Are You Ready For Some... Christmas??

Football and Christmas went together like Madden and Michaels at our house this year. Even Juli got in on the action!First, Scott got a ticket to the last Eagles game of the season. He loves the Eagles, but he's never actually been to a game, so he was psyched.Then, Nicky got a ton of Packers things - if it had Green Bay on it, Nicky loved it.
And if we're talking about Green Bay, we should check out the Snow Globe and Favre jersey I got, as well. My mom was ready to disown me for actually wanting football stuff for Christmas - she doesn't know where she went wrong! Then these awesome leather coats showed up for Barry and Scott. Yep. Barry's a Cowboys fan. How do all of us NFC fans get along? VERY carefully.

Finally, when he'd all but given up hope, the one thing Nicky wanted for Christmas - a REAL football. Official NFL size, real laces, leather - and one very happy little boy.

Is It Possible?

Can you have TOO many presents? Ya, you betcha. This year's Christmas was INSANE. There were just TOO MANY presents!! They spilled out from under the tree.
They were shoved behind and around the tree, piled on top of each other - notice that all those little packages are riding about as high as that silver tote?The stockings weren't even hung by the chimney with care - they were too heavy and overfull!

Dear Santa,

Next year, please don't bring so many gifts! In fact, next year, let's all give each other a trip to Florida.

Love, Us

PS You really need to shave.

(Sorry. Family joke.)

The Reason for the Season

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Luke 2:1-20

PJ's - It's Not Christmas Without Them

Grandma always gives her grandkids new pajamas on Christmas Eve. It usually takes a few years for a new child to catch on -but eventually they all figure it out. Oh, look! A package from Grandma that I get to open early! What could it be? It's soft... squishy.... RIIIIIP.... LOOK! PAJAMAS!

Seriously, though, the kids are always warm and cozy as they're bundled off to bed, and stay warm when they jump out of it a few hours later to rip open all those presents. Guess Grandma knows best!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

And all through the house - everyone was dolled up for Christmas Eve services. The house, the kids - everything looked beautiful. You never would guess the amount of running around that happened before this to get everyone ready - or just how late certain individuals would be up that night doing last minute wrapping. For a few minutes, there is peace on earth - or at least peace in our very little section of earth.

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

What's more fun than a school project to build your own robot? The same project with a due date during the last week of school before Christmas vacation. *sigh* I didn't even know where to start with Nicky's robot until I came across a Japanese papercraft website that had a 3-D paperfolding robot model. Phew! I blew it up on the postermaker and brought the "blueprints" home.
A little coloring, a little folding, some glitter, a booklight, a few LED lights, two McDonald's toy cars that fit inside the robot's feet as wheels...

And we have the DrakeAndJosh-O-Matic 3000. (Yes, the kids are obsessed with Drake and Josh. It was Saved By the Bell when I was their age.) And we only got to bed at 10:30 the night before it was due. Domo arigato, Japanese paper site.

Christmas With The Korins

This may be the last time we have "Christmas With The Korins" - an early celebration with Scott's parents before we head up to New York to have Christmas at my sister's house. My sister is moving to Pennsylvania, so from now on, we should be hosting the whole family on Christmas day. That is, unless my mom decides she wants to host Christmas again. That's unlikely, because I think she's actually just sick of putting up the tree!

Anyway, it will be nice to have Christmas all together, but I think the kids will miss getting to open some presents early! We got a special present for Laurie this year - she loves "I Love Lucy" and we found the entire series on DVD at Target. The kids opened their traditional lifesavers books and a bunch of other really great presents. The gently falling snow (yup, MORE SNOW) outside just added to the festivity.

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas

I've changed my mind on the whole White Christmas thing. Okay, so maybe not. But I could go forever without a snow storm on the morning of the Children's Christmas Program at church! We had exactly six kids performing in the play, and maybe 10 adults watching. *sigh*

On the plus side, the play was completely adorable, and Nicky got to rock out to Relient K's version of Angels We Have Heard On High in the big finale. Well, small finale. Six person finale. Whatever.

Christkindlemarkt

For a family from Bethlehem, having your daughter perform during the Christmas season in downtown "Christmas City" is pretty exciting. So when we found out that Kairi was playing at Christkindlemarkt, Scott took the day off right away. I couldn't, unfortunately, because not only would I have loved to see Kai perform, I have always wanted to go to Christkindlmarkt. Ah, well. Maybe next year! From the looks of these pictures, it was a beautiful setting for lovely music played by a very pretty girl.

A Home Fit for a Cookie

I've always wanted to build a gingerbread house, and this year, we finally did it. We had a few little breakages, and we had to fit time to build it around the winter concert, but we managed it! Next year, maybe we'll try designing our own instead of reaching for the kit at Michael's.


I was in charge of assembly and basic frosting. Professional, it wasn't, but it did stick together until we finally threw it out around Valentine's day.


The kids were in charge of candy. Because, duh, that's the fun part. They were fortunately not very tempted by the gumdrops and hard candies that came in the kit. Good thing we weren't decorating with Sweet Tarts and Nerds Ropes!

The finished house looked lovely and festive. Sure, it's no Hogwarts made of gingerbread like we've seen on Food Network Challenge, but for a first attempt, we were pretty proud of it!

Land of Bittersweet

Nicky danced at the Beethoven Waldheim in the Land of Sweets Dance from the Nutcracker. And now I have a confession to make. I'm actually making this blog post on July 28th, 2008. I got so very behind on my blog that I'm catching up several months all at once. However, in this case, it gives me a perspective I wouldn't have had on this photo if I were really writing in December.

This is Nicky's very last dance as a dancer of the Saucon Valley Dance Conservatory. A few months after this photo was taken, he tearfully announced that he didn't want to dance any more. He was being picked on by boys at his school, I think, and I know he was tired of all the constant running from class to class.

So this photo, which was just a perfunctory take-a-picture-because-you-always-do at the time, has a much stronger meaning now. Sometimes I think I take too many pictures. Then something like this happens, and I remember that you just never know when you're documenting a milestone.

No Charlie Brown Tree Here!

Nicky got to pick out our tree this year. It took him about 30 seconds before he decided on the tree. (Which turned out to be too tall for our living room, but, hey - it was a really nice tree!) He was thrilled that we let him pick - we forget sometimes how many things get decided for him, being the littlest.

Kairi, meanwhile is getting WAY too big! If she looks a bit overdressed in the photo below, it's because she's still wearing the headband and necklace she wore the night before to her very first semi-formal dance. She got in for free because she made HIGH HONOR ROLL for the first marking period!!! We're so proud to be the parents of such a dedicated and lovely young lady!

Carolling with the (Brass) Choir

I wasn't too thrilled about driving Kairi and Sheridan through the snow to the Portugeuse American Club in south side Bethlehem. Once I got there, though, I was so glad I did. The club itself is gorgeous, and the kids did such a great job playing for the Christmas party. I love the sound of the brass instruments - it's so great that Kairi chose to take up the horn! It was pretty fun listening to the girls speculate about the possibility of a snow day all the way home, too. I knew they were out of luck, but why spoil their fun?

A Snowy Evening

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Sibling Rivalry

I think dance is teaching my children bad things. I mean, who casts a brother and a sister as characters that have to fight on stage?? Ah, well. Truth be told, they had a great time "beating each other up" in the big fight scene between the Rat King and The Nutcracker. Nicky even enjoyed being dragged off stage by his sister at the end of the scene. Go figure.
After the intermission, Nicky reemerged as an energetic dancer in the Russian, and Kairi escorted Clara and the Nutcracker Prince to the Land of Sweets as a really sweet angel. She was in front of the line for nearly the whole dance, and she led everyone beautifully. They looked lovely with their candles on the darkened stage.

As fun as it is to see the kids dance, it's nice when it's all over and they're ready to accept their roses and head out for some peppermint hot chocolate with Grammy!

No Fairy Tale Castle

There's a book called "Squids Will Be Squids". It parodies fables. One of the stories is about a grasshopper mom whose son comes home with a history project due the next day that involves rewriting 12 Greek myths as a stage play, creating a set, all costumes, and setting it to original music. When the hopping mad grasshopper mom says "HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN ABOUT THIS ASSIGNMENT??!!?" her son, not realizing his imminent danger just shrugs and says, "I dunno."

To be fair, Kairi DID tell us she was supposed to build a labelled 3-D model of a medieval castle before it was due. But did she have time to do it? Not likely. So, the weekend of the Nutcracker found us working our tails off, castle style. First, we had to cut the styrofoam boards into a bazillion little bricks. Next, we pasted the bricks to a castle shaped frame made of boxes and pringles cans...
Add stone spray paint, astroturf, toy knights, popsicle sticks, river rocks, moss, styrofoam peanuts, chains, straw....
And voila - one completed castle!
(No, that is NOT pringle can you see behind the tower. SHHH!)

I really shouldn't take pictures and drive, but...

Isn't that glorious? In winter, we often drive to and from work in the dark, or near dark. Today, it paid off for me when I caught this sunset on my commute home. The pictures don't do justice to the way it looked - it seemed like the entire sky was on fire. I like to think that beauty like this is God's way of telling us to pay attention.

Thankful (To Be Alive!)

We had a near disaster on our way to the 1000 islands for Thanksgiving. We were driving along, talking to Mom, when I saw a tree in the road ahead. I assumed Scott saw it, too, but when he didn't slow or swerve, I screamed "Tree!" Scott swerved to avoid (most) of the tree just in time, but when he did, the car went into a spin. I was screaming, the kids were screaming, and then BOOM, we hit the median, facing the wrong way. I dropped the cell in all this. Scotty, ever levelheaded, turned the car around, avoiding the oncoming traffic, and swung over to the shoulder. I was shaking and trying to make sure everyone was okay, but Scott said "Talk to your mom!"

Sure enough, Mom was panicking on the other end - trust Scott to think of that! We're all fine, and the car is just slightly less pretty where paint was scraped off the bumper, but it was very scary! It started snowing when we hit NY, so you can bet we took the rest of the journey VERY slowly. It made for a picturesque river view, though.

Later, we found a broken branch from the tree stuck next to the headlight. We put it in the car, where it sits to remind us to be careful.

After all that excitement, only Nicky was really revved about the Thanksgiving game, but the Packers triumphed when Brett threw a beautiful game against the Lions, and Nicky bounced his way to the table for turkey and all the trimmings. He entertained Grandpa with his descriptions of the exact football he was hoping to get for Christmas for the rest of the day.

Mom put us to work during the rest of the weekend, since she's starting up a fabric shop to go with her quilting business. We helped her clean out her screen porch and set up her stock out there. She's very excited, and I hope she ends up with lots of customers. At the very least, she should be able to give herself a discount on quilt supplies.

It was a really nice weekend, and was only marred by the fact that we had to hurry back to get Kairi and Nicky to Nutcracker practice on Sunday. Well, okay, maybe we didn't HURRY. After all, you never know when a tree will jump into the road!

Would You Like To Buy A Raffle Ticket?

Why oh why is it snowing this early in November? Because I was supposed to sit outside and sell raffle tickets with middle schoolers all day, naturally. We sat there in freezing rain, snow, and slush for hours. And we only sold about $24 in raffle tickets. *sigh*

At least the raffle was a success overall - we raised over $1000 for the drama club. Thanks for making such a fabulous quilt, Mom - do you have a waterproof one for next time??