I know Christmas doesn't come in a box, but...

Out came our Christmas boxes from the garage today and it feels more Christmasy with the decorations strewn about the house. The first thing I brought in was a wood nativity set which Kirby opened up then announced to Sam, "This is our activity!" He spent several minutes setting it up just right, then started pulling out all the decorations from the other boxes. He found some tiny paper chains I made years ago and put them in random places throughout the house: his dresser knobs, on the little bin of Jiorji's diapers, on the TV... He found his stocking and hung it up, remembering just where it went from last year. Sam is just following him around the house, balloon in tow. I know, all kids like balloons, right? But he is OBSESSED! He will carry one around for days, everywhere we go, until ALL the air leaks out. He's not ornery-obsessed, like HAS to have it; he just enjoys it so much that he pleasantly takes it along like it's a friend he's inviting to share his little world.

We watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional together at home and I was so grateful for the Internet so we didn't have to try to keep the kids sitting still at the church. Of course I made pumpkin pie cake for dessert tonight, because that is my tradition for when we watch the Christmas Devotional. It's quite tasty with fresh whipped cream on top. Here's the recipe:

4 eggs
3 cups canned pumpkin
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups evaporated milk
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 350. Mix in order given and pour into ungreased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle a box of yellow cake mix over the top, and pour melted butter (1 cube) over the cake mix. Top with 1 cup chopped nuts and bake 1 1/4 hours. Note: I think it'd be better with less cake mix, maybe just half a package.

Jensen Family Band

For today's Countdown activity we sang songs. It was supposed to be Christmas music. First I tried to put on a cassette tape I had of kid Christmas music but Kirby took it out and put in a lullaby tape. Later I played some Christmas music on the piano and Kirby got out his ukulele and played along and said, "Sam, you sing! Sing 'Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are!'" Which was a great idea, but I happened to be playing Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.

Greg came home and got out his guitar and we moved into the boys' room (where we hung Christmas lights a week or two ago so it felt festive) and enjoyed some more singing time, this time all singing kid songs together. The picture is dark and I think it's funny how it looks like Kirby is toothless and Greg has a huge beard. We'll keep working on teaching some Christmas songs. The only one Kirby wants to sing so far is this: "Jingle bells are ringing! On Christmas Day!" He sings "Jingle Bells are Ringing" to the tune of "Christmas Bells are Ringing" (Primary Children's Songbook) and the "On Christmas Day!" to the tune of "all through the town" at the end of The Wheels on the Bus.

Anyway, a great time was had by all.



I came across this outfit tonight and had to put it on Jiorji even though she was already in her pajamas. My sister-in-law gave it to me when I was pregnant in 2005, but then I miscarried and didn't think I'd ever have a baby that would fit it at Christmas. Still, I couldn't quite part with it. Sentimental old me. With Jiorji born in July and it being a 0-3 month size, I didn't expect it to fit her either, but it sure does! This just made me happy somehow.

Christmas in a Cup

For today's Countdown to Christmas activity the boys colored pictures for these make-it-yourself mugs.


Greg took a few minutes to sit down and color with the boys.



Kirby's attention span was very limited (big surprise, right?) and his goal seemed to be to cover the whole paper in orange colored pencil scribble as quickly as possible. Shouldn't we all set goals like that, that we know we can achieve and be happy with?

One Hundred and Eighty MORE Elf Hats

This time they were red. And I really didn't get too sick of it until the last five. And those were worth it when Kirby was so excited to see them all there, and I saw some kids putting them on their heads, and one little boy saved his to take home. Today's activity was the ward Christmas party. Oh, and making 3 tons - at least - of fancy mashed sweet potatoes and 180 more elf hats in preparation for said party. My kids hung out with me and enjoyed making many messes. "Mom's doing it, so I can, too!" was the philosophy I guess. By the way, I am thinking of holding off on volunteering to help with things that need 2 hands until Jiorji is weaned. Folding the hats while feeding her was ok, but peeling potatoes was a bit tricky, believe it or not.


I've been a little worried that Kirby would be disappointed this year because we want to keep presents very basic and simple and he's been asking for a BIG trampoline, a Wii, and a big TV (none of which I have any intention of getting) plus many, many small things as they come to his mind. Tonight I asked what he would get if he can have just ONE thing, and told him that's what he should ask Santa for. He'd been trying to remember a long list. When it was his turn, he ran up and hugged Santa. With no hesitation, he declared that he wanted "A little toy boat like at Grandma Richins' house!!" Which happens to be a dollar-store toy she puts in the bathtub when we go there. Sam was a little more shy around Santa, but managed to tell us (not him) that he wants a harmonica. There is hope for a happy, simple Christmas after all!

One Hundred and Eighty Elf Hats

I want to keep Christmas simple and family-focused, with a huge dose of quality time replacing a huge dose of unnecessary consumerism. After reading *this and checking out the link she had for an easy advent calendar to do with kids, I thought how I would love to do that and make this Christmas season more meaningful for my children, BUT (isn't there always a "but"?) I don't have time/energy/patience/ability/"insert any other lame excuse here" to make a cutesy little calendar right now and isn't-it-too-bad-I-didn't-think-of-this-sooner because I'm an all or nothing type and can't start on Day 3 or something. SOOO... I modified the idea and wrote down a bunch of ideas of Christmas Season activities and we're putting them in a bowl and drawing one (or more) out each day. (I prefer to think of myself as "flexible" rather than "disorganized" thank you very much.) A plus of this way of picking Christmas activities is not having to assign days because some things you just can't know ahead of time, like if there will be enough snow for "Go sledding down the big hill at the high school" or if I will have the energy that day for "Make a gingerbread train and and train station and decorate them with way too much candy" (Kirby's idea of course) so this way we can put it back and pick a different one if it doesn't work for that day. Today we watched Dr. Suess's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

It's one of Kirby and Sam's favorites so we watch it year round but it was with an especially Christmas feeling that we watched it today. The boys also "decorated" a tree with jingle bells and candy canes. Kirby explained with all his 4-year-old, older-brother wisdom to Sam that these candy canes were not for eating. Then he later modified his decision to "we can eat the ones that break" and suddenly a surprising number were falling off the tree and getting accidentally stepped on. Oops.


Kirby decided to make a Christmas cake. I came in a little late on that one. I explained he needed to measure and follow a recipe if he wanted it to be actual Cake. He said the recipe was a secret and he DID measure: "3 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour, 3 cups of milk, a LITTLE salt, and a LITTLE duh-nilla (vanilla)." (Well, so much for the secret!) He used my hand mixer and everything, which I just barely rescued from getting dumped in a very soapy sink where Kirby was responsibly washing the dishes from his cake making escapade. Greg let him bake the batter and it was quite the concoction as you can imagine.


He served it up for him and Sam with sprinkles on top.



Oh, and I made 180 elf hats out of napkins for a church Christmas party tomorrow night and of course the boys wanted some to wear after watching me make them all day so we made one for each of them out of tissue paper.

The first few napkin hats - they got better as I went along but my pictures didn't


Sam trying on his own tissue paper elf hat (Kirby wouldn't hold still for a picture in his)


Jiorji was very cooperative and picked this day to be good at taking naps. Love that girl!!!


Anyway, this was a long post because I have really been needing the unique therapy of writing. If you have any ideas for fun Christmas activities, please leave a comment! I am very open to ideas and won't even have to rearrange or reschedule. That's FLEXIBILITY, my friends!

*I love this blog! I've been reading it for just over a year. I stumbled across it when I was looking up info on if you can ride in a hot air balloon when you're pregnant. I've found a lot of similarities with Emily and love her writing style. By the way, if you ever get a chance to go in a hot air balloon, you totally should! (Unless maybe you are pregnant, as I found out, but it didn't really matter because I wasn't. Pregnant that is.) We took my Dad for his birthday and it was AWESOME!!!