Christmas

Somehow it is December 30th already, and December has just flown by in so many ways.  I went on maternity  leave the 2nd of December and really enjoyed preparing for Christmas and enjoying some quiet days on the couch in front of the Christmas tree.

Here are some pictures from our Christmas preparations.

Advent sundays--Light a candle and get a present from Farmor

Mary's childrens choir singing in Skjern.

Making confections (Oatmeal balls)

Decorating the tree

37 weeks pregnant with the tree

Now fully done with a tree skirt

Risengrød!! Rice and cream for supper

Seeing if Santa left anything in my stocking I hung up at our bank

Christmas "hygge" at Gymnastics

Meeting the Skjern Handball Mascot

The almost finished product of over 40 hours in December...Just need the name and border! I also used time making cookies, recipes from Auntie Anne!

Video:  Silas went to a Christmas service at Church with his daycare.  They had been practicing an old hymn that they would sing that day.  One day during Christmas break, Silas found a card with a picture of them at church on it and began singing...It's crazy he can sing along to the complicated words of an old hymn....PS: He gets distracted by a picture of one of the cute girls from daycare at the end...Marie.

Christmas eve and day were also very wonderful.  I sang in church at 11am on Christmas eve day and played my horn as well.  I got to sing O Holy Night again this year, this time as a duet with another very talented singer at our church.  It was so much fun!  Søren's mom, Inger, was at church with us and afterwards we had a delicious lunch.  The afternoon consisted of relaxing and preparing for dinner.  We had a wonderful dinner and I found the almond again this year in the rice pudding.  After dinner we put the presents under the tree.  Silas was a big help, until he accidentally put his arm through the wrapping of one of the presents.  He then could see that there was a big tractor inside and he had to immediately open it.  He played contently with the tractor for a long time until we were ready to sing around the Christmas tree.  And even then we had to persuade him to put the tractor down to dance with us.  Before opening the presents we held each others hands and went dancing around the house singing "Now it's Chrismas again, Now's its Christmas again, and Christmas lasts until Easter."  Silas thought that was SO much fun!

Then it was time to open the presents. The four of us took turns opening presents, and Silas of course had to unpack all his presents and play with them before moving on.  But we had plenty of time and enjoyed watching him ooh and aah over all his new toys and really enjoy playing with them.  We all recieved wonderful presents and Silas was up playing with his until 10:15pm.  

Christmas Day brought a lot of relaxing and presents in our stockings.  There were quite a few so we split it up throughout the day.  It was so much fun just getting to watch Silas play with all his new toys.  He was completely entertained and only asked for us when he wanted to show us something cool he had figured out.  We all went to church in the afternoon where I played piano.  Afterwards Inger went home and the three of us just relaxed, as I was not feeling very well and was very worn down.   All in all we have had a wonderful Christmas time.  Remembering the real reason for the season, as we reflect on the miracle of Jesus' birth and what it means for us today.  We are so grateful for the hope we have in Jesus and it was especially touching for me this year to experience being pregnant and thinking of our Savior as a tiny baby in Mary's womb.  

Thank you for all the memories in 2013, we look forward to the ones to come in 2014!!