First Visit With The Big Guy in Red - SANTA!!

The boys unexpectedly met Santa at the Galleria Mall in Roseville on Saturday, 12/19/09, while they were out Christmas shopping with me, Bella and Auntie Cindy!

I was very pleased that Santa's beard was real - and that we got a picture without the boys throwing a fit or being scared of the jolly Santa.  MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christmas Memories & Traditions

This year I’m finding that Christmas celebrations and traditions have a new excitement to them. They’re different than ‘before-babies’ and a little more special to me because I want them to be special to our boys. There are certain traditions from my childhood – and hopefully some from Chris’ too – that I hope to carry over for our children, as well as some new ones I hope we make as a family.

My favorite Christmas memory / tradition was always the candle light Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up in – the church my dad still attends every Sunday! The candle light service began at 11:00 p.m. with a Christmas message, usually a sermon about the birth of Jesus. There was just something so magical and spiritual to me about the service. Following the sermon our entire congregation would make a circle around the pews of the sanctuary. We each held a small white candle in our hands and each person passed the flame to their neighbor’s candle until all were glowing and illuminating the entire room – all while we sang Silent Night! It is always my favorite memory of Christmas. I haven’t been to that service in many years but I will always remember how much I enjoyed it.

Chris’ favorite memory / tradition of Christmas from his childhood also happened on Christmas Eve – opening one gift from under the tree! He also remembers being allowed to drink eggnog during the season – a sweet treat for him that meant Christmas was coming to town!!

Those are the types of memories and traditions I hope to pass along to our children; the type of traditions that evoke heart-warming emotions and happy memories.

I’m looking forward to our family making new and special traditions together in the years to come. I don’t know what they’ll be and that is part of what makes it fun – doing it together and figuring out what is special to our family as we grow!

Christmas Preparations

I’ve slacked on the blog recently because I’m tired, but also because December is a busy month … Christmas cookies to bake, Christmas cards to send out, Christmas shopping to get done, Christmas decorating to do … it’s usually all about Christmas for me and this year is no different – maybe even more so since I’m not working. Plus, I’m a mom now and I’m looking forward to making Christmas a special, magical, spiritual, tradition-filled time of the year for our boys – even if they won’t remember these early years. I have such good childhood memories of Christmas and the anticipation leading up to it that I want the same for our boys! We have the tree up & decorated, I baked 6 dozen cookies for my best friend’s annual cookie exchange, I made one batch of Gingerbread Biscotti w/ Apricots so far – and plan to bake another batch it was good, and my Christmas cards are signed, sealed and delivered thanks to my friend MJ’s annual Christmas card night! Phew!

Now, I’ve still got some Christmas shopping to do, many Christmas gifts to wrap AND I’m hosting a Christmas Eve dinner for my dad’s side of the family (I’m really looking forward to that actually). Oh, and we still need to get the traditional 1st picture with Santa! Christmas Day we will be at my mom & stepdad’s house with immediate and extended family for a delicious meal and our super fun gift card exchange that has become a new tradition in our family! I just love Christmas – I love family. I love friends. I love the comforts of home. I love giving. I love games and good cheer. Most importantly during this time of the year, I love Christ & celebrating His birth. I just love Christmas!!

LETTER TO SANTA

I've always worried about our boys keeping up with the standard developmental curve since they were born five weeks early, however, I was really surprised - and quite proud, I must say - when I found a LETTER TO SANTA CLAUS, beautifully written in blue & green crayons!! ;)  I think Santa would agree with me about how brilliant they are!  Here is their letter I found - right by the exersaucer:

Dear SANTA:

We are so excited about our 1st Christmas!  We are growing, playing, babbling, sitting up, eating real people food (pureed of course, and Mom doesn't let us have any of the yummy seasonings yet!), and we're working really hard on crawling.  I bet if we were awake when you visited our house this year you could see us crawling around the tree (and making Mommy chase us in different directions).  We are really good boys, we're awfully cute & we're hoping some of the stuff on our wishlist below makes it under the tree this year :)

What's Inside? Toy Box

Silly Sounds Hammer

Learning Hands ASL Flash Cards

Rainforest Stacker

We will continue to be on our best behavior and take naps when Mom says that we need them. We know you are watching, making lists & checking them twice. We decided to keep our list short since you're very busy during this time of year. I hope you're looking forward to stopping by our house. Mom said that she is going to leave some yummy cookies out for you!

Merry Christmas Santa. Please give our best to Mrs. Claus & the Reindeer too.

Love, Jackson & Nicholas Fields

Amazing boys! I just think they're adorable - but that's a mother's biased opinion :)