25 Days of Christmas--Day Twenty-Six!!!

It's a bonus! Jill Savage offered an extra day of her 25 Days of Giveaways! The question for Day 26: How do you take some time for yourself over the holiday season? One thing I love to do, that I very, very rarely allow myself to do, is to just sit and read! Some time between Christmas and shortly after New Year's (on a day when Mr. B is around to take care of the girls), I love to curl up with a good book and just read, read, read! I'm hoping to make time for that some time over the next week. I have a LOT of books to read...but I'll have to blog about that whole thing later! Stay tuned. :)

25 Days of Christmas--Day Twenty-Five

Here we are at last--Day 25 of the 25 Days of Giveaways! Here's what Jill Savage asks for Day 25: What are your Christmas Day traditions? Well, the girls are usually up very late the night before, so one Christmas Day tradition is sleeping in a bit. I love that tradition. :) When we do get up, we check out our stockings. This year I was a little more generous than last year, I think (last year was the year of scotch tape and glue sticks!); the bigger girls each got a toothbrush, a kazoo, a little Polly Pocket set, and a tiny lotion/bodywash set. They were so pleased with their stockings that I asked them if it was okay if they didn't get any other presents, and they actually said, "Okay!". I'll have to remember that for next year! After stockings, we open the other gifts. The girls give gifts to each other, as well as to Mr. B and me. I really enjoy watching their excitement over the gifts they give. This year, Mr. B and I gave them each a new winter coat--Evie and Eloise's came with matching snowpants--and a hat and mittens set. Evie and Eloise got their very own ukuleles (not toys, but real instruments!), and Audrey got the Fisher Price nativity set. The big girls also got recorders from my sister Molly and her husband, so between the kazoos, ukuleles, and recorders, Christmas Day was a very musical day! Once the gifts are open, I usually begin making the big breakfast, including the traditional blueberry muffins. This year was fun because Molly helped me in the kitchen. The others relaxed, played, and watched White Christmas until breakfast was ready. After breakfast, we typically do some more relaxing, perhaps some cleaning up, the girls take naps, and then we head over to my mom's for Christmas with my family. That's pretty much exactly how things went this year, too! We had a great time at my mom's. I'll probably blog more about Christmas later, but for now I'll ask you: how do you celebrate Christmas Day?

25 Days of Christmas--Day Twenty-Four

Welcome to the home stretch of the 25 Giveaways of Christmas, hosted by Jill Savage! This will be the first of three posts for tonight, as tonight is the deadline for my posts to count as entries for the Hearts at Home conference registration...I'm really hoping to win. :) For Day 24, Jill asked the following question: What does your family do on Christmas Eve? This Christmas Eve was very typical: we attended the candlelight service at church in the early evening, then went to Mr. B's parents' house to celebrate Christmas with his family. One thing that was not typical about the celebration at his parents' house, however, was that Mr. B's brother brought his girlfriend. If you know us, you know what a big deal this is. I may or may not blog about it later, but I will say now that she was very sweet! So, what about you? What's a typical Christmas Eve like in your family? Or what did you do this year?

25 Days of Christmas--Day Twenty-Three

Continuing with the 25 Days of Giveaways, here's Day 23's question: What is your favorite part of the Christmas story? Although the entire story is so amazing, I really love how, when the shepherds have heard the "good news of great joy," and gone to Bethlehem "to see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about," they worship the Child, and then they spread the word about what they have seen, and everyone who hears it is amazed. It is such a good reminder that we are supposed to share the Good News of Christmas, not just go on with life as usual! What's your favorite part of the story?

25 Days of Christmas--Day Twenty-Two

Well, we're nearing the end of the 25 Giveaways of Christmas. I'm having a lot of fun playing along (but I still haven't won anything...oh, well!), and I hope my answers to Jill's questions have been somewhat entertaining or at least informative. Here's Day 22's question: What are you doing during the holiday season to keep your marriage a priority? Or maybe the question is, what will you commit to doing during the next few weeks to invest in your marriage? I don't really have a very good answer...Mr. B and I have not been very deliberate about "scheduling" time together lately. However, between Christmas and New Years, things usually slow way down, and I anticipate several evenings where we can tuck the girls into bed and enjoy a quiet remainder of the evening, probably playing a game or watching a movie. If any of you have any suggestions for keeping marriage a priority, especially during a hectic season, I'm all ears (or, in the case of my blog, "all eyes"!). Mr. B's audit season begins in January, and if you were around, you know that last year's audit season was rough. You also know that I just made a huge understatement! So...any thoughts?

25 Days of Christmas--Day Twenty-One

I just got in from some last-minute Christmas shopping, and I'm almost out of time for my 25 Days of Giveaways post! Here's the question for Day 21: Have you ever taken a fun, creative family picture? Short answer: no! We haven't ever really tried anything fun or creative. :) We're pretty traditional, with the picture of the girls in front of the tree. Maybe next year we'll try something fun, though! How about you? Any creative family picture ideas?

25 Days of Christmas--Days Nineteen and Twenty

I missed my "deadline" yesterday for Day 19 of the 25 Days of Giveaways (I have good reason, though: my sister, Molly, arrived from Texas, and we stayed up late talking!), but I'll go ahead and answer the Day 19 question: What do you do during the holiday break? We don't really do anything, and it's nice! Between Christmas and New Years, we usually don't have very much going on in the evenings (most church activities are on "break," too), so we get some quiet family time. I have to admit that we're a little bit behind on our schoolwork right now, so we'll probably be doing a little catching up next week, too. Hopefully, I can get my office organized again. Overall, it's just a nice time to slow down, catch our breath, and get back on track! And before I miss the deadline for Day 20, too, I better answer that question: What do you do during the holiday season that has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas? I don't know! It feels like everything has to do with the holidays right now. Even Saturday morning, when I took Evie to her dance class, I took advantage of the "free" time to put my Christmas cards together. [Yes, I think I was later than ever with our cards this year...the first tree we bought was rotten and wouldn't stay standing up in the tree stand; after removing the lights and exchanging the tree, we finally got it decorated nearly a week later; however, Audrey had a fever of 103+ for several days and was not up to looking happy for a picture, so I had to wait until Tuesday (and of course I had a coupon for $10 that expired Monday!) to have the girls sit for their traditional picture in front of the Christmas tree; two hours and probably a billion pictures later, I still hadn't come up with the perfect photo, so I had to settle for one where all three were at least happy, even though they were looking in three different directions; I ordered the cards that night, and they arrived Friday...] I guess one thing this month that was not Christmas-related was my sister, Sarah's birthday. We celebrated here last weekend. Happy birthday, Aunt Sisi!