I love christmas traditions...

I have so many traditions for Christmas sometimes I overwhelm myself trying to squeeze them all in. Luckily as I have gotten more mature I have realized it can still be a tradition if you miss a year now and then-but they are all so fun and festive. I love holidays-birthdays, anniversaries, valentine's, st Patrick's, you name it...but Christmas takes the cake. Here are some of my favorite traditions we have been doing around the McIntyre household:

Attending a performance of The Nutcracker Ballet. Last year we went to Riverside Ballet, this year to one for kids at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. We went with the Foors, which is always fun since they are our best friends. The girls were all fancy and so well behaved. My favorite is the Sugar Plum Fairy because of her skirt and the fact that I wish I were a ballerina or at least a dancer. I am kinda dance challenged-though I try, and I took ballet as a girl. When I was four that was what I was going to be when I grew up. I just found out that Adam does not enjoy this tradition of mine-maybe I need to save my pennies and take him to a real fancy performance. My Grandma Jo always took me to those swanky ones so I guess I can see the magic that he can't.

Making Cookies and Fudge. This is an old photo-but it tells you how good my fudge is. (Not to brag-but I will). I make butter horns which are equally as fabulous and an secret family recipe from the McIntyre side-seriously I couldn't have the recipe until we were married and then I had to go over and actually make them with my mother in law (so don't even ask for the recipe). I am looking for my own famous cookie as these are both hand me downs, but haven't found the perfect one, so I make a different one each year.

Watching the Balboa Boat Parade. This one is something I grew up in as I am from Orange County as a kid. We love it! We bundle up, go down for dinner at the Fun Zone, ride the ferry over to the island, walk the row of fancy houses all decorated with parties going on (it always seems funny that we common folk are staring in the open sliders at older white rich people in black slacks and red sweaters having foofy holiday parties...). Then we find a spot on the concrete edge of the sidewalk and watch the decorated boats go by with their sound systems blaring holiday music. We bring coco and a blanket and have a blast. Other people have not always seen the magic, but this year we brought the Reids. And they saw the magic. We love them!

Seeing Christmas Lights on Houses...esp. the Chino Lights. Adam is a fiend for Christmas lights. He is very opinionated, and likes white on our house-all facing the same direction. Aaron Foor thought it was me that made him do lights with such passion-but no it is ALL him. We have a great metallurgy Nativity that was custom made for us by Carl Wolnisty on the lawn. It is very nice, but we are thinking of going to LED next year now that they are less expensive and easier to find. I just love the twinkly lights. It is so festive and fun. Some years we drive around Riverside with coco in the car and others we get out to Chino to walk the streets of the neighborhood. Not this year, but some years.

Decorating the house with our tree and collection of Nativities. We started out buying one a year, but we have had 10 Christmases and have about 30 nativities, so I think we buy more than the quota. We have them from all genres now and even have a few from other countries, I love them. I don't decorate with any other symbols of the season really, but that with some garland on the doorways make the house look so festive. We put it all up the day after Thanksgiving so we can enjoy it for the entire month.

Attending the Mission Inn Festival of Lights. We love downtown Riverside so this is a given. It is crazy crowed, but it is fun to be a part of it all. It just kicks off the season. They even have fireworks and Santa counts down to the lighting. There was a slight delay this year and the producer in me was fretting the transition and downtime-but it was perfect as always.

Going caroling. We don't always get to this one-but I grew up with it. Jon and Kathy are throwing a party and I am so excited. My family would always carol at a convalescent home and give care packages or go to shut ins. We did this at a family reunion a few years ago and it was such a beautiful thing to sing and see their faces light up. I should start that here.

Celebrating Advent and Counting Down to Christmas. I grew up in a Presbyterian church and my grandparents are Methodist so the advent wreath was big growing up. It is so nice to snuggle up and read a Christmas story and talk about the ways we can love Jesus more and help people more at Christmas time. And I LOVE the whole countdown thing-the anticipation is one of the best parts of the holiday for me. We have a candy filled advent cupboard that has a daily devotional with it, a felt scene nativity and (my favorite) and stocking line with little stocking stuffers each day for the kids. It has been good this year for Agatha with her number recognition 1-30 that we have been working on in homeschool.

Sending out Christmas cards. I love to get them and read about the year and see pictures. It is such a nice way to keep in touch with people throughout life that have stayed dear to my heart if not in my daily life. I sent 160 this year and could have send 200 if it wasn't so expensive! In a time of email and Internet it almost seems so novel and quaint to send something through the mail and get them in the mailbox. Adam thinks it is fun and participates, but really doesn't care...whenever I am laboring over the list of sendees he always says "Cut them-it's fine-it doesn't matter...boys!

Giving to others in need. We try to do this over the whole year, but this time of year just seems to stand out. There are so may opportunities from Operation Christmas Child through Aggie's preschool, Angel Tree (kids of people in jail) at church, toy drives, etc. But my favorite are the years we have had a family in our lives or people that we have given to specifically. One year when I was a preteen my parents gave everything from dishes, a dining room table, a tree, presents, Christmas dinner, to a bed to a family new to the country. We went over to deliver it and played with the kids all night. It was an amazing Christmas memory. We also spend a portion of our Christmas budget on something like goats in Haiti as our present to extended family and friends. We like to go through World Vision-kinda like Heifer International. My extended family started that one and we don't buy for each other-just for charity. It is such a better use of money and who really needs more stuff or another candle?

Christmas Shopping. On that note I do love to give gifts...it is my love language. I shop all online though. I did one jaunt at Target this year and I was bushed! I love shopping in my PJs during nap and having the box delivered. I have 6 boxes in my front room right now...waiting for wrapping. We wanted to buy Chicco bags (mini canvas bags that fit in a purse or diaper bag) for all the wrapping of presents this year to reduce waste-but that is added cost and we just couldn't do it. Green is expensive sometimes! You do what you can.

Santa's lap. My kids know that Santa is not real (and hopefully I have coached them well enough to not spoil the secret for yours), but we do teach on the magic of Christmas. We talk about the gift of Jesus and the legend around the real St Nicholas. We talk about how Santa is a symbol and a fun way to use our imaginations to celebrate all that. Aggie puts on the Santa hat and we all stuff each other's stockings and eat the cookies and carrots. We pretend Santa things for fun and wink afterward. It is fun. Everywhere we go there have been Santas and she has sat on three laps with minimal line waiting. Though, her first Santa this year was a Nordstrom Santa and after that all other's pale in comparison. The second one got "Is that beard real?" He said "Ho, ho, it itches like it is..."

Christmas at Disneyland. Oh the lights-nobody does lights like Disney. And the castle is amazing. I love the fake snow. The parade could use a reboot, but it is still magical. We went with the Reids this year and saw the reindeer in Sants's village, took Gwyn on Dumbo for the first time and had a wonderful day with the girls.

New Christmas Dresses. My mom used to make them for us at Christmas and Easter, but I waited in Black Friday lines for 45 minutes for these matching Mandarian beauties-does that count? Aren't they cute? Aggie sang a spontaneous Silent Night at our Staff Christmas party this night. She loves to perform!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party. We always got the kids together to celebrate Jesus' birthday with cupcakes, crafts, games and a story time. We didn't this year. I miss my friends!

SO I am sure there are others, but these are what stand out. I LOVE Christmas traditions...got any good ones?

delay in BLOG due to SAD

Have you ever heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder-it stinks, and after many many years of unexplainable depression when I have a seemingly okay life, I have found that this is the pattern of my life. I look back over the years and this is the only common factor to my depression periods-FALL and WINTER-every year like clockwork. I have driven boyfriends away, had lower grades in school, wear clothes out of the unfolded heap that mounts, gotten behind at work, not called back friends, and slept ALOT in the FALL. I have SAD and I am learning to deal with it. But, it makes it hard to get even the regular stuff in like showering and dusting, let alone Christmas trees, cards, college courses, learning records (for work), shopping, infant care, four year old care, you get the picture. I can't even get my email checked, let alone blog. So here is my catch up post...a bunch of one liners(or longer...) to catch up my blogger buddies and family on our life.

I finished one of my four CLAD classes that have to be finished by Dec 31-one, but the biggest one at that. Gotta start another one...

Adam had a fun show with his band Quick Before Sinking at Java Bliss. It was mostly family of the band though. They are really good I think so come see them at the Festival of Lights on the Main Street Walking Mall on Dec 17 from 7-10 or Java Bliss on Dec 20 from 7-9 or the Riverside Plaza Main on Dec 27. Aggie will be there and she is always worth the trip :)

We went to Disneyland with the girls. It is always fun to go with a baby-they are in such amazement. When we rode Small World-the Christmas version-she sat straight up and held the bar watching open mouthed in awe.

Adam and Aggie attended MacKenzie's Narnia play at CAT. She came home beaming that you only have to be six to be in their plays-the countdown to my inevitable "theater mom" days has begun. Adam has already begun to teach her the Lucy lines with an English accent.

We took our Christmas picture at the Life Arts building in Riverside. It was a fun morning as we traded photography skills with Adam and Alyssa. After taking both family shots we took some of the four kids on the grass. They are so cute, but I got a little lump in my throat. It kinda felt like we were trying to document their young friendship before they are separated by the move. Sucky.

We hosted Thanksgiving for my Dad, brother Rick and The Ellis family. Aggie had Mackenzie trapped in her room for hours-though I think he liked it. It was wonderful (Adam makes a mean turkey, my mashed potatoes are great if I do say so, and Leslie makes a mean "pumpkin"-really sweet potato-pie), but my poor Gwyn had horrible GERD problems as I was trying to wean her from the prevacid and we spent the meal and pie time screaming in the bedroom. Good times.

I was a crazy woman trying to be a good friend and try something new and went out Black Friday shopping with Emily. OH MY GRACIOUS. We were cute strolling the mall with our babies strapped to our chests in matching black Moby Wraps, and I got some fancy dresses for my fancy girl, but it was craziness. I waited in line for 45 minutes at H&M and, I must say, pulled off some super mom attachment parenting. I had a diaper bag on my back, $150 worth of fancy dresses on my arm, my bluetooth headset in my ear so I could call Em and Adam with voice activation for various things that came up, and nursed and rocked Gwyn to sleep in the Moby Wrap while standing in line. Though I looked like a dork or freak I am sure (depending on your view of nursing or strollers), I was proud.

We went to the Mission Inn Lighting and it was fabulous..and crowded. I had a broken toe and this point and was petrified that someone would step on it. We decorated the house all day with nativities, a tree and outside light and then went to Taco Station for yummy tamales beforehand to kick off Christmas. The McIntyre and Thornell crowd were there and we got to see the switch on and fireworks with them. Gwyn loved the fireworks except for the grand finale. She looked worried but I just kept smiling and saying YEH! and she caught on. Adam spent $14 on plastic light sabers (one didn't even make it home unbroken). But I got a cool piece of Hispanic Tattoo inspired metallurgy art from a new shop on the walking mall.

My wonderful brother Rick stayed with up for a few days. He help cooked Thanksgiving, put up lights and take care of the girls. He is awesome to have around and my girls love him. We love you Uncle Rick.

We went to a Goodbye Lance lunch at the Grove Grille. Gwyn was having a hard time and I was almost grateful. I could totally avoid the fact that they are leaving. I have been to so many of these things in the last few years, and I don't want another friend to be so far away. I guess I should deal cause it is happening soon.

We went to Gwyn's 6 month check up and she is 16 pounds now. She is growing well even with the GERD. We aren't ready to go off meds and will try again at 7 months. She is rolling over, starting to make jokes (like blowing raspberries on my arm) and sitting up. She rocks on all fours, but doesn't crawl yet. We are hoping it will be by Christmas. We got her vaccinations-which I hate. Adam and I researched it and decided to vaccinate (always asking for the non preservative kind), but I am not comfortable with it. If Adam didn't come to the appointment I know I would decline. I make him hold her and this time Aggie and I even left the room. He said she looked at him this time with anger like Why aren't you protecting me? I just have so may qualms...

I had work meetings this week and even though they are only 2 hours on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday morning-Gwyn was not down with sitting peacefully like a poster child. Who would be. She wanted to be on the go, or nursing, or sleeping, or anything but sitting. I think I will be starting to leave her with Adam. It is time.

On that note I tried to leave her in Nursery Care for the first time-not quite ready for that one. I don't have Nursery friendly parenting techniques. I use bidegradable gdiaper which they are not willing to try to change, I use a sling which they are frightened of, I don't let my baby cry-ever-which they always let them go for like 10m before getting mom, I hold my baby most of time and they seem to only pick up if they cry, I nurse on cue instead of on a schedule so it is unpredictable and often, and I have a GERD baby who cannot under any circumstance be bounced. Needless to say she was screaming to be nursed, rocked and with heartburn after 25 minutes. Oh, well-just not a good fit for attachment parents. I knew it was a commitment when I chose it. My four year is an independent as can be-so I know it works out in the long run. We'll try again later.

Gwyn took her first bath in the large bath instead of the sink. She was soooo excited that all four arms were flailing. She has so much fun.

Ok, so that is a recap-I will try to not get so far behind. I need to get a lightbox for the SAD thing. Then I have to find time to sit still by a light for 30 minutes. Maybe I could Blog...