the holiday season!

The holiday season flew by for us (& the rest of the world, I'm sure). While it left me exhausted, I think our little on had the best time & that counts for something!
These are just some random snaps from December. I had a couple vacation days left and spent them bonding with Zara. We made a lot of crafts (kiwi crate gifts from her birthday). Went to the park. Had our favorite tomato soup & played video games at Toonerville Deli (a bar now, I didn't know, ha. & I still miss when it was Ermin's!) We enjoyed our Christmas tree a LOT (decorating it and lighting it every day). Zara had her Christmas program for school and sang "Santa Shark" with her classmates on stage and she randomly put a bag of candy together for her teacher and brought it with her without telling me or Jonas. It was so sweet! We made and ate all the ginger molasses cookies & now I never want one ever again. We went to a German type Christmas market- not the same :( Z had her 3 year old check up & doing great! We all went to "Lights Under Louisville".  We stayed at home a lot with Christmas movies. We all had a week of sickness, ugh. Jonas and I ran a Christmas 12k. & we each had our work Christmas party- Zara ran all over the funeral home during mine. Jonas' work party was at Main Event- I didn't think I still liked all the arcade games but I was very wrong. We also had a great time playing them with Zara!
Now the house is cleaned up and everything is back to normal. Thank goodness!

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve was a lot like any other night- waiting and waiting for Jonas to get home from work and help with all. the. things. I made Swedish meatballs (just like Ikea, ha!) We told Zara the story of Christ's birth. She keeps singing "Baby Jesus, we love you!"- a song she learned at school. We gave her a tent and found out it is half the size of our guestroom. Now that playroom that I swore I would never have, is here to stay.

Her new harmonica was a big hit::

& all the candy::

Christmas day we spent at my Grandfather's & then my sister's house.

Zara kept carrying around a doll and said "my baby died". Eek, this girl has probably visited the funeral home too often::

The best part was playing a song together with individual whistles that had corresponding numbers::

See ya next year, Christmas!

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

Christmas Sunday means the Christmas program at church- for sure the best meeting of the year. Jonas spoke about some of his traditions in Germany- it was so special.

We took some photos with our lovely Christmas tree & spent the rest of the day preparing for dinner with the missionaries. Zara and I made chocolate cookies & ginger molasses cookies (both Cooks Illustrated recipes). We had our annual raclette grill spread- I remember again why I only do it once per year, it is so much work. But it's so good! It was a good day to spread Christmas cheer!

 Our new ornaments this year::

Christmas card & poem.

I tried so hard, but could not fit all of Maya Angelou's poem on our Christmas card. I love it so much, so here it is in full::

Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortal's, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.

― Maya Angelou, Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem

Zara's 3rd Birthday Weekend!

From the moment I took a positive pregnancy test, I have loved my little girl. I just love sharing my life with her! I made a little collage- pregnant with Zara- Zara just one day old- Zara one year old & two years old::

& now she is three ! ::

We started Zara's birthday weekend with cookies for her class & donuts for her teachers. She had a great day and loved to share her birthday celebration with her class. She will not allow us to call her Zara, she prefers "Baby Rawr" and is usually found acting like a lion::

 Friday evening we visited the Crestwood Festival of Nativities. It becomes more beautiful every year. I was glad to see my favorite nativity again from Kyrgyzstan. Zara made a craft, we ate a lot of cookies & enjoyed being together looking at nativities. It is one of our favorite Christmas traditions!::

 The morning of her birthday, we followed the tradition that Jonas' family has- singing Happy Birthday and eating cake in the morning. She also opened her presents and loved them all. She was glowing as we sang to her::

After a crazy morning of Birthday preparation and finishing a short jog, we made it to the zoo for Santa's Safari. It was adorable and organized so well. You have a reservation for a table where you make a craft, drink milk & hot cocoa and Mrs. Claus brings sugar cookies. Everyone sings Christmas songs, they read a story & get a photo with Santa. After that, you go around to the indoor parts of the zoo and meet 8 different animals. Zara also got a lion painted on her face, it stayed all day::

Later in the evening, we just had a little family dinner for Zara. Zoo themed, of course.

We matched Zara with our own lion shirts::

Omi & Opi called from Germany to wish her a Happy Birthday!::

Everyone loves Baby Rawr::

It was so sweet to see how happy Zara was when everyone sang "Happy Birthday dear Baby Rawr"::

Playing until the were all crying, haha::

Zara never sleeps in bed with my anymore but kept waking up so we just left her there. It was just like the night three years ago that she was born and slept next to me in her little clear crib at the hospital. I was in shock that I made a person and she was next to me. It was very bizarre. Being a parent is such an adventure through every stage.

Sunday we spent together- at church and then at home watching movies and documentaries and eating. She told me that her birthday weekend was great!