The Simple Year

I love coming home to my decorated home! I love savoring sweet memories when at look at the Christmas decorations that I brought from my childhood into my marriage with me. I love the familiarity of seeing the same things year after year, and the fun of adding a little something new each year. I read my friend Amy's blog today, though, and remembered a Christmas when I didn't have any of those things. Amy and her husband are on a longterm business trip that has them living in a different state for several months. All of their Christmas decorations are back home. Amy has a great attitude, but I also understand how sad she is inside. Let me reflect for a moment.

It was December 1, 2005. We were living in a wonderful, but very tiny (500 sq. ft.) mountain cabin. It had 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. Snapper slept on the couch in the living room because there wasn't room for her in our tiny bedroom. I had just found out I was pregnant with Pepper, and I was sick, sick, sick! When it came time to get a Christmas tree and decorate, we realized that our boxes of decorations were buried deep in our storage unit. It didn't take long for us to decide that getting the boxes out wasn't worth our effort. The house was too tiny for decorations, anyway. And oh, how my heart mourned! I moped a bit for a few days. And then it occurred to me that Christmas is still Christmas without decorations. After all, what, or rather, who, is Christmas about anyway?

Attitude sufficiently checked, I began thinking about how I could make this Christmas beautiful and special without the decorations. It ended up being very special. I remembered something my mom used to say: "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!" And that is just what I did. With a budget of $30, I headed out to the store. 2 days later, our little cabin sported a 2-foot-tall Douglas Fir, all covered with strung popcorn and cranberries, a cheap string of lights, and a construction paper star, sparkling with gold glitter glue. We made a paper chain and strung it over the door in the living room. I veered away from my normal mellow wrapping paper choice, and selected a bold paper and sparkly bows. Since I didn't have our advent wreath, I made a temporary one out of 4 cheap taper candles and yard clippings. It was beautiful. It didn't cost us much at all. And we had fun making it all!

As I look back on that Christmas, I don't remember missing my decorations. Instead, I cherish memories of holding 3-year-old Snapper in my lap and helping her string popcorn. I fondly recall our simple, little tree, and how the tree and bright paper brought light and extra pizzazz to our little home. Mostly though, I remember how the unimportant things faded away. It was a simple, beautiful Christmas, and I will never forget it.

I still have that sparkly paper star. It hangs on our Christmas tree as a reminder to keep Christmas simple, and place Christ in the center.

A Little Mis and Chief

The bedtime battle continues. Mr. Man Pepper still does not like his room. He will go to sleep in his bed pretty easily when a cat is in bed with him. But the cats have to go in the bathroom at night to prevent pee accidents. At some point in the night Pepper realizes that cat is gone and he wakes up. For a while he came bawling into our room. But we would always take him back right away and put him in his bed. After a few nights of this, he started coming quietly into our room and climbing into bed on my side. He seems to know Mommy is a deep sleeper. When I wake up and find him beside me, he is sound asleep and has most likely been there for a while. I always take him straight back to his bed. So last night Matt put Pepper to bed. He went and worked downstairs while I was on the computer. After about 30 minutes I went to check on Pepper. The cat was still there, but Pepper was not. After just a few minutes of searching, I found him all cuddled up with Snapper in her bed. He was wrapped up in her arms, and they were quietly talking and giggling. *Stab* to the mommy heart! How could I disrupt so much sibling love and cuteness? But alas, I must teach Pepper to sleep in his bed. So I moved him back into his room, and told him if he got out of bed again I would spank his bottom. He went right to sleep.

This morning I had to get Matt to work early, so I got up and went in to wake up the kids. Pepper's bed was empty. I looked downstairs but he was not there. So I went back up and peeked into Snapper's room. This is what I saw! Little stinker! He figured out how not to sleep in his bed without waking Mommy and Daddy!



I tiptoed back to my room to get Matt and the camera. We stood there together for about 3 minutes, just watching our little ones sleep. You can't see in this picture but they were all wrapped around each other, and sleeping like logs. We had a good hard think about Pepper and the room situation. Is it really so bad that they want to be together? Why is it so important that they sleep in different rooms? Why did we move them to their own rooms in the first place? The issue was not because of sleep--rather, we moved them to help control the toys and keep Snapper from having to clean up her brother's messes.

When I woke Snapper and Pepper, they snuggled closer together and just lay there. Snapper put her arms around him and whispered sweet words of love to him. Tears in my eyes! This is the kind of relationship I want my kids to have! I asked Pepper what he was doing there. His reply: "I was scared in my room so I came to sleep with 'Snapper' in her bed. 'Snapper' loves me." Melt! Then Snapper offered, "Mommy, 'Pepper' came to my bed in the middle of the night because he was scared. I let him get in bed with me and he fell asleep right away. I don't mind if he sleeps with me. Maybe we shouldn't have our own rooms anymore. I miss him and I want him with me. He's my brother and I love him."

What can a mommy say to that? After brief discussion, Matt and I decided that Pepper will go to sleep in his own room. If he wakes in the night and wants to go to Whitney, that's fine. They both love the arrangement, and it prevents midnight trauma. I never yet met a kid who went to kindergarten in diapers or sucking on a pacifier. I'm sure this is a phase for Pepper that he will eventually outgrow. For now though, we believe this will foster a more loving relationship between our kids.

And it's so dang cute!

Just to end this, I must put in this picture that I took about 20 minutes ago. Pepper disappeared for a while. I finally found him "taking a bath." No water, just plenty of shampoo and soap...
Time for a high up child latch for the bathroom door!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Ahhhh, what a weekend! It started out a little bit rocky. I was all pumped up about getting our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, but Matt seemed less than enthused. On Friday morning, I asked him why he didn't want to get the tree that day. A simple question led to a much-needed, 3o-minute discussion about Christmas, family traditions, our families' histories, and our indivudual expectations about Christmas for our family. My eyes were opened to why Matt has never gotten into the Christmas prep before. And he realized for the first time, I think, just how much my childhood traditions have shaped me. The end result was stunning--Matt's new outlook completely changed the course of our weekend. It was one of those special weekends I'll never forget.

After our discussion on Friday, we loaded the kids into the car and headed to Hobby Lobby to refresh our Christmas lights. After 7 Christmases, our tree lights finally bit the dust. We also had some 40% off coupons, so we got some additional lights for the outside of our house. Then it was on to Home Depot for a tree. When I was a kid we always used to go up into the Santa Cruz Mountains with my cousins to cut our tree at a tree farm. But the last few years Matt and I lived in California, the tree farm trees were dry, and the farms were pretty picked over. So we started going to Home Depot for our tree. We have never been disappointed. The trees are beautiful, affordable, and very fresh. This year's tree is probably the healthiest tree we have ever had. The kids had fun playing in the trees while Matt and I picked out our tree.







We got our tree home and the work began! Matt pulled out our Christmas tubs while I cleaned the living room. Matt moved furniture. I broke open the tubs. Matt set up the tree. I went through the tubs and pulled out everything I wanted to use for decorating this year. Matt and Snapper put the lights on the tree. I went camera crazy! I am still touched by how careful Matt was to evenly space the lights. He even wrapped lights up the trunk, knowing that I like that. Pepper got to put the star on the tree this year. It was his first time!









Snapper and I started decorating inside while Matt started the lights on our porch. I made a wreath for the front door and arranged silk poinsettias for the dining room and kitchen. I got all teary unpacking the stockings and hanging them over the fireplace. So many memories attached to these precious things! It was fun to share some of my memories with Snapper. And Pepper was so cute playing with the nativity set. "Mama, I gots Mawy, Jofus, and the Jesus Baby!" After all the decorations were out and set, I cleaned the living room again and put the tubs back in the garage.







Then came what Snapper had been anticipating all day: decorating the tree! When I was growing up, my dad's godmother and my mom built ornament collections for me. When I got married, my mom gave me the box of ornaments she had been collecting for me all those years. I am doing the same for Snapper and Pepper. How sweet to share more memories as we upwrapped each ornament from the tissue paper! Matt hung his ornaments. I hung mine. Snapper hung hers, and Matt helped Pepper hang his. More tears were shed as we reminisced about Christmas Past.





We all went to bed that night contented and tired. Saturday brought more fun! The kids played on the lawn while Matt and I worked on the rest of the outside lights. Pepper "helped" me snap the hangers onto the lights. Snapper policed Daddy to make sure he didn't fall off the roof. Even our kitties, Zoe and Alara, got into the action by climbing out the bathroom window and joining Matt on the roof.







We ended our day with a trip to Purple Cow for hamburgers, fries, and ice cream cones. We decided that post-decorating lunch at Purple Cow must become a new tradition! When darkness fell, we turned on those magical lights in our front yard. Matt did a beautiful job, and survived to tell about it! It was a sweet weekend for sure. A great kickoff for the wonderful month of December!