Oh Tanenbomb! Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS EVE...
And it came to pass that the angel Gabriel appeared unto Mary and said, "Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favor with God." "And thou shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest."
And Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."
Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem. But there was no room for them in the Inn.
The days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And Mary brought forth her firstborn son. And Joseph was there, helping her.
And they wrapped the babe in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." And the angel told the shepherds about the birth of the baby Jesus.
And the shepherds went in haste to see this thing which the Lord had made known unto them. And they found the babe lying in a manger.
There were wise men from the east, saying "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him."
And they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him.
And they presented unto him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrhh. And Mary kept these things and pondered them in her heart.
Christmas Pageant 2008 produced and directed by Hannah Fye.

CHRISTMAS MORNING...

Christmas morning was early and loud and wonderful. There was much joy.
Henry's big thing was a nintendo DS. What's with the smile? Charlotte's big thing was a "mall" for her dolls, filled with girly things. Max's big thing was a youth shotgun. Great. When in Rome... Hannah's big thing was an ipod. She was overjoyed!

Pre-Christmas Fervor

Things here have been so busy as the kids have been home from school and we have been in that pre-Christmas state of over-excitement. There have been many art projects, many games, many forts, and much examining of the presents under the tree.

Hannah and her sextet sang at the hospital at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

Henry has been out of control. He has lost a few presents, but I am weak and I always let him earn them back. Every time he does something naughty, "it was a accident!"

Hannah and Charlotte played "Good Guys v. Bad Guys." I was the bad guy, and they cuffed me. Apparently, someone has been telling Henry about an institution called "juvie" and he has been talking about it constantly. He asked questions like "What kinds of things make you go to juvie?" and "If someone goes to juvie, can their parents get them out?"

Charlotte and her partner won First Place in a gingerbread house competition at school. They built a Sonic. My favorite part is the twinkie cars.

Max's school had a sing-along. Max and his friends were nuts.

We have had freezing weather, but no snow. It has been fun to have it nice and cold. The kids are so envious of all the snow in Portland!

A New Day...

I love waking the kids up in the morning. They are warm and soft and sleepy. They are slow and sweet and pliable. Sometimes I lay down with them just to savor the moment. I squeeze them and smell them. We talk in quiet voices.

It is a new day, and I can imagine that today, I will be the perfect mother to them. I won't lose my patience, I won't be short with them, I will pay attention to everything they have to tell me. What is important to them will be important to me. I will take the time to tell them how much I love them. It will be a day of happiness and peace.

Today, they will be the perfect children I know they can be. Only kind words will be spoken. There will be no arguing, no tattle-taleing. There will be no touching of each others' things without permission. There will be no spilling of drinks. They will love and appreciate each other. This will be a wonderful day.

That is why I love waking them up every day. No matter what happened the day before, there is the hope of a new day, one in which we can do better.

Hannah falls asleep with her glasses on.

Max kisses us goodnight every night.
Charlotte writes in her journal at night before she goes to bed.
Henry sleeps with stuffed animals, and he will only go to bed if Charlotte is in her room.

Lucy's Bad Day

Lucy gave us a scare yesterday by choking on a chip. Chew your chips, Lucy! We love you! Look at her, how cute is she?!?!?!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Bill got back from China on Wednesday night, so we were all glad he made it back safely. He got sick over there, though, so he spent much of the weekend in bed. He was convinced he had Bird Flu or SARS.

Our Thanksgiving day started out with the kids catching a little mouse in the yard. Of course they brought it inside and made it a little home in a tuperware container, and of course it escaped.
We had a delicious and relaxing dinner. Everyone ate till they could eat no more.

Then we decorated the tree. We couldn't remember who got to put the star on last year, so Bill got the honors this year. We, dare I say it, have an artificial tree. And for all of you who recoil at the thought, let me just say how GREAT it is! It takes about 5 minutes to set up, lights and all, and it looks great! If I, a girl from Oregon, can live with a fake tree, there must be something to them. The only thing I miss is the smell, so we will put up greenery around the house.

The kids love going through the ornaments and talking about each one and where it came from.

In the afternoon we went over to the Pratts for dessert. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

The Christmas Parade

This week Oxford had its annual Christmas Parade. The whole town goes, and it is really fun. The floats are mostly local churches and businesses.

A boat float.


The pretty girls are Charlotte's favorites. This is Miss Hospitality...
Here is "Senior Miss Most Beautiful"...
"Miss Debutante"...

And Lafayette County's "Junior Miss".
A school band.
Santa dancers.
Riding Lawnmowers.
Here are the kids. I love them!
We went home and had hot chocolate and read Christmas stories.

Wars and Rumors of Wars

The Pratt boys came over to play while all the kids were out of school, and it was loud. There were battles, secret combinations, wars, traitors, and a little bloodshed here and there.

Charlotte was banned from the man-zone.

Defending their territory.

Everybody was very entertained by Quincy playing with the dog.

It's the middle of the day, but Hannah just got up. She was awakened by the thunderous "pitter patter" of many little feet.