Prepping for Christmas: Mr. and Mrs. Claus vs. Elflings

Doug and I have this awful habit of coming up with the most elaborate, time-consuming projects to give out as Christmas gifts.  These ideas casually spring into our head on or around December 1st. 

Couple these fun ideas with the following "must-do's":

• Christmas gift shopping (in time to get holiday gifts to Arizona and Nevada before the Christmas holiday / and for the least possible shipping charges),
• Decorate tree.
• Holiday party attending (school, day care, friends and work),
• Trying to savor a few holiday family moments
• An occasional baking night for holiday goodies
• Wrapping the kids' toys
• Laundry and packing for two weeks in Michigan
• Schedule appointment to have Christmas pictures taken for Christmas card.
• (Find outfits, trim up kids' hair for said Christmas card family portrait).
• Send Christmas cards.
• Preparations for heading out of town (which includes setting timers throughout the house, so any potential perps won't realize we're out of town. ;)
• Contacting US Postal Service to put our mail on hold.
• Contacting our Community Supported Agriculture organization, so they won't deliver vegetables to our front door while we're gone. 
• Cleaning my house so I don't leave it in a state that is seriously regrettable, should I perish in an automobile accident between here and Rochester Hills, Michigan. ;-)
• Attend normal activities, keep kids fed, avoid getting sick.  ;-)
• Remember to give African dwarf frogs to our sweet neighbors with small bag of food before heading out of town.
• "Keep calm and carry on."

And there you have our life in December!  Oy!

This year, I decided the BEST gift for my sister would be a digital frame that included an SD card with all of our family pictures.  My Dad and Dolly fortunately gave me a great start, with 1,200 pictures from their own digital frame.  Piece of cake, right?  Umm...Not so much. 

I asked my Mom, Dad and Dolly for any other family pictures that Sherry would love.  (Sidenote:  A big thank you to Mom, Dad and Dolly for my badgering them to find the most memorable pictures and send to me).  I thought I would just add any pictures that I had of Sherry's family to the existing collection from Dad and Dolly.  Oh. Mi. Gosh. 

A little sidebar:  My Mom, knowing me all-too-well, has been sending me little dollar store photo albums filled with pictures, since Doug and I moved to Georgia in 1998, whenever there was a momentous occasion in the family.  I scanned my little heart out after Thanksgiving, before Christmas, to turn pre-digital age pictures into .jpg files that could be saved to a 16 Gig memory card.  2,300 pictures later, my sister has a comprehensive collection of pictures that I think know she loves. 

I know she likes her family pictures displayed throughout her house, so I thought this would be THE perfect gift for her.  Knowing she might not be super geeked about the frame itself, I put a note on the frame package that said "Plug Me In."  She cried when she plugged in the frame.  At first, I don't think she realized how many pictures were actually included in this frame.  It's hard to visualize 2,700 pictures!  Doug asked me before Christmas if my goal was to "make Sherry cry."  Well, not intentionally!  :)

'You know how you just can't wait to give someone a gift that you know will be perfect for them?  This was THE gift this year.  I was SOOOO excited to give this to Sherry.  More excited than any gift I could think of receiving myself this Christmas.  There are now over 2,700 pictures on Sherry's frame.  My Mom liked it so much, she wanted a copy.  I liked it so much, I finally decided to break out the digital frame I bought a year ago and put it to use. 

In addition to this gift, I decided to get really crafty and come up with a few different recipes.  I saw Williams' Sonoma sold a "Pecan Pie In-A-Jar" made by the Saba River Company.  I took it on as a challenge, baking a few four different pecan pies to come up with just the right recipe to put in a jar.  I took two of the "good" pies to Liam's day care Christmas party.  Everyone raved about the pies!  Everything needed to make the pie is included in the jar, with exception to eggs, butter and a storebought deep-dish pie crust.  I absolutely love the labels, from  http://www.myownlabels.com/). 

(Note:  It was unbelievable how hard it was to find smooth-sided Ball quart jars.  So that was added to my endless"To Do" list.  I didn't want an embossed/bumpy jar since I had to affix a label to it.  Michael's sells smooth-sided ones, thankfully.)

My unlabeled jar on the left, vs. the Williams Sonoma jar on the right:

I also wanted to make a winter fruit jam of some sort. After my Google search came up lacking, I used a recipe I found and then tweaked it to include specific fruits.   (Fresh cranberries, apples, pears, dried pineapple, orange, lemon).  It turned out super yummy!  It's my take on a cranberry walnut relish that makes it's appearance often at holiday tables.  I guess I could technically add walnuts and make it a conserve in the future.  Hmm.

The gift Doug made this year was an oven rack tool that he turned on his lathe.  They are beautiful!  It has a fork-type tip to it, so you can push an oven rack in without having to touch it.  Above the fork area, there is a hook cut out of the wood, so you can grab the oven rack and pull it toward you without getting burned.  He made about 9 of them.  They were all made out of different, contrasting woods.  He actually drew up a prototype for it and everything!  So it was seriously custom-made.  He finished them and put the polyurethane coat on them the MORNING. BEFORE. WE. LEFT. for Michigan.  Everyone seemed to like them.  Aunt Jean commented that hers was too pretty to use.  I hope they're useful to everyone that received them!  These pictures honestly don't do them justice.  Some wood even had a hint of purple in it. 

And, the reason I wrote this post originally... Here is how the Carey kids prep for Christmas.  This picture taken during the car ride to Michigan.  :)  Rough work, isn't it?  ;-)

Peace, love and holiday goodness,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Merry Christmas from the Carey Clan!

2011 Christmas card and family photo.

I called on Thursday, 12/15 to make an appointment for pictures to be taken at Portrait Innovations.   Considering the usual mad crunch to get things done before leaving for Michigan, I thought it might be a longshot that they would have something available.  They had a slot open the next night, a Friday!  Phew!  I haven't sent Christmas cards out in three years, I'm guessing.  Doug didn't relish the thought of taking pictures, but was a good sport and went along with it.  I'm so glad he did!  We were running late for our appointment, but when we got there, we waited almost an hour and a half.  Gulp. 

Once they were ready to take our pictures, the kids were pros!  The photographer was great with the kids.  She asked Doug if he wouldn't mind slipping a red velvet Santa sleeve onto his arm.  It was a glove like Santa's, with a red sleeve that only went up to his elbow.  At first I thought...What in the world?  She handed him a tray of "milk and cookies" and told the kids to pretend like they were giving milk and cookies to Santa.  The kids thought it was absolutely hilarious that they were actually looking up at their Daddy and not Santa.  Oh how funny this was to me (and them).  Only Doug's (I mean Santa's) red sleeve was captured in the picture, along with the kids' expressions. 
Portrait Innovations took some of the best pictures of Liam I've seen, so far.  It is SO HARD to catch Liam with his eyes open!  They did a great job.  Doug also mentioned that we wouldn't be leaving their studio without the picture of Ava with the black background.  He loved it.

We walked to an ice cream shop while our pictures were printing.  The pictures were done at 9 p.m.  We headed home.  The next morning, I was hoping to print labels before the kids' gymnastics class.  Unfortunately we didn't have enough labels.  I ran to Publix and bought stamps.  They didn't have the Avery labels.  I went to Office Max and bought the labels.  I headed home, printed out the Avery labels, grabbed our Christmas return address labels and the Christmas cards to be sent, and then headed to the kids' gymnastics class.  I stuffed, applied stamps, return labels, address labels and sealed the envelopes during their gymnastics class.  After gymnastics class, I dropped the nearly 70 Christmas cards in the post office mailbox, in time for the 1:15 p.m. mail pick-up.  Ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing.  Never before have Christmas cards been processed so quickly (14 hours, to be exact)!  If we would've printed the cards or letters ourselves, I would've been sunk.  It was nice for at least one holiday project to go quickly and turn out well! 

Kudos to the kiddos and Doug for going along with it!

Peace, love and family-style,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Lights of Life: Holiday Festivities 2011

During the holiday season, we like to try to do at least a few memorable things as a family, before heading up to Michigan to celebrate the holidays.  This year, we found out that there was a "Festival of Trees" charity event at a local hotel, where you could vote for your favorite decorated Christmas tree.  By voting for that tree with money in an envelope, you would be giving money toward that particular charity.  The hotel offered free hot cocoa, cookies and apple cider. 

When we walked into the Embassy Suites, Ava immediately saw a pink Christmas tree and was in love.  :)  There were so many trees!  (30!)  And each of them had a different theme / decorations. 

We got some hot cocoa, but I think the kids both burned their mouths on it...it was scalding hot!  While the cocoa cooled off, they rode the glass elevator with Doug. 

Then came the voting.  Ava originally wanted to vote for the tree that had ballerinas on it.  The charity was The Atlanta Ballet.  Considering the numerous other organizations that dealt with more immediate needs, I was hoping she might change her mind.  ;)  She decided on a charity (the name escapes me right now) that helped kids become leaders.  If you pushed certain buttons near the tree, there was a narrative with kids' voices that mentioned how they were learning to become leaders.  Great choice!  Liam decided on a tree that had little wood houses on it.  I think it might've been Habitat for Humanity or a very similar organization.  They both put their envelopes in the box and we headed out the door.

On the way home, we decided to cruise by Life University's "Lights of Life."  Each year they put on an impressive Christmas light display through which you can drive.  The kids LOVED it.  These are pictures, a few snapped in the car, with my phone.  Although a few are blurry, it captures the essence of how magical the lights are. 

Liam has officially trademarked the term "awesome lights," and will say "Look at the awesome lights!"  If you say "awesome lights," though, he will say "No!  Don't say that!"  I think he thinks he owns the phrase.  :)  This year the kids, Liam especially, have gotten excited over the most meager of Christmas light displays.  I love it.  I hope they always do! 

 

Peace, love and a silent and light-filled night,

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Thanksgiving 2011: A Ride on the Polar Express

While in Michigan, we were able to go on a train ride from Owosso, Michigan to Chesaning, Michigan aboard the North Pole Express.  It was so fun!  Dad and Dolly bought tickets in the “Cocoa Class”.  Grandpa Dean, Grandma Dolly, Daymian, Jordan, Uncle Chris, Aunt Kristin, Olivia and Sophia were all riding right along with us.  If you’ve ever seen the Polar Express movie, you know about the cocoa car!  J  Those who served the cocoa, though, didn’t dance on the ceiling… The car in which we rode was an antique railroad car from the 1940’s.  In fact, the Polar Express movie’s sound samples were taken from the Pere Marquette 1225 car, which normally runs on this line!  That particular engine  was undergoing a federally mandated overhaul, but we got to ride in one of the cars that the 1225 normally pulls.

We drove up I-75 to the Owosso area, where we ate at Cracker Barrel for lunch.  All of the kids wore their pajamas, just like the kids in the Polar Express movie.  When we were at Cracker Barrel, we ran into Aunt Freda and Rebecca.  What a small world!!! It was strange but nice to have a family reunion in the middle of Cracker Barrel!  I wish we could’ve spent longer visiting.

After lunch, we headed to the railroad depot in Owosso.  There we boarded the train and waited for it to leave the station. Knowing Liam’s love for trains, this made the experience that much more magical.  Once we left the station, the ride was a very smooth and relaxing one.  We were served endless hot cocoa and a huge sugar cookie.  We were on our way to the North Pole!  Along the way, Liam would point out the “many swamps” that he saw.  It was pretty cute, the things that he would point out.  Ava seemed to enjoy the ride, as well!

Once the train slowed as we approached Chesaning, we saw Santa and Mrs. Claus waiving outside of the station!  How cool that was!  Once the train stopped, we headed into the North Pole.  It was seriously over the top!  Dimly lit, arcade type lights everywhere, games, craft booths, a gorgeous carousel, lots of carnival rides and a miniature train to ride.  We had a blast.  All that, and we got to visit Santa, as well! 

While in line waiting to see Santa, I prepped Liam for the Santa visit.  I mentioned that he would need to tell Santa what it was that he might want for Christmas.  I told him “If you want ‘pinchy diesel’ for Christmas (which is a Diesel train in part of the Thomas the Train series) you need to tell Santa.  If you don’t tell Santa, he won’t know what you want.”  He heeded the advice and once  on Santa’s lap, was in immediate conversation with Santa.  In fact, we had to call his name so he would look toward us, so we could take a picture.  J  Quite different from last year’s wailing-and-gnashing-of-teeth picture with Santa.  After jumping off Santa’s lap, the kids wanted to go on the carousel, followed by a few more rides.  We had a little snack, bought a souvenir ornament and a few other small souvenirs just in time to head back to the train. 

Once aboard the train for the return trip, we had more cocoa and were given signature Cocoa Class mugs as souvenirs.  Liam finally fell asleep on the train ride back, after not sleeping all day!

What a fun thing to do with family.  Definitely a neat holiday activity I will remember for years to come!

Goofy!

Oops... I interrupted a conversation with Santa...

In sequence, I took pictures of Doug and Liam, while Doug took video coming down the slide.

Enjoying endless cocoa!  Hot!  Hot!  Hot!

Peace, love and "All-Aboard!"

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam