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!

Photo A Day- August 25

Today we spent the afternoon at one of our favorite little traditions- walking around the Lazy Days festival in Cary, NC. We have gone every year since Kenna was born, except for the one year it was canceled due to the threat of a hurricane! Right after we ate our traditional cupcakes (from the bakery where our wedding cake was from) Daddy and Kenna saw some kids that had really cool face paint! Kenna picked this "butterfly princess" that was pink and green on the picture, but when the face paint lady offered to change it to match her shirt, Kenna was all for that. She even added some orange "lipstick." Look how much fun $10 bucks can buy!

Orange Pumpkins 2011!

We went again on our yearly tradition to Hillridge Farms in Youngsville to get our orange pumpkins! It was one of the first almost-chilly days of fall, and it was just the perfect weather to wander around through all the fun things the farm has to offer. It's so fun to be building little traditions like this each year as our family grows. Just for fun, here are some links to our 2009 trip and our 2010 trip!
We started in the "general store" getting a special snack and feed for the animals! Finn did a great job riding around taking in the sights in the frontpack.
Kenna's special snack was this big box of Sweettarts... we joked that we could have just bought the $1 box of candy and called it a day, she was so thrilled by it. She munched on them all day until we thought she might make herself sick!
We enjoyed our old favorites like the big tube slide, the corn pit, and feeding the farm animals (always a bit hit with Kenna!)
And for the first time this year, Kenna rode the ponies! They were so sweet and gentle and she absolutely loved it! She loved it so much we would have let her do it several times except for the fact that it was $6 a pop! I love this age where she thinks every animal is a big puppy ready to be her pet.

After the hayride out to the 'pumpkin patch' Kenna picked out the best pumpkins with Daddy while Mommy nursed Finn. Kenna was so cute running back over to show me her favorites.
Finn was more fascinated by sitting in the grass than with the pumpkins.
After much wiggling, repositioning, and even bribing, we got one picture of our pumpkins sitting in the pumpkin patch where they were both looking at the camera and smiling!
Daddy lugging our little pumpkins home!
Such a fun trip... I love this time of year!

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:

Thanksgiving 2010!

I think I was clearly focused on the eating when it came to taking pictures of our Thanksgiving this year; I thought we only had one or two. Luckily, Matt was completely on the ball and got a picture of all the highlights!

Just when you thought playing in leaves might be a cliche that no one actually does anymore, you should have seen these two 2 year olds! Imagine being allowed to shriek and throw things and not get in trouble for it... 2 year old heaven!

Especially when Nana B. joins in and you have someone to throw the leaves AT... even better! I think she enjoyed it as much as the grandkids did!
As usual, Nana B. and Granddaddy cooked an unbelievable feast with all the classics! We were way to excited about digging in to take any pictures of the turkey, food, and pies. My favorite this year was definitely the egg noodles cooked in the turkey broth fresh from the baked turkey... yum! And the mashed potatoes. Um, and the stuffing. And the pie.

A Brogli tradition: gathering around the sales ads after eating to find all the bargains- Leanne and Nana B. are on a whole new level when it comes to finding the best deal! We love to eavesdrop and secretly get ideas for Christmas presents for each other.
While the boys played "ball" (men around the pool table- another Brogli tradition!) Kenna opened some awesome birthday presents from her sweet cousins, including a pack of new underpants! Guess we really will have to start potty training after all!

We came home late in the afternoon, still totally stuffed, and started working on making Thanksgiving dinner for my family! I also slacked and took no pictures at all except for this one Matt took of me cooking in the new birthday apron he got for me at a recent craft show:

And like mother, like daughter, Kenna had to have her own apron to help with the dishes:

Such a big helper!

We are so thankful for the families God has blessed us with, and the ability to be with them on holidays. We know that is not the case for everyone, and may not even be the case for us forever. God has given us so many blessings this year, big and small, and is really teaching is to have grateful hearts in the little things and how to rely on him more and more for his perfect provision. We're especially thankful this year to be anticipating our family getting a little bigger in just a few months!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grannie Camp: Family Legacies

We were really proud of Kenna's adventurous spirit during the whole trip, and especially how it didn't take her a second to warm up to Grannie and Pop Pop right away even though we don't get to see them nearly as often as we want! It's so precious to me to see my grandparents become great-grandparents and share in my children's lives. I'm so thankful the Lord has kept them healthy and strong, and blessed them with long years!

Sometime during this trip, I especially wanted to take Kenna to a smaller park closer to Grannie and Pop Pop's house, called McKay park. It is named after Grannie's father/my Mom's grandfather/my great-grandfather/Kenna's great-great-grandfather! He was instrumental in developing many of the family-centered (non-commercial or touristy) things to enjoy on Clearwater Beach, and Grannie has been instrumental in keeping them from being cut out of the city budget in favor of motels and parking garages over the many years. My Mom's side of the family is where Kenna gets her middle name McKay.

This park, and the pram sailboats available to sail in the bay (a small child-sized sailboat that I grew up learning to sail in) are his legacy... I'm sure he would be very pleased to know his great-great-granddaughter enjoyed them so much!

Kenna in a pram at the Sailing Center (they are so small, my cousins and brother and I literally grew out of them by the age of 13 or 14!):

And exploring the bigger Hobie Cat sailboats (the kind Papa likes to sail when he is in Clearwater!)

The same evening that all these photos were taken, we went back to Pier 60 for the craft show/festival (and playground!) since it had been chilly and not fully open the night before. I wanted to see a friend of mine named Suzanne who has been selling beautiful handmade jewelry on the beach for many years now. I helped her "man her booth" one summer for about two weeks, and credit her with much of my interest in doing craft shows and having a creative business! And it was fun to introduce her to Matt and Kenna!

And what is a night at the pier without a little ice cream to end the day? Kenna decided she needed to eat hers and mine too!