It's Christmas!

'Tis the Season, once again!  I love Christmastime, even though it gets busier and busier each year.  I always try to slow down and soak in the season when I can. The month of December was action-packed.

We put up our Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving, and the kids were so excited.  Vince was especially excited to help with the ornaments.  I wish I would've taken a picture of our tree as they decorated.  The bottom 1/3 of the tree was completely filled with ornaments, while the top parts remained bare.  So funny that it didn't occur to them that we had to decorate the whole tree.  Perhaps the greatest highlight of all the decorating was setting up the train around the tree.  Vince really loves trains right now, so this was the ultimate.  To no one's surprise, the kids took the train off the tracks a few times and drove them like toys a time or two.

My Christmas gift this year included a new DSLR camera.  I bought it in early December, and I just love it.  I used it for most of the picture-taking this Christmas and I'm so happy with how the images turned out.  They're so crisp and I love the ability to constantly shoot.  I was playing with the low-light settings on the camera in this picture.  The tree looks pretty nice this year; sometimes it's a struggle for me to get the ribbon and top to my liking.  In order to make room for the Christmas tree this year, we moved our love seat into Vince's bedroom.  haha  It looks a bit ridiculous, as it's too big for the space and the room, but Vince thinks it's pretty cool, and it's made the perfect story-time spot for a month.

St. Nicholas paid us a visit, and he brought Chippy the Elf back at the same time.  The kids were so excited to see their stockings filled with treats.  They were also happy to see Chippy made it.  Vera, especially, was getting nervous that he wouldn't be back.  Many of her classmates and even her daycare and school had an elf that came before ours.  She wrote a letter to Santa asking him to please send the elf.  Thankfully, we never had to send the letter because Chip showed up soon after.

Next was our traditional Cookie Day at Aunt Mindy's house.  This year, the decorating went especially fast.  I wonder if it's because the kids actually sat and truly decorated cookies this year.  Annie loved the decorating; she squealed with excitement when she watched me show her how to use the icing.  Vince did a fine job of using way too much icing and sprinkles, but he was so proud of his work.  Vera worked hard to make her cookies look just great.  It snowed the entire time we were baking and decorating, which made the day feel even more festive.

I love that Blaire dressed for the day in her festive elf attire.

The next day, it was quite frigid, and we traveled to Coldwater for the Otte family Christmas party.  Like most years, the kids were excited for the first presents of the season.

December doesn't disappoint us with it's busyness.  The following weekend, we celebrated the Bertke family Christmas at Marlene's house.  It was an unseasonably warm and rainy day.  The kids enjoyed some cute games, and of course, a gift from their grandparents.

Like all Bertke family get-togethers, the spread of food was impressive and delish.  Unfortunately, about 24 hours after the party, nearly 20 people at the party, young and old, ended up really sick with food poisoning.  Those that didn't suffer from vomiting just felt nauseous and uncomfortable.  Adam and I were among the unlucky, while the 3 kids dodged the bullet.  The good thing is that all were well within a day.  Could've been much worse.

Throughout the month of December, we took our turn with other illnesses.  Everyone in our house suffered from a terrible head cold.  We also had Strep, Pink Eye, GI bugs, ear infections and incessant coughing run through our house.  Thankfully, everyone was healthy for Christmas.  Because we were sick so much, we missed a few opportunities to see Santa.  Right before Christmas, we went to North Star to see The Man in the Red Suit.  When we told the kids we were going to see Santa, immediately Vince asked if we were riding a train to the North Pole.  They've watched and loved The Polar Express numerous times throughout this Christmas season.  So, we pretended our car was a train and we boarded "The Polar Express."  Vera punched our tickets once we were on board, and we even made a stop for caribou on the way.  We recited a few famous lines as well.  Our trip would've been complete if we would've had the music from the movie.  So fun!  I love the magic of Christmas!

We had no tears.  Vera was really nervous and Annie was reluctantly willing.  Vince, in true Vince style, was calm and excited.

The next day, we had Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa Otte's.  It was a full day of food and family time.  So many great memories!

These boys have to stick together...

...because these girls are full of sass!  I love this picture and so wish we would've put Aubrey in.

So many possible captions here...

Showing off his handsome bow tie.

Dig the shoes!

Grandma played the "Pass the Present" game and the kids loved it.

Vera and Blake took wrapping paper from the trash box and wrapped up their own presents for an adult version of Pass the Present.  It was so fun watching their excitement as we passed (or tossed!) the present around the room.  The colored page on the left was the gift inside.  They colored pictures for their parents and wrapped them up.  So sweet.  The item in the middle is the wrapping-job by a 5 & 6 year-old.  To be completely honest, I was really impressed with their skills, especially since they used scraps.  Grandma may or may not have had any tape left when they were done, but the most important thing is that they had fun! 

Full laps and hearts!

Crazies!

Godmother and Godsons

The next day, Christmas Eve, was another fun-filled day.  We went to church in the morning and headed to the Pearsons for Christmas.

Vince was pretty excited about the day.  He kept showing me his crazy face!

A sandbox digger--Vince knew exactly what it was when he unwrapped.

Neck pillows were a gag gift.

So were the dill pickle chips.

But the neck pillows turned out to be quite a hit.

A fisherman nutcracker for Papa from our family.  I think our kids were just as excited about it as Papa.

Later that evening, we prepped for Santa Claus.  Before we left for Christmas Eve mass, I played with my camera and snapped these pictures.  I love the calm, peaceful and warm feeling of Christmas Eve.

Hot chocolate & cookies for Santa

Please find us, Santa!

For the first time in my life, we had no where to go on Christmas Day.  At first, I was a little bummed to not have our traditional family gatherings, but it actually turned out to be a super day at home.  The kids woke up to so much excitement when they realized Santa arrived.  We hurried downstairs to check out all of the presents left under the tree.  They quickly sorted the gifts and began unwrapping.  It's hard to describe how it feels to see your children so happy and excited about their gifts.  Vince was jumping up and down about everything he opened, even the Spider Man underwear! :)  Vera was grateful for all of her gifts, and Annie was ready to start playing right away!

Everyone in the family received Tigers clothing.  I just love Vin in this picture!

Vince is super-proud of his new bicycle.  He quickly learned to get on and off alone and practiced pedaling all over the basement on Christmas Day.  He can't wait for it to warm up so he can get it outside!

The fishing poles have been a big hit.  I remember Vince excitedly telling me that his fishing pole lights up as I was walking downstairs to see all of the gifts Christmas morning.  He spotted it first-thing and wasted no time checking it out, even before everyone made it downstairs.

These magnet tiles are so cool.  The kids have spent hours playing and constructing.

And, of course, we've had fighting and crying.  It's just so hard to share all of these new toys!

Dad & Vera figured out the tricky bracelet-maker.

More fishing pole action.

The kids spent all of Christmas Day in their PJs playing.  It was a great day.  We did no housework, took naps, played and really enjoyed the day.

Vera & Annie received these outfits from Grandma Otte & had to try them on and show them off.

Another example of how Annie has a bad case of Monkey See, Monkey Do!

Christmas Break this year was just awesome.  I can count on one hand the number of times we went out, total, over break.  It was particularly frigid, and I had no desire to go out.  We had so much fun playing with our new toys.  I almost felt a "re-connection" with the kids, as I spent a lot of time with them and noticed things I hadn't before.  Annie is starting to talk so much.  We can have little conversations with her, and her personality has really blossomed.  Vince has really grown up, though I've noticed that his speech is struggling.  I enjoyed spending afternoons watching Vera play and do things she can't do when the others are awake.  I also accomplished a lot around the house, which always feels good.  It the perfect, much-needed change of pace for us.  Our evenings were much more relaxed as we didn't feel the pressure of homework, baths and bedtime.  The kids slept-in and napped well, so they were in pleasant moods throughout the evenings as well.  We were able to play and be in the moment a lot more.  Most evenings, we dimmed the lights and snuggled in for a Christmas movie together.  It was awesome; my heart is so full!  The kids are at perfect ages to really enjoy their innocence.  I wish I could freeze time for a while.

Right before the New Year, we got about 4 inches of snow.  The temperatures were in the teens and it was windy, but we bundled up and went out to play in the snow.  In looking at the forecast, I knew the rest of break was going to be exceptionally frigid.  I decided to give them the opportunity to go out and and play in the snow while it lasted.  It was cold, and it only lasted about 30 minutes, but everyone had fun tromping in the snow, digging, shoveling and making snow-angels.  Even Vince got out his new bicycle and did some pedaling in the snow.