Our Christmas Tree

Since Thanksgiving we have been pretty busy.  Garreth has had an audit at work and has been getting home late every night.  Since it gets dark around four and it rains nearly every day now,a few weeks ago, the kids and I decided to grab the first chance we got to go cut down our tree.  I was sad that Garreth couldn't make it, but we had to use the small window we had where it was light outside and dry.   We picked a great tree, though not as fat and bushy as Grace would have liked!  (What can I say?  I love a skinny tree!)

Post- trimming.  

I know lots of people love having a fancy tree with matching ornaments, but I am not one of them.  I love our hodge podge collection of kids' homemade ornaments and ones we've picked up in our travels over the years.  It's fun to pull out ornaments we bought on fun trips and remember where we were and stories of what happened there.   I love our rastafarian Santa from the Bahamas, the leprechaun elf (and three others!) from Ireland, and our pink flying pig from Cincinnati, among many others.  You might notice our tree to be slightly top-heavy, since I am pretty protective of my collection!  I don't care that we have to replace the round ball ones every year, but don't mess with Texas.  (My Texas ornament, that is!)

All aglow.  

I love how family traditions seem to just create themselves.  For example, I still laugh every year when Garreth places our angel snowman on the top of the tree and says, "Okay, Mr. Snowman, this will only hurt for a minute."

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...."

Every year after decorating, we always have a cup of hot chocolate...

... and read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by the tree.

And now, to get myself totally caught up on my blogging, I leave you with a random, rare, tender, brother moment... Liam reading a Christmas book to his brothers.

I love catching them in moments like this, even if one of them does have his pants down.

A Walk Through Bethlehem

On Sunday night we had a very special experience as a family when we attended a local church's "Walk Through Bethlehem."  They had recreated a street in Bethlehem, with houses, shops and vendors, and people dressed up, to show what it would have been like at the time of Christ's birth.  It was amazing.

We waited in line to get into the city gate, and while we were waiting, each of us were given coins for food, lodging, and to pay our taxes.  When we got to the gate, two big Roman guards asked us our purpose in going to Bethlehem.  Grace and Liam told them we were there to be counted and to pay our taxes.  Then the guards asked which house we come from and when we told them "David," they let us in.  The street was lit with torches and candles and felt so realistic.   My camera is not great at night shots - I wish I had better pictures to really show how cool it was.

One of the guards.

Paying our taxes and signing the census.

Sam and Liam in a Bethlehem home.

We bought food with our coins at a bakery, where we bought flatbread, and also from another vendor, who was selling nuts and figs.  Sam even bought a cup of pea soup.

There was also a carpenter shop, jewelry, a Jewish church, and several inns.  One of the innkeepers  asked us if we had a place to stay that night and when we said yes, she said, "Oh, I'm so glad because we are all filled up."  All of the volunteers stayed in character and said "Salom" when we were finished talking to them.  There were animal stalls with real animals being "sold" - goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, and even a rabbit.

The neatest part was when Mary and Joseph came through the street, with Mary riding on a donkey.  When they got to the stable, we loved seeing the live nativity and everyone sang "Silent Night."  Everything felt so real that Liam asked if that was the real baby Jesus!

Afterwards, we went inside the church for cookies and cider.  In the gym, they had people dressed in costumes doing dances from that time and a man with a loom weaving cloth.  

It was a really neat experience for our family - definitely another Christmas tradition.

Olde Fashioned Christmas at Pioneer Park

On Saturday, Grace and Liam went to a friend's birthday party and some of the party was spent at the Olde Fashioned Christmas at Pioneer Park.  I had heard about it and really wanted to go, so Sam and I tagged along, too.  It was so much fun and something I definitely plan on making a Christmas tradition for our family.

Pioneer Park is full of authentic pioneer cabins from all over the county that have all been decorated in themes and have antiques and other collections on display.  For Christmas, the heritage society goes all out decorating the cabins and you can go to each one for a special craft or activity that the pioneers might have done.  There are volunteers dressed in period costumes helping and teaching at each one.  It was very cool.

The first stop was the schoolhouse, where the kids sat at the old desks and wrote a letter to Santa.

Then we walked next door to the post office to mail their letters.

We got to make stamped Christmas cards at the printing cabin, which had an authentic linotype printing machine.  We also visited the general store and pharmacy, where Sam spotted an antique wheelchair and shouted, "Look!  It's just like Nana and Papa's!"  I felt like I needed to explain to the lady that my parents have an antique wheelchair as furniture, so she didn't jump to the conclusion that Sam's grandparents are spooky ghosts that haunt us in their 1800's-era wheelchair because they want us to find the murderer who chopped off their legs at the knee, causing them to never be properly at rest.

We visited the old barn and the Percherons who live there. (Horse-boy Sam loved this part)  Then we went to a home where we got to learn a reel dance.

Sam claimed to be "too shy" to dance and chose to hang out by the freaky-faced doll display.

Here are all the party-goers, all kids from church.

The peace sign fingers are starting to show up in every picture with these two.

In the kitchen of this house, the kids got to peel apples with an old peeler and eat them.  They also got to watch ladies making applesauce with them over a vintage stove.  It smelled so good!

Then we saw Santa!!  And these guys didn't even try to charge us $40 a picture, in fact, no professional photographers were there even taking them!!  Parents could just take their own - what a novel idea!

Sam asked for a horse.

Liam asked Santa for a surprise.  But I peeked at the letter he wrote in the schoolhouse and he had written, "Dear Santa, My mom doesn't want me to get one, but I really really want a Wii....  or just a surprise I guess."

Grace also asked for a surprise.

Peace out in the pioneer kids' bedroom.

Birthday girl Grace and my Grace stringing cranberries and popcorn in the granary.  They also got to grind corn and wheat there.  See the concentration on Liam's face.  He gets this look from me - I do the same thing when I play the piano.  It's not as cute on me.

In the pioneer chapel, there was a man playing a guitar and leading us in Christmas songs.  

Singing "Jingle Bells."

After hot cider and cookies, we went on a horse-drawn wagon ride around the block and sang Christmas songs.  (Dad - the horses were spotted drafts.)

It was a really fun night for all of us!

Holiday Port Festival

Wow, what a busy weekend!  I have tons of pictures to post, so I guess I will make each event a separate post instead of doing a massively long one.  

We live in an awesome community with tons of holiday events and it seems like about ten of them were being held this weekend.  It was hard to decide which ones to go to.. well, actually, not really.... the ones that were free won out!

On Friday night we went to the Holiday Port Festival at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal.  We got there just in time to see the huge Alaskan ferry depart, which was very cool to see, but alas, it was too dark outside for good pictures.  There were choirs singing Christmas music and Santa was there, but our favorite part of the festival was the gingerbread house contest!  

Here's Liam with a battle scene from "Lord of the Rings."

Declan was not a big fan, since we made him stay in the stroller to keep all the displays safe from utter destruction, but the older kids (and parents) LOVED it...

...especially Sam!  

There was even a Space Needle one, but my favorite by far was this one, called "Goodnight Moon."  They completely recreated the room from one of our favorite children's books.  It was absolutely amazing and detailed, right down to the two little kittens and a pair of mittens.  

Not sure what this face is!

We spent a long time studying each one. 

Of course we had to stop and see Santa.  Pictures with him (as usual) were WAY over-priced, so I very guiltily snuck this one!

It was a fun family activity and the whole way home, the kids brainstormed ideas for their entry next year!!  Join us next Christmas for the Ratchford family's gingerbread version of the book "Snowmen at Night!"

Beach Sunset

Grace has a piano lesson every Thursday afternoon and the short drive to her teacher's house takes us along Birch Bay Drive, which follows the bay.  The boys and I have a tradition of going to the beach while we wait for her lesson to be over and watch the sunset.  (Or if it's raining, we park at the beach and watch a movie in the van!)  

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and I remembered to bring my camera - both rare occasions!  Here is the gorgeous sunset we got to see last night.  

Pretty, huh?  I should just always keep my camera in my car, because every day I am surrounded by such beauty.  This week I saw a bald eagle perched on a fence post by the road.  I guess there are a lot of them here, but I've only ever seen them flying, not perched.  We live along a bird migratory route and see tons of different birds all the time - huge flocks of Canadian geese and cranes/ibis/loon type birds. (And always the sea gulls and ducks!)  I really need to get a bird guide book so we can learn what they all are!  (Or our Bird Friends, the Huffakers, could just move here!  What do you think, guys?)

Feats of Strength 2

The dark, rainy season has officially returned to the Washington coast, so you will most likely be seeing an increase in the amount of home movies on our blog.  

Here's one we made last night.

Sam's Capitals

Here's something funny we filmed while waiting in the ferry line on Thanksgiving.