Merry Christmas!

Read some of the posts below for more details about our day (read from the bottom up to get it in order) - hope yours was Merry and bright!

Homemade Christmas - Mama version

I mentioned wanting to make the children a puppet theater in an earlier post. I thought I would make an over the door theater but as I thought about it - we only really have door ways in the children's rooms and there is not much room to watch anything from the outside of the door AND how would they hang it up themselves. SO, I decided to make a table top version from a presentation board, some fabric, a little hot glue and a box cutter. The children seemed to like it and it will store nicely when we aren't playing with it. They played with their puppets and Lucy was fascinated when I used the puppets to "talk with her". Hopefully we will get alot of use out of this theater and see get to see some creative puppets made.

A homemade Christmas - Lucy version

Lucy made some "walky things" as Lucy called them. They are actually some large green bean cans with some string used as stilts (I remember playing with these at Madison Academy - don't you Casey?). I cut small holes in the cans, added some rope and Lucy painted them. We added some bean bags to the set and there were two games in one - stilt walking and throwing bean bags into the cans...the gift was a hit and Samuel caught on quickly to the walking - he walked the halls several times throughout the day - they are sturdy enough for me to walk on them too!

A homemade Christmas - Samuel version

One of the sweetest things today was watching Lucy and Samuel give each other the gift they made for each other. Samuel made Lucy a dollhouse ...

We took a piece of foam board and cut it to make two rectangles, cut out a couple of doors, put a slit down the middle and Ta-Da we had a house. Then Samuel decorated the walls with some scrapbook paper I got at the store and then pictures from magazines. He made an animal room (since Lucy likes animals), a stable room for her ponies (because she likes ponies), a bedroom and a living room. She can use her own ponies, animals, and little people to fill the house - and that is exactly what she did... (Samuel wants to make a castle or police station like this soon)

Christmas Day Boxes

Lucy ended up in several boxes today. Grandpa Noonan brought all of Jeremy's old Childcraft books and Lucy took they out meticulously and put them on the shelf AND princess Mia sent Lucy some princess stuff (THANKS so much)

Christmas Day!

This has been a wonderful Christmas - I'm still in the PJ's I slept in last night and I am curled up by the fire with two little children tucked, tight in their beds after a sweet day with them. We opened presents along and along today - stopping to play a game of "barrel of monkeys", read a book, put together some knights and a chariot, brush teeth with new toothbrushes, construct a marble run (they spent 2 hours playing with it), walking on 'stilts', playing with puppets in their new puppet theater, and seeing the joy in them as they gave the presents they made for each other and family. We read the Advent story book and a letter from Jeremy's grandfather who wrote to Jeremy's oldest Uncle on Christmas during WWII, 1942. We played and laughed and enjoyed chocolate and family. Jeremy's family came and we got to spend a great time with them. Thanks to each of you for coming. We didn't get any family pics but here are some of the highlights for the children today...
Lucy intently put together her beads, again and again -
Sharing Chocolate with Grandpa Noonan
The children were excited to share what they made as they gave Grandpa Noonan his Christmas and Birthday gift...we had to tell Samuel to wait until Grandpa Noonan made it in the door before he gave it to him
Lucy's new pony - Jeremy and I got her a stick horse that neighs and gallops - she took off immediately after getting it out of the box and I had to take it out of her bed tonight after she fell asleep.

Christmas Eve

Last night we went to the Christmas Eve service at church and then came home to a warm dinner of shrimp and grits. We finished our Advent books, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and then opened one present each. Lucy chose one of the gifts from Uncle Pat and Aunt Ann - a blue princess dress. She loved it and quickly put it on...and reluctantly took it off for bed. She definitely had a princess Christmas...(THANKS Samantha, Madison, Aunt Ann and Uncle Pat - they LOVED all of their gifts!)

Merry Christmas!

Joy to the World, the Lord has Come!
Merry Christmas to all
Love - The Noonan's

The fluffy stuff

Lucy calls marshmellows - "Marsh-pillows"

Play by Play...

The children are playing with their nativity set this morning (while I tackle laundry)...there is a big party at the stable - Mary just brought the shepherds pizza, Hashmakaka (the camel) is guarding the party food, and the angels are singing jingle bell rock. Some my Little ponies and batman are there - I'm told "they're here to worship Baby Jesus, Mama."

Yummy Christmas Treats

We have been making some yummy goodies (anything covered in chocolate counts as a goody).
Lucy missed the cookies and the "peppermint sprinkles" landed on the floor. The chocolate covered marshmellows turned out fine without them.


Lucy and Samuel sing this little song - I'm not sure where they got it from or if it truly is a Noonan sibling orginal. It goes "We're brother and sister, we're always together". Of course, for Lucy it sounds like "we're bruder and si-ter we're always togeder." They are having a wonderful playing and enjoying the Christmas break. I'm enjoying that they are sleeping until 7:30 - 8:00!!

Go, Tell it on the Mountain

There is an old story about a little redheaded girl who loved the song "Go, Tell it On the Mountain." When she was 3 years old, she was in a church preschool performance dressed as a angel. Her mama, daddy and aunt were in the audience and she was the picture of angelic beauty in her white robe, red ribbon and red curly hair. She stood on the stage with the other performers and like any girl who knows what she wants...she stepped to the microphone in the middle of the performance and said loudly "I want to sing, Go, tell it on the Mountain." And a little later, because she wasn't sure anyone heard her she stepped to the mic and said "I said, I want to sing Go, Tell it On the Mountain." From that point on the adults were fighting over who had to claim the redheaded girl after the show! I'm sure I have the details off but here are two other redheads singing GTIOTM - the full version usually involves more singing but I didn't catch it all on video. These kiddos do like to sing.

For Grandma

Grandma got to see one of her Grandbabies in front of the tree - Baby Wyatt, Aunt Erin and Uncle Casey have their tree up - but she wanted to see these two. Here we are Grandma - Merry Christmas!

Christmas Greetings

Here is our front walk - decorated for Christmas! Stop by for a cup of coffee if you are in the neighborhood

I forgot one other book

Just thought I would put another plug in for the best Storybook Bible I've seen - The Jesus Storybook Bible - Every Story Whispers His Name. This is another great place to read the Christmas story (and the whole rest of the greatest story ever).

Georgia Snowmen

Tonight we decorated the gourds Mama painted white for us last year (THANKS Grandma!). I think the children did a great job with their Georgia snowmen - Lucy thought of putting the hats/socks on their heads - aren't they cute? Then we drank hot chocolate and watched Frosty.

Time with Friends

Lucy and I had the chance to visit my good friend Sarah (and Jerel) this week. We got to meet little Elliott (8weeks), play with Nolan (22 months) and Rocky (the wonder dog) and see her beautiful new house. We had a wonderful time and Lucy especially enjoyed playing with Nolan and Rocky. Nolan is so sweet and ALL boy - he is rough and tumble and had a couple of bruises from a run in with wall - but he is super cute! I can't believe I didn't get a pic of the adorable, chubby Elliott - you'll have to check out Sarah's blog to see more of him. Thanks so much Jerel and Sarah - we had a wonderful time and can't wait to visit again!

Christmas Happenings

This week Samuel had his Christmas program at school. They sang "O, Come Let Us Adore Him", "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Shepherds, Shepherds". I didn't good pictures because the lighting was bad but here is one with little sis after the program.
Samuel had his school party - Lucy enjoyed the cupcakes and the children were excited for Christmas break.
Lucy put stamps on all of our Christmas cards today - hopefully they will all make it to the right places!
Enjoying yummy candy from Grandma! S and L loved them!

Some Advent ideas

We are enjoying the advent season at the Noonan home. We made decorations out of left over Christmas tree branches and some holly for our front porch. Each night we are reading from Christmas books and an advent book. Samuel came home today with reindeer antlers so we sang Rudolph a couple times and then Lucy sang "Go tell it on the Mountain" at the top of her lungs while running up and down the hallway (it reminded me of another little redhead girl I know who wanted to sing Go Tell it on the Moutain).

I would love to hear some of the ways you are celebrating advent and the Christmas season. I had a friend ask about the books we are reading right now and I thought I would list some of them and a couple of ideas I have heard about. There is no way to incorporate all the good ideas you hear but some will be better for children at different ages and some may work for your family and some may not.

One thing I did hear about when we were living in Indiana was that a family would save the trunk from their live Christmas tree and use it to make a cross at Easter to connect the two holidays in their children’s minds. I hope we can do that this year and begin to bring a tangible connection to the two celebrations.

Jesse Tree – this is another way to celebrate advent – go to this website to read more about this.

Have an advent calendar that your children can count down to Christmas. This can be as simple as some toilet paper tubes in a garland or glued together like a tree (see here for where I got my idea) with either a verse and candy inside or a “time ticket” for something you are going to do with your children that day (drink hot chocolate, watch a movie, read a book, decorate the tree, mail cards, etc)

And there is also the Little People nativity set and advent calendar

OK – here are the books we have (you can borrow any of mine or look at them if you want to know more about them) – l would love to know if your family has some other books they enjoy.

1. We have several books that tell the Christmas story – the same basic Biblical story – one is a pop up, one is lift the flap, one is from when I was a kid, one has bright pictures and one is very simple. It’s neat to see the children fill in the gaps since each story focuses on something different.

2. Advent Storybook - 24 Stories to Share Before Christmas– about a Little Bear’s journey to Bethlehem to see the “little Child”. Each day he meets another animal or character and learns more about God in the process. Each night we read from this book.

3. The Advent Book by Jack and Kathy Stockman (these people also have a website that gives some good ideas about celebrating each holiday) – open a different door each day that has a piece of the Christmas story from the Bible. You can also make one like this that my friend Jessica made that has verses for each day and talks about the Christmas story.

4. When all the World was Waiting by Workeman – This seems like it will be a great book for when the children are a little older. It has a story and activity for each evening. This one is out of print but can be found used.

5. God Gave us Christmas by Lisa T. Bergren – a story about a Polar Bear Mama and an adventure she has with her little cub to explain that God invented Christmas. It touches on Santa in a way suitable for those with differing opinions on the guy. http://www.amazon.com/God-Gave-Us-Christmas-Us/dp/1400071755

6. The Last Straw – I got to visit my friend Sarah in Greenville this past week (Thanks friend!) and Lucy enjoyed this book of theirs about one of the camels that carried gifts from the wisemen to the baby.

7. Richard Scarry’s The Animals’ Merry Christmas –(there is a new edition and old edition) this has some short stories in it about animals and Christmas. Some of them are good some not so good but animals are always a hit around here.

8. Nutcracker – this is a great story for that little 4 year old who needs a little sword fighting action between a nutcracker and a seven headed mouse king.

9. The Legend of the Candy Cane – The Inspirational Story of Our Favorite Christmas Story – A story about a little girl named Lucy and how she helps the new candy business in town set up and about the candy cane.

10. The Legend of Saint Nicholas- A story of Christmas Giving – there are several of these out there that tell the well known story of how Saint Nicholas began his tradition of “giving”. I’ve read one about how the presents end up in the stocking but this one seems to work well with our St. Nicholas Day tradition.

All of these stories could be improved upon and none are perfect but books are a great way for us to enjoy the season. We have a couple of music CD's - the LITTLE PEOPLE one is a favorite for our children and the Fernando Ortega one is my most played this season. We also have been listening to the Christmas songs on the radio - Lucy told me today that for Christmas she wants "my two front teeth and an hippopatamus"

What are some of your fav books or music to celebrate the season?

Yippee!

Finals are over and I am ready for a little time with my family, some Christmas cheer and a little of this...

Deck the Halls with..

...toilet paper holders! (My Mema will appreciate this) As I've mentioned before toilet paper holders are so very useful even after their initial purpose of holding toilet paper. I think the possibilities are endless - and even my children enjoy using them. On Sunday while I was making a garland with them for my fireplace, Samuel wanted to use some to make the characters from the Nutcracker. He made a Nutcracker, Mouse king and Claire (for Lucy). I added a few touches with the hot glue gun that Samuel couldn't get to stick otherwise. The children had a great time playing with them all afternoon and they were the first thing they wanted to play with when we got home today.

Quotes

On Friday night I took the children to Home Depot to get a Christmas tree. As we were pulling into the parking lot, Samuel and Lucy were talking about Christmas and here is what I heard -

Samuel: "No, Lucy, this is not the first Christmas, last Christmas was the first Christmas and this is the second Christmas."
Mama: After a little laugh "Actually buddy, the first Christmas was over 2000 years ago when Jesus was born."
Lucy and Samuel: "Holy Guacamole!" (their new exclamation from an unknown source)
Samuel: "Well, how old is Jesus anyway?"
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As you know, schools have plenty of fund-raising opportunities and many ways to promote them. Samuel's class won their box tops contest and this is the conversation where he tells me about it.
Samuel: "Mama, I'm so excited. I won my test. It's not a test like you have at your school but one we had at my school about who can get the most box tops. AND, do you know what? (in a very excited voice)
Mama: "No buddy, what?"
Samuel: "We won recess on the tumblebus (a school bus that has been converted into a gymnastic jungle gym play area). [after a brief pause] Mama, what is 'recess'?
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This week during dinner one night, Samuel dropped some of his black beans and rice on the floor. He jumped up and ate it off the floor before I even knew what happened. I told him he didn't need to eat food off the floor. Samuel broke into a song and dance with the refrain "I like to eat things off the floor". He threw in a little jig, one verse and I was laughing... not as loud as I was when Samuel finished, took a bow, sat down and Lucy immediately broke into her own "I like to eat things off my plate!"
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Samuel: "Mama, what are we doing tomorrow?"
Mama: "It's supposed to rain tomorrow but, Lord willing...."
Samuel: "I'm not Lord Willing - who's Lord Willing." (Note: Samuel thinks of himself as a knight NOT a lord or a king)
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And lastly...
We pulled out our Little People nativity scene and the children have enjoyed playing with it. Samuel put on a play for Lucy and me a couple of night ago. Chewbacka from Star Wars (sp?) was the narrator and each act in the play had dialogue and attention to detail. The story was Biblically acurrate from Gabriel with Mary to the wise men's visit - until the end when the donkey took Chewbacka back to "star wars" in a donkey cart!

I LOVE getting to spend time with my children!!!!

St. Nicholas Day

Today we celebrated Saint Nicholas Day at our house. I asked Samuel what he remembered about St. Nicholas Day and he said "It's when we give other people stuff." That's the attitude and memory I was hoping would stick.

We started celebrating this last year as a way to teach our children about the real St. Nicholas, remember a tradition I learned about while in Eastern Europe and a way to focus us on giving to others during Christmas as we remember that we have been given so much (I don't need to spend time teaching them about getting and wanting!) If you want to know more about how we celebrate this let me know - but in general we bake goodies for our neighbors, someone who serves us (like firemen or police men) and we get a small gift for each other. We leave our shoes on the fireplace and we get the surprise in the morning. The children were so excited this year to get something for each other - and they did a great job choosing things the other would like, we didn't get to give out our goodies- a migraine did me in for the day - but we will get to that this week. Here are some pics from the morning and our tree decorating this evening.