Gingerbread, Gingerbread, Gingerbread Rocks!

With Mimi here at Christmastime, we took advantage of her crafty, artistic skills and made some gingerbread sleighs complete with jelly St. Nicks.

Mimi even knows how to make clean up fun.

This is Lili's idea of helping.  "Another Kit-kat over here, please!!"

 Gingerbread crafting brings out the little elf in all of us.

 The finished product... a sweet masterpiece!

These Wonderful Things are the Things We Remember All Through Our Lives...

If it can be believed, we had enough of card games and banana pudding yesterday.  So we headed out to the big hill for some old fashioned fun.  Mimi had an old fashioned diet Coke in the chalet and cheered us on from inside.

 

I was feeling genuinely hopeful that running up the hill with Lili literally en tow would help to burn off some of that banana pudding and apple pie as well as those mashed potatoes and Christmas cookies.  It was worth a shot.

 

Up and down the hill we went over and over again, and I only complained a little when my glove somehow got filled with snow and I lost all feeling below the right wrist.  Eventually I took Uncle David's advice and "quit being a baby."

Now we all feel like we've embraced winter at least for now.  Ask me how I'm feeling at the end of March when it's still snowing up here.  For now these chilly sights are warming my heart.

A Picture Perfect Christmas Eve...

A baby and a blue spruce...

 

Lili's "Poochy Face" has been captured for your holiday pleasure.

 

Lili enjoys our traditional Christmas eve spaghetti...

Silverware is COMPLETELY optional!

"Lord help the Mister who comes between me and my sister!"

Another one of our Christmas Eve traditions

 

Whoop!  Look out!  Miss Griswold is off to do some last minute Christmas shopping!!

Snakes and snails and puppy dog's tails

GOD BLESS US EVERY ONE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE.

Love, Meredith

Santa's House

 

How cool is it that we live in a town that has its very own Santa House?  Midland, MI is where Santa likes to hang out from the end of November until Dec. 23rd.  He even has a house right on Main Street.

Today we visited our bigger girls at school (where Lili allowed herself to be admired by a slew of first and third graders), then we took them out of school a few minutes early and headed down town to visit Santa at his house!  Lili was completely impressed.  There was so much to look at in Santa's house.

"I want that!"

Sophia had decided there were a few questions for which she needed answers: 

1) Why do they call you "Santa"? 

2) How many elves do you have?

3) How do reindeer fly?

 

By the time she actually got on his lap, however, she was so star struck, she forgot to ask any of her questions.  The big guy did most of the talking and Sophie asked for the usual: surprises.  Emma and Sophie both had a turn on Santa's lap and spent some quality time discussing important Christmas issues.  Whether they had been naughty or nice was obviously a topic of conversation which invoked some serious consideration.  After a bit of soul searching both assured Santa that they have been pretty nice.

 "I don't mean to sound greedy, but I actually would like a Nintendo DS this Christmas."

And of course in the end ALL of the little girls had to pile onto Santa's lap for a photo op, and he didn't seem to mind that a bit.

"Whenever you give someone a present or sing a holiday song, you're helping Santa Claus. To me, that's what Christmas is all about. Helping Santa Claus!"  ~ Louis Sachar

It's a Wonderful Life!

Why don't I have any time?  Why is having three children so much more demanding that having two?  How much harder could it be, right? 

I think I have solved the mystery this weekend.  Here goes...  Lili wakes up at around 6 am.  Sometimes I can convince her to catnap off an on in our bed until about 7:30.  Then for the rest of the day, she is my constant companion.  She showers with me, accompanies me on all of my errands and climbs onto the open door of the dishwasher and stomps her little feet as I load and unload it.  She begs for bites of my breakfast, lunch and dinner and chats to me while I'm in the bathroom.  If there is ever a moment when she is not by my side, it can be counted on that she is up to something naughty.  She enjoys removing lights and ornaments from the Christmas tree, "cleaning" the toilet and filling it with tissue AND she also likes to empty all of the drawers in my bedroom.  If she takes a nap, it usually happens en route to wherever we happen to be going on any given day.  She will also occasionally nap in the baby backpack while I do the grocery shopping.  All of this is wonderful and exhausting, but there are also two other little people that live in this house...

Emma and Sophia are superstars about getting up and getting dressed completely on their own in the morning.  I know what a lucky mom I am in this regard.  Sophie usually comes and wakes ME up at around 7:15 am at which point I roll out of bed (with Lili) and make something exceptionally wonderful for breakfast (like toast with jam or oatmeal with fruit).  I help the big girls into their coats, snow pants and boots, send them out the door with lovingly packed lunch boxes, and watch from the warmth of the living room as they wait for their school bus at the end of the driveway in the frigid Michigan early morning.  And then I proceed with the sorting of the mountain of laundry in my closet.  Lili helps by throwing everything out of the basket and rolling in it or playing peek a boo with it.  Eventually a basket of white towels and one rogue red sock makes its way into the wash, and then we continue our day with the remaining activities listed in paragraph one.

Later in the afternoon, the big yellow bus rolls back down the street and I am greeted by two chatty and ravenous little ladies.  I make snacks.  Check that.  I make "Dinner Number One".  Two hot dogs or a large plate of pasta is not a snack.  Then we are off to swimming, gymnastics or church.  Lili gets to ride along and I get to entertain her while the big girls practice their activities.  The entertainment of Lili often involves a little box of raisins and a cup of juice followed by a game of "You Come Back Here; I'm Going to Get You, You Little Monster".  Then we return home for dinner number two, homework, baths and quality time.  Quality time involves me being asked questions like, "Hey mom, so like do you think you're a pretty good mom?  I'm just asking."  or "If I were a badger living in a land called Pillow World, what do you think my favorite hobbies would be?"

At some point I will shuffle Lili off to bed (her own bed, Glory Hallelujah!),  and then I begin the bedtime rituals for the other two girls.  (There is usually a wonderful Dad around who helps with this routine, but our kids are experts at stretching out the bedtime hour.)  By the time it is all said and done, I am usually finishing reading and chatting with Emma by 9:30 or 10.  I love reading with my kids and am a huge fan of children's literature, so I am not complaining, but WOW there isn't much "Me Time" happening here these days.  No wonder I often stay up past midnight reading or emailing or simply dish-washing without my tap dancing little pally.

I sincerely hope that none of this sounds like I am grumbling.  I really love my busy life, but until I sat still for a moment (a rare occurrence) and thought about a typical day in my life, I really couldn't figure out why it is now so much harder to find time to bake, or hang those pictures that have been collecting dust behind the couch for months, to play board games with my older kids or to blog about how fabulous we all are.  I also used to love to entertain guests, but now the thought of it gives me hives.  Here is a photos of something that does NOT give me hives...

 

These three little girls, ages 8, 6 and 1 do keep me extremely busy.  My house never looks perfect.  There is always laundry to be done, a dirty dish or seven in the sink, and something unidentified and sticky somewhere on the kitchen counter.  There is toothpaste on the bathroom mirror, a little girl's sock in between the sofa cushions and a handful of crushed cheerios on the kitchen floor.  But there is also love and a lot of laughter, and we wouldn't have it any other way.  It truly is a wonderful, hectic, busy, meaningful life, and those little girls won't be little forever.  Merry Christmas!  Love, Meredith

Freezing My Grits Off, Y'all

 

We made it through the church Christmas pageant on Sunday evening.  It was really lovely.  Emma played a wonder-filled, humble shepherd while Sophie sparkled as a cherubic angel.  The pageant really was fantastic, but the most awe-inspiring part of it to me was the fact that it happened at all.  I mean there were five inches of snow on the ground.  There were howling winds and even more snow was on the way, and all of these crazy Michiganders trundled off to church (in frilly dresses even) as if it were no big deal.  The North Carolinian in me cried out, "This is so wrong!!  We should all be at home, in our pajamas watching the weather channel... in other words, being sensible... after we clear the super marker shelves of bread and milk, of course."  But that is not what happens here.

After the Christmas pageant, we all piled into the big family vehicle and headed for our local Meijer.  With all of the snow, we obviously needed to buy a few gallons of milk and some Chapstick.  I was shocked to find that at Meijer, it was all "business as usual."  I didn't even have to wrestle an old lady to the ground for the last loaf of bread nor did I need to take off my earrings and start swinging my pocketbook wildly to get near the dairy case.  It was oddly calm.  Shoppers went about their business as usual, and I was left feeling that my wintry shopping experience was a bit anticlimactic.

Midland Public Schools had canceled school for today before our kids even went to bed last night, but we didn't tell them.  We thought it might be more fun for them to wake up and have a morning surprise.  This is a view from our front door today.  Quite beautiful, really...

 

Of course a snow day means hot chocolate, and if you're lucky, your mom might add whipped cream and a little candy cane.  That's when you smile like this... 

Yum!  Happy Snow Day!

(On another occasion I will have a nice rant about how cold it is... 9 degrees Fahrenheit this afternoon!  I really don't know if I'm up for this.  I see fashionable, decorative ski masks in my future.  "Honestly, I'm not here to rob you.  I'm just from down South.")

The Family Ham

This weekend involved all sorts of seasonal festiveness. On Friday evening, we (nearly) finished decorating our tree with well-loved ornaments from Christmases past and a few new ones.  We are unfortunately no longer feeling enamored with the blue spruce which bleeds sap, drops needles like crazy and has to be handled with gardening gloves unless one doesn't mind being stabbed bloody.  But Happy Christmas anyway.  The tree still looks pretty and provides endless temptation for little Lili.

Last night we all went Christmas shopping and didn't get home until WAY past bedtime.  As I tucked a very sleepy Sophie into bed, she was half mumbling, half singing, "Mary had a baby. Yes, Lord.  Mary had a baby. Yes, my lord..."

And this morning we all woke up (a little later than usual) and found a wonderfully sparkly blanket of snow covering the outside world.  This afternoon we are looking forward to the children's Christmas pageant at church.  The North Carolinian in me is still baffled by the fact that life here continues to go on when there are about five inches of snow on the ground and the white stuff is still falling.  I'm guessing I will embrace the Michigan mindset eventually.

The weekend event that most impressed the little girls at this house was yesterday's Christmas cookie making.  Christmas cookies, in case you weren't aware, are not healthy.  Yesterday I learned to simply accept this fact.  Our attempt at healthy whole wheat gingerbread bears resulted in somewhat disgusting hilarity.  In the end it was nothing a little partially hydrogenated, rocket propelled spray frosting couldn't remedy.

Lesson learned, we opted for the considerably less healthy and more delicious traditional sugar cookies.  I suppose the sugar rush affected me.  I became so wrapped up in the Christmas cookie excitement that I decided to deliciously decorate Sophia a little bit...

It looks like fun, doesn't it?  Emma thought so... so I had to decorate her a little as well...

 

Of course I should have realized that The Family Ham was closely scrutinizing all of this fun.  The Family Ham cannot stand to be left out of any sort of fun.  The Family Ham took matters into her own hands...

 

Happy Christmas from our Family's Ham.

I'll Have a Blue (Spruce) Christmas!

Hey Y'all.  Winter is arriving in Michigan, and it is COLD!  I opened the door this morning at ten minutes to eight to send my little darlings out the door and down to the end of the driveway to wait for the bus, and it felt as I though I had opened the door to an enormous freezer.  "Goodbye, my babies!  I love you!!" I shouted and quickly closed the door to block out the arctic weather.  Sending my kids to school in snow pants and snow boots is new territory for me.

I suppose all of this winter weather nicely accompanies our preparations for Christmas.  On Sunday evening after nursing my ruined "toddler back" all day, we decided to head out to a local tree farm and find the Carson family Christmas tree.  (Incidentally "toddler back" involves literally crippling back pain that results from hoisting on to one's hip and carrying a 20+ pound toddler all day every day.  It takes its toll after a while.  I had a brilliant case of it for at least a year starting around the time Sophie was Lili's age.)

When we left home, it was just beginning to snow.  By the time we carried our new tree out to our car, everything in sight was winter white.  We enjoyed perusing all of the trees at the farm.  Compared to North Carolina, Michigan has a much larger variety of trees from which to choose.  Emma nearly lost her mind with excitement and announced that she had found the PERFECT tree at least eight times.

My gang exploring the NC favorites, Frasier Firs

In the end, we decided to try out a new kind of tree, and an almost-perfect Blue Spruce came home with us.  In hind sight we may not have made the best choice considering the fact that its needles are ridiculously sharp and the fact that we currently have an E.T.-like toddler who has absolutely no sense wandering around our house licking everything.  Live and learn.  We didn't notice how sharp those needles were until we got home and put the tree in its stand.  It is awfully pretty and will likely be even prettier if we ever get around to decorating the thing.  Happy Christmas!!

Our first blue spruce.  Think we'll name him Elvis.

Oh Happy Day!

This happy little girl was baptized at our new church yesterday.  I really wish that our faraway friends and extended family had been able to attend since it was rather special.  George and I were a little worried that Lili might turn into a wriggly monster up in front of the church.  She was starting to get antsy and was lunging toward the table behind me that was set with hand bells as we responded to the baptismal vows, but when I handed her to the minister, Dr. McCummons, her two favorite fingers went into her mouth and she watched his face intently as he spoke about why it was such a special day for her.  Before she was "sprinkled" she reached out her little hand and had a good splash in the baptismal font.  Emma and Sophie who stood right by our sides were delighted.

Finally she took a walk down the aisle and back in Dr. McCummons's arms and didn't make a peep.  She seemed to be impressed with the fact that she had so many admiring faces watching her.  And as she took that trip down the aisle, I couldn't help but notice that a beautiful silent snow had begun to fall outside the enormous windows on either side of the sanctuary.  Emma noticed as well.  Later she remarked that it was nice of God to send that sign during Lil's baptism.

"Let the little children come unto Me, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." -- Luke 18:16

Happy December!

This morning when George's alarm went off (far too early), the song that played on his clock radio was  "Winter Wonderland."  When I finally managed to pry my eyes open, I noticed that it actually looked a bit like a winter wonderland in our back woods.  I failed to become excited about this until a little later in the day. Lili has been making a nasty habit of waking us up in the middle of the night in hopes that we will play peek-a-boo with her for an hour or two.  The end result of those shenanigans is a not-so-chipper mama in the morning, one who snarls things like, "Don't forget your lunch box!!  I love you.  Grrr!"

After I got up and showered and got myself out and about in the aforementioned winter wonderland, I noticed that it was indeed quite lovely.  Lili and I managed to finish our charity Christmas shopping, pick up a little Christmas something for George AND stock up on some new festive Christmas lights.  The variety of lights out there is absolutely glee-inducing!  (Candy cane rope lighting is super cute for the record.)

Sophie was disappointed that the snow didn't stick much to the ground, but it really looked beautiful falling throughout the day... and I have a feeling she will get her fill of snow as the winter arrives and lingers here in Michigan.

On a completely different note, over the Thanksgiving holidays while I was in the kitchen doing dishes (one of my most frequent chores), Sophie and Emma sat at the kitchen table drawing and I couldn't help but overhear this conversation...

E: OK, Sophie, truth or dare?
S: Uhhhhmmm... Truth!!
E: Hmmm.  Ok, well, the truth is Sophie, sometimes when you wake up in the morning, your hair looks really crazy.  I'm sorry, but that IS the truth.

Sophie was not at all bothered by this news and has been known to mess up her hair intentionally for a laugh, and I was certainly amused by their misunderstanding of the "Truth or Dare" rules.  I'm not even sure where they learned about the game anyway...somewhere out there in the big bad world.  Later on Emma dared Sophie to give her all the money she had in her piggy bank, and Sophie decided that she didn't want to play "Truth or Dare" any more.

Lili is also doing her part to keep me entertained.  She has learned the word, "uh-oh!"  That tiny lilting voice calling out "Uh Oh!" is one of the sweetest things ever...even if it follows a box full of raisins being dumped in the floor. Uh oh.

Happy December All!