The Hustle and Bustle of Christmas - Part 2

With Tim working at Amazon as a customer service tech support, we had to head home so he could work his shift on Christmas Eve. While we were sad to leave my parents house after a ridiculously short visit, it did give us an opportunity to visit (and show off Isaac) with Tim's aunt who stopped by before her flight out of Portland.

Christmas morning arrived and we enjoyed our customary Hungarian coffee cake for breakfast before we read the Christmas story and exchanged presents.

Isaac's first Christmas!

  We had a Christmas catastrophe when Isaac's diaper leaked all over his favorite quilt that he has slept with ever since the day he was born. Thankfully, the swaddle blanket that his Great Grandma Luse sent him kept him content while the quilt was washed.

Elijah loves his little baby brother and occasionally wants to hold and snuggle him.

Christmas night, the Hawaii and the California cousins arrived at the grandparents house, so we drove over the next morning to  reunite with our cousin friends.

The Whittaker Newmas (Christmas around New Years Day) was celebrated.

Cousins were held.

Elijah actually wanted his picture taken...

...and to have a chance to try out his photography skills.

(I think a cheap digital camera is going to be on his wish list soon)

Isaac turned 1 month old...

...and stole his auntie's heart...

... and the rest of the family's hearts too.

The Hustle and Bustle of Christmas - Part 1

It's been a month since Christmas and I have yet to write about how wonderfully full and busy the season was for us. I guess that is what I should expect since we now have 4 birthdays, Thanksgiving, and 3 Christmas celebrations just in our immediate family between November and January. 

Tim had to "make" his own birthday breakfast since I was still recovering from my multiple surgeries. He opted for store bought doughnuts, which the boys loved!

Elijah was very disturb with how dirty he got from eating a chocolate doughnut. 

I had my mother in law take the boys out shopping for Tim's birthday while I recovered from the c-section at home.  

They were very excited to have Tim open his present.

I found this wonderful beard t-shirt website that had the perfect shirt for Tim.

   After Tim's birthday celebration, my mom took Beniah and Elijah down to Roseburg for a couple of days so that I had some time to recover from my gall bladder surgery without two boys trying to cuddle up to me and bumping and pushing on my belly.  Two days later, we headed down to Roseburg for the Luse family Christmas celebration and to introduce him to his Auntie,Uncle, and cousins.

Isaac didn't cry when he first saw Ravi! A first for one of my boys.

   Beniah had his first slumber party at his cousin's house while he was down there. Elijah wanted to have his own slumber party, so he crawled into bed next to grandpa and slept next to him the whole night. Grandma got kicked out to the twin bed in the spare room.

So far, every time we've been in Roseburg at Christmas time, Beniah has been able to go onto the stage to perform with his cousin. It's massively cute to see how excited (and slightly confused) he is to be singing with Jeshu.  It has set a precedent though. I have to had remind Beniah that he will not be going on stage when we visit Roseburg again.

After church, it was time to gather together... 

...to pray and speak a blessing over Isaac... 

...and open presents before the night was through.

because we had to leave the next morning so Tim could get back to work.

A Christmas Restored: Part Four Merry Newmas

This Newmas had a very different feel to it than past Christmas celebrations at the Whittakers.  Instead of 8 children running around and playing (or just looking oh so cute while being held in someone's arms), there were 3 kids.  Distance kept 3 of the 5 Whittaker siblings away, so we celebrated with a much smaller group.

First is fondue!

Then comes stockings.

The boys were the elves and passed out the stockings and presents to everybody and each other.

Fellow paparazzi

And break for skyping with very much missed cousins.

Finally, present time!

Elijah is showing Auntie Kim how much he loves his new Hawaii shirt.

I made Clara an owl pillow which her parents loved and she was attempting to love.

 

 Elijah was so fun to watch this Christmas. 

Every gift he opened he gasped in surprised and loved it!

A Christmas Restored! Part Three: Christmas Day

Once the Kumars came over the next morning, the kids gathered around Grandpa to hear the Christmas story.

Then came gift giving.

Thank you Auntie Evie for the box of 100 balls!

It's Dash!

Then came the much anticipated Grandparents gift....

... a Dreamlight!

While the women went to prepare Christmas dinner, the gifts were played with.

What better way to teach a child to spy on people, then by giving him a pirate's telescope?

Beniah and Jeshu figured out a fun way to play with the slinky.

Cousins

Since Tim had to be at work the next day, we left Roseburg around 8 pm and got home to a knocked down tree and a guilty looking cat.

A Christmas Restored! Part Two: Off to Grandparents House We Go!

 Apparently, Beniah illness was just a case of food poisoning, so after attending the early service at our church, we headed down to Roseburg. Beniah's Sunday school class had a birthday party for Jesus. He loved his party hat and didn't want to take it off until we were 20 miles north of Roseburg.

I realized during this trip that maps make wonderful toys.

Once we got to my parents' house, we started in on our traditional Christmastime snack food dinner and a movie.

Then we piled into the Kumar's van and went through the Festival of Lights.

Seriously, what is with the creepy light displays?

I have to say, my favorite part of the festival of lights was when Elijah saw some candy cane lights and pretended that my dad was a candy cane and tried to lick him.

The next morning, the boys, my dad and I bundled up and went up to the hills and played in the snow.

Unfortunately, the snow was so icy that it didn't really stick together that well.

Beniah insisted that the little snowman that we made had a face.

It's kind of a weird looking creature, if you ask me.

Beniah found a pile of tires that had snow heaped up on them and began pulling chunks of snow off and making snow tires.

It's a snow beard! 

(No he's not actually eating that gross snow.)

Later that night, we went to the Kumar's house to enjoy some soup and cuddles with a cat that doesn't mind a toddler and a preschooler all over him.

Little Janasa girl charmed us all...

...and gave her Uncle Tim a back massage by climbing on his back and jumping off.

Then it was off to the Christmas Eve service

Where they had the children come up on stage to hear the Christmas story.

Then came the candle lighting. The boys loved that part and kept trying to blow out the all ready hard to light candles