas, a fairy blanket, and princess t-shirts to go in my tinkerbell suitcase. How does he know I like princesses and fairies??

Grandma, Grandpa, and papa (my grandfather) came over so there were more fun gifts to open and lunch. Hannah loved this train from my papa. Grandpa is the one in the floor playing with her. Hannah didn't let him do much else during the visit. Everytime he'd pause or start to get up, you'd hear "Grandpa, play with me!".

Christmas continued more 2 days later (but no pictures!) when we went back to Nana and Granddaddy's house. Their daughter Melisa was there with her two children and all the kids exchanged gifts. We ate dinner, and then...Hannah spent the night there. She had been invited to so we packed her new suitcase and took her "ready bed". It didn't hurt that Elizabeth was spending the night too and had a matching "ready bed" AND that Elizabeth brought Hannah pajamas that matched hers. I wasn't 100% sure she'd stay, but she did. And she was very excited about it. In fact, after supper she told me "you go to my home now. I stay here!"

The next morning I called to check on her (and Beth had said she'd call me if she got upset and she didn't) and Beth said she did fine. She didn't sleep much, but that was because she and Elizabeth stayed up playing too late. She woke up several times, but it was just a quick wake up and go back to sleep and she never got upset or scared. So, I ran a few errands and went to pick her up. She was tired and grumpy from lack of sleep, but she fell asleep in the car on the way home, had a great nap at home, and woke up in a great mood. I'm so proud of her!! She has come so far. In China and for several weeks after returning home, she fell asleep holding my finger. Then, she slept in my room for a year. Once she started sleeping through the night regularly (took a whole year with nighttime terrors for a good bit of it!), I moved her to her room and she did great. And now, she's secure enough to spend the night somewhere else. It was cute because on the way there she said "I sleep at Nana's house, you go home. You come get me in the morning". I do think there was some anxiety since she kept waking up, but it wasn't dramatic or traumatic at all. It's a relief too because in March she will be staying with my parents for 2, maybe 3 nights. That was part of the reason we tried this - so she could have a 1 night practice when it would be easy for me to come get her if needed.

NOW..we're on to the new year..and a new daughter..and a new sister!
Stay tuned!