Woo! New year, new start, keeping up… not bad not bad. I don’t do resolutions, just gradually change my patterns. So here’s hoping.

Anyway… December, last month… well… Christmas, of course. Winter, some snow (sort of), busy busy. But now for the actual details of the month…

We had our traditional paper chain countdown, perler bead Advent chart AND of course, went to Activity Village for their Advent fun. Just a warning – they have gone to membership now, it is a reasonable cost and I have already signed up.

Early on in the month Shandai and I gave it a go at a Vendor sale and set up a table of my crochet and her knitting pieces. It wasn’t a huge success but it was fun! And hopefully something we can do again!

A pretty view out the back of the building

We did all sorts of fun crafts at home and at Daycare.

You really can make any picture Christmas-y

Practiced our recorders.

Christmas with the Schwartz family is a yearly much looked forward to tradition. Of course we decorated our small gingerbread houses.

This is mine, you can see the rest on the overflow post HERE.

Opened presents and had so much fun.

Look what the boys got!

Ken and I took the girls to Jeffrey’s Christmas concert. We had Christmas with the Novaks on Christmas Eve. It was so much fun and we were there way past bedtime.

We found Anthony a stuffed appendix and made him up the certificate! He loved it!

Of course we had our Sunday School Christmas pageant. The Schwartz family came to watch.

We had a whole family of angels.

We also had dinner out at McDonald’s to celebrate.

We saw Santa a SECOND time (the first was at Macy’s with Nana and Baba HERE) at the YMCA. There was all sorts of fun to be had there. 

We had our monthly Bookit reading program pizza.

And made cookies. This year we tried out a new gingerbread recipe from the Activity Village site HERE.

Monster Cookies

We had some lovely mail come. 

Seriously WHO SENT THESE?

And spent plenty of time at the YMCA.

Gavin

Little Lotus Yoga pose

It was a jolly Christmas. Full of fun and friends and gifts and giving.

From Ken to me

I got these lovely puzzle pieces for Ken.

We took full advantage of our new fryer and made FRESH poutine!

We even made it to one of Anthony’s indoor soccer games.

Skyping family!

For New Years we spent the night at home with a lovely drop by last minute by the Schwartz family for an hour or two.

Yup quite the month!!! I hope you enjoyed the wander through images!

Book covers really are a double edged sword. I honestly look for books that have everyone well clothed (personal preference) and try not to let it colour my views too much. But let’s be honest, we all look! Jingle Bell Bride by Jillian Hart had a a bit of a contradictory draw to me. I love the pretty Christmas scene and am a sucker for a pretty white dress. BUT I was a little concerned by the fact that the author’s name was THREE times the size of the title. In fact, I honestly read the book as Jillian Hart first when I was just skimming books at the library.

Thankfully my concerns were unnecessary. I really rather enjoyed this adorable contemporary Christmas romance. Perfect for a bit of seasonal reading and an escape from a world that seems a little too full of hate and anger. Escapism reading at its finest.

Set in snowy Wyoming in a town named Summer of all things, Chelsea McKaslin is back home after completing her studies to become a pediatrician. Still mourning from the loss of her mother the year before, she, her sisters and father are all simply trying to embrace a holiday that meant so much to the woman they love and lost. Stung by a failed love and committed to her plans and lists Chelsea is not ready for widowed father Dr. Michael Kramer and his adorable daughter Macie. But then again, neither is he.

With snowstorms, and memories and two grown adults dead set against love, this story is all sorts of sweetness, faith and love. There are children battling terminal or potentially terminal illness but there is light there too. OH and sleigh rides, Christmas lights and presents! All in all a lovely read in a series about the extended McKaslin family!

Even with illness off and on all month December was good to us. We had family and friends to enjoy, good food and amazing gifts. I cannot thank everyone enough for being a part of our world, of our story and of our future.

December has always been an important month for us. It is a chance for us to share our thanks to all of you with gifts and letters, phone calls and visits. These fingers worked over time and in all honesty are still working on a few belated gifts. I plan to share pictures of most of the items I have made this season in a later entry.

A sneak peek… some of my starched snowflakes

Of course we did a full Christmas unit only slightly hampered by illness this year. With our usual laundry list of education and entertaining books and links. A couple lapbooks to enter into our binder this year as more notebooking pages than anything and lots and lots of pictures. Most importantly, after not having an Activity Village Advent calendar last year we had one this year! A whole series of train cars! Even Echo had her set done…  larger sized and then hole punched and put into a duotang instead of cut out.

I am so proud of how the kids are managing to work on a balance of working independently and in small groups. We are still finding our stride with noise and close quarters, but I think that will be a continuing battle for as long as we homeschool. Sometimes personalities just clash! Or sing really loudly in the middle of class.

We had TWO concerts in December – our Christmas pageant AND the daycare one for Evan. Evan’s was all songs and very cute.

The choir director even threw a mini party on their last Wednesday practice before Christmas. Trinity was sick so the boys brought her back her very own treat from the party!

We spent a lot of our December with family story time. Emanuel and Trinity worked together to do an illustrated page for each and every story and we all enjoyed revisiting some old favourites and a couple new ones! Gammie sent us a new story that she recorded herself reading – this time Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Echo especially spent TONS of time sitting there listening to the story over and over again.

Don’t forget themed worksheets and stories about the season!

Of course we had Christmas with the Schwartz family and after Christmas Renee even took the twins out sledding. They had a blast with Nathan and Evan on the hill while Ken and I took the others to the dollar store.

We finished off our first set of swimming lessons with all 5 having them. No movement up to the next level for anyone but all 5 have learned new skills and enjoyed it enough to want to be registered in the new sessions that start up again in January. Thank you so much Nana and Baba for being the ones to instigate and continue these. One of the best gifts ever!

Christmas itself was a quieter occasion with the cousins in Florida but I think the kids had a blast and all their wishes seemed to be answered. You can see our Christmas Day HERE.

Christmas Eve Dinner

We even had snow! No where near as much as last year but with that minor disappointment for the kids was paired a lovely lacking of those lengthy freezing cold days we experienced the previous winter as well!

I always enjoy the creativity that comes immediately after Christmas with new presents and new eyes for the old ones.

I have to say now that December feels a distant memory. I am sure that if I HAD been on the ball this entry would go on and on but I have to admit, checking back months later.. thinking about events and people and checking through the pictures has given me a chance to relive a rather amazing month. I think 2015 is going to be a year of counting blessings as I reflect back on each month to share our experiences and joy with the world around us!

 PHOTO OVERFLOW…. HERE.