Ellie the organizer.

A lot of whining today.

This is how it goes at the beginning of any break from school. They don't know what to do with themselves. Always wanting to be off school, then have a hard time settling into an activity if a teacher didn't tell them to do it. So the morning was siting around, wondering what to do next.

Eventually the girls wrapped the gifts for the Japanese girl (Kokoro) who is coming tomorrow. Maddie went on to read two books (re-reading AGAIN a Percy Jackson book, and also the new one from Kate Dicamillo) and Ellie took it upon herself to remove all presents from the tree and replace them in groupings according to who they are for. At one point Maddie looked up from her book and said with disdain "Ellie, you are such an organizer." Sounds like it should be complimentary, but the tone made it sound like a definite dis'.

So our presents are ready to be opened Christmas morning in an orderly fashion. Although Ellie pointed out that I only have two presents under the tree. I offered to take some of hers, and Ellie counter offered that I can sit with her while she opens them all. Ellie has even gone so far as to number the order that she will be opening her gifts. She really is an organizer (said as a definite compliment :)

We are excited to be seeing the Thorntons tomorrow morning- haven't seen them since we lived in Florida. Later in the day off to the airport to pick Kokoro up. I should have some fun stuff to write about tomorrow night!

A P.S. to anyone wondering- all travelers from last night's post have made it to their destinations safely ;)

Short and Sweet.

Sweet because I am officially on Christmas vacation- except I think it is pronounced more like "sa-weeet".

And short because I am officially on Christmas vacation, so am taking a night off from blogging :) Really, nothing new to blog so don't feel cheated.....

Wanted to be sure to send happy thoughts to Ann and Gene as they have been traveling across the snow laden eastern states to get to Michele's for Christmas. Their tender Mississippi make-up can't handle the snow, so I am sure its been a rough trip. Also thinking of Micki and family as they are traipsing through that same snow to get to a Christmas cruise. Though their rugged Canadian-ness will serve them well, it'll be like any other winter day for them! Then there is my friend Melda, waiting on a flight from Hawaii to get to Guam- their traveling not so stressful, worst thing that could happen is they spend Christmas at the beach. Godspeed to all of the travelers.

I gotta go get the turkey into the fridge to start its long defrost schedule. You know Christmas is coming when.....

Christmas Traditions.

On a slow day such as today- church, movie, groceries, supper- I thought I could blog some of the Christmas traditions we have picked up.

Like the tree you see here. This is Ellie's tree. The girls each have their own trees to decorate each season. Last year Ellie went with a Jesus theme, this year she toned down to blue and silver. You will notice that Madison's tree isn't here. That is because she donated it to the Thorntons so they could have a tree- all their Christmas decorations are back in California. Proud of her for doing that.

One of our funnier traditions is dressing up Mark. This is Kevin's Mark V ( I think thats right) dive helmet that is always in our living room. The girls and I have taken to giving him a Santa hat and some holly every year so he can be festive too.

An all time favorite is the countdown calendar- which I think I have mentioned. Ann gave this to us years ago. Everyday a little character gets put into the pocket so that the girls know how close Christmas day is. Every morning without fail they will stumble out to do this even before they go to the bathroom!

Nativity scenes are big here. I have the Willowtree one that Julie gave me- which frankly stays out all year- really love it.

Then I have my Jim Shore one (you've seen in previous Christmas pictures). Its taken me a few years to get all the pieces- I buy them bit by bit at the day after Christmas sales. Only missing the drummer boy- but really do we need him? He isn't really a confirmed part of the nativity anyway!

The girls have their own nativity scene. You will notice below two things. One is that the wise men are WAY down and away from the manger scene- this is because Madison is quite obsessed with the idea that the wise men were never at the birth of Jesus. Apparently historically speaking, they didn't make it until two years after he was born. She is always trying to move my nativity's wise men away too- but I am ok with the inaccuracy. The second thing you will notice is that there is only two wise men. The trouble with low wise men is a certain brown dog's tail- wise man number 3 is in for repair....where is Ross and his glue when you need him? That'll teach Maddie to be so correct!

This book is the last of the traditions I will write about. Its "Santa Calls" and we read it every Christmas Eve. Ellie is going to read it this year (though she is worried about the Japanese girl not understanding it). Its about a brother and sister who don't get along and the girl's only wish is that her brother would like her. Santa puts them through an adventure which ends with them becoming friends. First copy of this I bought was for Alyssa when she was a baby. We've read it every year since Madison's first Christmas. The girl's name is Esther- so the story must be great :)

Last week before Christmas- my holiday won't start until after tomorrow as I have one more day of teaching before break. Can't come soon enough!

Christmas vacation day one...

So nice. The girls are so relaxed, and pulling out games, toys, dolls- anything they usually don't have time for. Kevin and I woke up at 7am to the sounds of "You landed on my railroad- pay up!" Monopoly always makes me so nostalgic for when we were kids. The game you see above is the game the girls and I started with my first coffee this morning- we had to pause for swim practice at Leo Palace and then some room cleaning- but I am sure will resume after I am done blogging. The girls pulled out the American Girl stuff in between but they are anxious to get back to monopoly. Maddie is quite the property acquire-er, and Ellie is a bit of a miser.

Here is the end product of a cleaned up room. I am trying to let the girls be in charge of their own domain but it gets crazy-cluttered. It calls for a clean sweep every now and again. And today is as good a day as any- we have a little girl coming to stay with us next week from Japan. She is coming for "swim camp" over Christmas with Tsunami and we offered up our home- the least we can do is have a neat room for the girl! It should be a different experience- the coach says she doesn't speak english....he suggested I learn some Japanese- not sure he understood my laughing response.

Gotta go, I have two girls waiting "patiently" at the monopoly table....

Choir in pictures.

Seriously so good! Kevin was sure that the music that went with the singing had prerecorded voices of other children on it. Not so. It was just the choir singing! They were really, really good. Lively and lovely.
Lots of really fun songs. This last one was a jazzy number about Santa being noisy in the house. At one point Santa says its not him- its just a "land shark". That cracked me up a bit. The kids all did a great job. Maddie did a great job.

One more day of school for the girls...... Christmas is just around the corner....

No gifts for me?

Ellie had been quite bothered by the fact that Madison had a gift wrapped under the tree for her but there were none with Ellie's name on it. Now to be fair, we haven't done any of our wrapping (including the ones from Grandma Sue and Grandma and Grandpa Gillam- by the way, not really enjoying being so far away that everyone has the company send the girls gifts straight here so I become wrapping queen.... not to diminish how grateful we are for the gifts, the girls will be SO excited :) So really no one has presents under the tree yet. The reason Maddie has a wrapped gift under the tree is that it is from Ellie, who was anxious to wrap it up days ago. So everyday Ellie has been looking under the tree to see a gift for her to no avail. Last night was the last straw.... " You know what I'd like, I'd like to see a gift under there for me, would that be ok?"

And since I am still up for mom of the year- I grabbed a gift and wrapped it up while she was sleeping. You would have thought today was Christmas- I have never seen a child so happy to not be opening a gift.

She did ask if she could open it early. Seems there is a plot afoot to open at least one present early because "Mom opened her iPhone early!" So it turns out Gene, you are right- nothing good can come from before Christmas openings.....though I am sure Ann disagrees since she got to open one early this year too! Hope you are loving the Scentsy Ann.

Along the same lines, I would love to mention my Dad and Esther here. Every year they donate various needed items to people in need on behalf of their grandchildren. The girls get to pick what they want donated. Madison chose to educate a girl in a country where it is frowned upon. When she picked this she yelled "fight the government!" with a fist in the air....oy. Ellie chose to give a toy-saying every child deserves one. I'd like to thank Dad and Esther for giving my girls the opportunity to think past themselves. Love you guys.

Nine days out people...... everyone ready?

An instant hit!

Apparently (according to Kevin) Maddie was great in her Sherlock Holmes play. She really loved doing it, sad that it is over. We have the Christmas Concert to get through and we are free and clear. I am sure after all the adrenaline of this week, the weekend will be a bit of a crash.

And for the Staples (if you have been following along) its almost puppy time! So cute! I will have to live vicariously through them....

I would love to get my hands on one of them!