It seemed that the gap from Thanksgiving to Christmas flew by this year - too quickly! We had a nice Thanksgiving weekend with the extended Barman family. Knowing our time (at home) would be limited during Thanksgiving week, we decorated the house before we got together with family.
I had asked Matt if we could put a skinny tree in our room, he agreed but we decided to wait until Christmas to look for one (second hand most likely). When we drove to Macomb, IL to visit the Monopoly displays, we found this great tree at the Macomb Goodwill store; AND it was half off! We paid $11 for this tree - it was exactly what I had wanted for our room! Once we put it up, I added all of our National Park sun catcher ornaments. I also added the Guatemala nativity set that the twins brought back for me last summer. I LOVE IT!!!
My red and white tree on the front porch...
The main tree in the front room...
Will's tree (Will has adopted it since it is in the basement)...
Maddie's little tree in her room...
I love the stocking holder that Matt built for me last year! This will be the last year for these stockings though (we've had the main 6 since before the kids were born), I was able to find some basic cream and red monogrammed stockings after Christmas - I can't wait to put them up next year!
We try to kick off our Christmas season (after decorating the house/trees) with the new ornaments for the kids.
For Kaitee - she got to pet a deer! A bucket list item that she got to cross off this year!
For Will - an ornament in honor of his money collection.
Here's some of his money collection (most of the stack is $2 bills and older bills).
For Maddie - a pop-tart to remember her time in Guatemala, making homemade pop-tarts with Leah and the Lem family.
For the Larson Family - Six Flags ornament. They love amusement parks!
Maddie purchased this ornament for Matt - he loved it!
We also try to get our family picture in front of the tree over Thanksgiving weekend. Otherwise, time gets away from us.
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We ended our Thanksgiving weekend by heading to the Chicagoland area to shop, eat pizza and walk through Morton Arboretum for Illumination. We did this 5 years ago and really enjoyed it. We discussed doing it again this year and bought tickets to surprise the kids.
It tends to sell out (weekend tickets, especially) so you take a chance on the weather when you buy the tickets ahead of time. Our first visit (5 years ago), was warmer but rained (POURED!) he whole time. This time, the forecast promised to be COLD! Ugh.
We hit the road mid morning - stopping in Schaumburg for lunch at Lou Malnati's.
He's getting the "Dad, you're so extra" look from the kids...
We did a few quick trips around the area - Clinton one evening (with all of the kids), Dubuque/Platteville one Sunday with just Maddie & Kaitee and a few neighborhood stops.
While everyone was busy with school and work, I kept busy at home. I baked, wrapped gifts, shopped and put a few Christmas puzzles together.
One afternoon, Deb & I kidnapped Dad for lunch and shopping (with his dementia, he doesn't realize that it is Christmas, let alone remember to get a gift for Mom). We really enjoyed our time together and plan to make this an annual outing.
The Sunday before Christmas (22nd), we hit the road for East Peoria. After a stop in Galesburg (shop at the new Goodwill store and grab lunch), we arrived in East Peoria for some more Goodwill shopping and Christmas lights.
Once the sun set (it was beautiful, by the way! Check out the above picture!), we headed to the FELOPI drive thru light display, quickly realizing that everyone else was doing the same thing! We took a detour around town and ended up in a much shorter line on the other side of the entrance line.
It's FOLEPI's 40th Year!
Look at that line! As we exited the light display, this is the line of cars waiting to get in to the lights! This doesn't include the east/west lanes at the bottom of the hill. It was insane!
After the lights, we drove around the city of East Peoria a bit, enjoying all of the lights in the neighborhoods then headed to Bartonville for Tyroni's pizza. Our last stop on the day was in Pekin. Matt saw these lights (around the lake in Mineral Springs Park) while he was working one evening and wanted to show the family. The display of trees and lights throughout the park were nicely done and were a great way to end our day.
Will got Maddie this year - he purchased a cross necklace and a bible journal for her.
Will received a heavy hooded flannel and long sleeve undershirt as well as a large box of Gushers (a favorite!) from Kaitee.
For Kaitee - Maddie made her a large "tie blanket" - super soft and Tangled colors!
Christmas morning - I woke up around 7 and put the egg casserole in the oven. Then I turned on some music and all of the Christmas lights and enjoyed the quiet for a bit. By 8:00, everyone was up and ready to open gifts! We continued to use the raffle tickets for the gift hunt (we used all of the trees this year) and enjoyed our morning of gift finding and opening.
Kaitee opened a LOT of Rudolph items (books, stuffed animals), Funkos, The Office DVD Set, Tangled Items, Giftcards for shopping & food, and her favorite - Felicity (American Girl) Collector Book Set.
Matt purchased a prism globe for each of the girls. They bring a special beauty to each of their rooms!
I got a few gift cards from the kids, the board game Hues & Clues, a new hand mixer (my old one busted as I was finishing up the Christmas Cookies) and a garden metal spinner.
Will got a rock tumbler, electric shaver, an album for his money (bills), lantern alarm clock and lots of gift cards (Legos, Walmart and food).
Maddie's presents included The Office dvd set, books, heated blanket, crystal vase, bags, journal/markers and shopping gift cards.
One of Matt's favorite TV Shows is an English comedy/drama Detectorists. The kids surprised him with the DVD set of the show. He also received slippers, earphones and giftcards.
This vase is from Waterford, Ireland. I purchased 2 when I traveled there after college. One vase was for me, the other for my mom. With Mom downsizing things at her house, she gave the vase back to me. Maddie has talked about getting my vase (when I die) for many years, so I surprised her with the vase from Mom. She didn't have to wait for me to die, ha!
Luckily, Matt didn't receive a box of maxi-pads! It was just a fancy box for his slippers, ha!
We finished opening our gifts late morning and had just enough time to clean up the front room before heading over to the Barman family Christmas.
Once at my parent's house, we found out that my sister Debbie and her family wouldn't be able to make it due to illness. It would be a small get together for Christmas this year.
The kids brought Hues & Clues to play...
Mom organized a few games to play - antler ring toss, ribbon scoop, memory game (with different size/colors of ribbons under solo cups), beer pong (without the beer!) and a pass the box game (with dice). It was a fun day together but we really missed the Whitten & Meek families.
The stockings were passed out, then Mom & Dad opened their gifts.
This is a toy that Dad bought for Mom and put in her stocking. It was motion activated so it kept making noises while everyone else was opening their stockings - it had us laughing.
Mom put together a very quick, one act Christmas pageant - starring Matt as the Angel Gabriel and Alex as Mary.
Will enjoyed showing his new money journal to Mom & Dad.
We headed to Windmont Park in Kewanee the next week to walk through the park and enjoy the lights. Will & Kaitee had other plans that evening so it was just Maddie who joined us.
A quick picture of Kaitee's friend - we sent it to her to let her know that her friend missed her, ha (this is a family joke from a few years back).
The Sunday before the end of the year, Matt & I went for a drive. We didn't really have a plan for the day other than just drive and redeem my birthday pizza from Lou Malnati's. It ended up being a really great day with some new experiences that will be added to our future day trips for Christmas. We started with a few Goodwills and stopped for pizza at Lou's in the Village of Lakewood.
After a few more Goodwills, Matt suggested that we head towards Rockford and visit the Sinnissippi Christmas lights that we had seen advertised on Facebook. How had we never heard about this?!? We drove through Sinnissippi Park (free) and then found a parking spot at Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens to get out and walk through the gardens. Wow - this was a very nice display and we will be doing this again!
Thus ends another year of Christmas festivities. We love our traditions and our family time together. As our family dynamics continue to change, so do the traditions. Some days, it's hard to come to grips that our traditions are morphing, but I'm so thankful for the days that we have with those who are able to join us.
