Merry Christmas! Christ is Born - Glorify Him!

Merry Christmas!  Christ is Born !  We have had a very enjoyable Feast day and some great quality time as a family!  After we returned from our spiritually renewing trip to Marietta, we had a few things to do to prepare for Nativity.  As the time drew near, we continued to read to Sophia about the Birth of Christ and have really tried to emphasize the true meaning of Christmas.

We had waited until the last minute to put up our tree.  We usually put it up much earlier, but the Little Man of the house can be quite inquisitive and we envisioned him not only taking off the ornaments but perhaps knocking down the whole tree.  Sophia helped us to decorate it and put up our stockings...and lo and behold, Demetri has not ruined ONE thing !  Thanks to my brother-in-law, we were even able to hang lights outside for the first time! We had never had an electrical outlet on the exterior of the house...until now!

We had a few days to prepare our ornaments for the Ornament Exchange that we signed up for over at Orthodox Mom (thank you so much to Sylvia for organizing it)!  I am not overly "crafty" or creative, but I did find a great idea HERE and we made some Apple Cinnamon scented ornaments.  Sophia really enjoyed the whole process.  She helped measure the ingredients, mixed them with her hands, helped to roll them out and cut the shapes. She especially enjoyed decorating them!  We used the star-shaped cookie cutter and once they were baked and dried, Sophia decorated them with glitter-glue and then pasted an icon onto each ornament.

Getting ready to roll out the dough for the first time!

The finished ornaments!  

She made homemade Christmas cards and signed her own name.  She was SO independent and excited when we started making the cards, but once we did the first 3 or 4, she said "This is hard work"!  We brought them to the post office together and off they went!  We sent out 7 ornaments - which meant she would be getting 7 packages in the mail herself!  She was so excited each day as a box arrived in mail for her.  They are all on the tree, but I will take a picture of the ornaments collectively and hopefully post them soon!  Many thanks for all the work that went into these precious ornaments!

Well, she enjoyed the whole process of making these ornaments so much that I decided I would let her make some Christmas sugar cookies.  Again, her favorite part was putting on the sprinkles!  (mine too, I did a few of my own)!

We attended services of the Blessed Nativity of our Lord and then enjoyed the fellowship of our Church family.

Demetri venerating the Icon of the Nativity, with the help of his Nouna

family snapshot after the Divine Liturgy

Christmas Morning we spent at home enjoying some family time, opened a few gifts and played with the kids.  We spent the rest of the day at my sister's house with our family for a wonderful day of laughs, fun, and a delicious festal dinner !

Christmas morning

Working on her new "cube" puzzle, while Demetri plots to steal a piece!

Loved the skates that Yiayia got for her, wore them all day!

(even while playing with Demetri's new BeBop Band)!

Definitely posting this without permission....but I love how silly we 

can be when we're together!

I hope and pray that everyone enjoyed their Christmas!  Christ is Born - Glorify Him !

A little road trip

We recently returned from a wonderful, spiritually renewing and fun trip to Marietta.  We were very blessed to have some dear friends of ours lend us their mini-van...which made the trip so much easier and more enjoyable!!  The kids were real troopers!  After going through the long drive, they came with us to Bible Study that night, an agrypnia (all-night vigil) the next night, Holy Unction the next, then Divine Liturgy and an evening prayer service that same night !  We had a wonderful and uplifting time, perfect for this time of year as we prepare for the Nativity of our Lord !

Catching a few zzzz's during Bible Study

our faithful teacher and Spiritual Father

With Olympia's help, she got to do her FIRST Gingerbread house too !!

On the Feast of St. Nicholas

We have been reading about St. Nicholas in some new books that we purchased for Sophia.  The Life of Saint Nicholas The Wonderworker (St. Nectarios Press) and Saint Nicholas - The Real Story of the Christmas Legend are 2 of our new book acquisitions.  The little lady has really been enjoying reading them at night at learning about this beloved Saint of our Church.  Thanks to Sylvia I have a list of a few additional books we'll be getting as well.  


Before going to bed last night, we had the children put out their shoes in anticipation of St. Nicholas bringing them some "goodies".  Although we never took part in this tradition as children, I really think it's a wonderful idea to do with our young ones and I am so glad that we have started to do it in our own little family.  Sophia was so excited when I reminded her this morning to go check her shoes.  They got some gold/chocolate coins, Orthodox icon flash cards (goarch.org), and a book as well.  I wasn't sure if she would actually connect the coins to the stories that we had been reading - but when she saw them she said "like the girls who wanted to get married"!  


Oh....and as you can see, she couldn't decide whether to leave her shoes or her boots - so she left both ! 

She taught me a(nother) lesson !

Last week I was changing Demetri's diaper and talking to him throughout the process (trying to keep him on the table)!  In my babbling, I said "uh-oh, looks like we have to make some more wipes for the little man".  We cloth diaper - and use cloth wipes.  Sophia has watched me whip up a quick batch of "wipe solution" more times than I count.  I was preoccupied so I hadn't noticed that she had gone into the bathroom across the hall.  When I came out of my son's room, there she was... mixing and shaking the little jar.  I noticed my little bag of "stuff" on the counter and the bottle of lavendar oil looked almost empty.  (I've had this same bottle of oil since Sophia was born and we began our cloth-diapering journey).  "HUH (gasping), SoPHIAAAA, what did you DOOOO?" I said behind my gritted teeth.  She calmly got off her footstool and said "Mama, you didn't say Thank You"...and she carried her wet wipes to the changing table.  Choking back a tear, I followed her to the room, gave her a hug and told her how thankful I was that she was such a "big helper" to me!

Since that day, I have noticed so many more times that she is "helping" me.  I've really tried to make it a point to show her my appreciation and let her know what a great job she is doing.  I can see the joy in her little eyes when I take notice and make a big deal out of something she has done for me.  It is precious.

Sophia's stewardship in the kitchen

Sophia was very disappointed this past Sunday to hear that her Catechism class had been cancelled. She looks forward to Sunday School and just looked so "bummed out" when I told her that she would have to wait until next week.  Then my koumbara asked her if she wanted to help in the kitchen when the kollyva came over after the Memorial Service...her eyes just lit up.  "Help" and "kitchen" are two of her favorite words!  She mixed, stirred and even served it into a hundred dixie cups!  She felt so important  helping and really took it seriously....and didn't spill even one kernel of wheat!

A great day for a party...and a pony!

Sophia has a little friend that she just adores...and this weekend was her 3rd Birthday Party!  How exciting!   She had been talking about it all week and practicing to sing "Happy Birthday"!  I didn't tell her until a few days before, but there were going to be a few surprises at the party.  They were having a petting zoo, which consisted of sheeps, goats, bunnies, a pig, guinea pig, ducks...and best of all, a PONY.  She immediately said she couldn't wait to ride the pony.  I was tempted to start taking bets as to whether or not she would actually ride it.

She was a little anxious when we all went out back to see the animals.  Her little friend showed no fear and jumped right up on "Barney" (the pony).  Pretty soon all of the children had gone on Barney.  We decided to put Demetri on and see how  he liked it.   He LOVED it and went on twice.  After that I told her that Barney was going to have to leave soon, so if she wanted to ride...this was her chance.  She quickly said "I wanna ride him now".  She got on and didn't look back....and then went a few more times!  She loved it.  She also got the gutts to go into the petting zoo area with the animals.  Baba took her, so I wasn't really close enough to see if she actually TOUCHED anything - although she will say she did!!

Teddy Bear Picnic

Today was the annual Teddy Bear picnic at our public library. Sophia was so excited about it all week.  She had all her snacks picked out to share with her friend, her teddy bear was ready to go...and she was really happy that Demetri was going to be a part of it this time.  Last year, when the picnic took place...I remember that I was just finishing my 40 days and it was one of the FIRST public places he went.  I carried him in the sling and he slept the entire time. But this year was a lot different. I venture to say that the little man has just as much fun as his big sister - if not MORE!

Sophia helped me pack her lunch (pb & j), some fruit snacks, drinks, crackers - and plenty of extra for her little friend.  She picked out her 2 blankets - her Noah's Ark and a Teddy bear blanket.  The library had it set up very nice again.  They had their normal story and song time inside.  The theme was....Teddy bears, of course.  Then everyone got to go outside to enjoy the picnic.  After the children ate, there were plenty of activities to enjoy.  Ring toss, bean bag toss, tunnels to crawl through, play tents, parachutes, balls and nets.  The kids had a wonderful time. It was a great day.