We've been busy ...

Horseback riding with my sister for her birthday ...

Camping at the sea wall ...

Sage on her new scooter, Aspen on her new Plasma Car

Christmas at Papa & Grandma Smith's ....

Sage gets dress-up clothes and play cleaning supplies for Christmas ...

Post-Holiday Shopping

Okay ... so I happily embraced the early onset of Christmas celebrations because Sage I and were able to have some great conversations about the Christ in Christmas. Today is December 26th and I just received some "post-holiday shopping" emails from Joanne's. Since there is no more consuming to be done for Christmas, we must create a new holiday: Post-Holiday. Now I am just annoyed.
On a lighter note, our family celebrations were wonderful and tiring all at the same time. We have much to be thankful for this year.

Mochi

Last night Ryan and I went to my work party. I sometimes forget I am a working woman since I only work Fridays. Anyways, my boss hosted a fabulous dinner in his home and when it came time for dessert Ryan and I happily noticed they were serving Mochi Ice Cream. We got hooked on Mochi ice cream when we lived in L.A. Excited to see the little balls of ice cream, I asked my boss's wife, "So, you like Mochi?" To which she responded, "Never tried it, I just thought it would look really pretty in these bowls and it would be a fun adventure to try this out together," at which point my boss grabbed his spoon to dig into our fun dessert at which point Ryan and I both blurted out, "Um ... it's a finger-food dessert. You eat it like this." We had fun coaching them all on the ways of Mochi in addition to fully enjoying everyone's first responses to the little balls. If you have never tried Mochi ice cream this story is pretty anticlimactic -- but if Elen, Carla or Tiff are reading this, I am sure you guys are laughing!
p.s. TJ's sells Mochi Ice Cream. I highly recommend the Strawberry and Chocolate Flavors. Although Mocha is my favorite, but our TJ's doesn't carry it.

Rudolph

Oddly enough I know ALL of the words to this song. Sage loves this song. She even knows all of the echo parts : )

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

You know Dasher and Dancer, and Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid, and Donner and Blitzen,
But do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all?

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it,
You could even say it glows.

All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names;
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games.

Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say:
"Rudolph with your nose so bright,
Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?"
Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee,
"Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer,
You’ll go down in history."

We Three Kings

7 days until Christmas. My (Tracy's rather) sewing machine is threading away. I think I am almost done with everything. Still have to wrap though ... need to get a good movie to watch and wrap while I am watching the movie. For some reason I always love watching "You've Got Mail," around this time.

We Three Kings

We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

Refrain

O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.

Refrain

Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshipping God on high.

Refrain

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.

Refrain

Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.

Refrain

Humming ...

Like I said, I am really enjoying Christmas hymns this year. So, lately when I sing to the girls at night I try to sing a couple of carols. The sad thing is that I only know the first verses of just a few carols. So I sing the first verse very confidently and struggle through the rest of the verses, humming in place of verses forgotten or never memorized. Last night Sage started to hum with me ... that was pretty fun.

Silent Night

Silent night, Holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in Heavenly peace
Sleep in Heavenly peace

Silent night, Holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from Heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Hallelujah
Christ, the Savior is born
Christ, the Savior is born

Silent night, Holy night
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy Holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth

I have really been enjoying Christmas Carols/Hymns lately. The lyrics bring me back to the true meaning of Christmas ... Christ not presents. Just this morning I was thinking of some more things that I want to buy the girls. Then as I was singing, "What Child is This," during worship this morning I realized my focus of Christmas had once again been derailed.

Here are the lyrics to, "What Child is This":

What Child is This

What child is this, who, laid to rest
On Mary's lap, is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?

Chorus:
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

Why lies he in such mean estate
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian, fear for sinners here,
The silent Word is pleasing.

Chorus

So bring Him incense, gold, and myrrh,
Come peasant king to own Him,
The King of kings, salvation brings,
Let loving hearts enthrone Him.

Raise, raise the song on high,
The Virgin sings her lullaby:
Joy, joy, for Christ is born,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

Wrapping Paper

This year I am only using the brown paper from grocery shopping bags to wrap presents. I just can't get myself to spend money on colored paper that you buy, wrap around a box with some tape, rip open and then throw away. If I run out of bags, then I think I will just buy the re-usable bags from TJ's and use those to put my presents in. They are actually much cheaper than holiday bags and can serve multiple purposes. And I am not buying tissue paper. I decided to boycott that a while ago. Although, if you give it to me in a present I will re-use it. You know that you can iron it back to it's beautiful flat self, right?

Zoo Favorites

We went to the Zoo today. My all-time favorite zoo animal has always been the Capybara. They just look like cuddly creatures to me. But not so much today as we witnessed the capybara and the anti-eater (who now share living quarters) stand each other off and chase each other around their pen. Another zoo favorite of mine would be the gorillas. Today one of the gorillas actually leaned against the looking glass and Sage, Ryan and I were able to observe him as he picked at his fur and chewed on some grass. His back was to us, but he kept looking at Sage through the corner of his eyes. It was pretty amazing. I think I could have stayed there for hours just observing this magnificent creature. But Aspen was definitely not a fan of the big burly guy and Sage wanted to move on to the giraffes and lions. So, we moved on, but both Ryan and I were pretty blown away by our experience.