Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2015

At about 11am on Christmas morning Jeff and I both turned to each other and declared this Shumway Christmas “the Last Christmas.”  Of course we were (mostly) joking, but we were exhausted and the kids were strung out and there was just so much stuff everywhere.  But now looking over these photos a few month later I’m determined to give Christmas another shot next year.  There really is magic in all that mayhem.  (I am working on a plan though to cut down a bit, make things more simple and stream lined, manage a little better the stuff that buries us at Christmas).

Really, all in all, we had a great Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  Here are some of the highlights: 

Eli and Julie and their two little ones came to visit us from NYC.  We LOVE having them in our cozy house during the holidays.  It just feels right to have family all packed in.  And they are the most easy going guests you could ask for. Christmas Eve day was incredibly warm so we dragged the kids to our favorite spot in the Fells.  Of course, as soon as we got there they were in heaven.  We met Julie’s brother and his family there and introduced them to our secret Christmas tree forest that we love to visit.  The fresh winter air and the beauty of those christmassy looking woods made us all feel alive (except for Charlie here in this photo….he was in the middle of an epic argument with Hazel). 

We had a really tasty Christmas Eve dinner, splurged and ate Beef tenderloin and not one person stuck their noses up at the meal.  That , right there, made the price of that beef worth it.  We had our dear neighbor Joyce join us.  She is always such a pleasure to have around. She’s really a third grandmother to our kids.  After dinner was my very favorite part of the Christmas season.  The kids all give to each other on Christmas eve so that their gift giving efforts don’t get swallowed up in the excitement of Christmas morning.  My parents did this growing up and made it a point to really focus on the giver as they gave out their hard earned or made gifts.  It always made me feel like a million bucks to be praised to no end for the thoughtful (or maybe not so thoughtful) gifts I was giving.  I think my kids feel the same way. The big kids worked hard for months before Christmas to save up money to buy their gifts.  Peter worked up enough money to buy some pretty stellar things at the dollar store.  I LOVE the expressions captured in these photos.  They were all engaged with their whole little beings, watching and giving and receiving with such intensity and joy.  Jeff got some pink rollers and Twinkies from Hazel.  Love her sense of humor.  I think Hazel takes the cake for great expressions and such gracious giving and receiving. She’s always been such a generous soul. Peter is just spilling with delight.  And look at Em’s proud face as she gave that winning light saber.   Raw and genuine Joy right there. After presents we re-enact the nativity (no pictures of that one), read the Grinch, leave out cookies and scamper into bed.  I love the excitement that fills the house on Christmas Eve.  It’s nearly enough energy to propel me through the hours that come. 

 

As exhausting as it is, I really love the work of Christmas Eve.  I love seeing how all the work I’ve done to collect things over the Christmas season comes together.I had to snap a quick picture of this neat and organized scene before the Christmas morning tornado hit. The morning started early, but not as early as it did  back in 2012.  We still all have PTSD from that Christmas morning!  I loved hearing my kids squeals of delight as they went through their stockings waiting for us to wake up.  Here the kids are waiting to storm down the stairs and into the room.  We try to limit Santa gifts to one sort of big thing and a book and a few small little items.  Hazel got lots of little things this year since she could not for the life of her figure out what to ask for.  A used Kindle (instead of a book), a knock off apple watch (1/16th of the price), some glasses and some useful items to help her pull off the nerdy look she’s always going for. Em, on the other hand, knew exactly what to ask for.  Roller Skates.  This never would have crossed my mind, but it was EXACTLY what her little soul needed.  It’s February now and she still wears them pretty much non-stop.  And Charlie’s RC car obsession continues.  This is a kit hobby car that he is still working on nearly daily to put together.  I sort of love this hobby because there is a never ending list of items that he wants to buy to improve or fix his cars.  This makes him pretty dang motivated to do lots of money jobs and chores around the house.  And Peter asked for a piano book and a bat man suit case.  Go figure. A very practical boy.  He was thrilled that Santa even put a few little batman toys inside the suitcase.  I didn’t take too many photos, just tried to soak in the magic (and breath through the chaos) of it all.  But here is one of Peter, ecstatic about his suit case and Em sporting her new roller skate look(watch from Grammy and Grandfather). 

We spent most of the day unwrapping presents.  Julie’s brother and wife came over for brunch and we went for a walk in the cemetery before coming back for another round of gifts.

We felt so grateful for the abundance of gifts showered on all of us by so many who love us.  As conflicted as I feel about Christmas gifts, they’re a great tool to help our children know how to give and receive.  And a great reminder of God’s greatest gift to us. 

24 Days of Giving

I’m nearly done documenting birthdays and Christmas!  Then on with life!

One of my favorite parts of this past Christmas season was the 24 days of giving challenge we did from MultiplyGoodness.com. The challenge was to join with thousands of people to complete a little giving assignment each day leading up to Christmas. 

We did it Shumway style (aka…find the shortcut, easy way) and skipped the cute home made garland and set schedule they suggest.  Instead I printed out their great (easy to download) printable, cut out the little squares and put them in our little manger basket.  For years I've been trying to get us to do good deeds throughout December and put a straw in this manger basket to get it all nice and cozy for Jesus on Christmas eve, but it we all sort of forget about it and it’s a pretty straw-bare little bed.  So this year I decided that whenever we completed one of the giving challenges we’d shred the paper and use it as straw to soften the Christ child's bed. 

We didn’t follow the schedule from MG.  While it would have been cool to join in with so many people doing kind things on the same day, with our crazy holiday schedule I figured we’d need to pick ones that we could accomplish given what was happening on a particular day.  So we carved out a few chunks of time for the big ones that required planning and then just picked one during our evening Christmas devotional to complete the next day.  It worked!  It filled our crazy Christmas chaos with bright moments of giving, of remembering what the season was really all about.  

I think every one of us would agree that it was kind of the highlight of the season.   

Here are a few of our favorites.  I don’t think my kids are going to forget them:

-Leave a Treat for your Mail Carrier.  I bought the candy bar and Hazel wrote a sweet letter.  The next day in the mail we got a thank you note from Steve, our mail man.  He was delighted with his unexpected gift.

- Bring Doughnuts to the Firehouse.  Jeff did this on a crazy evening with the kids to give me some more time to get a few things done.  They were gone forever and I was beginning to get worried when they all came tumbling into the house pumped up with excitement.  The firemen at the house had been so pleased with their visit and the doughnuts that they let them tour the firehouse, slide down their pole and sit in the trucks. 

- Hand Out Candy Canes.  Hazel had the idea that we should tape candy canes to little pass along cards that our church distributes at Christmas time with a picture of the baby Jesus and a link to this beautiful video.  And then we decided the best place to pass them out would be on the T.  We hopped on at Oak Grove and there weren’t many people around.  The kids were shaking in their boots at the thought of giving something to a stranger.  But once we got started it was thrilling to them.  We passed candy canes and cards to all 12 people in the car.  They were delighted to get a little treat from some cute little children (no one could resist Peter, though he only smiled and held out his gift, never saying a word).  When we reached the next stop and got off to get on the next car down everyone in the car wished us Happy Holidays and bid us goodbye.  It was the most friendly feeling I’ve ever had on the train.  It was a big, daring adventure for those kids and I’m pretty sure it helped them see that the world is a place full of good, kind, happy people (even if they don’t really look that friendly at first glance). 

- Pay it Forward – this one gave us another great family adventure.  On our annual trip to the dollar store to help the littlest kids get presents we decided to keep our hearts open to feel for someone in the store who might need a little Christmas cheer.  I wrote about it in detail back here.  The joy of giving ran thick through our veins that night as we saw those surprised and delighted people.

- Perhaps my favorite little challenge was to “seek out an errand from the Lord.”  I loved the idea of deliberately finding something in a day that you could do that would allow you to be an instrument in God’s hands for good.  I’m trying to do that every day of the year this year. 

We brought hot chocolate to our neighbor, left happy notes on people’s car, brought Charlie’s cello teacher a chocolate bar, wrote emails to someone who has influenced our lives, told someone we loved them, gave away used clothes and toys, sent some anonymous money in the mail.  Lots of little, low effort things that helped us remember what the season was all about. 

And come Christmas eve, that little basket manger was soft for the first time.

Multiply Goodness is doing a 365 days of giving challenge to extend this great feeling throughout the year.  You can subscribe to their instagram feed to get reminders of what to do each day.   I haven’t done many of the suggestions, but having that pop up on my feed gives me good ideas of small things I can do to make a difference in my world.  And it reminds me to seek out my daily errand from the Lord. 

Giving just feels good.  It helps us to remember that we are all connected, we are all part of something that is bigger than our own lives.  It helps us to get out and see beyond our own problems.  It makes us happy. 

I already have my cards printed out and put in my Christmas box for next year.

Thanks for the inspiration MultiplyGoodness!

Christmas 2014

We had a great Christmas day.  It did start WAY too early again (remember this one?). I heard excitement bubbling up from Em and Peter’s room around 3am.  But I didn’t loose it, just calmly told them they had to go back to sleep or their stuff might disappear.  It worked….until 5am.   They played and ate stocking candy until 7 when they came barging into our room ready to wake us up with their carol singing.  I had been up listening to them for a few hours, so was in that sleepy excited state.  I think we all were.  And even though you’re tired, your pumped up with adrenalin.  It’s kind of a cool feeling, but one I don’t know if I could sustain more than once or twice a year.    Sorry for the blurry picture (I was trying to simultaneously video).  I love these excited faces. 

Here’s about three minutes of our Christmas morning condensed down to 15 seconds.  Wow, that’s a lot of happiness jammed in there. 

Santa brings the kids one gift that they’ve asked for, something to wear, something to read and some sugar cereal.  Sometimes they get a few extra little surprises thrown in there. This year Santa brought them all underwear too….not sure how he knew they were desperate for some fresh pairs.  Hazel’s loot: art stuff (canvases and an easel), the new Wendy Mass book, a coat and some whiffle (on her request, can you see her chugging it during that video?) Charlie got The Frog.  He’s been wanting this ever since Uncle Tal brought one to the lake last summer.  Jeff of course was very happy with this gift, he got his old car out from when he was a kid and now their racing.  It makes him feel 12 again.  The battery and remote were too far out of Santa’s price range so Charlie spent his holiday building his car and doing money jobs like crazy to buy what he needed to get this car racing before he went back to school.  There was a lot of working and building which of course made us happy, but also a lot of complaining and worrying. And a whole heck of a lot of finagling to try to figure out how to get money faster.  He was trying to sell things off, cash in gift cards, return gifts, you name it.  I mostly made him work for the money. I think he’s got my compulsive gene….he just wanted to skip all the hard stuff and have that car out there racing.  We held firm, fielded a lot of complaints, hired him and fired him and finally he had the money to get that car going.  He was so proud of himself.  I think, even with all the angst it brought, it was a net gain for Charlie.  It feels so good to work hard for something.  Emmeline asked for a suitcase and an umbrella.  She got an umbrella from my mom so Santa just gave her this cute little suitcase.  I was a little worried on Christmas Eve that she was going to be sad about her request when she realized she didn’t have a toy like everyone else, but she was pleased as punch with that suitcase.  She played with it all day.  Packed stuff up, walked around the back yard, took it on our walk, unpacked stuff. I think she now feels like a real grown up.  She also got some little critters (love those toys) and some uniform long sleeved shirts (also something she’s been pining for).  I love my practical little Emmeline.  And peter got his beloved “RC truck that will drive over Toys.”  He was delighted.  That boy is always delighted.         We spent all morning opening gifts.  Actually, pretty much all day.  I always wish I had a picture of the whole room, all the mess and chaos.  I kind of love it.  It’s one of the only days all year where I don’t really have an agenda, which feels especially nice after having such a jam packed schedule for the whole season.  I feel like all I have to do is enjoy, to be in the present.  And maybe snap a few pictures (though I don’t even do that very well). It was so fun to have little baby Zara with us.  She is a delight, and my kids all adored her. My mom and dad sent Jeff and I tennis racquets for Christmas.  Like, really nice ones.  Can’t wait to go and use them.  (happy that picture is a little dark, we are dorks).  Julie’s Brother and his wife came over for brunch and hung around our messy house with us.  We ate Christmas Strata and sat around by the fire.  It was a crazy warm day so we went out for a walk around the neighborhood.  The kids each brought one of their toys to try them out in a space where there wasn’t wrapping paper covering the ground.  Em of course brought her rolley bag….she loved racing peter’s RC truck with it.  And Hazel started to get the hang of her Pogo stick from Grammie and Grandfather.  She was worried she’d never get the hang of it, but by the next day she could jump for miles on it.     

All in all, it was a great Christmas.