I Have a New Blog

Ran out of picture space on this one and don't know an easy fix, so here's the new blog, which is almost the same address as the old, without the "the":

http://mattcrabtreefamily.blogspot.com/

New Traditions, Old Traditions

There's been something that feels a little different about this Christmas... even before the sadness of Friday.  Maybe it's the warmer weather we've had.  Maybe it's the boys both being off at school.  Maybe it's all the new and different activities we have been doing.  I think what most feels like Christmas to me are making sugar cookies, listening to Christmas records, watching White Christmas, and being with my family--because that's how it was for the first 20 or so years of my life.  But every year since then has been a little different from the last...different homes, new children, husband that isn't a big Bing Crosby fan, etc.  I've enjoyed our activities this year, though I'm not sure all this scheduled fun is all it's cracked up to be, but I guess there are just certain things that will be forever in my mind as "Christmas".  What I'm thankful for is that--putting all the activities and traditions aside--the meaning and my understanding of Jesus coming to Earth deepens every year.  I think what happened Friday gives us even more reason to be thankful for Jesus' birth and so so hopeful for his soon return to make all things right.

So all that being said, here is what we did this week and a few pictures from some of the activities:

-I had a great time helping put on a Christmas party for our Kids' Night Out families.

-We took some cookies and cards to the fire station around the corner.  The boys and I got in a fire truck.  We also gave cookies and cards to the mail lady.

-We took books, crayons, and coloring books to the Duke Children's Hospital.  Man is that a nice place!  We were told about 100 kids will be spending Christmas there this year.

-We watched Christmas movies.

-I got a little crafty. (thanks, pinterest)

-We made a "gingerbread" nativity.

Matt's cow (with udders) and camel...and Gray's shepherd.

Whoops--Think the shepherd went cow tippin'.

-We had basketball practice a few times.  So funny.

-We made "blessing bags" for homeless people--so far we only found one to give it to.  Think the cold is keeping them away from their usual place on the way to school.

-Matt and I got to go see The Hobbit while the kids got to stay with Nanny and Pa.

-We made gingerbread men and ornaments with the Stewarts and Knox and Stella.  Sadly, I forgot my camera.

-We went to see the "dancing lights".

-We made gifts for the boys' teachers (thanks, pinterest).

-We visited Granny.

-Julia got a very quick stomach bug.

-We sometimes read our Jesse Tree stories, but are way behind.

I think that covers it.  This week we are looking forward to crafts, movies, class parties, game night, time with Nanny and Pa, and soon....our trip to Fort Mill!!

Just a Sample...

...of the Christmas card photo shoot we did on Sunday.  Wasn't going to send any cards due to time and money, but ended up just mailing a few to family...sorry friends!  Here are a few that didn't make the cut.

Duke Gardens in the Winter

After church Sunday, Matt wanted us to go hiking.  We ended up at Duke Gardens and just walked around some, played near the fish pond and in the trees, and just relaxed a little.  I enjoyed taking some pictures of the kids and scenery.

The kids loved collecting holly berries and giving them to me.

A girl and her Daddy

Love these pictures under the gazebo

Woo!  Someone liked jumping down all the little steps:)

The fish were the most popular thing with the kids.  Gray liked feeding them gravel:)  Then Joshua found a worm and watched the biggest fish gobble it up.

The wind is blowing her hair

Love these "Sparkle Berry Holly" plants

First Week of Celebrating

Well it's been an eventful 5 days of December for us!  Here's how it's gone:

Dec 1- Basketball evaluations!  We arrived at the gym and Gray immediately ran out to play "pick up basketball" with the other kids.  He barely ever got the ball, but he was a good sport and played defense like crazy:)  Joshua was nervous and stayed by me the whole time until his cousin Jackson arrived, which relaxed him a lot.  We were also surprised to see that our neighbor was one of the coaches!  Then the kids all did some drills while the coaches took notes.  Joshua was still a bit nervous but he did great.  Gray was all over the place but laughing and having fun and by the end he was at least hitting the rim!  Then we took the little Stewarts home with us while Sophie had her evaluation in the older group.  The cousins loved being together!

Later, we geared up for our church Christmas party.  It was a fun time and went smoothly.  We made cards to hand out to friends, neighbors, and strangers.

Dec 2- Church, then got our Christmas tree from Food Lion on the way home and proceeded to decorate all afternoon, which the kids enjoyed a lot.

I enjoy looking back at our ornaments and the memories they hold...

Gray's first Christmas

Julia's first Christmas

Joshua's 1st Christmas

The Christmas I was wedding planning:)

Our time in Fort Bragg and my parachuting soldier

The Christmas Matt was deployed and we sent him this ornament

The ornaments Matt and I made the night we got engaged

Julia was ecstatic about the tree and "candles" (lights).  Not sure how much she remembers from last year, but she's loving this year's festivities!

We also squeezed in some card-making for the little girl we sponsor through amazima and for injured soldiers.  It was a lot in one day and we went to bed tired!

Dec 3- After Gray was up with bad dreams and in our bed, Matt also got up in the wee hours of the morning with a stomach bug, which turns out half the church also contracted at the party:)  Matt felt awful all day and thankfully we have great family support to run the gym in his absence!  I headed out with my friend Robyn to shop with our KNO sponsor moms, which was really fun.  It's great that things aren't really awkward with them anymore.  It's more like we're just being with friends.  They were so thrilled and thankful to be able to buy gifts for their daughters and we enjoyed hanging out with them as they shopped.

At home we got out the Christmas "toys" (such as the ever popular penguin that sings) and books and did a lot of reading and playing.

Dec 4- It was Joshua's turn for the bug, but thankfully it was extremely short-lived.  Julia and I manned the gym for a little bit and Joshua and I did some crafting.  Love these paper trees I saw on pinterest!

Later we read the Legend of the Candy Cane book and had our annual candy cane hunt.  This year we are putting messages on the leftovers and handing them out to whoever we meet.  The boys enjoyed giving some to the neighbors yesterday and are excited to give more out, which surprised me in a good way!

This year Matt did the hiding and he hid the candy canes all in groups of threes, requiring the kids to stay together and each find one at every location.  There was a lot of bossing and fussing...and by the end some sweet helping.

Essential candy cane hunting attire--the tights with flip flops look

Essential hunting gear--baby and night-night

We ended the night with a viewing of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, while making a paper chain garland to take to Matt's Granny who recently went back in a rehab facility.

Dec 5- Tomorrow (the 6th) we are celebrating St Nicholas Day for the first time.  Today we will read some stories about him and secretly take some dollar bills with messages to hide in the Dollar General toy section.  The kids will also put out their shoes tonight in hopes of finding a small treat in there the next morning.

So we are having fun, feeling cautiously optimistic about being done with the stomach bug, and ready to continue with the celebration.  We're also doing our Jesse tree, using the Jesus Storybook Bible, so we remember why God needed to send Jesus in the first place.  Speaking of which, I've had several great reminders lately of how good it is to examine myself and see all of my imperfections going into advent, so that I can really grasp how much I need Jesus and fully celebrate his birth.  So I have been praying God would show me my sin and boy it isn't pretty!  But it's real and it's good to face that reality.

Well I don't know when I'll make another update.  I'm up to my limit of pictures on blogger so I have to use a very roundabout and time consuming way to add them.  Thinking I may need to start a new site....