These ARE the Christmas Memories

The closer it gets to Christmas, I've been thinking a lot about what traditions from Matt's and my childhood are important to us enough to keep doing with our kids, and what traditions they will remember or what will be important to them. There's a lot of pressure to think that Matt and I will almost single-handedly shape the memories and traditions of the way our kids celebrate a holiday so important to our faith as they go into adulthood.

I'm finding as a momma it's easy to feel like the buck stops here with traditions... and it's even easier to get wrapped up in the to-do lists and the worry that we aren't making enough/good enough memories for our children. Caught up in the decorating (and protecting the tree from the littles' occasional destructiveness), sending Christmas cards, shopping for and wrapping gifts, planning menus, making ornaments and cookies, and even trying to keep memories of my mom alive in our traditions... and all those other 'traditional' necessities that you forget to make memories in the process. Not to mention on top of all our extra responsibilities that are new this year as a senior pastor's family to a church and town that are new to us, new traditions to learn and navigate. And hold still... Mommy wants to take one more picture of you guys being so cute and Christmas-ey. Sometimes it feels so much easier to decorate the tree or make the cookies at night after the kids have gone to bed instead of putting up with the tantrums and cleaning up the epic messes and dealing with the 'over it' after just getting started just to claim it as a tradition/memory.

In the car with our marshmallows and hot chocolate, well past bedtime, ready to see some Christmas lights:

Christmas card outtakes:

Kenna and Mommy making ornaments together:

Eating Christmas Tree cakes in the kitchen:

Mommy and Kenna watching a Christmas movie (photo by Kenna):

There's a lot to remember and it can get very stressful, as we all unfortunately know. I remember vividly the Christmas that Kenna was about 2 years old (I was pregnant with Finn) and there was so much 'hustle and bustle' that what she came up with completely on her own was the phrase "ho ho hurry." Funny yes, but I don't think I will ever forget it because it's so terribly important to me that that's exactly what the Christmas season is NOT about for our family. That it is not about Santa or reindeer or shopping or hurry up or gimme gimme or even good traditions, but of hopeful and excited expectation of the birth of a baby that changed the course of the world... the only savior, the only one who can bring peace on earth, God incarnate. Oh come, Emmanuel.

So today as Finn napped in his crib and Kenna fell asleep on the couch by the light of the tree, with Christmas carols playing and me trying out a new Christmas recipe in the kitchen, i realized that these are the sights and sounds and smells of Christmas that she will start remembering this year. Yes, there will be some talk of Santa and viewings of Rudolph, riding in the car to look at Christmas lights and hot chocolate, and even some spoilage when she unwraps all those presents, but these will be her memories, and they are good memories. They are safe, happy memories of a warm home with parents and siblings who love her, and whose home hopefully exudes the love of Christ that we work so hard to celebrate and remember in the season. And that's the most important memory to me for our kids.

We have lots of blog stories to catch up on after Christmas (and hopefully after the baby comes I'll be able to keep up so that his little babyhood doesn't blink by as quickly as I'm sure a third child's does. But, until then, we wish you all who may be reading, a very Merry Christmas and a home full of the joy and peacefulness that comes not from perfectly behaved children, perfectly executed traditions, or perfectly arranged plans, but the love of that one little baby, Emmanuel, Christ with us.

Merry Christmas!

Carols in February.

I've been a terrible mommy record keeper, leaving this little blog almost empty recently. Maybe when my kids look back to read these later, they'll see how supremely busy their little lives kept me just trying to get through the every day stuff! You know it's bad when even Matt the other day asked me if I was ever going to get the blog caught up. I do have tons to catch up on... all the way back to Kenna's birthday in November, our trip to Clearwater for Thanksgiving (which was also Finn's first Thanksgiving), Christmas, and probably more! Finn is about to turn one on March first (oh man!) so I'd better get on the ball quick with catching up hopefully before then. He's growing like a crazy little weed, and I don't want to forget his cute little quirks that change so quickly.
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Until then, here's a little video of what a typical post-nap afternoon looks like for my two at these ages (Kenna, 3 and Finn, 11 months). Kenna is constantly singing something... making up words to songs she already knows or singing whatever she's thinking or doing at the moment. Finn is starting to learn that he can communicate in lots of ways- sweet little squalks get our attention, arching his back when he doesn't approve, and apparently singing along with his big sister.

Untitled from lindsey brogli on Vimeo.

It must be a daunting thing to learn all the Christmas carols at once when you're only three years old, so here are the two that Kenna learned this year. She is still singing them in February, and it always makes us smile. Her favorites are Joy to the World and Angel Song (as she calls it- It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.)

It makes a sweet little soundtrack for our days. "Come let us sing for joy, let us shout aloud to the rock of our savation" -Psalm 95:1

Belated!

I guess since it is now January 9th, I have to conced that the Christmas cards are just not going to happen this year! Every time I went to pay for postage for them, there was just one more present that we'd rather buy instead. So, I will post it here in hopes that you can imagine that instead of on a computer screen, you are opening it in your own home, on time, with all the excitement of receiving non-bill mail!

Merry Christmas & (we hope you are already having) a Happy New Year!
(A fun tip to moms of diaper-age kiddos: I usually get our photo Christmas cards for free by altering a favorite photo on Picnik.com and then using our Pampers points from diapers throughout the year- one of the 'rewards' is a Shutterfly.com package of like 200 free 4x6 prints! Then all you have to do is find some envelopes & pay postage!)

A Christmas Flashback.

I started making a photo album this year for us of all the Christmas cards we've sent over the years. I thought it would be fun for our kids (and us!) to flip through it each year and see how much they've grown up and where we were living change. In putting the cards in, I realized we haven't been sending out cards for very long! So for some pages, especially the early years, I just put in a family picture of us. Here are the Broglis through the Christmas years!

2010

Living in Wake Forest, Kenna at 2 years old, and expecting baby brother!

2009

Moved back to Wake Forest, Kenna was 13 months old.

2008

We visited home from Asheboro, NC with 4 week old Kenna!

2007

Hard to get a good smile this year- Mom died just 10 days after Christmas. This is the photo we sent out (from right before Mom got sick), but the second one is really more how we felt at the time.

2006

The first year Pontouf joined our family pictures!

2005

We had just celebrated our 1st anniversary- newlywed days!

2004

This was in the pre-digital-camera days for us, so I really had to search for this picture- I think this was actually closer to Thanksgiving. Our first married Christmas!

A White Day-After Christmas!

It's a rare thing in North Carolina to get a white Christmas- so we definitely all got excited about the 8 inches we got on the day after Christmas this year!
This little snow bunny was barely out of bed before she was ready to hit the slopes:
So we bundled up and ventured out to go to the grocery store. Kenna was not so crazy about the fact that she couldn't walk in it very well- good thing Daddy was there to help.
Daddy taught his little girl how to make a snowman, which she has been obsessed with from seeing them in decorations in the neighborhood all month!
However, just like her Momma, Kenna is not so crazy about being in the snow for more than 30 minutes or so- after awhile we watched Daddy finish up the snowman from the warmth of just inside the porch door. Now we can see our happy little snowman whenever we want without going outside!
Then Kenna wanted to give her snow friend a bedtime kiss.
We've spent all day today being "snowed in" with snacks and movies. Happy snow day!

Merry Christmas!

Long lay the world in sin & error pining

until He appeared and the soul felt it's worth

a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!
fall on your knees, oh hear the angels' voices
oh night divine, oh night when Christ was born!

Wishing you all the peace and love of the Savior this Christmas.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas-y Things!

It's really fun for Kenna to be at the age she is this year at Christmas- able to recognize the big blow-up Santas and snowmen in people's yards, enjoying the twinkly lights on people's houses, able to play with the snow, and able to start truly participating in the fun things that happen around Christmas. We've been super on-the-go and busy the past few weeks, but I've gotten some really cute photos of her enjoying some of the traditional Christmas things that make this time of year magical, especially to little kids!

Daddy taught her how to catch snowflakes on her tongue during our one big snow day in early December:
Keeping Daddy's shoulders warm in the very cold almost-snow rain during our town's local Christmas parade:
Matt's parents kept her while we were at a class at church one Sunday night, and when we got home she was helping decorate the tree and Nana B. had taught her how to say "ho ho ho!" and it was pretty much the cutest thing ever:
Playing with her very own Little People Nativity, and learning about baby Jesus:
Several viewings of the Christmas classic Rudolph movie (or as she says "watch snowman show").
Licking the beater of homemade buttercream icing on the 4 dozen cookies Mommy made in one afternoon!
Mommy's little trooper on one more trip to the grocery store:

Shutterfly for Christmas!

We use Shutterfly so much, I was surprised when I did a search on our blog I couldn't find a single post about it! What I love them best for is their quickie photo books. I absolutely love the way they turn out, how quick they are to put together (as long as you have a little uninterrupted time), and they offer lots of coupon and promo codes. For example, I've gotten a free photobook from saving up my Pampers points (which accumulate quickly with all the diapers around here) and I've even had a free one and a 50% off one print out from the checkout at Harris Teeter.

Thanks to the ease of Shutterfly, I am caught up with Kenna's baby books up to her first year, including a little flip book of all her "firsts." Kenna loves to sit and look at the books- she loves pictures of herself and her family! I've also used them to make a photo memory book of my mom and several Christmas cards over the years. They also have other holiday cards and some really cute birthday cards that I'd love to use for invitations sometime if I can get my act together in time.
The exciting thing is that this year they are offering a special promotion for people with any kind of blog. I think a card with a family photo (or your kid's photo if it's a birthday card, etc.) is such a sweet way to keep in contact with family, and also to look back at over the years. You could even upload each year's Christmas card into a little book so that the kids can flip back through when they get bigger (I'm currently working on making one of these!). It's also crazy easy, once you've made a photobook, to order more copies of it which make perfect Christmas gifts, especially for grandmas who never tire of grandkid pictures!

For this year, I really like this one because there is space for sort of a mini Christmas letter off to the side:
And this one because you could use so many pictures! (That was an especially useful feature the year Kenna was born in November, so we combined her birth announcement with our Christmas card- LOTS of photos we wanted to use!)
So if you're a blogger and would like to try out Shutterfly's products for free (and get a headstart on your Christmas cards for free!) check out this promotion, it's easy as pie. We love Shutterfly!

Sweet Little Cousins

We had a great Christmas this year, and yet again were able to spend time with both sides of our family! We are so blessed with awesome families, and it is so fun to see our kids start to grow up together. This is the first year they were able to really interact and play, and they just really love each other. There was lots of toy sharing, snack eating, hugs, sippy cup borrowing, and present opening together. Kenna is just two months apart from Beckley (Matt's sister's little boy) and just six months apart from Emerson (my brother's little girl) and it's really great to have them at the such close age levels. She also has two older cousins to look up to: Ansley who is five (Brogli side) and Evan who is almost three! (Dean side). Sorry if this all sounds a little over-sentimental, these are just some fun things about the stages they are all at that I want to remember for our photo albums!

We got some great pictures of our happy little campers this Christmas.

The Brogli/Edwards cousins:

Ansley Bug (5 years) Kenna Bear (13 months) and Beckley Boy (15 months)

Doesn't that group hug just melt your heart? These are some super active kids, so I'm amazed we got them all to sit still together for even a minute. But it seems like if one of them starts to hug, they all want to hug each other! They've even been known to give some pretty big smootches. The little jumper Kenna is wearing was a hand-me-down from Ansley- it makes me happy to think of them being connected in that way, and makes me a little less sad to think about how quickly they are all growing up and outgrowing things! I was amazed to see Ansley sit and write out her name and several other words. Beck is constantly on the move, and Kenna is about 15 teeth behind him- she has some catching up to do!

The Brogli/Dean cousins:

Evan Buddy (2 years) Emmie Grace (6 months) Kenna Bear (13 months)

Matching girly girls!

It totally cracks me up that the girls have the same amount of hair and it is the exact same color! The girls are wearing little matching outfits that their great-Grannie gave them. Evan was much more excited to help them open their gifts than worry about what anybody was wearing. Good thing Kenna and Emmie both love big kids so much! Evan is speaking noticeably more words and more clearly... he had a blast playing with the Jesus toys (kid's nativity) and knew all of the members of the family- Joseph, Baby Jesus, and "Mary Mommy." Emmie is sitting up and babbling, very obviously holding her own with these big cousins.

We love all these kiddos so much! I love waiting to see how much they will change with each year and each Christmas. I think no matter what, they will always be little cousin friends.

Merry Christmas!

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." -Luke 2:10-14

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God... Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." -2nd Corinthians 5:17-21

Hallelujah, what a Saviour!
Merry Christmas from the Brogli family!

Christmas 2009 Photos

I admit, like many people, I can get a bit obsessive about "the perfect" Christmas card picture. This tends to be one area that the Lord continually has to teach me to keep my attitude in check, to remember what this season is really about, and to know that I am not perfect.. so to try to present myself as perfect by obsessing over "the perfect" Christmas picture can make me pretty ridiculous.

We did a good job at staying easygoing and lighthearted while trying to take some at home in front of our tree, but with little to no natural light and a cranky, nap-needing baby, we were getting some not-so-great results from our attempts with our timer. So we finally broke down and went to the professionals. Picture People is doing a special right now where if you bring a brand new toy to donate to Toys for Tots they give you two sheets of portraits for free! Since a 10x13 enlargement counts as one "sheet" we decided that would be a great way to get a family portrait that we could also use for our Christmas card photo. We ended up having a really good time getting them done- Kenna is such a ham for the camera and tends to charm the pants off anyone that she is around. Maybe we should look into baby modeling!

Here are our favorites:
Kenna had so much fun playing in the little sled with the fake snowball. We also had some taken of her standing up and holding onto a little tiny prop ottoman that was so cute.

It's really hard these days to get a picture with all three of us in it (especially where Matt and I are not making crazy faces because we've been giggling maniacally and tickling a baby trying to get her to smile) so I'm so thankful that we have these lovely ones to remember this time, this stage, and this little window of our little one who is growing oh-so quickly.

Each year, I try to let go of a little more of my perfectionist tendencies and appreciate that the little imperfections in each photo means we are real people, imperfect sinners saved by the grace of a perfect Savior! I want to focus more on my love for a husband who will put on a collared shirt knowing that "let's just try one more" means at least 10 more photos, and for a baby who absolutely loves to smile and can light up anyone in a room with her laughter. Merry Christmas!