Our Greatest Christmas Gift

There are so many emotions tied up in Christmas.  There is the typical excitement and stress but, for our family, it goes much deeper.  We are called to reflect on Adeline.  She came home from the NICU on Christmas Day 2006 and she will always be my greatest Christmas gift.  I rarely get through Christmas without "feeling it" all over again.  Christmas Eve service drums up an overwhelming amount of emotions - especially when we sing "Silent Night" in candlelight.  It reminds me of the long, dark and quiet ride home from the NICU four years ago.   I didn't  know how to care for this baby, feel loved by this baby or how to take a leap of faith and hope for a miraculous outcome in her development.

This year. . . I held my sweet girl in candlelight while singing "Silent Night" and thanked God for allowing Adeline to be a part of his master plan.  I remembered when I held my little five pound baby at home for the first time and wondered how "this" was going to work for my family.  While the first couple years of being Adeline's mother were very hard, both emotionally and physically, I can say that being her mother today is a gift from above.  Little did I know how much our family would gain by rallying around this one pound miracle.  She slows us down while she builds us up.  She is our glue, our gift, our belief in the unbelievable.  She keeps us loving deeply and celebrating joyfully.

Have I mentioned how much I love her?

Here is a video I made a on the first anniversary of her homecoming.

Miss Belle's Holiday Performance

Since Adeline missed school the better part of December, her holiday concert performance was less enthusiastic than in years past. First, I couldn't see her because she was positioned directly in front of some very large heads. Second, although I didn't know it, she was still sick. Third, she didn't know all the songs and was unsure of the ones she did sing. That isn't entirely true.  She knew "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and stole the hand motions from Lila's class and almost stole the show. Her fancy dress and cute smile helped too.

I really only have one picture that is worth posting from this event. And because I feel so bad that my sweet baby girl was so sick this month, I am going to take this opportunity to post some holiday pictures or her that  I LOVE.  Yes, I adore them. We saw very little of the enthusiastic and smiling Adeline this month so these pictures remind me that she is tucked away in a tired of being sick and tired Adeline.

Come back Miss Personality. I miss you!

Holiday Happenings and Overdue Posts

Since much of this month was plagued with illness, we worked hard to cram holiday excursions into our well days.  One outing that we do every year is riding the Santa Express.  Adeline is mildly obsessed with trains which made it a spectacular ride.  We were thrilled to have Heather and Baby Kate make the trek up so that they could board the train too.  Grammy and Papa were also in attendance.  The girls loved the train ride and Santa was nice enough to pay them individual time while gifting them a pretty fancy magnifying glass.

Since Adeline was fever free for the night, we decided that we would retry our weekend in Hershey.  Visiting an amusement park in 20 degree weather may seem strange to some, but in Pennsylvania it is a tradition.  The girls thoroughly enjoyed the rides.  They hung tough with the temps and we managed to stay five plus hours in order to see the park light up with 1000's of Christmas lights.  It was beautiful.

Check out their faces on the Frog Hopper.  (Lila went from thrilled to distraught when she saw an older woman, that was on the ride hold her throat and laugh.  Lila thought the woman was puking.  Goes to show how much puke has found its way into our house!)

While at the park, the girls were able to visit Santa.  I expected Savannah to start asking questions this year and she did.  We have moved on to the Santa's Helpers stage (i.e. telling her that some of the "Santa's" we see  at the mall, etc. aren't actually Santa at all, but one of his helpers filling in for him)  - she fully took the lead on this conversation.  We mutually decided that the real Santa is in Hershey which caused her to beam from ear to ear after spending time on his lap.

After the amusement park (both girls were passed out in their car seats before we got out of the parking lot), we spent the night and headed out to Chocolate World the next morning.  The girls enjoyed working on the factory line while packaging Hershey Kisses - dancing with your container was included again this year.  Savannah and Grammy had the chance to try out the newest exhibit.  They both got to make their own chocolate bar with individual fillings and toppings.

Before leaving we came across a magnificent gingerbread house.  Well, it really wasn't gingerbread but 100% Hershey candy.  Both young and old were awed.

Back home (and in between even more sickness) we found time to roll out a few more cookies and finalize our gift purchases.  Alex and I found ourselves shopping past midnight and wrapping gifts on Christmas morning.  Not how I planned to do it but it all worked out in the end.

Merry Christmas

Savannah's Program

While snow fell quietly outside the Meeting House, Savannah's class put on a short but sweet holiday program.  They were joined by the preschoolers and Kindergarteners.  Savannah was very excited as were her friends.  The girls had a chance to tell me about it the day before while making the gingerbread houses.  What is interesting, is that it was much shorter, more simple and much less involved than preschool programs.  Yet, these kids were very excited.  They took their roles seriously and carried them out well.  It is always nice to get a little Quaker perspective such as this during the madness of the holidays.  Keeping it simple pays off!

Here is my sweet Savannah on stage.  I had to include their gingerbread song because it was very cute and perfect for this very LIVELY class.  The focus is off but you can still see the children holding their gingerbread cookies.  Of course, T. Connie had them all bake their cookies beforehand because she would never buy them from a store!

Gingerbread Houses with 1st Graders

I decided to invite all of the girls from Savannah's class over to make gingerbread houses.  All but two showed up which put eight lively girls around my kitchen table.  They were all so very cute.  Some were precise, slow and accurate.   Some ate more candy than they got on their houses.  Regardless, they were all thoroughly entertained and happy to be spending the afternoon with Savannah.  I was thrilled because my sweet, quiet girl had the opportunity to host such a fun activity.  She clearly felt special. 

I learned a few things that I will incorporate for the 2nd Annual Gingerbread House Party.  The girls don't really care about constructing the house; they just like to decorate it.  I will have them all built when they arrive.  Second, I will just use the frosting out the cans instead of making Royal Icing.  Yes Melissa, you were right!

Other than that, it was a very easy and painless get together.  The girls had fun and the clean up wasn't bad.  Here a few pictures of the girls and their houses.

The before. . .

The after. . .

Lila's Christmas Program

Lila's Christmas program was last week.  I was apprehensive about her performance for a variety of reasons.  Most of you probably don't remember the drama from last year. . . falling off the stage while doing the potty dance because she WOULD NOT go to the bathroom at school.  Thankfully, we have overcome that hurdle.  Second, while Lila's November conference was very positive in terms of academics, her social skills lagged behind.  She does well with peer to peer interaction  but rarely participates in movement activities, singing or any other kind of activity where she feels that she might be caught in the spotlight.  She doesn't fully participate in music class.  She is a self conscience girl!  We continue to struggle with ways to boost her self esteem. 
Keeping this in mind, we slowly worked Lila up about her program.  We got her excited to sing for us and she even mentioned, a number of times, that she was going to sing loud.  Lila Grace was thrilled to put on her pretty Christmas dress and even tried to sneak a tiara into the ensemble.  I dropped her off at school while she was all smiles and went back to collect Daddy, Grammy, Papa and a sick Adeline to watch her performance. 

When Lila walked into the sanctuary, she was still all smiles and even stopped to give me a hug.  She took her position on stage and continued to smile.   Here is a clip of her first song.



Needless to say I was thrilled.  Not only did I think she was pretty darn cute, she was SINGING!!  Better yet, she stopped mid song and gave me a, "Hi Mommy!" shout out.  Daddy got one too.  It was so cute. 

Lila sang each and every song.  She caught me mouthing the words to Frosty the Snowman and I got a quick frown, a point and shaking of the head.  It was clear that this was her show and I was not allowed to participate.  What really got me is that she stuck to her word.  She sang loud on a couple of the songs.  Never did I think I was going to be the parent of the loud singer.  It just isn't in Savannah and Adeline is incapable of projecting herself.  I don't find loud kids that appealing and, luckily, Lila only belted it out a couple of seconds during two songs.  For those few seconds, I was pretty proud even though I typically cringe when my she is overly loud. 

Here is a clip of my loud singer.  It takes about 20 seconds to get there.



Here she is with her two best buddies Vincent and Hayden. They have had the pleasure of growing up together.

Lila and her wonderful teachers!