DID YOU SURVIVE CHRISTMAS???

     I have been quiet because I have been BUSY!!!  Christmas time for us is all about Jesus, birthdays and family!  I haven't forgotten about all of you though either!  Here are a few pictures of our Christmastime and be watching in the next day or so for the next blog entry "#4 school them when they are ready".  IN the mean time =) you can look at a snippet of our holiday season!


     Our living room is small so we rearranged the dining room, that backs up to the living room, and put the Tree in there!

     In our home, each child has 3 presents to open on Christmas day as well as their party bag (stockings).  We have a price limit for each child ($60).  We try and keep things smaller and manageable and keep our focus on Jesus.  The kids all still get really good presents, we are just thrifty, we wait for the sales and keep it minimal!

The kids all draw names and buy something for their "present buddy".  Price is set at $5.  We cover the little kids (under 7 this year) but all older kids have to use their funds!

CH9g became CH10g right before Christmas!  Double digits is a big deal and we do something special!  Boys get pocket knives and girls get their ears pierced!  CH10g was super excited to finally have pierced ears like her older sisters!
  A typical Birthday at our house is this:  You get to pick out a meal and a treat.  Grammy and Papa come over and you get to open your presents.
  We do not do individual big parties.






Christmas day is spent at Grammy and Papa's.  All of the in town family gathers here and sometimes friends too.
We exchange gifts with Grammy and Papa.  All teens to adults participate in the "gift game" and the younger cousins exchange a "cousins gift" (done by family not by child).

Papa prays over each person before handing them their gift.  Creating a Godly legacy is one thing I admire so much about my Father in Law.
  Of course we eat a ton and enjoy one anothers company!  That is pretty much our day =)




D5b became D6b just after Christmas.  Sometimes it can get tricky keeping things kind of even with all the little boys at Christmas with gifts and then turning around and still needing birthday gifts for this one!
 He is REALLY into super hero's so I made him 4 two sided capes and a plethora of super hero masks (or mask-skez, as the little boys say it).  He got other items too but a bag od super hero dress up stuff to share with his brothers and friends was definitely a HUGE hit!





     And here is a pic of Christmas morning.  Well actually this year it was Christmas Eve, late morning as it was not our year to have The Brownies (my brown hair children that we share with my husbands X).
     In this pic they are opening up their party bags.  We do this instead of stockings because its Jesus birthday and when you go to a party you get a party bag!  I spend roughly $20 (our of the $60) on party bags.  I shop all year and get killer deals!  the kids all had between 18 and 22 items in their party bags.  We do not load them up with candy either.

 Here is a typical 10ish year old girl party bag:

1. fave candy
2. gatorade or some kind of drink
3. cracker/cookie pack
4. 4 inch chocolate PB penguine
5. candy cane
6. journal
7. pen
8. drawing book
9. colored pencils
10. nail polish
11. hair tie
12. nail jewels
13. necklace
14. flashlight (so my kids have a thing about flashlights, they just like them!)
15. photo frame
16. book mark
17. earrings or some other type of jewelery 
18. socks
19. craft beads/yarn/whatever crafty thing they are into
20. book

And for a boy:

1. fave candy 
2. gatorade or some kind of drink
3. cracker/cookie pack
4. 4 inch chocolate PB penguine
5. candy cane
6. rope
7. pen
8. drawing book
9. colored pencils
10. flashlight (so my kids have a thing about flashlights, they just like them!)
11. key chain to put on their back pack or whatever
12. book mark
13. book
14. football cards
15. disc golf stuff
16. socks
17. flying airplane thing
18. playing cards
19. some kind of craft like thing: this year it was a detective drawing thing
20. something weird... like fake mustaches =)

  I hope your Christmas was fun, enjoyable and in full celebration of Jesus!  See you all in the New year!