Thomas Elf

The Mattens family had a new friend arrive at their home this season. When we came home from Grandma and Grandpa's house after Thanksgiving, our Elf on the Shelf and book were waiting for us. We read the book together, having watched the TV show together the night before. Mason got the gist of it, and happily named our elf 'Thomas.' We really shouldn't have been surprised by that name choice. Mya quickly began calling him Tommy Elf, which Adam and I actually liked better anyway.

While there have been plenty of posts on the antics these little elves are sometimes up to, our elf was pretty tame - mostly finding new spots to land each night. One day he did get a little crazy with the toilet paper in the bathroom, but other than that he mostly hung out in the living room and dining room. After the first few mornings, he became the first thing the kiddos were interested in when they'd wake up. Mya had a particularly good eye at spotting him, but every once in a while we had to help them find him.

I think the kids will be happy when Tommy returns next year. They actually seemed sad when he wasn't with us on Christmas morning. But we explained he had to go back to the North Pole with Santa so he could help make toys for next Christmas. You never know, we may get some pictures and letters from him during the year as a reminder that Santa is always watching them.

Getting Ready For Christmas

With only a few days left until Christmas, we had just a few things left to take care of before we'd be ready.  Yesterday I finished up all the present wrapping.  I love to wrap presents, but you get to a point where you feel like it's never going to end.  I'd been working on them during weekend nap time for the past three weeks and finally, thankfully, finished them.  Now the reason it took me so long is my own doing - if I wasn't so meticulous about how each gift looked when done, it probably would only take about half the time.  Yet even though I know it's likely only my sister and father-in-law will notice the straight corners and pretty bows, I still spend the extra few minutes with each present.

After the kids woke up from their naps yesterday, we worked on baking some cookies for Santa.  Now everyone who knows me knows I can't cook, and I'm not a great baker either.  So I took a helping hand from Pillsbury and popped some ready-made cookies on a sheet.  If I had the extra time and a kitchen worth hanging around in, I'd definitely spend a day baking real Christmas cookies with the kids.  There's always time to add that as a tradition down the road.

Once the cookies were baking away, we warmed up some milk and the kiddos had their first hot cocoas of the season.  Mya mostly had fun mixing in the packet, barely even taking a drink.  Mason kept wondering where his mini marshmallows had disappeared to.  :)

And our last Christmas preparation was accomplished today.  We took the kids to see Santa.  We hadn't gotten around to it last year, so Mya hadn't sat on his lap since she was 6 months old.  As most toddlers are, she was scared so sat on my knee.  Mason climbed right up and was happy to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas.  I think his dimple and the gleam in his eye give away which list he's on, but hopefully he'll have a good couple of days ahead of him to get back on the nice list.

So with that, we're ready for the big day (or days).  From the Mattens Family - Merry Christmas!

A Visit from Washington

An early Christmas gift, Stacie brought Lily and Abby to Michigan to visit their dad, Nana and Papa.  Mason and Mya hadn't seen Lily since last August, and Abby in over two years.  Yet when they got together, you'd never know they'd spent so much time apart.  They started right in playing like they'd just been together the day before. 

I think Abby was a little disappointed that Mya had grown so much.  She was expecting to hold baby Mya, even though she'd been warned that Mya wasn't a little baby anymore.  Abby and Mya look so much alike to me, that when I look at Abby I see Mya in three years.  I caught myself just staring at Abby a bunch of times just because of this.  It's hard to imagine my baby being that big!

Speaking of big, Lily is now 11.5 and just about as big as me.  And we wear the same shoe size, so if we lived closer I might have been able to borrow those Uggs and Toms she got as Christmas gifts.  ;)  She was Mya's age when Adam and I got married!

We had so much fun with the kiddos, and hope it's not another two years until we see them again!

Our First Thanksgiving

So here I am, promoting our blog on our Christmas cards, and I haven't even written my Thanksgiving post yet.  I better get at it, lest I disappoint the masses.  ;)

This Thanksgiving was bittersweet.  About a month before it came, I suggested to Adam that we host it this year and invite his family.  Adam's grandma was not doing well, and we knew she would either still not be doing well, or may not be with us at all.  She ended up passing away a few weeks before, making the holiday especially difficult for Adam's mom.  We were glad we'd offered to host, more than anything it took the stress off of her. 

It was a lot more effort than we'd initially thought it would be.  Cleaning the house, getting the decorations in place, washing all the china and crystal that we'd received for our wedding 9+ years ago and never used... the list seemed neverending.  I handled most of that while Adam (of course) handled the bulk of the dinner preparations. 

The highlight of the dinner was the unveiling of the bacon-wrapped turkey.  Yes, it tasted as good as it sounds.  The rest of our menu was pretty standard - stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh green beans with parmesan and almond slivers, sweet potatoes and cranberry chutney.  Oh, and of course pumpkin pie and pumpkin ice cream.

Some pictures from our day...

Swedish horses sit amongst the pumpkins on our centerpiece, in honor of Grandma Betty's Swedish heritage.  She was with us in spirit.

 

Mason was pretty anti-social, even for him, hiding in his room for most of the afternoon and not wanting to be seen when we finally dragged him out.  When he wasn't looking I managed to get a sweet picture of him snuggled up with his Nana.

 

Mya had fun all day playing with Uncle Geoffy.  When she started to say "Geoffy" we thought she was saying "Darcy," her teacher from school.  Then we realized it sounded more like "Jessie" and finally understood that Uncle "Jessie" was really her way of saying Uncle Geoffy.  :)

 

In an effort to be good hosts, I suggested we say the prayer before dinner, so that fell on me.  In writing it below, I'm hoping that I'll remember to be thankful for these things more often, not just at Thanksgiving.

 

Our Thanksgiving Prayer

 

Dear Lord,

We thank you for bringing us together on this day of Thanksgiving,

each of us having so much to be thankful for.

We are thankful for your strength and grace,

in helping us through an otherwise difficult year.

We trust that those we've lost are seated at your table,

as they are at ours in spirit.

We thank you for the little ones -

they are our daily reminder of the wonder and joy of life.

We thank you for watching over us and keeping us safe

in our daily travels, at our jobs and in our schools.

And we thank you for the food before us,

may it nourish our minds, bodies and souls.

Amen.