Our Family Christmas

The stockings were hung by the chimney TV with care

The gifts were all wrapped and ready to share

We all tucked in bed until morning arrived.  And no one could wake another til 7:45!

The girls, they made, the itinerary.  We’d start with the stockings to get us all merry.

Followed by cinnamon rolls gifted by Grandma.  They were delicious and a highlight for all!  We read the story of Jesus’ birth from the Jesus Storybook Bible.  I love the way it retells and paints new pictures in your mind.

The girls decided to start with the parents.  They could hardly wait to reveal their creations – a headband for dad, some bookmarks and earrings for mom, and coupons for baked goods and comfy pants, too!  Mom got dad a sweatshirt. Dad got mom a vacuum (she asked for it!).  Then, they got more – a framed print from Jason and a some weights for big lifting!

    

Then, came the time to for unwrapping fun as Ellie gave to Madison – a squishmellow, a shirt, and earrings!

Madison returned the favor with gifts well thought out and some crafted with care – a pig shirt, a pig lanyard, pig scrunchies, shirts, and a mug!

The parents remembered gifts for the girls (since this is the year they are too old for Santa) – for Ellie: some air pods, graphic novels, and an electric toothbrush; for Madison: a book, puzzle sorter trays, Beachwaver curling iron, and an electric toothbrush!

They thought they were done – they were happy, content.  But then Pepper discovered some more tucked behind the chair.

They unwrapped a surprise – the Nintendo Switch and some games – to play with and laugh with and entertain them some more. 

    

It was a fun Christmas of giving and receiving.  I appreciate the way the girls excitement to give is a big as their excitement to receive.  Hopefully, that will continue with them as they get older as well. We hope everyone had a good Christmas filled with memories and traditions (old and new). 

Yoh (and Bricker) Christmas

On Sunday (Christmas Eve), we joined some Brickers at Gloria for Christmas gathering.  There were 14 of us there, so it was crowded, but it was fun.  The girls realized that they matched on their way to church that morning, and it was fun to see that Erin matched with them too!

    

We had a meal catered by Village Catering.  Then, we played the plastic wrap and candy game.  (Thanks, Julie!)  We had fun in a circle chasing the ball around and trying to unwrap as much as possible on our turn.  I ended up with the prize – Little Greg and a small golden trophy until next year! 

    

We left about 5:30 to come home, let the dog out, and get to church for the Christmas Eve service.  It was a beautiful service punctuated by a short Christmas skit by the kids’ choirs.  And for some reason, I did not get our traditional photo this year which was kinda disappointing to me once we had returned home and I pondered it.

(Christmas morning happened… see our family Christmas post.)

We headed to Gloria’s around 11;30 Christmas morning to have virtual Christmas with our Minnesota Yohs.  The cousins are pretty active and we only saw them for a few minutes as they unwrapped our gifts.  We think they liked them.  The girls unwrapped the gifts from the Minnesota Yohs before we said good-bye and let them move on to their next Christmas. 

    

Then, we spent some time opening gifts from one another at Gloria’s.  Jen and Arturo had some fun, thoughtful gifts for the girls that will lead to crafting and exploring.  Gloria gifted them with some items off their gift lists and a few other fun things. 

We had lunch together.  Then, we headed out to try out some balloon helicopters and move around a bit.  Jen bought the girls some ribbon wands, so obviously, we tried them out in the park.  The video is included for your enjoyment (and because Jeremy finds it highly entertaining so I thought I should share it with the world!). 

We had supper together before heading home for the night.  It was a good day with family.

Advent #3

Day 18 – Elf movie at Canton Palace Theater…. we like to watch Elf every year, so I thought we would view it in a different way this year.  The girls were slightly suspicious since I wouldn't let them watch it for nights when they asked.  But I think they were okay waiting.  The theater was a fun way to watch it.  There were no previews just a man on a magical organ and some amazing clouds.

    

Day 19 – Dip a treat… dipped some delicious pretzels for our teachers.  And the girls had made creative cards on the Canva platform for their teachers as well.  We did it with masks on since we were all feeling a little under the weather.

Day 20 – Make something aromatic… we tried our hand out shower discs – baking soda, cornstarch, and water baked in muffin tins, and then add essential oils.  We will see how they work out later.

Day 21 – Stuff and Stamp Christmas letters… I have all the things to do it, but we haven’t made time for it yet.  It is a pretty quick task when we all work together.

Day 22 – Pizza and game night… We invited Jen, Arturo, and Grandma Yoh over for this one.  Ordered East of Chicago subs and pizza and played four animated rounds of Christmas Scattergories.  It was a lot of fun!

Day 23 – Make Starbucks drinks…. this is today.  I have a couple options and we will see what they choose.

A few other fun things..

Christmas dress up was the last four days of school – pajama day, accessory day, Christmas movie character day, and anything Christmas.  For Christmas movie day, my co-workers and I worked together to make the Grinch – Kendra = Grinch, Christ = Max, Me = Christmas tree in Whoville and every house.  While I didn’t wear it all day, it did elicit a lot of smiles from kids that morning which made it worth it.

On our first day off of school, the girls decided to make a blanket fort.  It was bigger than when they were little and more involved, but it reminded me so much of their younger days.  It was fun to see them have time to play.

    

Ediger Christmas (Advent Day 17)

We gathered at 9am at mom and dad’s house.  We indulged in coffee cake (aka dessert for breakfast), took the standard family pictures, and waited for the festivities to begin. (still need to get the other families…)

         

Grandpa read the Christmas story from his dad’s Bible, a reminder of how faith begins as a nugget that we pass on to our kids before they embrace it as their own one day (we pray!). 

Then, instead of unwrapping gifts, we started with stockings this year.  Grandma passed out a summary/timeline of memories of trips we have taken as a family over the years. 

Then, we were put into teams to put together a corner of a puzzle.  Once we had completed our corner, the teams joined the puzzles together to reveal the big gift – a summer trip as a family to Orange Beach, Alabama!  Oh my was everyone excited!

Then, as teams, we planned ideas for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks.  It will be a lot more planning to come, but it was a start.

After that excitement, we went around the circle opening gifts.  Madison received some cute Converse shoes she was very excited about!

    

And Ellie was gifted a pig trinket and a treehouse Lego set – also excited!

    

We enjoyed ham balls, cheesy potatoes, bread, salad, etc for lunch.

    

Then headed to the gym to burn off some energy.  No one was hurt or injured in the play this year, so I figure that is a win.  We played knock out, various basketball games, volleyball passing, scootering, and more.  Jeremy brought my Christmas tree outfit and had some fun with that. 

    

The day ended with a light supper, gift card exchange (adults), and farewells.  It is always too fast, but just right.

Advent #2

Day 10 – Attend the Nutcracker Ballet… it was just Grandma Yoh and the girls this year.  I felt sick, the beginning of something that is still with me 3 weeks later!  They enjoyed the time, the outfits, and the ballet. 

Day 11 – Snowman Pancakes… I had it lined up that 2 families from church were going to join us this year, but my sickness forced me to reschedule for after Christmas (so we do have that to look forward to!).  But the girls wanted to do this anyway with just our family since it was on the calendar.  (And I had no backup plan for supper.)  So, here are our snowmen… (note that Jeremy’s is in honor of the Brown’s replacement quarterback, Joe Flacco; the fifth snowman is Madison’s original transformed into a granny snowman)

         

Day 12 – Play in a Band Concert… This year, Mr. Kaserman worked with all 3 bands to slip in a fun twist to each concert.  In 6th grade, a student jumped up saying he found a letter from Santa asking that ___ be played.   Then, a 6th grader stood up and performed the solo on his sax!  Then, in 7th grade, Santa’s letter asked for the flutes to play a 60s rock song.  Finally, in 8th grade play Seventh Nation Army with some electric guitars, and some 8th graders whipped out some guitars and the band played.  It was really fun!

         

Day 13 – Mix and bake cut-out cookies… we squeezed this in after an elder meeting.  The girls enjoy this even better than the decorating.  This year, they did most of the cookie batter making as well. 

   

Day 14 – Decorate cookies… sprinkles, frosting, and artistic flair.  All hands on deck to get these done this year.

         

Day 15 – Wrap gifts… we have discovered the ping pong table makes a great gift wrapping area.  And the girls are getting better at wrapping themselves with the appropriate amount of paper.  We mailed off the Minnesota Yohs gifts this year since they won’t be able to join us in person.

Day 16 – Pick out teacher gifts… the girls looked through all the magazines and both chose gifts from Heifer International.  Ellie is giving the gift of a a flock of chickens.  Madison is giving the gift of honeybees.  We are gifting these to Sunday school and youth group teachers.