My homemade Christmas ornaments

I have been looking for quite some time now, in my efforts to make Christmas more Christ-centered, a set of ornaments to help the kids remember what Christmas is all about. But since I have not been able to find any out there, I decided to start this ornament project right before Maddie was born -- a set of 24 ornaments, each symbolizing a key event in the Bible and Book of Mormon, from the time of Adam and Eve, up to the time of the Savior's birth.

So, for example: Adam and Eve - a globe; Abraham - starry night; Noah - rainbow (you could do ark); Moses -- two tablets of stone; Jacob - ladder; Isaiah - live coal; Mary - lily (symbol of purity); John the Baptist - dove (symbol of baptism); Samuel the Lamanite - wall/arrow; Story of faithful Nephites who were going to die if the signs of the Savior's birth didn't come to pass - sword; Savior's Birth - manger and star;

I used as inspiration the Jesse tree (thanks to my Catholic roots :)), modified the design and added a couple of Book of Mormon stories. The ornaments are made out of felt. Every day starting on December 1, the kids hang an ornament on a 3-ft Christmas tree, and read the story/scriptures that go with the symbol. On Christmas Eve, it will be Luke 2, and maybe a couple of Christmas songs before hanging the last of the ornaments -- the manger/star.

I didn't get to finish all of the ornaments since I had a bad case of pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel syndrome -- my mom helped me to finish a bunch of them while she was here. When she left on December 20, we still had quite a few to go. She took the finished and unfinished ornaments to the Bahamas so she could finish sewing them for me, and then make a complete set for Anna. I will get to have them in my possession again when she visits in July. I can't wait!!!

All I Want For Christmas is a DHL Truck!!

A funny thing happened on Christmas morning that I just have to write about. Christmas morning is always fun -- especially when you look at your kids' faces and see the pure magic and joy that Christmas morning brings. Our Christmas morning started off with the kids waking up really early, running down to the fireplace and checking their stockings to see if Santa made it. Then they run up to the living room to see if Santa filled their Santa Bags. We have these BIG Santa bags for Santa to put large presents in that don't fit in the stockings - that way he doesn't use Mom's gift wrap :). They get to enjoy what Santa brought for a couple of hours before opening presents from everybody else.

After breakfast, we all get to open the rest of the presents. This year we were joined by my siblings - Archie (flew in from Vegas), Andrea, Aireen & Danny, and Abby & Jake (came in from San Fran). This is the funniest thing that happened (and yes, it was caught on tape!):

Collin has this huge pile of presents and he opens one after the other, looking really excited, but after awhile, he starts muttering, "I wanted a DHL truck..." or "I told Pappi I wanted a DHL truck", or "Where's my DHL, Mom?". So finally he only has three left to open (still no DHL truck) and we give him this balled up present containing this cute GAP bear that he wanted.

Collin: "What's this?" (pause, tears off a piece of the gift wrap). "I don't want this."
Aireen / Andrea: Open it.
Mom: Open it. It's something you really wanted.
Collin: What?!? (he says this in a really snappy tone which made it funny)
------ he proceeds to open the package, and then realizes it is the bear he wanted so -----
Collin: (in his stuffed animal voice) - oh, oh, cute bear.

Then comes the final present -- a big box wrapped in not-so-Christmasy paper (it was all they had left at the Red Balloon)! By this time he is looking really worried that he didn't get a DHL Truck -- but lo and behold, this last box IS the DHL truck he has been waiting for, thanks to his Uncle Archie who splurged on a Bruder DHL truck. Collin had that priceless look on his face as he hurriedly opened his brand-new DHL! As for the bear -- he has since named him Brownie, and sleeps with it at night!

Maddie's Birthday

Madison Louise (Maddie) is here! On November 29, I went into the dr's office at 12 noon, got sent to the hospital, got there at 1 p.m. I checked myself in while Kevin rounded up the kids from school and took them home. Thank goodness Aireen was able to work from home -- she and Danny watched the kids while we're at the hospital.


Kevin got to the hospital at 2:30, and at 3:31 Maddie was born! She weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz. and 20 inches long. So cute! I love new babies!