The Christmas Season 2009

The advent season for us this year has been a nice one--very relaxed and restful, unlike some years past. (If you recall, last December, Jeff worked every day of December, except the 4 Sundays and Christmas Day, and we did all the normal December festivities on top of that. We were a bit wiped out by January 1st.)

This is Kate's first Christmas season, so it was fun looking for all the special first time things like stocking and ornaments and first Christmas gifts.


Jeff and I were able to enjoy a Christmas party held by his firm the first weekend in December....and make it home in time to see the final episode of Monk.


Noah, our dear cat, enjoyed another Christmas with us.


The weekend before Christmas, we celebrated with my family. It was Kate's first time opening gifts, so helpful older sister Grace was there to help with the unwrapping....while Kate enjoyed a single piece of wrapping paper for the rest of the evening.


Our nephew Liam, 4 months behind Kate, practiced his unwrapping skills, as well. I think they both enjoyed the wrapping paper more than the gifts--at least initially.


By the end of the celebration, Grace was wiped out from it all.


On Christmas Eve, we were able to attend our church's service--a wonderful time of Christmas hymns and scripture. The choir sung Of the Father's Love Begotten so beautifully. Afterwards, we were able to join my family and extended family for a lovely Christmas Eve celebration at my parents' home.

Christmas morning, it was the five of us in our home. It was a nice morning of exchanging gifts, cinnamon buns and remembering Christ and His coming to earth for our undeserved salvation.

My gift to Jeff was a used canoe. Thankfully, since a canoe is hard to wrap and fit under the tree, I was able to store it with the man who sold it to me and we could surprise Jeff by giving him a small gift of a picture frame with this picture in it.

And then, we were off to Doylestown for a delightful day with Jeff's family. It was wonderful to be all together.

I didn't take any pictures that do the day justice, but we have some shots of the kids opening their gifts. They went from youngest to oldest and so Kate was up first.

By this point, she'd had a lot of practice and seemed to get the hang of unwrapping a gift. Good to know since her birthday is close at hand.

Grace fell 8th in the line up of gift receiving.

And Joost was number 11 (and there were still 2 to come after him.)

It was a wonderful Christmas. We were able to stay in Doylestown for 2 more days following Christmas and spend time with Jeff's family and friends.

There have been times during this season when I would get teary-eyed with joy because of how blessed I was to be able to spend Christmas with all the family that I love so much. God has been most kind to us and given us so many people that love us. What a gift Christmas is--that God Himself would humble Himself and come to live among His creation and die to save them. And, then, on top of that, we are able to share all that with those we love.

cookie baking

I'm a huge fan of traditions. There's nothing like a cherished event to look forward to each year. I grew up with many wonderful traditions, and I've been happy to establish some for my own family, as well. For us, Christmas probably has the most traditions--just as I'm sure it is for most families. One of those that I enjoy is cookie baking. I don't like baking cookies on my own, but when done with others, it's a fun day. Mom and I have been able to do that since our move back to Harrisburg. This past Thursday we baked at our house. Here are a few pictures from the day...

Dad was even able to join in some of the fun after work.

I think if you're 4 or 6 years old, there is true pride in messy, floured hands.

After 8 hours of baking, Mom packed tins and tins of cookies. These are some of the last to be packed up.

phil-a-del-phi-a

We had happy days living in Philadelphia and enjoy every chance we have to go back and visit. We were able to do so, with the whole Bosworth clan, this past Sunday, starting with attendance at Tenth Presbyterian. It was wonderful to see so many faces of friends and acquaintances that we used to see weekly.

After the service, we had lunch at the Reading Terminal Market.

After that, we tried to visit all things Christmas in the city. I'm pretty sure we didn't see everything, but we did get to do a lot.

First, we went to Macy's and watched the light show and walked through Dicken's Christmas Carol.

We also visited City Hall's Christmas village. Then, we went to the new Comcast Building and watched their 3D Christmas videos.

After it was all said and done, Grace was a little more than tired and fell asleep on Jeff's shoulders.

It was a fun day in the city!

after

This Christmas season, I've been having a bit of trouble tapping into the Christmas spirit. Most years, this is not an issue for me. In fact, my husband may argue that I have a bit too much some years. Today, however, as I watched Joost and Grace and their great joy and excitement in pulling out Christmas ornaments, the Christmas spirit began to grow. It is sweet to see my children love this holiday so much.


Soon, we had Linda Ronstadt's A Merry Little Christmas playing and Jeff was topping the tree with the star.


The kids enjoyed hearing some of the memories attached to the ornaments.


They each have a box of their own ornaments that have been given to them over their lives, and they were quick to tear through the boxes and hang each and every one.


As I looked at the ornaments and remembered such sweet memories connected to them, it also reminded me of the kind and generous God who has blessed our lives so much with family, health, joy, and most of all the gift of Christ. Without Him, the joy and love and hope for eternity found in Christmas, would not be there at all. Without Him, there would be nothing to celebrate.

before

Today, the Friday after Thanksgiving, we went hunting for our Christmas tree. It was Kate's first time bundling up and trekking around a Christmas tree farm to find the perfect tree. (Technically, she didn't do any trekking--only riding on Jeff's back--but you feel my imagery, right?)

We had to find just the right tree. We have tall ceilings, but the corner we place the tree in our living room is close to a heating radiator. The branches can't be too close to it. So, the search for a tall narrow tree was quite a quest.

After considering several, we decided on one and Jeff got to work.


Kate watched. I always wonder what goes through babies' minds when they experience new things. As Kate looked on with interest, what exactly was she interested in?

We were happy with the tree and carried it back to the farm owner's garage to have it measured and to pay for it.

The Holiday Parade 2009

We've made it a tradition to attend Harrisburg's holiday parade since we've moved here. But, after last year's very bitter weather (that resulted in an early departure), we were a bit gun shy (despite the good weather reports) and bundled ourselves as if we were headed for a hike in the Arctic. 3 or 4 layers later, we were headed to the van, ready to leave for the parade. Already, I was regretting my decision to wear leggings under my jeans, so, as I went to lock up the house, I removed the first of many layers. By the time we found a spot to settle to watch the parade, the rest of the family was ready to shed some layers--but at least we weren't cold!

Shortly, the rest of the Bosworth crew joined us. (Happily, Andrew, Rachel and Liam were with us this year!) They all seemed to be a bit wiser in their winter wear decisions. There were no large piles of winter garb stacked in the bottom of their stroller by the end of the parade.

We had a nice time enjoying each others company, all the parade had to offer and even a few pieces of candy tossed the kids way. (The current economic strain must hit even city parades, because the kids came away with a lot less sugar than years before.)

We're ready to start another holiday season!

Athos, Aramis & Porthos go trick-or-treating

Every year, I have an afternoon shortly before Halloween that I pull the whole family into the kitchen and we carve a pumpkin. Everyone likes a jack-o-lantern burning at night out on the porch, but not everyone is as thrilled about the elbow grease required to make that nice pumpkin smile. I keep the tradition going anyway.

This year, I made the kids help separate the pumpkin seeds from the slime--it made them better people. The seeds themselves baked up to less than my expectations. Every year, I either under bake them and they're too chewy, or I over bake them and it tastes like burnt wood in my mouth. This year it was the latter.

Tonight, the kids went as the Three Musketeers. (Remember, our area always holds trick-or-treating the Thursday before Halloween.) I made the costumes for them from a very easy costume guide.


Joost is a big fan of anything that carries a sword right now.

And Grace is a devoted sister who will play anything that her brother wants to play.

So these costumes worked out well this year.

All for one and one for all!

Even Kate had a good time wielding her sword.

But, after about an hour of candy collecting, Kate was worn out and preferred sleep over watching crazy kids in costume.

For the second half of the night, we did pass out Three Musketeer bars to help stay in character.