Christmas is Coming...

Now the fun really begins.

Monday, December 23rd, the Ropers left Grand Haven headed to Kentucky. They would visit until January 1st. We were very much looking forward to visiting with them. Added to that we would have the entire Marx family and pieces of their family throughout that same time. Lots of grandmonster time!

In the morning I went to the Coyne's to pick up frozen homemade cinnamon rolls. These would be used for breakfast on Christmas morning. This is such a sweet venture. Amy Coyne was my counselor when I was Primary president. They have four children. The oldest three are Olivia with her twin brothers Max and Eli. They were learning to bake and decided to make the little venture at selling their homemade cinnamon rolls. They named this venture MOE (Max, Olivia and Eli). How cute is that?! I brought those 16 rolls home and anxiously awaited Christmas morning.

Received messages from Andie as they were getting things done for their arrival the next day. Seems our Hayden got a haircut. He is such a handsome young man.

I sent these pictures of the Christmas trees with their lights on inside the house to Katelyn as they drove. They were to get Raelyn excited about coming to our home. The first tree is our big Christmas tree in the living room, the second tree is my Mother's ceramic tree that Papa bought her, the third tree is the little kids tree in the basement and the last tree is one made of pine cones that sits on the piano in the basement. Don't you just love lights at Christmas?

The Ropers would arrive in the afternoon. Claude had a big pot of homemade chili for dinner to nourish them after their long journey. Emelia slept the entire drive. They only stopped once and made it here in record time. The girls were happy to be out of the car and explore. Raelyn loves being outside. She also loved singing to the Baby Jesus in the nativity. This is just a very sweet moment.

Emelia is crawling now and we weren't sure what would need to be moved for the girls to have fun. I think we only cleared off this coffee table. That is amazing. In this picture the girls are playing with the gingerbread family. My Mother painted these and gave them to me years ago. I have another set that was hers on the piano in my basement. Good toy for little hands.

The girls were fascinated with the big tree. We have ornaments from all over the world on this tree so it is a fun tree to explore. They were both very gentle with it. I did put only ornaments that wouldn't break on the bottom when I decorated it so that little fingers could touch and not get hurt. It makes me happy when the tree is enjoyed this much.

When it started getting dark, Claude took Raelyn around the house with him to turn on lights outside. There are four places to do this and Raelyn seemed to enjoy every minute of turning on lights.

At one point we found our little nugget resting. This is a rare occasion and when it happens its happens quickly. She is snuggling with Katelyn in this picture.

Claude had a lovely moment with Emelia. She crawled over to the sofa and they talked back and forth as she would reach out to try and grab something to pull herself up. I have a sweet video of them during this interchange. He does loves his grandmonsters so very much.

Tuesday, December 24th was Christmas Eve. Lots to do on this day. The package did arrive with Michael's gift from Andie. I was able to get in to visit Papa in the morning. I managed to see him every day even with company. This first picture is Drew sitting outside while Raelyn plays. The chalk drawings will remain on my front porch till they weather away. Emelia is in the second picture playing with two old pots that belonged to my Gramma Fisch, my Mother's mother.

When I got home we set to making a cake for Christmas dessert. Claude, Raelyn and I all collaborated to get this done. This is a pudding cake and I make it in a bundt pan. After it is cooled I just sprinkle powdered sugar on the top instead of putting icing on the cake. I use a chocolate cake mix and an instant banana pudding recipe. I learned that if I use the large instant banana pudding instead of a small instant banana pudding it makes an even moister cake. So very good. It was a treat letting Raelyn help me crack the 4 eggs needed for the cake. She would whack them on the side of the mixing bowl, open them up and pour a bit into the bowl. Then she would crush the rest of the shell with her hand. Not bad for almost 4 years old. I did find a bit of shell in one slice of the cake that I ate. So funny.

It wasn't long before the Marx family arrived and got some Emelia snuggles. This is Michael, Hayden and Bailey holding Emelia. The amusing thing to me about this interaction is how the circle of 'littles' is just that...a circle. When Claude and I married, Lynette and Kayla, Claude's sisters, were the 'little' girls. They were like 9 and 10 years old. Then Claude and I had children and our three were the 'little' ones. Next my kids grew up and they had kids and Hayden and Bailey were the 'little' ones. Now Nissa's kids have kids and they are the 'little kids'. It will just keep on going and that is good. It is fun for a family to have the 'little' ones so they are a well-rounded family.

The Roper's started a family tradition of opening a box on Christmas Eve. This box has new pajamas, a DVD and a book. Katelyn bought the box in this picture that they will now use every year. After Christmas, she and Claude painted it red and green. Claude was assigned to get big letter R's and attach to the sides. He has found them and painted them white and attached them to the box. I am assigned to buy fabric and make some kind of a covering for the box so the presents are hid inside. I haven't accomplished that yet.

One of my gifts to Raelyn and Emelia was pajamas made out of flannel. Since the Mini's were going to be with us one Christmas Eve, I purchased them each a pair of pajamas and wrapped them to open along with the Roper kids. Here are the pajamas for Raelyn (purple) and Emelia (pink).

Then it was time to get ready for Santa and the reindeer. That means baking and decorating cookies. I simply purchased a sugar cookie mix that I could roll out. The kids cut the cookies. Then I had vanilla icing and we iced the cookies and put decorations on them. Thought it best to keep it simple with Raelyn helping this year. Wanted her to have success and a good time with her cousins.

After icing and decorating the cookies a plate was prepared for Santa with a small glass of milk. Then a plate with carrots for the reindeer. We introduced Raelyn to our tradition with Bailey all of her life. How nice to pass this tradition on. Bailey is now old enough to know she should help the little ones believe the Christmas magic. It was fun for her to share this with Raelyn. 

We finished the evening teaching Emelia about the musical clock.

Off to get some sleep for a great Christmas day tomorrow.