Temple Lights

The kids love to see the Christmas lights at the temple and ask all December when we are going to see them. We finally made it out last Monday. The lights are always beautiful and the spirit of Christmas is in the air.

Christmas Day

Every other year, my parents will host a Christmas dinner on Christmas day. The off years my siblings are usually celebrating with in-laws. On those off years my parents will join us for breakfast. We have a traditional breakfast of puff pancakes, and this is another thing the kids look forward to.

My parents also get to watch the kids open their presents. Most of the money we would spend on gifts goes toward a family vacation, so the kids don't get to open much. They have a stocking and one small gift from us and presents from granparents. This year the kids are getting a swingset! My grandma put together a nice binder that included her life history and grandpa's, too.




My parents spent the morning with us--playing with the kids--then went to visit my brother.

We spent the afternoon introducing the kids to a classic movie that we grew up on--The Princess Bride. It was a nice relaxing day.

Pajamas

As a kid we got to open one thing on Christmas eve and it was usually the present from my great-grandma. We never got new pajamas and I always thought it was weird that my friends did. But, as an adult, pajamas are the perfect gift to give and open on Christmas eve. The kids usually need a new pair and it's nice to have them wearing them for pictures Christmas morning. I'm a dork, but the kids look forward to getting new pajamas for Christmas.

Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve the Mechams who are in town get together for gyoza. Gyoza is a yummy Japanese food (like pot stickers, but better) that we make from scratch. Actually Jack and Lola make the inside stuff and we form a sort of conveyor belt to make the gyoza. Things got started a lot later than planned, but it was worth the wait. The cousins got to play and the adults got to play, too. I learned a fun new game. Every person playing has enough small sheets of paper to equal the number of people playing. (7 players=7 pieces of paper) On the top paper, everyone writes a creative sentence--it's better if you are descriptive. Then the pile is passed on the the person sitting next to you. They read what you wrote, put the piece at the bottom of the pile, and draw a picture of what you wrote. Then you pass the pile on again. The next person sees a picture and they have to write what they see. Then you pass it on again and either write what the picture is or draw what was written until you get your pile back. Everybody should be doing the same thing only they are seeing different words and pictures. At the end you read what is in your stack and share the pictures. Some FUNNY things get said and drawn.

After dinner we shared the service project with Jack and Lola. Christy made a cute video with pictures and stuff the kids said. Then Jack and Lola shared their gifts for the grand-kids (and their kids/kids-in-law). Lola embroidered pillowcases for the kids and then used them to wrap up their favorite box of cereal. She also included money.





This is one of my favorite events of the season. I look forward to it and so do the kids and it's extra nice when out of town aunts and uncles can come--none this year. :(

New Shoes

Faythe found my oven mitts and put them on her feet.

Garrett Christmas

I love the 3rd Saturday of every month because I get to get together with my family. I'm lucky enough to live close to all my siblings and my parents. We have a family home evening activity once a month and it's great to visit and see the kids play. We had our annual Christmas party last weekend. We started with a yummy dinner then the kids made picture ornaments for grandma's tree. The moms brought goodies and we did a goodie exchange and went home with a plate of treats. Uncle Darrien brought fire crackers and the kids had fun playing with sparklers. Next the grand-kids put on the nativity. Dyson read the story from the Bible while the rest of the kids acted out the parts. Then the adults exchanges presents. We draw/rotate names among the siblings and then we'll do a group gift or individual gifts for mom and dad. In between all that there was visiting and playing. It was a fun night.

shepherds

inn keeper wise men
Joseph
angle (or angel--I never know which is which)

My brother, Tyler, took a bunch of cute pictures of the kids playing with sparklers.

Christmas Writing Activities

I get an LDS homeschooling newsletter once a month or so and one of the articles published in it this month was a countdown to Christmas writing chain. I loved the idea and made it my own. I wrote down some Christmas writing ideas on strips of paper and put them in a cute bucket. Everyday, my helper will pick one and we'll do what it says. This time of year is hard to get in "regular" school, so this is a simple, quick activity to keep the kids in that frame of mind. The kids actually enjoy it, too. They want to be the one to pick and don't fight writing (which they normally do). I'm going to do something similar next year.

Chrismtas Writing Ideas:
Write down the names of Santa’s reindeer.

Write a letter to Santa telling him if you’ve been good or bad and what you want for Christmas.

Write down every Christmas thing in the house that is the color red.

Make a Christmas card and send it.

Draw a picture of a favorite Christmas memory and write about it.

Write down a favorite Christmas tradition.

If you could travel anywhere for Christmas where would you go and who would you take?

Write down Merry Christmas in other languages.

Draw a picture of your favorite Christmas lights.

Draw a gingerbread house.

Ask your family to list their favorite Christmas smells.

Write down 5 Christmas carols.

Design a pair of holiday socks. Write down where you would wear them.

Draw a picture of big, big box and little, tiny box. Write about what present you would like to get that goes in each one.

Write down as many words from the letters in: Merry Christmas.

If you worked in the zoo, how would you decorate the animal’s cages for Christmas? Draw a picture.

What was the best present you ever received? Tell the details.

Write a list of Christmas and holiday people and items. Play charades.

Write down every Christmas thing in the house that is the color green.

The Nutcracker

The kids and Jonathan and I and Christy and her kids went to see the Nutcracker ballet last week. We saw a mini preformance put on by the Arizona Ballet Company. I saw the full ballet several years ago with my mom and sister, but studying the story and seeing Act II with the kids gave me such a better understanding and appreciation for it.

Faythe's First Haircut

When I was a teenager I used to get my haircut by a lady (Kathy) in our ward. Then she started having kids and stopped doing it. I babysat her oldest and taught her second in primary. Fast forward many years and we are out here in El Mirage and homeschooling. I knew that Kathy lived out here and had even seen her at the store once. I'm not sure if I knew she homeschooled or not, but one day at the park she was there and so was I. Her youngest is the same age as Braedi and they hit it off. We and some other moms decided to start our homeschool group--we do PE together and some other activities.

Back in October, Kathy told me that she was going to start cutting hair again (just a few people every now and then) and I asked her to cut my kids' hair. It was like old times. It took us 2 afternoons to get them all done, but I'm glad that we did it. I decided to have her cut Faythe's hair. I was hoping that by keeping it short it would keep the curl--I was afraid that the length and weight of the hair would take the curl away. Faythe was too scared the first day, but after much preparation she was ready the second day. She sat on my lap and at cereal while Kathy cut. She wouldn't hold still, but she didn't cry.

Christmas Recital

Braedi and Corbin participated in another piano recital. Along with their regular pieces, they learned a Christmas song. I enjoyed listening to them learn the Christmas songs and can't wait for future years when they can learn more.

(Can't you tell that Corbin LOVES piano?!?! How do I help him like it?)

December Music--A Christmas Carol

It was also my turn to teach music for our co-op in December. (We do 2 month rotations and teach art one month then music the other). Music is a bit harder for me to teach, but I found a cute idea somewhere out there. I began by pretending to be Marley's ghost telling the kids that 3 spirits would visit them and teach them about Christmas music. The activity took 3 weeks and each week I was a different spirit.
Week 1--The Ghost of Christmas Music Past. I taught about the song "Silent Night". It was originally written for guitar because the organ of the church was broken. I found some guitar music for the kids to listen to and they didn't recognize the song. Then I told the story about World War II and how a "truce" was called Christmas Eve and that song was one of the songs sang. Then Braedi played the song on the piano and we all sang along.
Week 2--The Ghost of Christmas Music Present. I introduced the song "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer". I told the story of how it was written as an advertising gimmick for a department store and was based on the author's childhood experiences of being teased. Then we read the original story and sang the song.
Week 3--The Ghost of Christmas Music Future. I told the kids that they are the future and so we talked about their favorite Christmas songs. I started by sharing one of my favorites--"Drummer Boy"--then each kids told theirs and we sang it.
I love Christmas music and it was fun for me to learn more about some of the songs.
This is Marley's homemade chain.

November Art

It was my turn to teach our art co-op in November and I chose to teach the element of texture. I like to use the book entitled Making Amazing Art! 40 activities using the 7 elements of art design by Sandi Henry. It has great teaching ideas. I introduced tactile texture (texture you can touch) and visual texture (texture that you see and want to touch but can't feel).
Our activities:
1. Crayon rubbings--the kids drew a simple design and filled in the spaces with textures from around the house and yard.
2. Textured flowers--I found a bunch of pictures from magazines that showed texture. The kids took those pictures and cut out flowers to decorate a paper.
3. Texture painting--the kids used different items (cars, marbles, toothbrushes, legos, leaves, cotton balls, etc.) to create texture with paint. When the paint was dry they cut out feather shapes and made a turkey.

Cousin Service Project

Years ago my siblings and I decided not to do a cousin gift exchange. We did this because the number of cousins was getting to be too many to buy gifts for and we thought that the kids were getting enough toys. We decided to instead take the money that we would have spent on gifts and put it towards a donation of some sort. Usually I'll give the kids an amount and let them pick out a toy and then we'll donate it somewhere. We've done Christmas angels and ward families and other stuff like that. This year I was wondering where we could donate when the bishop announced an Eagle Project for a young man in our ward. He was collecting items to donate to the pediatric unit at a local hospital. They needed specific stuff for newborns and random stuff for teenagers. It wasn't toys, so the kids didn't have as much fun picking the stuff out, but they still helped and I hope they are gaining an appreciation for the stuff they have.

Ceiling Fan

This may not seem exciting to most, but my dad (and Jonathan) installed a new ceiling fan over my kitchen table.
No more hot days doing school work!

Gingerbread Cookies

Every December I try to have an advent calendar of sorts with different holiday activities for the kids. They are usually simple things like read a christmas story or learn a christmas song. Some are making gifts for grandparents or primary teachers. I had some gingerbread dough given to me (leftover from the gingerbread houses with grandma and grandpa) and decided to make and decorate gingerbread cookies for their primary teachers. They turned out cute and were yummy, too.

Ward Christmas Party

First, and foremost, I did not have to plan the ward Christmas party this year and I am SOOO grateful. I had some plans/ideas for the party, but let them fly when I was released. Knowing how much I appreciated help from members of the ward, I tried to do my share--which wasn't much. I knew that Jonathan would be working and I would have the kids to myself so I didn't want to commit to helping serve. I don't have any decoration skills so I didn't volunteer to help with that. Instead I brought lots of food and helped clean up a little.

The activity was a simple affair, but the cultural looked pretty and the food tasted good and my kids were on their best behavior. The evening started with a craft for the kids



then moved to dinner and a program, and last was Santa Clause and dessert. Faythe was super scared of Santa Clause and wouldn't even go close.



It was a fun way to start the season.