Christmas 2008

Christmas is over. Just like that. All the preparations and excitement and then it's just over. I absolutely love getting out all the Christmas decorations, but I am dreading putting them away. Before it's 2009 and in an attempt to hold onto Christmas (and prolong the cleanup), my nostalgic personality will attempt to summarize our Christmas celebrations. (Again...sorry for all the pictures but the boys' faces say more than my words ever could.)

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas. It was low-key but full of laughter and joy. Here are the boys enjoying themselves under the Christmas tree after church on Christmas eve...And this one cracks me up. I think they are dreaming about Christmas morning...
And it just wouldn't be the Rothwell house without a little bit of wrestling under the tree...
Me and Graham...This was the best attempt at a picture with my boys...
Me and Levi...
Clearly, the boys (and their dad) were getting a little hyper and a good picture was no longer possible. Boys will be boys.
This picture is probably my favorite. While I was upstairs giving Graham a bath and getting on his jammies, the boys created an obstacle course in the living room and were jumping all over the furniture. Before jumping from the hutch to the couch they would give each other a big hug.
And this picture of Michael reading the Christmas story to the boys makes me smile...
Wow, they were really wound up before bed.
We finally got the boys to bed and Michael and I began the several hour process of getting the toys and house ready for Christmas morning. I'm not even going to talk about how impossible it is to get a toy out of its box because it will just get me upset.
The boys were so excited Christmas morning to discover that Santa did arrive. (Shhh...don't tell Graham that most of the things in his stocking were things just taken from our playroom. Seriously, there is not one more little toy or book for a 1 year old boy that we could possibly own!)
Graham loved his new alphabet train. He got right on and started cruising all over the house.
He really could have cared less about any other present he got because he was too busy eating his (and his brothers') animal crackers.
The boys loved their new canyon train track. (Santa wasn't aware of how big this toy was until it was put together. Because our playroom is already filled with other train tracks, it looks like this is what will be greeting visitors in our entryway. Lovely, I know. Thanks, Santa!)
The boys spent most of the morning scouting out their new toys.
We then attempted to clean up and get ready for Michael's family to arrive later that afternoon. We had a big scare when Graham crawled into the kitchen where Michael and I were cooking and began to spit out and choke on about 15 of the little balls from Hungy Hungry Hippos. I nearly had a heart attack.

The boys had a great time with their mimi and papa and aunts and uncles. Here's Levi getting some help from Uncle Steven with a new car...
And this is Graham with his new Thomas ride-on. He now has a vehicle for each day of the week.
Ben likes the Thomas too...
Mimi reading stories to Ben the next morning. Can you tell he just woke up?!
Mimi and Papa with their youngest grandson...
We had a great couple of days with them and then got ready to celebrate with my side of the family after my mom returned from Colorado. I was so glad the kids would be getting more toys because they just didn't have enough. Ha!
Here's some of the kiddos attempting a funny face...
Graham playing with a new toy from his cousins...
Opening some presents...
Ben and Grandma...
Levi and Eli...
Ok, enough pictures. While I recognize that with little ones it is quite possible for everything to go wrong on Christmas, this year was peaceful and happy. I am most thankful for...
- Healthy kids through all the Christmas activities (it really is a miracle)
- Family who traveled here to be with us so that the boys could have Christmas at home
- The means to give our kids their Christmas wishes
- Family who loves our kids and seeks to make Christmas special for them
- Fun cousins to celebrate with
- Most importantly, a God who loved us enough to send His Son to live among us and bring us hope.

Happy New Year!

Sarah's Favorite Things

This season is filled with some of my very favorite things. I absolutely love the month of December and the activities it includes to prepare our homes and our hearts for the celebration of Christ's birth. I know my favorite things aren't quite as exciting as Oprah's, but here's my list of the things that make me smile during this Christmas season...

My boys' very favorite thing to do when we decorate the house is to get out their Little People nativity set. They absolutely love it and so do I. They play with it everyday and creatively reenact the Christmas story. Lightning McQueen sometimes makes an appearance and Mary and Joseph have also been known to arrive at the stable by airplane. Who knew.
I love a white Christmas. I don't know if we'll have one this year, but the view out our back door right now is absolutely beautiful...
One of the highlights of my days is getting the mail and finding pictures and letters from friends all over the country. I absolutely love Christmas cards. They just make me smile.
I think I have always loved nativity scenes. I remember spending a long time organizing my mother's when I was little, and I am blessed when I set out these pieces each year...
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without lots of yummy sweets. While they might look small and not that exciting, these little cream cheese press cookies are my favorites this year. We have made them about 5 times so far this month. The boys love decorating them and we all love eating them!
Putting up the Christmas tree signifies the beginning of the Christmas season for me. And this year it was a much happier process as our old Christmas tree had been duck taped together too many times and we purchased a pre-lit, much-easier-to-put-together tree. We had no clue how much time we were wasting all those years! Oh, and here's Levi's tree...And Ben's...
There is nothing more precious than little kiddos getting together in their Christmas best to celebrate the birth of Christ. This little group is just too cute...
I was sitting in our hearth room the other night after the boys went to bed and I couldn't help but smile as I looked at our fireplace with 5 stockings hung from the mantle. Wow, I am richly blessed. Our family is ready for Santa. My prayer is that we are ready to celebrate the birth of our King.
The countdown to Christmas is so much fun, especially with wide-eyed little guys who can hardly stand all the excitement. Each morning we wake up to something new in the pocket of our advent calendar. Whether it's a little candy cane, a Christmas book to read together or a fun activity to celebrate the season, they are always excited. It's such a perfect picture of simple joy.
It's truly a blessing at Christmas time to be a part of helping others to have a special holiday. While generosity and empathy aren't traits I see often in my toddler and preschooler, it brings me such joy to see the boys genuinely care about others. Here they are with their shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child (Trust me - they were a lot more excited than they look.)...
I'm one of those crazy people who loves wrapping presents. There's just something about a simple, well-wrapped box with a thoughtful gift that speaks a thousand words. My mother-in-law gave Michael and I a silver bell the first Christmas we were married, and she has continued the tradition. Each bell has the year engraved on it, along with the significant things that happened that year. I hang these in the garland going up our stairs, and it's so fun to look through them and see how much has occured in the past 9 years. Wow - it's hard to believe this will be our 10th Christmas together!
Lastly, these 3 little guys are definitely a source of great joy this Christmas season...
I hope this Christmas season is filled with some of your favorite things!

When mom's "away", the children will play...

This is what happens when mom isn't feeling well and isn't supervising a 4, 2 and 1-year old quite as closely as usual...

1. Halloween stickers (who knows where those were found!) are placed all over the house, including all over the bunkbeds, on the hardwood floors, walls, table and play room wood furniture.

2. Toothpaste is squeezed out all over my bedroom carpet. At least the room smells like bubble gum!

3. An envelope sitting on the dining room table to be taken out to the mail is opened up, the check taken out and written all over and the papers inside ripped in half.

4. The playroom looks like this with no hopes of being picked up anytime soon...

5. I'm sure it will happen any minute now...