Feeling the Christmas Love

We put the boys to bed on Christmas Eve and brought our new little living tree in from the front porch. When Kindred and Elias woke up and came downstairs in the morning, the decorated tree greeted them. Elias loved getting his nose right up to the shiny ornaments and looking at his funny face in them. Kindred yelled, "I LOVE IT!"


They also got to see their new kitchen for the first time too. (A craigslist purchase.) You could tell Michael makes lots of meals and cookies with their assistance, because they immediately got the container of eggs out of the "fridge" and Kindred fried them up in the pan, adjusting the gas knob as necessary, and Elias pulled out the larger pot and announced that he was making soup.


One of our Christmas morning traditions is to snuggle and read The Nativity illustrated by Julie Vivas. (If anyone knows where I can get prints or anything done by this illustrator, please let me know. She is one of my favorites, hands down, but I can only find her work in children's books.) The children, when asked what the angel (who, in this version, wears floppy untied hiking boots) said to Mary, dutifully reply "No be afraid."


The boys did a little sleuthing and instead of buying lousy flimsy slippers for Daddy at Kohls this year, they found some amazingly wonderful handmade slippers on Etsy.com here. Kindred knew that there was something called "felting" that Daddy was going to have to do before he wore his new slippies, but Elias didn't think it seemed too difficult, so they chose colors and ordered them right then and there. The slippers come out of the package quite large, but after some washings in hot soapy water and wearing them cold and wet for 30 minutes then setting them on the radiator to dry for 2 days, they turned out to be his favorite slippers ever. Good choice, boys!


Another Etsy.com purchase was made for the boys: a 5 piece handmade wooden train set. It is awesome.

Then it was stocking time.

Snacks! Yogurt-covered pretzels, dried fruits, trail mix. Santa, you're the best.

(At some point, the chirping Easter bunny made an appearance....)

K for Kindred and E for Elias

And now for the section I will subtitle: We love you, Aunt Lindsey!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, well, you know...