conquering christmas

there is that moment on december 26th when you wake up, grab a cup of coffee, snuggle with your babies, and then make the mistake of looking around at the disaster that is now your house. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that our dining room table had a solid two foot high pile of gifts covering it and the living room looked like a bomb had gone off. all at once the panic set in and I felt the need to put life on hold and conquer christmas. let me give it to you straight - our house is small. we have precisely three closets in the whole joint; two of which are a mere 2 1/2 feet wide. so the thought of having to somehow fit all of the wonderful new toys into our home was daunting. and we all know that before the disaster gets better, it has to get worse. *sigh* well...many, many, many hours later I had defeated christmas! every new toy was stowed into its newly labeled spot (thank you honey for my new favorite household tool). I could once again enjoy my cup of coffee and relive the magic of christmas. because even with the post-christmas organization battle that I know is looming each year, I adore christmas.

there is nothing more fulfilling than watching your children experience the magic of the holiday. we spent the entire weekend surrounded by our families. hands down, that is definitely the best gift of the season. we are blessed and we know it. some might say that celebrating four christmases in two days is too chaotic. and yes, while there are moments when it feels a bit too busy, I am quick to stop and remember that it is a wonderful "problem" to have.

we got dolled up for brunch and games at my parents' house on christmas eve morning. we watched as the boys were spoiled by nana and papa, great-grandma sissy, and a slew of aunts and uncles. we were thankful to have my cousin safely arrive from wisconsin - it wouldn't be the same without him. and for the third (or maybe fourth) year we played our secret santa game. this year's packages were wrapped in plain paper bags and were labeled with three qualities that you admire about your person. we find that this game makes us all slow down and remember that it isn't about the gift your giving, but rather the gift of each person in our family.

our first greseth christmas eve without grandpa was difficult. but oh did we feel him there with us and we are certain that his first christmas in heaven was spectacular. our time together was comforting and we all look forward to the norwegian feast each christmas eve.

the little ones exchanged gifts, but not before we read the christmas story and sang a few carols. I remember doing this as a child and feeling the agony of the adults dragging out the whole charade. after all, it basically feels like an eternity when you are staring at your big ol' pile of gifts and having to wait for yet another verse of away in a manger.

christmas morning is ours. it is a quiet time for our family of four to be together. we cherish those few hours alone with our boys. this year miles really started to understand christmas and how it works. he was excited to see what santa brought, but didn't want to go into the dining room for fear that he might have to see the man with the big red hat. scary. he was especially thrilled when he found his tiny tiger buried at the toe of his stocking and when he unwrapped a slew of super why! toys. oh to be two again!

henry was oblivious, but thought the wrapping paper was fun...not to mention tasty! but perhaps even tastier was his first christmas morning breakfast. the waffles and yogurt with blackberries put a smile on all of our faces!

we finished up the big weekend with christmas with the kroenings. once again we filled our bellies and found an obscenely large pile of gifts under the tree. santa was definitely good to all of us this year! grandpa always makes sure the boys get plenty of john deere gear and henry was jazzed about his new little combine. he pushed it all over the floor.

it's always somewhat of a downer when you wake up to find wadded up wrapping paper strewn about with a big ol' pile of christmas dishes in the sink and loads of new things to find homes for on your dining room table. but it was worth every bit of all that. christmas comes but once a year and we will do it up right every time!

the following is a little christmas video montage. I'll warn you: it's long. but there were too many adorable pictures that I had to somehow include...and who doesn't enjoy a little post-christmas music? bonus.

showering baby owl

I am a sucker for newborns. I caught myself staring for hours at my own newborn sons when they were tiny. so to say we are excited for the birth of "baby owl" would be a slight understatement! just in case you've not heard the story about baby owl, here's a little background: miles had been very into his Winnie the Pooh book and, about four months ago, I was explaining to him that jen (my sister-in-law) had a baby in her belly. the conversation went something like this:

me: do you think marc and jen will have a boy baby or a girl baby?

miles: ummmmm a boy baby

me: what do you think they'll name the boy baby?

miles: OWL!

so from then on, baby owl was born.

we are anxious to find out if we will have another precious baby boy in the family or if we will be spoiled with a baby girl. either way, we will be blessed; babies are such a miracle. and we couldn't let this new arrival come without a proper shower.

we had a wonderful time creating an alphabet book for the new baby. each guest chose a letter of the alphabet and made a cute page for the book out of the criminal amount of scrapbooking materials that beth and I own.

as far as I'm concerned, showers are one of the yummiest parties to go to. who doesn't enjoy snacking on delicious sweets and treats in the middle of the afternoon?

the baby and mom were spoiled up right and we had just enough time to play a couple of fun games. including "guess what daddy said?!" marc is the king of randomness and indecisiveness, so his answers were entertaining and allowed many players to score a few extra points. we had a great time and are so looking forward to meeting baby owl. he/she is already loved and adored by many!

adorable belly shot with the lovely moms-to-be (jen and cousin tressa)

and just for fun...here is a picture of henry with one of his many little girlfriends, aubrey. isn't she a beauty? those cheeks...love.

fa la la la la

it's time to deck the halls and for us that means get the tree decorated, do some holiday baking, and wrap the presents. it's an exciting time in our house; one that brings back precious memories for me. I am doing my very best to continue old traditions and create new ones.

old tradition #1: LEFSE

lef·se

  [lef-suh]

–noun

a round Norwegian flatbread resembling a tortilla, made with mashed potatoes and flour.

read: a little slice of heaven on earth sprinkled with brown sugar. mmm-mmm-good!


my grandma greseth has passed this tradition down from our long line of norwegian ancestry. let me tell you, nothing beats homemade lefse, nothing. sure they sell it in the grocery store, but it sucks. I guess it'll do in a pinch if you are desperate for a little taste in, say, july. but it doesn't even come close to the real thing.

my generation is now learning the art of making lefse. it's not exactly difficult, but it certainly is time-consuming. extra hands and company are certainly welcome! and why not make it into a lovely way to spend time together with those you love? priceless. 

this year's lefse baking day was nearly sidelined by yet another december blizzard, but we plowed our way over to my parents' house and made it happen. it sure was worth it!

old tradition #2: TREE DECORATING

I'll admit that there is definitely a martha stewart wannabe living somewhere inside me and she sneaks out every now and then. keep that in mind as you read about decorating a tree with children. small children. you know, the ones who do a much better job of undecorating the tree?

growing up, we always got to put our own ornaments on the tree. I remember the excitement we felt when mom handed us our big box of ornaments - complete with a handwritten list of each ornament and who gave it to us. we took great pride in placing each ornament on its own special branch. so I started a list for miles and let him hang up his ornaments.

he was precious. he put up the gold balls first and the entire two boxes worth were hanging in a two-square-foot area on the front of the tree. the martha in me cringed, but the mommy in me rejoiced! I silenced the martha and went with it...of course I have since spread them out a bit.

last year miles' ornament for us was one of those recordable little hallmark keepsakes. it plays Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, which is followed by a message from me saying, "merry christmas miles! mommy and daddy love you!" henry and I heard it at least a hundred times that day. it was awesome!

old traditions #3: BAKING
pretzel dipping was the extent of our baking this year. we had every good intention of making lefse in the morning and baking all afternoon. but old man winter had different plans. the massive amounts of snow on saturday made it impossible to get to the grocery store and the need to plow out on sunday scratched our original start time. so we didn't get to enjoy the mile high stacks of containers full of cookies this christmas. I'm sure my waistline is thanking me!

miles and I did do some pretzel dipping. he was such a great little helper! I'm happy to report that more pretzels made it to the freezer than went into his mouth and we only needed to wash the top of the sprinkles a few times.

miles' attention span is quite a bit longer than the average two year old, but when he spotted the iPod, I was doomed. what can I say when he sweetly askes, "can I watch Sound of Music on the iPod mommy?" sure thing little buddy...do-re-mi!

henry napped while we chocolated. he sure was happy to see his big brother when he woke up!