Merry Christmas from The Johnson Family

This will be my last post for a week or two.  So I wanted to take this opportunity to wish my friends and family a VERY merry Christmas, marked with joy and love and peace.  Remember to take time to enjoy yourself and not get caught up in the presents and the stress and the to-do list.  See Christmas through the eyes of your children, grandchildren or whoever the little ones are in your life.

Today's Advent:

Craft day

Santa Clause with a cotton ball beard. 
Trees made from popsicle sticks.
Reindeer with feet and hand prints.
Don't forget the salt dough ornaments.

Tomorrow: 

Baking day

Friday: 

Make a cake for Jesus.

Saturday:

Open presents.

A final tradition I will share with you.  Jeff and I have a time together on Christmas Eve.  We put the children to bed early.  We pop a bottle of sparkling cider.  We open a gift from each other.  (These have turned into personal gifts that can't be opened in front of the children, if you know what I mean.  Wink, wink.)  Then we turn on the video camera and...HEY!  Get your mind out of the gutter.  Sheesh.  This is a G-rated blog. NO!  We record our guesses on what the next year will bring for each of our children, then we do five years out and ten.  But hey, while it's out....

Merry Christmas. 

FOUR days to go-and I like you...I really do.

We had our family pictures on Saturday.  Usually we go to the studio and have them done but Jeff has always hated that.  So last year our dear friend Hannah took our pictures and they were the best we've ever had.  This year though, I could not find a studio with reasonable prices ($1000 for pictures????).  So I set my camera on a tripod and we took them ourselves.  Look for them as the week goes on.

Here's another of my favorites:

Advent activity:

Email someone to tell them how much you love them.

So to all my blog readers:  Thank you.  Thank you for reading and commenting.  And for those who just lurk...de-lurk this holiday season and tell me hello.  Wish me a Merry Christmas. You don't have to have a blog to leave me a comment or a password or anything.  You can leave an anonymous comment.  Just be sure to sign your name if you want me to know who said it.

We have a tradition of praying for the people who send us cards over Christmas.  So if you leave me a comment we'll consider that a card and pray for you too. 

It's almost here.  Are you ready??? I'm beyond excited.

Advent Five days till Christmas-Game night

This tree is at one of the numerous malls I've visited lately, VivoCity.  Quite lovely.  While we were there we ran into some drummers drumming...and try as we might, we couldn't get a very good picture. Here is what we do have:

They were sure having fun.  One drummer was posing for pictures and laughing it up while he drummed. 

Today's Advent:

Game night.

The sad thing about this years game night is that I wasn't able to bring our games. So I bought a few while Christmas shopping, but only a very few.  We'll make do with what we have.

We do three family gifts at Christmas time.  One is always a TV series, but this year is a movie.  One is always a game.  And the other one is something we can all enjoy together.  Previous years presents have been a trampoline and a WII.  I do not know what this years is. I know! I know!  But as we speak (you read) Jeff is out shopping in hopes of finding something.

Today's blessing:

Say nothing negative about anyone.

Another tradition we have has to do with stockings.  Just like with presents it is so often a blur.  We like to prolong Christmas.  So we go around the room one at a time and take stuff out of our stockings.  Then we say how they apply to Jesus.  For instance, if someone gets a watch they could say, Jesus watches over me.  It's quite fun, really!

Also, they are allowed to eat whatever is in their stocking, whenever, however, as much as they want.  I usually make some overnight cinnamon rolls (SUPER easy) but this year I won't. Lunch usually consists of more junk food. But I do usually have some cheese, meats and crackers to snack on.  Then we go out to eat dinner. Everyone puts on their Christmas dresses. 

Some things my kids can generally count on in their stockings:

food of all kinds like candy, cereal, fruit, juice
a book
socks
Christmas dishes for their hope chest
brush
toothbrush
hair doo-dads
small toys

The kids LOVE opening stockings.  It's seriously one of the most fun things we do all season.

How do you spend Christmas?

Try as I might I couldn't get a good picture of Mill's tooth.  She lost it after days of it hanging on by a thread. 

One week to go-Family Award Night

Advent activity:

Family Awards night.

If you have never read my blog before you may be wondering what that's all about.  If you have read it before now, then you know and you want to join in.  Right, Heather?  (There are plenty more ideas to read, just click on Advent up there on the top.)

It's easy.  Pick some categories:

Best dresser
Cleanest person
Person who read the most books
Best egg maker
Cleanest room
Person who makes us laugh the most

Whatever you want. Then you vote.  We've rigged it so that everyone gets an award by making sure that some people get some throw away votes.  (The adults play too.) 

Then we have prizes like:

candy from the store
movie during the week
stay up an hour late
go somewhere alone with mom or dad

It's pretty simple to do and everyone will enjoy it.

Eight days till Christmas-Remember Me

I love that song.

It's almost Christmas. I can't wait. Every year I think to myself that this year will be the best Christmas ever, and it is!

But really, this year will be!

Usually I wrap each persons presents in a particular wrapping paper so at a glance you can see who has what.  But this year, I couldn't find wrapping paper in different styles. So I had to use name tags. How sad.  I have a friend who used a complex number system that only she knows so that her kids couldn't figure out what belonged to whom.  Haha!  That makes me laugh.

You may remember Christmas mornings just being a blur of wrapping paper and squeals of delight but not really getting to enjoy each person opening their presents.  I have a remedy for that.  We start by drawing slips of paper.  The person who gets a star gets to unwrap the first present.  They can pick whatever they want.  They pick the next person and pick out one of their presents.  And so on down the line. Let me tell you, Christmas morning goes on and on.  We have to take breaks. 

Advent:

Memories night

Watch home movies, look at pictures and baby books, tell stories.

This is a new one for this year but I'm sure it will be my favorite.

No blessing today as we haven't done Advent yet.

But I do have some pictures for you:

This sculpture is called Fat Lady ballet.  And if I had $65 spare dollars I would have bought it for Jeff, because...because just look at it.  I would make him put it on his desk at work.  Oh man.  

Here is a Mexican plate, chicken enchiladas.  The best I've ever had. Seriously. Who knew all the good food was in Singapore?  Seriously, there is always something to do here.  The one complaint I have about the restaurants is no free refills. They are cans of soda.  AND they charge anywhere from $3-$8 PER CAN.  Each can.  No matter how thirsty you are.  The only exception I've found was the Hard Rock Cafe.  They actually have a soda dispenser there.

More of our winter wonderland.  And miscellaneous paraphernalia that I probably should have cleared away before snapping the picture. 

Okay, so what do you notice about this store?

Yep, that's the name.  Oh my.

Thank you Zappos.  Everyone has shopped there right?  Let's see what I love:

Look at these Burberry Check Boots.  Sweet!

Printed Star Ankle boots.  Seriously!

Ankle rain boots.  Too cute!

Nine days till Christmas-Share please

While we decorated the tree, Jerusha climbed the stairs.  If we don't keep a sharp eye on her she will climb, and climb, and climb, and keep climbing till she gets to the end--the top floor.  And yes, that has happened.  Oh my goodness. Give a mother a heart attack.  She loves the stairs.  She also has eight teeth coming in.  EIGHT.  I have a teething necklace for her.  Either that things works or she is the most docile child ever.  She has been a little more clingy than usual.  But not one complaint about her mouth. EIGHT teeth, all at once.

Today's Advent:

Ice cream day

You may choose between a sundae, banana split or root beer float.

Blessing:

Let someone play with your toys.

We do sometimes have problems with sharing.  Millicent will share just about anything with anybody, unless she's mad at you.  Asa does okay, sometimes.  But never, ever, ever his tractor (which we replaced with a hot wheels type of ride on toy.)  So this day will stretch some of our children...in a good way!

There's his tractor his Mimi got him.  We don't mention the tractor.  It makes him cry.  It breaks my heart.

And thank you Earth While for sponsoring today's post.  I had a look around over there and OF COURSE I love everything.  They are UK based and eco friendly.  There are so many awesome things I can barely narrow it down to several I want to show you.  But since it's Christmas, and like me, you are probably toy shopping, here are some of favorite toys. Be sure to check them out!

I try to always buy wooden toys and these pull along turtles are just too cute.

This precious Ballerina rag doll would be loved and cared for in our home.  Bonus that she's a ballerina.  Does anyone else have a daughter who loves ballet but doesn't take it?

This Penguin LED torch would be fantastic in my house.  I'm going to order some now and pray they get here by Christmas.  It's amazing.  I saw some a LONG time ago and wished and wished I had ordered them then.  Even Jeff wanted me to get one so he could see how it worked.  Well I don't know how it works.  But they are cute and should last a really long time. (Updated:  Drats!  They don't ship to Singapore.  They do ship to the US.)

Advent Ten days to go-It's a Winter Wonderland

"Take a picture of this mommy". I get that a lot.  Lots of pictures of rocks and sticks but the first one of a snowman.

Today's activity:

Movie day:  Watch Christmas movies all day long, eat pizza, popcorn and candy and drink Coke.

Today's blessing:

Memorize a verse to recite to everyone.

No craft today because of movie day.  But my kids have been hard at work turning our house into a winter wonderland.  I'll show you some pictures tomorrow.

Question:  Do you think my numbers are off?  It's nine days till Christmas Eve, right?  (Assuming it's currently Wednesday that you are reading this.)  Or is it ten days? I get confused every year. Okay, every day.  I'm always confused, but let's stick to Advent and solve this.

And while I'm on here, let me introduce you to a company called Bed Bath store.  While I have not done business with them they have sponsored this post.  While perusing their website I did find some things I like:

New Bedding by Textrade....which oddly enough, looks very much like the one that came with our house.  

New products by Fun Furnishings -The Princess Chair...come on, I have five daughters, I need this chair.

New products by Taylor and Company -Holiday Snowmen doormat (last one on the page)...and seriously, if it had one more snowman on it I would get it.  (I have five kids at home still.)  We take our shoes off at the door, as is the custom in Asia, so we don't really need a doormat.  But, you know me, and all things Christmas.

Thanks Bed Bath store.

Advent 11 days to go-And there is glue everywhere

Yes, my kids are hams.  I want to eat them up, too.  Except Kori...too greasy.  Just kidding.

Today's advent:

Living nativity

This should be fun because Asa has been a super hero and a rabbit lately.  So we'll see if we can get him to be the donkey or sheep.

Blessing:

Tell someone how much you love them.

Craft:

Make a candy cane out of tissue paper wrapped around a pencil.

I have pictures to make this a little more clear.  I buy the tissue paper pre-cut from Oriental Trading. (Here is a set of 5000 for $1.49.)  Kori absolutely loves this craft and takes hours to make hers perfect.  Millicent starts off great but after a few minutes decides it's too hard. And Kati never finishes hers either.  Meanwhile, (as you will see in the pictures) Asa just sticks his pencil in the glue and rubs glue everywhere...but it keeps him entertained. And who am I to care if there is a mess to clean up.  Hey, life's messy.

Here he is getting glue all over the pencil.  I'm not real sure what he thought this craft was.

See?  Glue everywhere.  And please note the tissue paper inside the little compartments there.  Don't ask me why...I have no idea.  There is, however, one piece of tissue paper glued to his sheet.

Okay, wrap the tissue around the pencil.

Dip it in glue.  Press it down on the paper.

Here is Kati's.  She stopped here. Kidding.  Just kidding. She got mostly finished.  But you can see how thin her candy cane was.  One row of tissue paper.  

And these are just pictures of my cute kids.

Mill's tooth has still not come out.  I'm waiting for her to swallow it.

Advent 12 days to go-All I want for Christmas is that bottom tooth

That is me in front of a GIGANTIC Christmas tree...three stories tall and I don't know how many feet that is.  Jeff and I both wanted to take a flying leap at it and see if we could land it.  Those balls are as big as your head.  (That's what she said.)

I hope my forgetting to post this weekends Advent activities didn't mess you up.  Sorry if it did. Never hesitate to email me and ask for tips.  I'm the queen of Christmas. At least I want to be.  And if you ever emailed me and asked for tips I might think I am.  And that's close enough.

So today's activity:

Pajama day.

I don't know why pj day is such a fun day for my kids but they ADORE it.

Speaking of pj's, I always get everyone pj's or gowns or whatever for their stockings.  I found some beautiful, Asian-inspired ones, for this year.

Today's blessing:

Read to someone younger.

Now take a look at this:

Millicent has had three loose teeth for some time now.  But yesterday, while I was out shopping, she had a little accident and hit the table.  Whereupon that bottom loose tooth became quite a bit looser...and whereupon she also smashed her top gum and bruised her face; though aforementioned bruises are not evident in picture.

But you can see how loose, right?

Now look at this:

Okay, weird picture. But I'm a proud mom, whadya want?  Her tooth is actually laying horizontally on her lips.  To put it another way; she's holding her tooth between her lips.  Exactly.

I'll keep you posted on that...I know you are on the edges of your seats.

Advent 15 days to go-And my numbers are probably off

Ashlea has gone back to American and we miss her and Audra terribly.  Especially since I have to cook dinner every night. Kidding, just kidding.  I miss them for reals!

Today's Advent:

Make a banner.

Oh boy do my kids love making banners.  See, it started when Jeff went to Singapore for three weeks a long time ago.  We made him a welcome home banner and everyone stamped their hands and feet with paint.  So now banner is synonymous with paint stamping and hands and feet. 

This time they are making reindeer with their feet and antlers with their hands. They will put puffy balls for noses and googly eyes. We'll take any excuse to use a googly eye.

Blessing:

Surprise someone.

Spam me craft ideas, please.

Advent 16 days to go-No ants at our picnic? Yes, there are

Eat your heart out Ashlea...I just watched the Christmas episode of Community before it aired.  (If you are reading in a reader, visit my blog for a snippet of the episode.)

I love Community.  I think my favorite was the paintball episode.  But really, how do you rank geniusness? 

This episode is stop animation, though not clay-mation, according to Ahbed.  The premise is that Ahbed is having an hallucination that they are animated.  There is singing and all kinds of Christmas themed elements.

My favorite scene is the one where Shirley is turned into a baby doll.

Funny, huh?  The animation is right on.

Admittedly, this isn't one of the funnier episodes I have watched.  But it is a must see if you are a Community fan.  The relationship between Ahbed and Troy is always funny as they spew pop culture references.

If you've never seen Community, what are you waiting for? This is one of the best shows on TV.  NO, I'm not getting paid to say this. YES, I love this show.

It comes on NBC, Thursday Dec 9 at 7:00 PM central.

Today's advent:

Picnic in the living room.

For some reason my kids really enjoy having a picnic in the living room.  We are going to have hot dogs, chips and juice boxes.

Blessing:

NO complaining.

I love this one.  Should have seen the look on one certain child's face when we drew this. She hates not complaining. In other words, she loves to complain.

Craft:

Coloring a nativity scene and then gluing them on to toilet paper rolls. I found one and printed it and now I cannot find it again. I'm sorry to be of no help there.

I've got two weeks to make a homemade gift for the person whose name I drew.  I can't say as my husband reads this blog regularly and it could be him or might not be.  Either way he can't know.  It's a secret homemade gift.

This week the kids get to open one present as part of our Advent activities.  It's suppose to remind them how Mary waited for Jesus and something else or other that I don't remember.

I buy Christmas themed gifts:

Kori-snow globe
Kati-nutcracker (not a real one, but a toy kind thingy one)
Millicent-a village
Asa-Santa
Jerusha-evidently a snowman since that is what I found.

This year I wasn't able to find those things here so I made do...and Jerusha got a snowman.  They can decorate for Christmas with these things.  And their Mimi has bought them all ornaments in previous years. So they will have a lot when they have their first house.

What are you doing? How are your holidays coming together?

Advent 17 days to go-Green or red, red or green

Ha!  That picture makes me laugh.  It's summer time here...but I've got news for you, I was cold the other day and again last night.  Yes, it's tropical and so humid you can taste the water in the air.  But I was COLD.  I mean, if I had a blanket I would have covered up with it. 

We were eating dinner at a marina off the ocean during a rainstorm and the wind was blowing cold air in.  I was COLD.  I was shivering. I had goose bumps. COLD, I tell you.

Then again yesterday it was like a fall day.  I was in town shopping (yes, I still say town as if I still live 30 minutes from town) and we were sitting out on a balcony, on street level, and I was cool.  The air was up so high in that place that when they opened the door to seat us I thought NO WAY!  So we sat outside. 

So, see, there are seasons here.  It's winter time in Singapore.

Activity:

Wear red and green.  (Asa actually let me dress him in a green shirt since it was the Advent activity. Do you have a two year old who won't let you dress him?)

Blessing:

Tell someone something unique and special about them.

I blew it last night with the elf. I brought the coins down and set them on the table to set up the scene just right.  Sat down and forgot about them.  The kids found them this morning. 

Kori told me she knew it wasn't a mystery...it was mom and dad. That really cracked me up, because, she's 13 and it took her over a week to figure it out. See? FUNNY!

Advent day 10-Let's eat in here, and in here, and in here

Can you guess what we ate for dinner?

Cocoa tasting was a HIT, as you will see from the pictures.  We ate so many cookies we had belly aches.  The rule is if you eat so many cookies you get a belly ache you aren't allowed to complain. (And I tried to make believe I'm a good mom since we only do this once a year.)

Today's activity:

Progressive dinner.  I let them pretty much pick which course they wanted to prepare and they get to pick where to serve it. When Asa was asked where he wanted to serve drinks he said in the bottom.  Bottom of what?  The bottom of the cup, of course.

Today's blessing:

Make someone a snack.

Advent day 9-I like it hot enough that it burns my tongue

Today's activity:

Drink hot chocolate with marshmallows, whipped topping, sprinkles and cookies.

We will turn the air way down to super cool off the kitchen when we drink ours....make it a little more Christmasy.

I sent the girls to the store and let them pick out their own cookies.  They LOVED that.  (We live in walking distance of a grocery store...and Singapore is very safe.)

Blessing jar:

Do something with someone, that they want to do.  (I think I'll ask my person if they want to hang out with me, and I'll find out what they want to do.)

Tonight the elf is going to leave some candy coins laying around.   We'll try to arrange the scene as if they fell out of his pocket, but tell the kids they can eat them.

Lots of sweets around this time of year, no?  We'll get back to healthy eating soon enough. For now, let's just have fun.  (For the record, they are organic candy coins.  As if that matters.)

Second Sunday of Advent-I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Today we:

(Were suppose to) sing Christmas songs in the car.  My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE to sing Christmas songs in the car. 

Blessing jar:

Give someone something they want.  (This can be anything!  A word of encouragement, a book read to them, something you have they have been wanting.)

The elf needs to make a move soon but I've been so worn out I haven't done anything.  What has your elf been up to?

And as an aside, Millicent read her first book tonight.  I love homeschooling!!!