Christmas...Just About A Month Late

In true Mallory fashion, I am posting Christmas just a little bit late. Or a lot. And in all honesty it'll probably take me a couple different times to finally publish this post, but hey, I am getting there. My goal is before February alright?

Not much to say...we did Christmas in our usual fashion. A trip up north to visit the Crain side for a few days and to celebrate at their annual Christmas party. Then back home at 1 a.m. on Christmas day to have a little family time and then celebrate with my side. It was crazy as always, but fun. Adding a second child will definitely make next Christmas a bit more interesting....

Row 1: our christmas tree // pretty packaging// relaxing in washington // train set // christmas lights

Row 2: lights // advent reading // work party // stockings // gifts

Row 3: cousins // grammie love // decor // stevee // picking out xmas tree

Row 4: singing at church // xmas at the capitol // cheeeeese // manger scene // repeat train set

This was our first official year without Santa. Last year we decided that doing the whole Santa thing just didn't work for our family. This year solidified that decision. Ironically, Eden was OBSESSED with the bearded man. Made for a few laughs. We just treat Santa like Mickey Mouse...he's imaginary, but we haven't seen the harm in letting her have fun watching Christmas movies and such. We are definitely not at a point where we are going to hole up in our house and not let her out for fear of the jolly man. No way. We didn't go sit on his lap (might be creepy if we all sat on his lap anyway), but we think the discussion of Saint Nicholas is a good one so we are all for the fun of it all as long as the focus stays on our Savior.

I think we had a great balance this year. We had a list of things we would like to do. Not HAVE to, just if the time was right and it worked out we would do a few of the traditions. I was a little disheartened by some of the things I heard this holiday season. Many moms throwing mini fits about how this or that went wrong and they didn't get to do everything on their list. PEOPLE. This is not what Christmas is about. It's taken me 28 years to get to that point, but I am so glad that my focus has changed. This was the best Christmas. Not because we got a lot of new things or anything, but because we focused on Christ and doing traditions that helped us grow as a family. We didn't worry about gifts. Last year we did the whole something you want/need/read/wear thing, but this year we decided to focus on keeping the gifts to a maximum of three, just like the wise men brought baby Jesus. So, so good for our family and our wallets. It turned into a great way to remember that our Savior received three gifts, so why should we receive more? Besides, do any of us really NEED anything? I mean, seriously think about it. We all have an overabundance of stuff compared to the rest of the world. I know that no one in our family needed to add to the pile of stuff we already have. This helps keep gift giving intentional. 

Basically this Christmas rocked in the best ways. It was the first year I happily put away the decor knowing that just because the holiday season was over, the whole point of Christmas was not. While it's fun to celebrate Jesus' birth on a special day each year, we really should be celebrating EVERY DAY. So, putting away the ornaments didn't mean Christmas was over at all. How refreshing. 

Thank you Jesus for coming to earth as a man. Sacrificing your life for ours. 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the "5" of us! 

Clarification...we count Bella as one, there are not twins despite the fact that multiple people have asked how there is only one in that belly. Also, ummm what is wrong with me in this photo?! I don't look pregnant...I look like someone stuffed a pillow up my shirt. Not so attractive, but it was the best one we could get. 

Anyway, we are recovering from our late night drive home from Washington...relaxing, opening gifts, and waiting to start the Christmas festivities with the Phillips clan. Hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas day celebrating our Savior's birth! 

Xo.

Christmas 2011...Better Late Than Never?

So, where did the time go? Suddenly I was realizing Christmas was a week away, and now its a whole new year! Between the holidays, getting to help the besties but together a nursery for their baby girl, helping plan a baby shower, and dealing with all of the financial junk that we are going through right now...well, I just don't even have a moment to sit. I am starting to notice my feet are absolutely killing me by mid-day because I never rest. I never knew standing in your bare feet all day could be so painful. I'm loving this time though (well except for that last part). I am now going to try to play catch up, at least on posting Christmas...and eventually I'll make it to the new year.

We saw Santa. 

Side story. After this year Josh and I have really been praying about if we wanted to do Santa or not. He was fine either way, but I was so dead set on continuing the Santa traditions that I had grown up with. Well, something changed because I honestly kept feeling like the whole Santa thing just wasn't right for our family. This shocked me! I never thought I would say that. To be honest I used to think people who didn't have Santa in their home were just plain bonkers (sorry friends!). However, we started to realize that we felt like it was taking away from our Savior's birth and honestly, we felt that by adding in new traditions we wouldn't even miss the old ones. We will still watch all of our favorite Santa inspired movies, we will still bake cookies (we just won't put them out for Santa to eat, but probably give them to friends and family), we will read "The Night Before Christmas" and all those sorts of things...but it will all lead back to Jesus' birth. Please note we have nothing against Santa...in fact we LOVED him growing up. I'm still in shock that this decision came to us as it did. So, by all means, have Santa visit your homes, we think there are so many great things about that bearded man. 

We went to Washington to spend time with Josh's side of the family and had so much fun. We rode a train (something we won't be doing until Eden is MUCH older, that girl knows how to throw the best tantrums at the worst times), played at the pool (indoor of course), had lots of Christmas meals, saw lots of family, opened presents, and had lots of fun!

The tutu we made Stevee

Afraid Eden learned to put her hands on her neck when she is overwhelmed from me...I do it a lot.

The kidlets (cousins and second cousins and such)..the best one I could get. My child is mean to her cousin. You can't see Peyton. You can kind of see Darren. Julia is cut off. James is hiding behind the couch. So Caleb and Eden are stars of the show apparently.

This year we made almost all of our gifts. I'll have to do a separate post on that one. 

We all came home late on Christmas Eve so that we could spend Christmas morning opening presents at home, going to church, and then eating Christmas dinner with my side of the family...oh and of course open more gifts.

Obviously Christmas was too much for Eden this year. 

Merry Christmas!

Well, let's call this a big, fat Christmas fail. I planned on showing you all some of the ways we jazzed up our house for Christmas. That didn't happen. I did take pictures, I just didn't have a chance to show them to you. I planned on sending out Christmas cards, and then we couldn't afford to order them or buy stamps. I then planned on showing you that card on here, but never got a chance before we left on the train for Washington. Oh and did I mention that I slept a total of seven hours in three days because I was so busy crafting away on every single homemade gift we are giving this year? There was a lot of them. I am tired, but oh so excited that it's Christmas day! So, since I pretty much just failed at everything, I quickly threw together another Christmas card for your enjoyment. Yes, I pretty much rock my failures.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get to enjoy some time with families and friends...and eat lots of food, because that's important. 

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 

Being Neighborly...And Other Christmas Goodies

We have the greatest neighbors. Really, we do. We actually have experienced a lot of not so great neighbors, so moving to our current location proved to us that neighbors can be nice. Because we love them so much we like to do a little something for them for Christmas (well and throughout the year too). I didn't have a chance to show you what I did last year...or at least I don't think I did, if I did then just think of this as a reminder. We needed something simple and inexpensive, but cute all at the same time. Here is what we came up with.

Aren't those fun? We found the pails in the dollar section at Target. You could always find some at a craft store or Goodwill and decorate them yourself, but at the time (working full-time and had a 2 month old) I just couldn't find a spare moment to DIY much of anything. So pre-made worked for me! The inside is filled with Peppermint Bark from Costco. That is some good stuff! We also found little packets of hot chocolate and stuffed them in there as well. See those cute little Santa socks there? We had found out that our newest neighbors were expecting their first baby so we had to throw those in for fun. 

So, if you need an idea for an easy and inexpensive gift, there you have it. This year I have plans of giving them some homemade popcorn in glass jars. I don't think they actually read this blog so hopefully I didn't just give it away. Not that I gave much away, it doesn't sound all that great the way I described it, but I promise, it will look half decent in the end. What? I am not promising miracles here. I'll try to share photos if I get them done sometime soon! Christmas is almost here and I haven't finished one present. Talk about procrastination! 

One last thing....our Secret Santa struck again! If you remember we had someone drop a tree at our door and make a run for it. Well, we are guessing that same person (the knock was the same anyway!) dropped a little gift box with all of the fixings for hot chocolate and smores. I happened to be standing next to the door when they knocked, but of course had to do the whole ninja thing and quietly creep to the window to see who it was. No luck, I was too slow and didn't catch them! I would have taken a photo BEFORE we ate everything to show you how cute it was, but we kind of inhaled all of it and ended up in a sugar induced coma. Here is a picture of the cute little mugs that were in that gift box. 

Hope you all are enjoying the holidays so far...and hoping that you have gotten a better start on gifts than I have this year. 

Traditionally Untraditional

I thought I would squeeze in a bit about Christmas before the end of the year...yeah, I'm cutting it just a bit close. This post is going to be all about the photos. I always gravitate towards the illustrations in books, so why should the blog be any different? Besides, it's my blog and I'll do what I want.

Since this was Eden's first Christmas, we wanted to start to implement some traditions that we can carry on throughout her life. We knew she wouldn't remember this Christmas, but we both agreed that it was important to start them right away and it is definitely fun to have photos to document the traditions. So, here is how we spent Eden's first Christmas.

Eden made her first DIY ornament

 

We decorated the tree

Our stockings were hung by the chimney with care

  

Our first annual house lighting

Went to work parties

Visited Santa @ Gatti Law Office (best Santa in Salem, hands down.)

 *The outfit she is wearing is the same one I wore my first Christmas*

 Eden with Lola and Grandpa Phillips

Ate Quiche for Christmas Eve breakfast

 

(Eden's first time in a highchair - she loved it!)

We celebrated Jesus @ Morningstar's Christmas Eve Service with my parents and grandma

We ate clam chowder for Christmas Eve dinner

We watched Polar Express and drank hot chocolate

via

Sat by the fire and read The Night Before Christmas and Luke 2

Before bedtime we set out gingerbread cookies and milk water for Santa

On Christmas morning we opened stockings

Ripped open presents

Ate Christmas breakfast with the Phillips' side at grandma's house

Christmas dinner and presents at my parents

Eden's Blabla doll she got for Christmas from Lola and grandpa (doll's name happens to be Lola the Rocker)

Celebrated aunt Stephanie's birthday

And said goodnight to Lola and Grandpa

 

This really was the best Christmas EVER. We had so much fun getting to celebrate with our little girl. I can only imagine how much fun next Christmas will be as she becomes more aware of what is going on. 

Come back soon for our recap on 2010. We can't believe just how busy our past year was...

Merry Christmas To All!

 

**************************************************

On Christmas day a wonderful woman of God, someone I have known for 14 years, went to meet Jesus in Heaven. Beth, I love you so much and I cannot wait until the day that I can tell you just how much your servant heart truly impacted me. Your smile and laugh will be missed here on Earth, but I am so thankful to know you are in a place where there is no more suffering. I am so glad I can say I will see you again with full confidence. So, see you later alligator.

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Love,

Joshua, Mallory, and Bella "the reindeer" Crain

Light Me Up!

For those of you curious as to if I have lost my mind after posting that title, I will assure you I have not. Well, not fully. Actually, the other night Josh and I hopped into the car and drove around the Bush Park and Fairmount neighborhoods for our yearly Christmas lighting adventure. We usually hit up the Keizer lights, but after a dissapointing year we decided it was time to find out what the neighbors were up to. We found some elaborate ones, some simple ones, some gorgeous ones, and even one that had a goblin of some sort. Here are some pictures from our adventures...

 

 

 

 

 

 

There you have it. Do you have any favorites? We couldn't resist the absolute fabulousness of the last home, but we sure do enjoy the ones with the full creative displays out front.  We can't wait to take some of the ideas and implement them on our house someday!

Holiday Inspiration

With Christmas only a week away I couldn't resist posting a few inspirational photos to give you all a little boost of holiday cheer.

Rate My Space

Rate My Space

Rate My Space

Look! It's the Grinch's hiney in the tree! (Oops..couldn't resist this one)

Have a great weekend! If you haven't yet, be sure to go out and look at Christmas lights in your neighborhood. That, followed by a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows is the only way to get in the Christmas spirit. Really. Unless you can't have hot cocoa and marshmallows because you musn't eat dairy, well then I guess you can join me in drinking water.