Grandma's Christmas Cookies

Growing up we always celebrated Christmas Eve at my Dad's parents' home.  Sometime after dinner all of the kids would shuffle past the gigantic (creepy) bobble-headed Santa in the foyer and out the front door to "walk the dog" while adults scrambled inside to pull wrapped packages from their hiding places and pile them under the tree.  When they were all set my grandpa would go out on the back deck and blow a big red plastic horn (think vuvuzela) signaling Santa's arrival.  You know Santa blows a horn, right?  Then we would all run back inside, an adult would mention something about how we "just missed Santa" and we would stand in awe of the present mountain in my grandparents' living room.  It was awesome, and I love that we carry this tradition on for the next generation of my family.

My grandpa has passed and Grandma now lives in a small apartment, too small for the growing "next generation" and the present mountain.  This Christmas we moved the Christmas Eve celebration (and the red horn) to my parents' house.  I think Grandma was a little reluctant to give it up seeing as she decorated her apartment, filled stockings for the great-grandkids and asked us to come to her place to get them.  She did agree to make the most requested Christmas cookies, but claimed this is the last year she will make them.  I say "most requested" because at one point I'm pretty sure she made at least 437 different kinds of cookies all from scratch, except the yucky anise cookies that came from a bakery and my dad is the only one who eats those anyway.  So this year she scaled back to about 8.

Recently, Grandma has started to show and feel her 87 years.  She is having more trouble walking, is forgetful, gets a little confused sometimes and has started addressing all of my cards to "Ginny."  She lets her ridiculous little dog, Cocoa, run her life and has overfed it to the point that none of us would be surprised if the dog actually exploded.  Christmas Eve, Grandma sat in charge of the 3-teired cookie platter, doling out goodies to her 8 great-grandchildren.  Addie sat next to her.  When she finished one cookie, Grandma handed her another.  I'm pretty sure Addie ate 12 cookies.  I hope this isn't the last year.

Christmas Marathon 2011

As we head to our sixth, no, SEVENTH?!? Christmas celebration tonight I can't help but feel like it should be February by now.  We saw most of the friends we hoped to, spent time with family we don't see often enough, ate a RIDICULOUS number of cookies, and the kids received trunkloads of gifts.  That last part makes my chest feel tight.

 

Uncle Jason and Tucker in from Atlanta

 Ashley and Ian opening gifts Christmas Eve at Gram's

 Favorite older cousin Tristan in from Colorado!

 Ella in her fabulous new princess attire....ALL of it.

 Nate was pretty excited about the Christmas hoopla!

 Christmas Eve at Gram's.

 Christmas morning at home.

A couple of days late, but it snowed just enough for a snowman. The rest of the week the kids were in shorts.  Very weird December, but we'll take it.  Next year I think I will take a cue from the airlines.  "If you wish to give my child a gift, it must fit in this shoebox.  Only one gift per giver.  Gifts that do not fit in this box will be checked....to Goodwill."

Christmas in Hindsight - Part 3

We started Christmas Day at home. Gifts, birthday coffee cake and pj's. Daniel read a story he illustrated that was based on the Christmas Story. This story focused mainly on the angel; a side effect of his recent fame in the school Christmas Pageant.

Around lunch time we headed out to Aunt Sara's for some time with the Hahn/Henson clan. I was talking and eating too much to take pictures. This was a Christmas of firsts. Nathan's first Christmas ever, Blake & Austin's first Christmas shared between 2 homes, and our first Christmas with Sherry and Rachael. Daniel and Addie had the usual blast playing with their cousins.

Later that afternoon, Aunt Sara and Daddy took the kids out to make snow angels and go sledding.The next day we had another Christmas celebration with Gram's family, but my camera never made it out of the diaper bag. That night was fun, too, but it's when I hit my limit for people and especially presents. I'm certainly grateful for how much my family loves our kids. But 4+ days of Christmas makes this claustrophobic introvert want to go Alexander Supertramp.

Christmas in Hindsight - Part 2

Christmas Eve gifted us with a beautiful snowfall. It was a perfect, magical, heavy snow that clung to the trees and made the whole city quiet.

Christmas Eve night we headed to Great Grandma's for dinner and cookies with Paw-Paw's family. 17 people crammed into Great Grandma's little apartment is rather claustrophobic. Add to that a large collection of fragile knick knacks, a food-stealing dog, neighbors who cannot tolerate noise, and a new cousin due this spring and one could see why I am campaigning for a change of venue for next year.

Given the circumstances, the kids all did great. Lots of fun with cousins, TONS of gifts from Santa and of course, Great Grandma's famous Christmas Cookie spread.

Gram helping out with Nathan.

Paw-Paw keeping the kids entertained before dinner. I love this picture for so many reasons.

The whole Schoeneberg/Barken Family, minus Peter who was at work. Our first Christmas without Great Grandpa. He was still there in conversations about his wood carvings and his favorite cookies. He would have loved the hustle and bustle of all of us together.

Christmas in Hindsight - Part 1

Once January 1st rolled around I was rather over the holidays. In the moment Christmas was fun, precious and family-filled. But the week after it just felt busy and accumulating. So I needed a little distance before a recap.

The festivities started with Santa House at the kids' school. Gram was sweet enough to accompany Addie and I was able to spend the day with Daniel. We made crafts, met with Santa and Daniel starred as the angel in the pageant.

Daniel and some of his buddies from class.

The entire cast (minus one king) of the 2010 Kindergarten Christmas Pageant. Kings had to play double duty as Inn Keepers and there was only one Shepherd because the class is so small. Thank goodness for Caitlyn or one of the boys would have had to play Mary.

Daniel as "The Angel Daniel" who insisted on sharing the good news with both the shepherds AND the kings because, "they'd want to know, too." Lucky for Daniel Mrs. Villa isn't a stickler for biblical accuracy.