And We Woke Up To This:

Isaac made out with a TON of legos and spent his entire Christmas day building them.

 Georgie loved her new dollhouse and kept telling everybody how big it was.  "It's bigger than me!" 

  To brag a little bit (that's okay, right?), we were really proud of our kids on Christmas Morning.  As always, they waited in their rooms until we came in to get them.  I woke up around 7 am and heard them in there making guesses about what Santa might have brought them.  I made them wait a few more minutes while I brushed my teeth and threw on a necessary undergarment (I ain't 15 anymore;) and threw a few things together for breakfast.  They kept asking in their sweet little voices, "Can we come out yet?"

When I came to get them, they RAN out of their rooms with "Christmas Morning" grins spread wide across their faces.  Joey and I were concerned that maybe, possibly, Isaac might compare the size of his suitcase and lego boxes to Georgies doll house and think he got "less".  We were both so proud of him when he walked in and expressed sincere excitement for Georgie about what Santa had left for her.  In fact, his first comment upon seeing all the presents was, "Ooo, Georgie, look how cool!  A HUGE doll house!"  And then he moved on to his gifts.  They were both happy to take their turns opening gifts, savoring each one and saying "Thank You".  It was really, really nice.

We had a special guest this year:

Our Altus Grandmother, Ruth who we LOVE!!  She brought the kids some REALLY cool books ( I think I might like them more than the kids do!!:)  A few really nice things for me and a coupon for free babysitting for Joey (best gift EVER!)

 Here's Isaac scoping out Ruths gift from us.  It was one of the gifts I was most excited about giving this year:

An Ott Lite

Ruth is an amazing crafter/quilter/artist and this light is helpful for those types of projects.

Gigi and I making breakfast in the kitchen!  Georgie LOVES to cook with me.  For breakfast we had Apple Souffle, sausage, cheddar cheese scones, hot chocolate, juice and fruit.  (I only write this down for "future traditions" reference;)

Isaac in his new jacket

Baby's first Christmas!  Merry Christmas JuJu!!

Christmas Eve

 Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent at The Jones Family's home.  We had a buffet style dinner where we provided our Snow Man cheese ball, Blueberry Spinach Salad, and Green Bean Bundles wrapped in Bacon.  All are Christmas traditions.  During the day, Joey was home with us which was nice.  We watched movies, got our house clean in preparation for Santa and attempted to go roller skating (wishing it was "ice") but the rink was closed

At the Jones' home the kids put together a nativity, and played a few really fun games.  It was the perfect short and concise evening that left us time to prepare for Santa.

Georgie got to play Mary in the Nativity.  She was so excited and took it very seriously!  

Isaac was a wise man but my camera ran out of batteries...bummer so no pictures were taken. 

Christmas Kids

Christmas Kids:

Don't mind me I'm just sharpening me teeth 

so that I can eat them up!

Sisters...

I always wanted one and now I have two!

 Baby's First Christmas

Jammies from Frosty on Christmas Eve

Random Christmas

Random Christmas Pictures

Isaac had his first grade program this year.  

I just love his face here...classic first grade!

We did homemade presents again this year but I only got a few photos.  

Georgie wrote and illustrated a book for Isaac called Isaac, Georgie, Juliet and THE OKAPI.  Speaking of random this book was it!!  They both chose to write each other a book but Georgie wanted to illustrate her own rather than make hers on the computer.  For Isaac we used Blurb's Booksmart Program and it turned out amazing.  He wrote a cute little story that they both love to read.  It's illustrations are all photos of the two of them.  We went through our old photos and he designed a story using those.  We did use a couple of pictures from Google images but the rest were of the two of them.  In all seriousness, after completing the book, Isaac said to me "I can't believe that I'm 6 and I've already written a book!"  I'm contemplating switching our tradition from making something for each other to writing a book for each other.  I think that tradition could get pretty darn fun and creative. What do you think?

Georgie wanted me to add this one...

A New Tradition Begins

 It all started with The Barenaked Ladies Holiday Album.  The kids fell in love with the songs "Dreidle" and "Hannukah".  After two years listening to them over and over and over again we decided that we'd better just start celebrate Hannukah ourselves!  So, on the last day of the 8 day calendar Hannukah we fried up some latkes and donuts, played some Hannukah music, read some jewish story books from the library and danced the Horah (sp) around the table (our own version of course...does anyone know what the Horah evem is?)  Now all we need is a Menorah!  Here's my little Georgie girl helping me in the kitchen!  

Georgie seemed dead set on making this special Hannukah dinner a secret.  Somehow, as a secret, it's more special to her.  "Don't tell anyone about this dinner, only the Merbacks can know."  And they've both been talking about Latkes ever since!  Who doesn't love a holiday that almost exclusively celebrates  oil and then fries things in it?  And I thought Christmas was delicious!!

A Visit with Mr. C

A perfect depiction of both their reactions to Santa... and yes, his beard is real;)

Georgie in all her whimsy!

Asleep under the tree (or at least supposed to be)!  

Christmas is REALLY here!

Cutting The Christmas Tree: My Favorite Holiday Tradition

Cutting The Christmas Tree:

My Favorite Holiday Tradition

I have fond memories of picking out our families Christmas Tree as a child.   The day after Thanksgiving my whole family would pile into the Suburban and drive into the country to what seemed to me to be acres of perfectly pruned Christmas Trees.  I remember how my fathers face and entire body seemed to inspect every tree, demonstrating to my child mind the eminent importance of our choice.  The smell of fresh cut pine still takes me back to specific moments of childhood Christmas'.  It's a tradition that is important for me to give my children.  But in my day these farms were huge and bustling with families.  We had to wait in line to have our tree shaken and wrapped in twine.  Enter the "fake Christmas tree".  Bustling, huge, hay ride farm= Out Of Business.  We've had to drive over 2 hours to find a farm the last two years but it's been worth it.  It still makes me smile and the whimsical shape of a real Christmas Tree is something that I love...and my kids love it too.  Joey has gently tried to encourage me to buy the fake tree arguing "sustainability" and "cheaper in the long run"  But I argue back with "helping those who would otherwise be out of a job", "family tradition", and "memories".  That shut him up! The great job my parents did of almost ritualizing the tradition make it impossible for me to buy a fake tree.  But i'll admit, after a spider infestation fell from this years tree branches I've considered giving in.  Man that was nasty!  But one time in 30 years of real tree experience I would say we're doing pretty well for ourselves!  I'm stickin' to my guns!

Here's Georgie, Bitty Baby in tow, racing/hiding through the branches.  She could've cared less to help with choosing our tree.  We hardly saw her the entire time.  But we were the only ones there so, nothing to fear!

Isaac, ready to cut

I caught sight of her again.

and again.

After quite a bit of deliberating, Joey butted out and let Isaac choose;)  

(We'll regret it later!)

Baby's First Christmas Tree Shopping...

can they put that on a onesie?

Just a side note...if you have a tall tree in your yard, google search "air Pogo"  

This thing was cool!!

Happy with his choice!

There's our beauty...let's hope she doesn't fly off on our three hour trek home!

Remember when I said we'd regret Joey butting out to keep the peace??  Well we had our "National Lampoon" moment when we unleashed her in our front room!  WAY to big for our tiny living room!!  We had to lop 5 inches off the top just to get the star on and we could forget about having a fire in the fire place!  Major safety hazard.  Remind me to get a skinny >7ft tall tree next year!