Traditions

This year when we were putting up Christmas decorations, I paid more attention to what my children were thinking and feeling about the whole deal.

Usually, I put up Christmas when they are gone or otherwise occupied. I would love to have a Norman Rockwell moment of family solidarity when decorating for Christmas, but lets be honest here. 4 children all clamoring around me saying "What can I put up?" "Let me do something!" and "Do you think this looks good here?" while fighting with each other over who got the last decoration to put up is not a perfect scene of Christmas joy.

But this year, with all the recent talk of traditions in the LDS realm, I decided to brave the chaos and let them help.

And I listened to them. All of them are so excited about Christmas this year. Even though we are in a new place away from friends and family, and they know we don't have much for presents this year. They are so in the spirit of it all. I know that part of what gets all of us excited are the traditions, but I hadn't realized how much the decorations we had were part of my children's idea of what Christmas means to them. Duh, I know, this is obvious, but it just really dawned on me that the things I have bought over the years just because I liked them or they matched have become so much more special to my children that I ever realized they would.

My children love the things we put out every year, recognize them and look forward to them. I listened to them say things like "this one is my favorite" and "I love this one" and "when did we get this one Mommy?" . I was able to focus on those things and not the chaos, and we came pretty close to a Norman Rockwell moment.

Then when all was decorated, they walked around oohing and ahhing, talking about Christmases past and their excitement for this year. And much of that excitement is due to our special things we use every year to decorate our house. So when one would come out of the box and I would think, "That one is getting old" or "I'm tired of looking at that one" I didn't voice it, and let the item be proudly displayed. I tend to like new decorations, but I don't think Christmas decorations should be new all the time. Sure, I will add some here and there, and occasionally one suffers an untimely death due to breaking, but taking out the same ones year after year are what makes our house look like Christmas to us. To my kids.

My favorite decoration that I own is a light up snow man that once graced my mom's house. The paint is worn off in many places, but I love it.

My kids feel the same way about our decorations. Traditions really are so important, no matter how big or small. They do create a sense of security, of belonging, of stability and love. I wonder what decorations each child will want when they start their own homes. I will be happy to give them to them, to continue the tradition in their homes with their children.

Except for my snowman. That one is mine!

Tattling

Corrine has picked up on the art of tattling, but hasn't quite got the whole gist of it yet. She has the tone of voice down pat, and the correct words. She must understand that when someone tattles, there is the chance of getting one of the others in trouble.

But what she doesn't get is that the person you are tattling on has to actually be doing the thing you are tattling about.

She will say things like "Ava's getting out of bed." or "Ava's touching the tree."
When Ava is not even near to doing those things.

It is so funny.

Language, honor, virtue and manners

Four things I believe that our society has lost over the years.

I could write a post about each of these four things, and maybe I will, but today I am thinking about language.

Last night, we watched A Christmas Carol, the version made in 1984. The special effects were laughable, but I couldn't get over the language used. (The movie got me thinking about the language, and then each of the other four things listed in my post followed language in my thoughts.) It is of course set in a time gone by, and the original story written by Dickenson, so one would expect the language to be "old fashioned". But that is precisely my point. I loved listening to the people in that movie speak, particularly Scrooge. The copious amount of beautiful vocabulary and the patterns of speach in that movie had me on the edge of my seat with enjoyment. I was happy to expose my children to such eloquent manners of expressing oneself.

Speaking during that era involved a lot of vocabulary that we have lost or forgotten about now.That vocabulary is wonderful and gorgeous and makes up a large part of why I love that era. But it isn't always the vocabulary that is distintive of that time. It is often the manner of phrasing and speaking that is different.
For example, a line from the movie last night spoken by Scrooge:

"Spirit, this is a fearful place. I wish to leave it."

Contrast that with what you might hear today:

" Hey, where the &*%$ am I? I wanna get out of here!"

Hmmm.

We shorten words, use slang, leave off letters altogether and even alter words in, I believe, and effort to be quicker in speach. I have often felt the frustration of not being able to properly express myself, that my existing vocabuly left much to be desired. Would that I could have at my disposal the language I heard in the movie last night. Expressing myself, I am sure, would not often be a problem.

I detest the language we use in modern day. I am guilty of using it, and sometimes when I listen to myself speak I notice how uneducated I sound. The language used by our society in modern times makes us, I believe, sound lazy, slothful, unintelligent and brash.

It is a pity that we have lost so much over the centuries.

Perhaps it is the language alone that keeps me coming back to those bygone eras, both in literature and film. Reading and watching (if the language is done well, such as in the movie we watched last night) things set in in the 1800's or early 1900's is always enjoyable to me. I have all of Jane Austen's works, and they are some of my favorites. I do love poetry, (if I can understand it; I have to comprehend what I am reading or I get bored) and the works of Shakespeare. (Although, Shakespeare borders on uncomprehendable sometimes, his era is too long past!) Any novel set in those times that gets the language right I devour. And I notice that while I am reading those things, I tend to think in and even sometimes borrow elements of their manner of speaking, both in syntax and vocabulary.

I encourage you to watch the version of A Christmas Carol we watched last night. Listen to the way that the characters speak, especially Scrooge. Compare that to how we speak today. And see if you don't agree with me. That we have lost something precious.

For the love of our dog

Every couple of weeks, when the piles get quite large, a Saturday chore for Michaela and Payden is to poop scoop. It is HEE- LARE- EOUS to watch them do this. They trade off on who holds the bag and who scoops, and often fight while they are doing it. Or if they get along, they are laughing and joking and it takes them twice as long. What is so funny is watching them trying not touch the poo, and getting all touchy when one of them gets it too close to the other one. I laugh every time.


He he, there are moments when being a mom is so fun!

This is cute

Corrine and I attend a Mommy and Tot dance/tumbling class on Wednesdays. We have a lot of fun singing, dancing, and doing somersaults and going through obstacle courses. The teacher has the kids to some elements of dance, like up on tippy toes for relevaes (sp?) Here is Corrine, in her little leotard and leg warmers (that I made) doing relevaes. Sorry, I am sure I am slaying that word. I never took French!

She has so much fun, and my favorite part is getting her dressed in her tumbling outfit and watching her cute little bum while she shakes and shimmies. I will have to take the video camera one time. Of course, If I am recording her, she probably won't do anything. I'll try! She is such a cutie.

Payden's Awesome!

The schools around here had something they call a Reflections contest. It has a theme, and everyone who enters creates something around that theme. They had all kinds of categories, such as film making, music, movement and dance, 3-D, art and sculptures, and literature. There were 210 entries from Payden's school, and 33 were chosen to go on to a regional competition. This year the theme was Together We Can. Payden entered a story in the literature section, and won! We were so proud of her. She writes really well. Thursday night they had an awards ceremony for the winners, and Payden got a cute trophy, a certificate, a $10 gift certificate to Wal-mart, and a coupon for a local frozen yogurt place. She was so excited! Such a smarty pants. We love you Payden! We went out to Krispie Kreme for a treat afterwards. I love seeing my kids succeed and be honored. It makes me so proud!

Ava's Birthday Bash

This year for Ava's birthday we are going to be attending another celebration (David's wedding!) so we celebrated a couple of weeks early. Ava didn't mind!

She described what kind of cake she wanted in very explicit detail. A strawberry cake with strawberry frosting, with real strawberries on the top in the shaped of a heart, and pieces of strawberries in the frosting. She decided she wanted to help me with it, so she and I set to it. She made the cake almost all by herself, and she decorated it without any help!



The older girls decorated the house with balloons and crepe paper. It looked very festive!


For dinner, we took the family and two of her friends to Chuckee Cheeses. We had a blast! Two friends was just the right number for her, they were so cute together. At one point when I was checking on them, I asked if they were having a good time. They replied "We are having SOOO much fun!"

Here they are dancing on "tv".


One of the friends she invited is from her classroom. The other is a friend from Idaho who oddly enough lives in the same city we do now! They have missed each other, and enjoyed the evening.









The older girls had fun too. Here is Michaela!


Ava on a fun ride!


Here is Ava and her friends all on the same ride together. So cute!


After Chuckee Chesses, the friends went home and the family came home to have cake and ice cream and open presents. Here she is getting dresses from Grandma.


The Jesse doll and Toy Story 3 movie from Horsey Grandma.


We got her a bunch of art stuff, her very favorite thing to do! We got her a little lap desk with supplies, and an easel with a chalk board on one side, dry erase on the other, and a place for a roll of paper in the middle. Big hit!


Here we are with Ava's masterpiece!

I cannot believe she is nearly 6. We had a great night, she had so much fun. On the day of her real birthday, she will get breakfast of her choice. Since her party, she keeps coming up with things she wants and saying, Can I have that for my real birthday! Ha! I tell her she got all the presents she will be getting, but Christmas is coming.

We love our Ava and were so excited to celebrate her. Our house would not be the same without her big blue eyes, caring tender heart and loving personality. We love you Ava!