Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Andy and I have been married for 10 years, and over the years our Christmas trees have changed quite a bit! Here's a bit of Andy and Sherrie Thuernagle Christmas Tree History...

Our first Christmas, we went and found the cutest little tree up above Kelly's Canyon. We hiked through deep snow and powder for forever, passing up tree after tree until we found one that we both liked and that would fit into our tiny one bedroom apartment. That year, we decorated our tree with strings of popcorn, and two handmade ornaments.

The next Christmas, I was pregnant with Taylor, and was so sick that I was pretty much bed-ridden, so Andy just brought home a tree from the tree lot that he was working at for some extra holiday cash. I had gone out to the after Christmas sales the year before, and so this year our tree was all coordinated with maroon and gold ornaments, lights, and tinsel. Funny...I remember our first tree so much better.

Over the years, we've always had a real tree from the mountains. The year that Rachel was born (on December 15th) my older brother and his little family got our tree for us...and the year that Brooklynn was born and Andy had his ankle surgery, we went up with my older brother and his family yet again and went tree hunting together. Trever and Emily and I trudged through snow forever, and I finally had to carry little 2 year old Rachel on my back. Why is it that the perfect trees are always so near the summit? I remember thinking with each step that going to Home Depot and buying a silly tree would be so much easier. But I wouldn't have seen the beautiful sparkling mountain snow at Home Depot, nor would I have had the pleasure of seeing my nephew Samuel, and my little boy Taylor have a blast sledding back down the mountain to the truck. Andy with his ankle in a full cast, and baby Brooklynn stayed back at the trucks and fixed hot cocoa for us over a camp stove. What a fun memory!

When we moved to Cleveland, we finally broke down and bought a fake tree. It took me forever to choose it! You'd think I was hiking through snow drifts all over again! But now I love it, and if I burn a pine-scented candle it's almost as good as the real deal. (laughing).

My favorite part about the tree is how our ornaments each tell a story. Over the years, the pretty glass baubles get broken and the tinsel gets ragged...but the special ornaments, the ones that were given as gifts or that were carefully painted by chubby little fingers are the ones that I cherish. Here are a few of my favorites...

This is the first ornament I made for our first Christmas together. I made two that year...they matched the new stockings that I made for us.

Here is one of my after-Christmas treasures that I found at the ZCMI that was going out of business. It was our first store-bought ornament.

This ornament was a gift from my piano teacher, Vonnie Lue Broulim. She gave it to me my Sophomore year of high school, after I had learned and performed the Kabalevsky Concerto at Ricks College.

Here is Rachel's "Self-Portrait" sculpture ornament she made last year in Kindergarten.

Taylor's Santa ornament from last year (2nd grade).

Brooklynn's beautiful color collage from last year (3 years old).

Rachel's "Rainbow Snowman" from last year (Kindergarten).

Sweet little baby Matthew's reindeer ornament from last year.My Rudolf ornament that I painted this year.

Matthew's cute smiling face from this year. See the dark green smudge on the picture frame? That is authentic Matthew artistry. I just kind of went along with his theme.

Brooklynn's color collage from this year (preschool).

Rachel's Christmas tree from this year (1st grade).

Taylor's Christmas tree from this year (3rd grade). I love that he's missing his two front teeth in this picture. It's just perfect. He told me that he smiled big just for me on picture day. He usually does his smiles without showing teeth. What a little ham.

And last, but not least is Andy's '08 ornament. I love how he'll just sit right down and join in...his ornaments are always awesome.

Here is our Christmas tree in the day...

And here it is in the magic of the night...

I woke up last night at around 3:00 am, and couldn't go back to sleep (I blame it on pregnancy induced insomnia) so I decided I would take my pillows and blanket and snuggle up on the couch with the Christmas tree lights on. Well, I wasn't the only one with that idea. When I came sneaking down the stairs,the sofa was already occupied...Rachel had beat me to it. So, I quietly moved her to the loveseat, snuggled her up, and we both fell back asleep under those soft shimmery lights. At around 6:00 am, little Matthew woke up and found me on the sofa. I gathered him up with me and snuggled him under the blanket and we got in another hour of sleep.

What a funny night...yet another memory that our Christmas tree will hold for me throughout the years.

Deck The Halls...

Since this will be our last Christmas in our little Cleveland house...I thought I'd take some pictures of how it looked at Christmas. Matthew was my big decorations helper this year, since the other three were at school. He would get so excited with each box that I opened. He especially likes my little snowman village, and I'm having a hard time keeping his curious little fingers away!

Also, this year I decided not to donate my nativities to the Kirtland exhibit...I just couldn't when I learned that we wouldn't be getting them back until after Christmas! So, I decided that the most important place for my nativities was in my own home for my children to look at everyday...and that's where they stayed. I am so glad I did keep them here. Matthew loves the little wooden set from Jerusalem, and will bring baby Jesus to me and say "baby Jeje." The first night I had it up, I thought I had Matthew down in bed, when I heard the little pitter patter of his feet booking it at mock 10 from his room to the living room...a short pause, and then mock 10 back to his bedroom. I went in to check on him and see what he had been up to, and found him curled up with baby Jesus. It was so sweet and funny.

One of my favorite displays is the nativity on the piano. I love Willow Tree figurines, and started collecting them a few years ago. I was so excited to get these first pieces to the nativity set last year for Christmas! The piano is also where I display all of the Christmas cards from family and friends...when I first put up the decorations it was empty...but it's already starting to fill up!

I made these funny little rustic Santas the 2nd year that Andy and I were married. I still think they're hilarious for some reason. My favorite is the skier Santa. He reminds me of myself during my first season of skiing.

And, I have to get pictures of Brooklynn and Matthew taken so that I can display them along with this little sign. Every time I pass this sign and see Rachel and Taylor's unsmiling faces it just cracks me up.

Two years ago, I painted these little angels to display on the piano. I had a lot of fun in the evenings doing this little project...after I was all done with the painting, I sprayed them with a gold shimmery glitter paint so now when we have the lights dimmed with the tree lights on, these little angels just glimmer. I love it.

Ahh...there's something magical about decorating your home for Christmas!

Just a Little Tradition...

Three years ago, I started a little tradition with our kids...Each year, I buy them these little wooden picture ornaments for them to paint. It's been really fun for them. It's a bit messy, but I love decorating our tree and pulling these ornaments out of the box. This year it took us two nights to finish them because we did a few extra for gifts. Andy and I get to paint an ornament too...except ours aren't picture ornaments. :)

It's little traditions like this one that make the Holidays special for me. I remember begging my mom every year to make and decorate sugar cookies. She was so good to make huge batches of them and frosting and then let my brothers and I just frost, frost, frost. Decorating those cookies was something I looked forward to each year.

I am the object of ridicule nearly everywhere I go these days. I have people in stores, people in the schools, and even people at church (yes, our church) tell me very bluntly that I'm crazy for having "so many children" and that my house "must be so noisy and busy." I can see their judgement of me written all over their faces...especially now that I'm expecting yet "another one."

Well. Yes, my house is noisy, and is very busy a lot of the time. But look at this picture. Here we are, as a family, enjoying time together. If this is what "being crazy" is...then I'm really very thankful that I'm not entirely sane. And...I'll take my noisy busy children over anyone's possessions, pets, vacations, expensive clothes, or any other worldly counterfeit thing anyday. This is what life is all about.

Rachel's Winter Concert

Wednesday night we had Rachel's winter concert. She is in the 1st grade this year, and loves her teacher and enjoys school. We were excited to go and watch her. Here is a picture of her in front of her classroom. The pictures on the wall behind her are self-portraits the kids drew of themselves. She was a little bit nervous because she was chosen to announce one of the songs her class would be singing, and said she was embarrassed to have to talk into the microphone in front of everyone. She did such a great job though, and we were so proud of her! I took some video, but wasn't patient enough to wait for it to upload...so I'm just posting pictures.

Matthew had a long day without a nap and it didn't take him long to zonk out, and poor Andy had a terrible headache to the point that he was feeling nauseous...but they were both troopers.

Here is a picture of Rachel with her teacher Ms. Shramo. Taylor also had Ms. Shramo for 1st grade, and we just love her. She is a sweetheart and we'll miss her when we move! The little boy in the picture is in Rachel's class and just wanted his picture taken. :) His name is Aaron (pronounced "Ay-Rawn") Weird, but his name makes me think of "Nimrod" from the scriptures. I know, weird and random...but it does.

Anyway, it was a fun to watch Rachey up on stage, she is a cute little performer!

More? More?

I think that Matthew is taking after Andy in more ways than just his great physique and good looks. (giggling).

Not only did he start out as more than twice the weight of little Brooklynn, weighing in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces...that in itself put him on track for taking after Daddy...but he really hasn't stopped eating since.

And I have always heard stories of Andy's childhood...siblings and parents have told me in the past about how Andy would "clean up" dinner. It must be genetic or something.

And guessing from the fact that Matthew at 21 months old is as tall and heavy as I was at nearly three years old...I don't think this genetic trait came from me! Here's to many years of keeping the fridge full of good food, and Matthew's tummy full!

Brooklynn's Winter Concert

Brooklynn is in preschool this year, and on Thursday night we had her "Winter Concert." So, the Cleveland Heights schools don't do "Christmas" anything. The word "Christmas" is taboo, and I find it pretty annoying. My kids learn all about Jewish Holidays, some African holiday called Kwanzaa...but they're not allowed to talk about or sing about Christmas. So...when you're a room mom out here, you have to plan a "Winter Party" and keep it generic so as not to offend the various interest groups, etc, etc. And...the kids don't have Christmas programs, they have Winter Concerts.


Okay, so I got off my topic in a hurry, didn't I! We had Brooklynn's Winter Concert on Thursday, and she was so cute. She was so excited to go on stage! No stage fright for her! That's all she could talk about for about a week before!

Here she is in our living room right before we left.

And here she is in the hallway outside of the auditorium. She had been giving Andy a tour of her school, and was so proud of it.


After the kids sang, they had the cafeteria set up with cookies to decorate. Our kids liked that a lot. It was a fun night...and even though no real winter songs were sung...it was just nice to watch little Brooklynn being up on stage and enjoying herself. I guess that's what its all about anyway!

They sang two songs, "I Am Special" and what Brooklynn calls "The Big Fat Snowman". I'm not sure what the real name of the song is. She was so cute, she was in the center of the stage on the second row, and I could hear her voice really clearly. She did all of the actions and looked like she was really enjoying herself.

Still Smiling!

Do you ever have one of those days where you feel like you've been a drill sergeant all day long? Okay, a drill sergeant who says "Please" but drill sergeant nonetheless?

Please stay off the table

Please do your homework.

Could you do your homework without hitting the wall?

Stop arguing please.

Does it really matter? Stop arguing.

Please shut the fridge.

Put the cheese back in the package before you put it back in the fridge.

Would you please help set the table?

Why? Well, would you like to eat tonight?

Please leave your little brother alone.

Don't play in the bathtub.

Who didn't flush the toilet!?!

Could you please turn the lights off when you're not in the room?

Please put your dirty clothes down the chute.

Who dumped the Cheerios all over the table?

Zippy doesn't have opposing thumbs...he couldn't have done that.

Do we have a chimpanzee in the house?

Don't talk back to me.

Because I said so.

I will not argue with you.

This is not a request.

Oh, that does not make Mommy happy.

I do not negotiate.

I. Don't. Bargain.

Do I look like I'm kidding?

Do you see a smile on my face right now?

Okay...you get the point. Monday nights we get one and a half hours with Andy...for dinner and FHE before he goes off to study or finish up some project he's working on...Tuesday nights he works from right after school to midnight so we don't see him at all...Wednesday night is the same thing. Thursday nights he has Cub Scouts at our house so I really don't see him until 8:30 after I've put the kids to bed and then Friday...whew. Sometimes we get a Friday to ourselves...Saturday he's off to work for Dr. C or to study...and Sunday is just not the day of rest that it's supposed to be most of the time.

So...this is my excuse. I have to be strict because I'm being the mom AND the dad right now...I try to be fun, and relaxed and creative...but trying to hold a household together, to live off of pretty much nothing, and raise 4 children pretty much on my own is not that easy! There are a lot of days where I feel like my poor kids deserve better!

But then, one of my sweet kiddos decides to draw a picture of Mommy and hang it on the fridge...and there's one tiny detail in this picture that gives me hope that maybe I'm doing something right.

See it?

I'm still smiling.

Thank you to my sweet little Rachey for unknowingly making me feel like I'm doing an okay job.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like...

Gingerbread Houses!

So a couple of years ago we started this little tradition of making a gingerbread house during the Thanksgiving Holiday. I love how the house smells so yummy after baking gingerbread! Two years ago, we had family in town and so I just made enough cut outs for two...one for each family. Last year we were out of town and didn't get to make one...and the kids let me know this year that they didn't want to miss out on it again, so I promised them that we'd do it.

Well, Andy and I got this grand idea that we'd let each of the kids make their own...but the thought of making enough gingerbread house cutouts for four kids just made me want to crawl under my covers...so I used my "Merry Moolah" coupons and bought the premade, ready to put together kits from JoAnns. Brilliant. That's all there is too it. Except...the house didn't fill up with the aroma of fresh gingerbread.

So, Thursday night we got started. I mixed up the frosting (yes, this comes included in the box) and we helped them glue their houses together.

We were so amazed that their walls were straight, and the roofs were actually on the top of the houses.

We let them sit overnight to make sure that they were solid.

Then the next morning, we started decorating them.

The kids loved that they each had their very own bowl of candy (yes, included in kit) and I mixed up all of the frosting, made different colors, and then they just kept passing the frosting tubes around.

Taylor was very meticulous about where he put each piece of candy.

It was so fun to watch them create their very own designs. Brooklynn only wanted candy on one side of her roof because she wanted room for Santa to land on the other side. You know, you have to think about those things.

I kept having to remind Rachey to put the candy ON her house...she just wanted to eat it. And I think she used the whole bottle of green sprinkles...she wanted to have grass on her snow.

And Andy and I started cracking up when Brooklynn decided to use yellow sprinkles on her snow, just in one spot. It was in the back of her house...so we thought maybe that's where the reindeer took a short break before flying onward. Watch out for yellow snow!

Matthew even got in on the action. He was like Rachel, and couldn't figure out why Mommy wanted him to put the candy on the house...he just wanted to eat it.

Here's Brooklynn with her finished product!

Matthew sort of lost interest after a while...so I finished his for him. I hope he doesn't mind the pink. I could have kept going for hours...but just stopped when the kids were done. Weird, but it's really relaxing to goop a bunch of frosting onto a piece of hard cookie dough and then stick candy in it. Sort of therapeutic. Here's Rachey with her finished house. Hers was the most colorful, and I really liked it. Notice her pile of unused candy to the side. Yes, I finally gave up...I mean, she's just going to nibble it off the house anyway, right?

And here's Taylor. He even made some icycles on the roof. He really got into this project, and so far hasn't eaten any candy off of his. Christmas morning, his will most likely be the only one still in tact without any candy missing. In fact, I'll probably have to start asking him if he would like to munch off of his house. Funny how the kids are so different.

This is definitely a tradition that we are going to keep. It's so messy and time consuming, but it's also worth every minute of it. I think that next year I might just have to make them again instead of buying the kits though...because I really missed that smell of gingerbread. And to all you candle people out there, NO, it's not the same as a good scented candle!

Happy 1st of December!!!