Christmas here and there

We are really excited to have Christmas at our house this year. It will be the first time, in our first house, ever. I have also realized that it is now up to me as the mother of this home to create all the Christmas magic that both Dan and I enjoyed as children. Somehow in our apartments, neither of us ever really got into it, and it probably didn't help that we were never even there for actual Christmas. This year is very different. Mom and Dad will come down and we will host them. Something about this scenario makes me feel older, but in a good way.

We got our tree. A 7 and a half foot fake. There was debate about real or fake and Dan won (more about real trees later). We decorated it for family home evening and of course Ava was in her underwear.

Ava liked to hang the ornaments

And sometimes needed help from Daddy.

Luke was taking it all in,

And then felt left out and wanted to join the action!

The end result-our red tree!

Our stockings are hung off the breakfast bar with care, and Dan and I have enjoyed sipping warm cider and eating gingersnaps after the kids go to bed.





We've started wrapping presents and there is still shopping to do.

Ava has some "Christmas Quotes" I would like to remember:
At the beginning of November she saw a commercial for a fancy baby doll and she told me she wanted it. I told her maybe she could get that doll for Christmas. She said "Yea! I get dat baby a Quitmas! I ready a go a Quitmas now!" I had to explain that we can't go to Christmas, it comes to us.

And for the past few weeks she's been saying she wants a duck for Christmas. I don't know where this came from but in the car yesterday she said it again, "I want a duck a quitmas. A nice duck." "Oh, I bet you might get a nice duck." I said. "No, I want a MEAN duck!"


The next part of this might be long and completely uninteresting so feel free to stop reading.

As I was on that long drive to Dallas alone, I got to thinking about many things, including Christmas. I came to the conclusion that nobody does Christmas better than New England. Everything just fits so well and there are postcard scenes everywhere you look. I feel like when Christmas comes, we should all just go there. Christmas is in New England. I feel so lucky to have had the experiences that I have because when I can't hop on a plane back to New Hampshire, I can at least go there in my mind.

Want to know some of my favorite Christmas in New England Memories?

On my road was a ginormous hill. It was a sledding destination of Hollis residents. My friend had an honest to goodness old school toboggan and we could fit 5 people or so on it. It was great fun.




Our family once took a sleigh ride around town and through the Common, in a real sleigh, snuggled in with big warm blankets, pulled by real draft horses, with bells around their necks. And we weren't cruising around looking at the local Shop 'N Save (cause there wasn't one). We were in our quaint and beautiful little town with hills, and orchards, and lots of snow covered trees.

And the live decorations! My mom made her own garland and door hangers and wreaths with greens from outside. She used wire to attach them together and would decorate them with berries and ribbon. And we would cut our own Christmas tree!

The simple saltbox houses commonly had one single candle lit in each window and decorations stayed up for most of December and January.

And one of my very favorite Christmas traditions was one that seems in my mind, out of a movie. I wish so badly that I had pictures of it. My voice teacher belonged to a very small but accomplished choir who performed every Christmas at a private boys' school in Massachusetts. The campus was gorgeous and old and snow covered. We would sit at small round tables in a dim candle lit hall with high ceilings and expansive dark wood floors. We listened to the gorgeous singing while we sipped warm cider. I know my description does not do it justice.

I want to go back to that concert so badly! I want to bring Dan and my babies! But as a matter of coincidence, my voice teacher has since moved to Texas and now my parent's are in her stake. And as another matter of coincidence, while I was in Dallas, Mom and I went to a stake Christmas music program practice (because I would be gone already for the actual performance) and who did I get to see? Mary Poulter, my old voice teacher. She even gave me a private performance of the solo she'd be singing. So while I didn't get to go back to the concert in Massachusetts, I did get to hear Mary sing for Christmas.

Christmas in Texas will never be the same but what it lacks in charm, it makes up for in lights. I've never seen so many lights! And after all this, I do know that no matter the location, Christmas is about Christ. And we are excited to celebrate His birth in our home with our family!