Christmas Countdown 21-24, plus a few extras

Day 21:

The Three Gifts by Patricia Cook Orr, illustrated by Wilson Ong.  I really liked this tale of possible uses for the three gifts given to the Christ Child.  I also LOVE the picture of the wise man holding the baby Jesus on the cover.
Day 22:

Christmastime with Mr Bear by Linda Parry.  Another clearance book, but this one is awesome!  Mr. Bear tells his friends the story of the birth of Christ while they are getting ready for Christmas.  Each portion of the story has scripture references, in case you want to look them up.  Even cooler: each page says "time for ________" and then has the time written out, a picture of a digital clock, and directions to place the moveable hands on the analog clock.  It's awesome!  I can't wait until Kaity actually starts telling time.
Day 23:

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski, illustrated by P. J. Lynch.  This is a great story about the softening of a heart when you learn to care for others and focus on Christ
Day 24:

'Twas the Day Before Christmas by Brenda Seabrooke, illustrated by Delana Bettoli.  I know it's not until tomorrow, but I kind of rigged it so this one would be last.  It is a tradition in Jared's family to read The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve.  I like this version a lot.  Not only does it have the entire poem by Clement Clarke Moore, but it also tells the story of why he wrote it, and the excitement of his family when they first heard it.
Extras:

Merry Christmas a bright baby book.  This is a sturdy little touch and feel board book with one word and a photo on each page.  Perfect for babies so that they can focus, and for little ones learning about reading.  We picked this up last year for Kaity and she really likes it.

The Nutcracker based on the story by E. T. A. Hoffmann, adapted by Raina Moore, illustrated by Thea Kliros. A cute little board book that tells the general story of the Nutcracker Prince.

Counting Christmas by Karen Katz.  I can't get enough of Karen Katz, especially since Kaity will sit and look through the ENTIRE book, no matter which one it is.  This is a cute little countdown book and has adorable illustrations.

The Little Christmas Elf by Nikki Shannon Smith, illustrated by Susan Mitchell.  A cute little story about a little elf who wants very much to make a perfect toy for Christmas.  She never gives up, even when it seems too late.  The pictures are so sweet.

Christmas Countdown 16-20

 Day 16:

The Animals' Christmas Eve by Gale Wiersum, illustrated by Alex Steele Morgan.  This is an adorable counting book about the animals in the barn telling each other the Christmas story.
Day 17:

The Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke, retold by Pamela Kennedy, illustrated by Robert Barrett.  I love this story of the other wise man who dedicated his life to find the Savior but is stopped along the way to help and care for others, showing the life of a true disciple.
Day 18:

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry.  How many different homes can be graced with the presence of this one Christmas tree?
Day 19:

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston, illustrated by Barbara Cooney.  I love this story of a little family in the Appalachian mountains who strive to keep the Christmas spirit alive even though their father is far away fighting.
Day 20:

This is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten, illustrated by Delana Bettoli.  A story loosely patterned after "The House that Jack Built."  Kaity likes the repeating refrain.  I love the pictures - they're different from the standard Nativity story.

Christmas Countdown, 12-15

 Day 12:

The Last Straw by Paula Palangi McDonald, Illustrated by Carol Pettit Harding.  This story is about a modern family and their quest to serve one another in order to fill the manger for the baby Jesus.  Really cute!
Day 13:

Christmas Oranges by Linda Bethers, Illustrated by Ben Sowards.  This story tells of a girl at an orphanage who is excited to taste her first ever orange.  I love the story and the message of selfless service and love to those around us.
Day 14:

Oh, Come, Little Children by Anita Reith Stohs, Illustrated by Benrei Huang.  I found this on the clearance desk at Seagull Book for $2.00!  It is adorable and I love the whimsical pictures that go along with the simple story.
Day 15:

The Little Shepherd Girl by Juliann Henry, Illustrated by Jim Madsen.  I absolutely LOVE the pictures in this book!  I also love that the little girl wants so much to help her family.  This is a great story about the shepherds and also about father/daughter relationships.

Christmas Countdown, 6-11

 Day 6:

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner.  Ever wonder why snowmen look so melty the day after you make them?  Here's the explanation of the fun they have at night!
Day 7:

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg.  It's just a classic Christmas story.  Kaity likes finding the choo choo in each picture.
Day 8:

Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S Buck, illustrated by Mark Buehner.  I love this story of a special gift given by a son to his dad.  It shows that it's not always the things we buy, but the love we show that is the best gift.
Day 9:

A Star in the Pasture by Katherine Zwers and John Tobin, illustrated by Carol Heyer.  This book is one of my family's favorites.  My mom used to read it to her Sunday School class every year and the pictures are simply adorable.  The story of a little star with an important mission is perfect for the Christmas season.
Day 10:
two books today because I didn't know Kaity had already opened one...oops!

Who is Coming to Our House? by Joseph Slate, illustrated by Ashley Wolff.  A cute little book about the animals preparing the stable for the Christ child.  I like the simple rhymes, this would be a great book for a beginning reader.

The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke, illustrated by Dan Burr.  Pres. Monson often quotes this story of a man who lays up his treasures on Earth, only to learn in a dream that we should be laying up treasures unto Heaven.
Day 11:

A Christmas Dress for Ellen by Thomas S Monson, illustrated by Ben Sowards.  This is a beautiful story that tells of a poor family, especially a little girl named Ellen, who are blessed by the sacrifice of their family and neighbors one Christmas season.

Christmas Countdown, 3, 4 & 5

Day 3:

Penny's Christmas Jar Miracle by Jason F Wright, illustrated by Ben Sowards.  I think this is an adorable story about putting others first and serving those in need without being overly preachy or making you feel guilty.
Day 4:

The Nutcracker illustrated by Don Daily.  I really liked this simple telling of the Nutcracker story.  There were a few details I was never sure of and it was great to see this holiday favorite in words, although I do love the ballet as well.
Day 5:

Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell, illustrated by Jason Cockcroft.  This is a simple little story with adorable pictures of the animals making room for the Savior's birth.

Christmas Countdown, Days 1 and 2

I love advent calendars.  As a little girl, my mom would always buy us those chocolate ones where you opened the door each day and got a small chocolate.  She still gets them every year, but now she gets them for the grandkids :).  Also as a little girl, we had this calendar that was a wall hanging and everyday you got to take a small ornament and hang it on the sequins on the Christmas tree on the hanging.  Jennie and I loved it, and we'd always come up with some elaborate plan to make sure that we each got to take turns but also that we got to open the one on our birthdays and didn't get to open more than the other.  (Our birthdays are the 12th and 14th, so we couldn't just do evens and odds).  I also think there were a few years where Dad got to do the 24th (which was always a Santa ornament) to avoid fighting.
Anyway, I've wanted to do something like this with my family, and I've found this cute wooden tree with ornaments to hang on it, but Kaity's a bit too young to really enjoy the countdown.  I have a few friends who have been doing a book countdown with their little ones, and since I have so many Christmas books anyway, I thought we'd give it a shot.  Kaity has loved unwrapping a book each day, and so far has done a really good job at only taking one.
So, I've got 24 Christmas books (kid picture ones) and I've wrapped each one.  You can number them if you want, but I just let Kaity pick whichever she wants to open.  The only exception is the Night Before Christmas, which has to be opened on Christmas Eve as per Jared's family tradition.  Here are the books we've opened so far:
Day 1:

Christmas in the Manger by Nola Buck, illustrated by Felicia Bond
This is a cute little board book with a simple rhyme that chronicles all the individual players of the nativity story.  Kaity loves turning to the pages and pointing out the star, the sheep (maa, maa), the ox (moo, moo), and of course, the baby.
Day 2:

The First Christmas by Carol Heyer
This book is so beautifully illustrated, but it also tells the story of Jesus, beginning with the annunciation to Mary, including the flight into Egypt, and ends with Jesus growing up to begin His ministry.  I love that it tells the entire story, usually Christmas books just tell about the nativity scene itself.

Decorating Cookies!

 Jared's family has a tradition that they make and decorate sugar cookies each Christmas.  I loved this tradition from the start, especially the intricate and imaginative ways that his family makes each cookie.  When I was in college I started a "Muppet's Christmas Carol watching party."  This year, we invited my sister and her husband over and had combined traditions party!  It was so much fun.

Kaitlyn especially enjoyed the frosting part of the cookies :)

Scott joined us a little later and helped out as well.

Above are some of the favorites!

12 Days of Christmas Swap

My swapping partner, Paper Wins, is awesome!  Each day I got to open a cute gift that had an interesting little poem coordinating with the Twelve Days of Christmas song.  I admire people who can do that, I usually try and get frustrated and then give the whole thing up!
As I am not at home right now, I don't have pictures, so I'll have to upload them later.  However, I had so much fun!  My favorites were the fuzzy socks, a Christmas CD, and an adorable bracelet which my daughter loves (yes, she is 16 months old and already admires jewelry - I'm sunk).  Also included was some yummy chocolate in various forms and an awesome magnet tray with our last name.  Phred loves magnets so I'm excited to start working on letters with her this coming year.  My very favorite, however, was the little packets that Paper Wins put together for our 72-hour kits.  She put so much thought into each package, including lotion, deodorant, toothpaste, etc. for each of us - including differentiating between my husband, little girl, and myself. 

Thank you so much Paper Wins, I have loved getting to know you and having this great opportunity for the swap!  I feel like we're "kindred spirits," as Anne would say:)

12 Days of Christmas

My freshman year of college my mom sent me a 12 Days of Christmas package.  It was so fun to open a gift each day.  They were all little things that could help each day: a pair of gloves, a roll of quarter for the laundry, a new pack of pencils for finals.  Anyway, I found out about this fun 12 Days Swap between readers of the Symmetry in Motion blog.  Check it out!  I'm way excited to get paired up with someone and have 12 days coming where I didn't plan the gifts!
Yay!

Santa Claus is Coming, and I'm going to keep it that way!

Ah, the age old question, "Is Santa real?"  You may be getting this question sooner than you want, especially with all the different parental methods and cultures your children run into today.  For instance, I had a student once who was a Jehovah's Witness.  I think that's fine, they can choose whatever religion they prefer.  However, the boy came to school and told EVERYONE that there was no such thing as Santa.  Of course, he was a cool kid so I had lots of tears and questions from other kids.  I had kids who weren't ready to hear "the truth," and parents who didn't want their kids to hear this from anyone else.  On a similar note, I remember when my little sister, Jennie, came home from 2nd grade in tears.  It seemed that one of Jennie's best friends had informed her all about "the truth."  Jennie asked where the little girl heard it, and the girl promptly told her that "her Daddy said so."  Well, normally Jennie believed our dad above everyone else - but this girl's dad was also our Bishop.  Poor Jennie!  She was only 7!  I figured it out when I was 5 and made sure that Jennie believed long afterwards.  In fact, she didn't know until she was 14 and even that was an accident!  Now, I can't promise that your kids are going to make it to their teens, my sister is a bit on the naive side (sorry, Jen, but you are :).  However, here are a few answers and tactics to help keep your kids believing for a few extra years.

• First of all, Santa has a different wrapping paper than anyone else.  Make sure that your child doesn't see you buy it, wrap with it, or use it for ANY reason.  I know how tempting it is to use that little scrap for something your mailing to your brother, but don't do it if there is any chance your little one will see it: they're more observant than you think they are.
• Santa always had a different handwriting on the tags than my parents did.  One year they forgot and I asked why Santa had the same handwriting as Dad.  The answer: "Because there are so many children in the world that sometimes Santa has the Daddys help."
• If your kids find Santa presents in your house early (I was a little snoop, this happened to me, too).  The answer: "Santa has so many kids to visit in one night that he dropped off the presents with us early."  Of course, emphasize that they're magical presents and if your kids aren't good, or if they find them again, the presents will disappear before Christmas morning.
• We always wanted to get out of bed to see if Santa had come.  Not necessarily to catch him, but we were just too excited for that long night to end!  Santa solved this problem by placing a piece of candy on our nightstands.  That way when we woke up and wanted to know if Santa had come, we didn't have to get out of bed!
• When Jennie asked if Santa was real or if the Bishop was lying, we were stumped.  How do you tell your little one not to believe your religious leader in this one thing only?  The answer: "Santa only comes to houses where kids believe in him.  So, even though the Bishop's house doesn't believe, we do; Santa will be here."  This also works for kids who hear "the truth" at school.
• Finally, a really fun tradition.  There is a German custom of having a blown glass pickle ornament.  Santa hides the pickle and leaves an extra present marked "pickle."  The first one to find the pickle gets the extra present.  It's harder to find than you may think! In our house, the pickle present is always something we can use as a family.  No matter who opens it, it belongs to everyone - that way there is no fighting over who gets the extra present.  In years past it has been video games, movies, cell phones, board games, etc.  It's always one of my favorites because it's a family thing.  And even though Jennie is 24, she still gets a little miffed if she doesn't find the pickle: it's really fun to watch!

Have fun and let me know if you have any other questions about "the truth."  I'm actually pretty good at answering them, if I do say so myself!

Happy Christmas Cards!

I've been trying to decide what to do for Christmas cards this year.  As many of you know, I LOVE sending and receiving Christmas cards.  I especially love seeing all the pictures and finding out how various family members' years have turned out.  Recently, I went through all of Jared's old scrapbooks and his mom saved their Christmas letters from a few of the years.  It was so fun to read about what happened in those years, and see the cute pictures of my husband and his siblings growing up!  Now that I have the cutest monkey in the world, I'm looking forward to sending out pictures of her to everyone I know!  I've looked at various places (Costco, Target, Walmart, Macey's) and I was pretty much unimpressed by the holiday options.  However, I decided to look online at Shutterfly to see what they had available.  As some of you may remember, that is where I ordered Kaity's awesome birth announcements.  I loved their selection!  They had some religious, some fun, some funky, some bright, some sweet - basically anything you could want, they've got it!  You should go check it out: Christmas cards; Picture cards; or even if you want to get a jump start and send out Thanksgiving cards this year!  Pictured above are our two finalists for this year: which do you like best?  Guess which one we picked and see if you're right next month!

And We're Back

Here's the ginormously long update. For Halloween Kaitlyn was a pumpkin. We went to my parent's house and my dad and I took Kaitlyn trick or treating. She loved being outside and visiting other people. We went to three houses :) Thanksgiving brought us to Boise with the Browns. We enjoyed lots of games, yummy food, and fun family. We put up the Christmas tree and had fun with cousin Thomas. Kaitlyn is excited for her new cousins to get here this year - one in January and one in June. For Christmas we went to Grandma Z's on Christmas Eve. It was so much fun to see everyone. Christmas morning we got to spend together as our own little family - and loved every minute of it! Kaitlyn got a seahorse named Shelby that plays music. She loves it! She likes to talk to it, hug it, and eat it of course! Later that afternoon we went up to my parents for dinner with my grandparents and all of my sister's in-laws. It was fun to play games and get to know the Petersons better. We are excited to begin a new year with our little family and look forward to everything it will bring.