rockin' around the christmas tree

if there's one thing i do know, it's that there's nothing quite like music to get you into the holiday spirit, is there?

elias and i tend to agree that we should be rockin' around the christmas tree whenever possible, singing some dean or some frank or some mariah. we love us some christmas jams. music is like the fifth member of our family.

so i HAVE to ask- what are the CD's that are in your constant rotation in december? i would like one or two to add to our collection, and i need some suggestions!

anyone??

oh, christmas tree!

one of our stratton christmas traditions we've developed over the past five years is a yearly trip to a tree farm (we've settled on the mockingbird tree farm as our local fave) to choose a tree out in the snowy fields and to then ceremoniously cut it down ourselves. i think our tradition began of necessity when dave and i lived in easton in a condo with a loft, so the ceilings were high. and the only place to find a 12 or 14 foot tree is a tree farm! it's a cool tradition, and scouring and hunting down the "perfect" tree is tons of fun (exceppptt when it's 26 degrees with 10 mile an hour winds...then it's umm, cold)! :)

so today our tree is finally up (we'd have liked it to be up right after thanksgiving, but with that whole flu issue, and then the rain trend we've been seeing on weekends, it has taken us a while), we made it to the little gym almost on time, and heck, i went for it and took the kids grocery shopping after (huge mistake, by the way. market basket is a MADHOUSE apparently at 1:30 on fridays. or is it every day? right. it's every day...).

how about some pictures??

elias was so cold he stopped at every tree pretty much every one nd said "how about this one? this one looks good"

dada takes a saw to it while eli says "you can do it dad. never give up! you're doing great!" hilarious.

and here it is, anxiously awaiting ornamentation. that's going to have to wait a couple days, but...

tell me, what are YOUR christmas traditions?!

post christmas post

truth be told, i'm not technically inclined, though some of you may be under the impression i am. i just aspire to be. luckily, i married a guy who used to be a programmer/help desk technician/something else that i forget before he was a pastor. talk about a catch. and today my love installed the software for our new digital camera. perfection! tutorial time! my sister and mother are professional photographers, so i leave holidays to the pros, mostly. so i haven't got a whole lot of christmas pictures to share yet,

but i will have some. by spring, i'm sure of it ;)

classic elias mid-sentence face

telling me about "frutsy" the "noman"

this is the tree that almost was perfect. if only we ever finished decorating it...

here is a little family portrait on our "pajama tree-decorating party" night


and this is another...


here's me trying to get elias and piper in one picture. easier said than done...

my little bubski's...

it was just right

christmas was, simply put, a really nice day. we finally made our way down the stairs around 9 o'clock with the tots...enjoyed big delicious sticky buns and mugs full of tea...unwrapped piles of presents that made us all smile...played toys on the living room floor...listened to christmas music...and when noon rolled around i made eggnog french toast- my new favorite seasonal brunch item.

this year, dave made a rather funny observation about the things we tend to buy each other for christmas. for example, i tend to buy him books, cd's, clothes. i sprinkle in some tools and household items handy men like my man like. but mostly, the things i buy him are things i want or like. same for him. he gets me electronic devices, things that require charging, batteries, and instruction manuals, and a sprinkling of kitchen items, maybe. mostly things he likes.

so this year we ventured to buy each other things that the other person would tend to buy. with some success, too, i might add. but dave was the clear winner, buying clothes for the fashion major and music for the music lover. bravo. i got him a few things that raised his eyebrows but i still need some help in terms of purchasing electronics. not exactly my forte. maybe i could apprentice at best buy next year...

it was such a relaxing day spent with our little family, then with my family that evening. i find i can't always enjoy myself when there's too much going on. too much noise or too much to do or too much to prepare. but our day wasn't too rushed, it wasn't too busy, it wasn't too much work...it was just right. i was really grateful for that. i wanted to absorb it all.

elias really is enamored with so many of his gifts- his lightening mcqueen racetrack, his play-doh, his blocks, his firetruck and hess truck. he loves them all. we're hearing a lot of "play with me, daddy!" and "play with me mummy!" ultimately that's all we've done since thursday. and my little bird? well, she got clothes. and books. of course :)

now we head north for some more christmas cheer with the other strattons. so i turn my attention to packing, laundry, organizing, and preparing. if only i could pick up our home and throw it 4 hours north. that would be much quicker. but it will be a nice little escape for us. there will be plenty of arms to hold pip and plenty of legs to run with elias. that will be nice for me. i haven't escaped much since july.

we won't be back until the eve of a new year. it's been great, 2008. but it's time, 2009...

see you all then!

today i love:

my sister lauri. if someone ever was given the gift of encouragement, it was her. she got all of it. no one else got any. not even a little. that's how much she's got.

the snow! especially because i don't have to be out dragging my kids about in it. but i can look out my windows and see it. and be inside...warm. well, warm-ish. this house is 150 years old...and you sure can tell in the winter.

eggnog. what's better than eggnog?! seriously. try thinking of one thing. good luck...

being mostly done with my christmas shopping. i'm on the verge of sweet relief.

my husband for making all of my christmas shopping possible. because i swear, i can't take elias and piper to the mall by myself. it's harrowing. have i already mentioned this? well, it's true. shopping with them may very well be the most dreadful thing i can think of. i'd rather poke my eyeballs out with a branch of my christmas tree. don't judge me. i'm sure people in my position do it all the time. they're either just crazy lunatics or they don't have a son like mine. who is also a crazy lunatic. and oh so very sweet. killer combo.

home alone. my holiday favorite. what's not to love? i even like when he gets lost in new york the next year. it's all good to me.

dean martin. another favorite. he could sing me the ABC's and it'd be phenom.

that i slept through the night last night. this is not to be taken lightly, people. and certainly not taken for granted, those of you who have not spawned your own kind yet.

surprises. i LOVE surprises. LOVE LOVE. and i never have any idea what my handsome husband is getting me for christmas. SO good!

family. i love my little strattioni's. and the crazy bartlett's i come from. i really feel so blessed that at the holidays, i don't dread family things. we even get to see dave's fam this season, which will be really nice. and with all this immediate family...we're talkin like 30 people, here-- no one hates anyone or fights with anyone or dreads seeing anyone. i hope many of you here experience the same thing. i'm not sure most people do. but i sure am grateful for it!

quiet. whether it's in a shower for 10 minutes or at this desk for 10 minutes, i sure do enjoy me some quiet. and i quite miss it when it goes away...

that God loves us despite ourselves. despite our bad attitudes, our impatience, our unfair judgements, our inability and lacking, and the fact that we constantly choose things over him all the time. he still loves us. and he doesn't love us less, like he should. his love is unconditional in a way we literally can't comprehend. i think that's why i love him so much. he's so complex! so hard to understand sometimes. and yet he meets us right where we're at. crazy.

what do you all love today? c'mon, there's always something to love...

some random thoughts for today

• what the heck do i live under a rock? 8-10 inches is a lot of snow. and wouldn't you know it, we're bringing elias to a 2:30 appointment with a GI specialist all the way in weymouth. maybe we'll just take the sleigh instead of the murano...
• elias cracks me up. we were talking about his cough medicine and he told me "cough mecine yut-ey mummy" to which i replied "it's not that bad, elias. it's sort of tasty" to which he replied deadpan "pri-ey yut-ey, mummy" (pretty yucky mummy). he's like "you're not fooling me, mum. i tasted that stuff." fair enough.
• the fact that babies poop up their back after you get them changed and dressed. ahem, piper. and what is the funniest to me is there is no good way to get that dirty, mussed up onesie over their head. no good way. poop will get on you. or the poor baby's head.
• when kids decide they're not taking a nap. eli slept until 8:30 this morning, and currently is in his bed singing the bob the builder theme song (boooob a builder. can we fix it. booob a builder. yuts we can! scooop muck dizzzyy ro-ey too, lofty wen-nyy...), and counting (one...two...free...fourr...six...seven...twelve...). oh, and now he's trying to open his locked door. (yes, we lock him in. the kid is literally macguyver. since he starting standing at 9 months, he's been trouble. nothing is safe. ever.)

if he's awake, i guess we should go christmas shopping!

p.s. the rat pack helped me get on my christmas cheer this morning. a little dean martin, frank sinatra and sammy davis jr. goes a long way :)

expectations

hello blog readers. thank you for tuning in again to my station. all stratton, all the time. it's really a pleasure that i am not the only one enjoying my blog. my thanks to you all for your kind words.

this christmas, i'm noticing that it feels slightly impossible for me to get myself into the holiday spirit. into it into it. not just luke warm into it. i want to be so badly! but christmas is sneaking up on me, and we haven't even finished decorating the tree yet. (leelee made a good point that last year my parents didn't put theirs up until christmas eve, but still...). we tried to decorate it two nights in a row. the first night, we only got the lights on the tree and some garland on the mantle and the stairs. elias was chucking ornaments (what, mum? it was a patriots one- in the shape of a BALL. what did you expect me to do with it?) and it was more work to keep the ornaments safe than anything else. i envisioned eggnog and snuggling, tree-trimming and laughter, snow falling and movie-watching.

and i got ornament chucking.

yes. i was literally taking his picture as he was throwing ornaments. classic.

the second night the football game was on instead of rudolph, and elias thought it was fun to hang the ornaments on the tree and then take them off again. then put them back on. then take them off. you know. he's such a boy. he can be gentle, but when they are all shiny and they look like balls, what can you do? he thought they were for playing sports. that's my boy...

okay, so my expectations are out of television commercials and my son is TWO, so i'm not sure what needs to give, here. my best guess would be those expectations i had. don't you find that it can be so hard to enjoy certain times when they just aren't as you hoped or expected? just picture me chasing elias with the camera trying to capture some moments of our family tree-trimming. meanwhile he's pitching ornaments like papelbon. ha!

i'm learning to just enjoy the moment. and if it's not on video, it's okay. instead of running around like a crazy person, as a mom, it's important to remember the point of christmas. dave's aunt shared this with me and i'd like to share it with you all:

1 CORINTHIANS 13 CHRISTMAS VERSION
If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at meal time, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.
If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata, but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love will endure.

i know i'm not worried about linens and gourmet meals myself, but i do like to share special christmas times and traditions. i'm now adjusting to what it means to do them with infants and toddlers. expectations can be killers in so many aspects of our lives. when i was younger i used to always say "blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed." attributed to ben franklin, i believe. and he's right...in a sad, depressing way. now i would say to expect less, not to expect nothing.

...or should i say expect great things?! (that's what an optimist would say)

problem is, i'm a realist (aka, a pessimist in waiting), so i probably wouldn't say that. i'll have to work up to it :)

so to all of you who have expectations for their holidays (...or husbands, or family, or friends, or whatever), just ENJOY the moments as they come. and i'm going to do the same.

remember: when life throws your ornaments, just duck!

the funny thing about christmas

so i have had this thought for a while now...since last christmas, i believe. and it's sort of an inside thought. but every time i think about it i laugh because of the irony. so i must share.

i was thinking about what christmas means to believers. the ENTIRE holiday is wrapped up in Jesus and what his birth (even if it wasn't likely in december...we're over it) and death means for us. very deep implications, here, people. it's about celebrating his birth, his godliness wrapped up in a human package...just for us. whoa. don't worry, i'm getting to the funny ironic part. so Jesus comes to earth again finally after hundreds of years of prophets telling the Jewish people he's coming. and it's SO integral to our faith. his lowly birth, his short but awe-inspiring life, and his death, but mostly, his resurrection. clearly not a human (when was the last time you rose from the dead?), but clearly a human (he cried, he taught, he traveled, he ate and slept). fully God, fully man. easy to understand, right?!

so Jesus is the reason for the season, as they say. those christian marketers. and we agree. because we believe.

here's the kicker: what is the DEAL with the whole rest of this critical world celebrating MY holiday. OUR holiday. it's Jesus' BIRTHDAY. if you're not into the whole "God" and "Jesus" thing, why would you go on celebrating a holiday that is ALL about that?! it makes no sense to me. because presents are cool? because it's fun to hang sparkly trinkets on a coniferous tree?

it's not that i'm not a good sharer. or that i think it's "us" versus "them." quite the contrary. mostly, i just think it's ironic that in a country that pushes Christ out of everything and everywhere they possibly can, they still feel the need to celebrate him every single year. and go ALL out. they celebrate the heck out of Jesus, whether they realize it or not.

truth be told, i like sharing christmas. i love that the most popular christmas songs are songs about Jesus' birth. i love that undeniably, Jesus is what it's all about. what other stories, what other traditions, what other gods have lasted for thousands of years?

answer: none

there's probably no better time to share Jesus with the world than at the holidays.

but you have to admit, it's a bit ironic. and definitely a little funny.