Our Christmas Countdown Calendar

Beginning last year, Seth and I decided that we wanted to make the most of this time of the year and not allow certain opportunities to pass us by. I think the fact that we had Austin made it all the more meaningful to us, but as we both love the Christmas season, it would be a great idea to do if we were still just the two of us. 

We began with a lengthy discussion/semi-heated debate about what to even call what we were doing. Many people use the word "Advent" in doing something like this, but Seth was adamant that using that word implied stuff for Christ/God/His Birthday, not just things like mailing cards and watching movies. It was very important to Seth that we not confuse the two things by combining the terms. I now agree with him, though I'm sure some people think its simply semantics. (This is similar to how I feel about Santa. I'll decorate with Santa, but not take Austin to sit on his lap or tell Austin that certain gifts come from him. I don't want to teach him that he exists. Because he doesn't. Sure, there are movies of him and decorations of him, but I feel differently about those things. Again, some people might think that's nit-picking or splitting hairs, and that's fine. I'm not suggesting you must follow our lead, I'm simply sharing why we do what we do.)

So, we came up with the title of a "Christmas Countdown Calendar" (CCC for short) which is separate from our Advent Calendar. So, we do both, separately, and the things on each are very different. The CCC isn't based on the church calendar, and isn't based on scripture teachings. It's simply a way for us to get all the holiday activities on the calendar so that we don't miss the chance to do it. (Our Advent Calendar is the subject of another post entirely!)

A good friend of mine remembered that we did this last year and she emailed me asking for the list of things we did. She wanted to create her own. What a compliment! When I talked with her on the phone about it, giving her the list of things we did last year, she encouraged me to do a blog post about it. So, here is that post.

  

The Spofford Christmas Countdown Calendar:

Day 1: Mail Christmas Cards

Day 2: Attend a Performance (The Nutcracker @ The Windspear is this year's)

Day 3: Host 2nd Annual National Lampoon's Ugly Sweater Party

Day 4: Final Christmas Shopping

Day 5: Wrap Presents

Day 6: IBC Women's Christmas Dinner

Day 7: Watch Home Alone

Day 8: Watch A Charlie Brown Christmas

Day 9: Drive Around to see Lights

Day 10: Make and Deliver Cookies to our Neighbors

Day 11: Seth and Austin Decorate Cookies with Nonnie

Day 12: Go to A Cherry Christmas (neighbor who has lights set to music on a radio station!)

Day 13: Watch Love Actually

Day 14: Dinner & Elf with Nonnie/Gramps

Day 15: Watch It's a Wonderful Life

Day 16: Watch Frosty

Day 17: Crossroads Christmas Party

Day 18: Small Group: FAMILY Christmas Party

Day 19: Watch A Christmas Story

Day 20: Nieman's Window Display

Day 21: Watch A White Christmas

Day 22: NorthPark Trains

Day 23: 2012 Planning

Day 24: Christmas Eve. Service, Dinner, and Present Opening

Day 25: Christmas Day with the Spoffords

This year's list is a bit different than last year's list for three main reasons: Seth will be in Ohio one entire weekend (for a friend's wedding), he has club soccer one night/week and will therefore not be home to participate in anything, and we're in a Small Group which adds three events to our calendar over the course of these 25 days. So, in general, this December is much fuller than last year. Because of some non-Christmas stuff.

I do expect, however, for the things to change from year to year. As God blesses us with more kids, and those kids get older, the things that we'll able to do will be different. I can't wait to add tons of crafts to the calendar!

The Spofford Christmas Countdown Calendar

I bought this 12x12 piece of paper at Michaels last year and cut it down a bit in order to mat it on a red 12x12 piece. The door and windows literally open up, and that's how we've chosen to display our CCC. I hang it via magnets to the door leading to our garage. It's not really for decorating, but to have a fun way to know what we're doing each day.

Do you have any ideas of things we could add to the list either this year or future years? Make a comment below to let me know. I'd LOVE more ideas!

"Goals" not "Resolutions"

Several years ago, when I still worked in Housing at Georgia Tech, my then-boss shared with me that she and her husband sit down each December and come up with a list of goals for the coming year. She made a point to tell me that they don't come up with "Resolutions," but rather "Goals." I didn't understand the distinction until she went into further detail.

The difference in their mind (and now mine as well) is that resolutions are things you want to do better, fix, change, get better at, etc. A very common example is losing weight. Goals are simply things you want to accomplish. An example of a goal is going on a week-long family vacation. Goals aren't things 'to change,' but simply 'to do.'

Now, all these years later, Seth and I make a point each December to sit down and come up with a list of goals for the following year. In case the idea of doing so inspires any of you who read my blog, I thought I'd write about the concept and include a few of our examples from our past and the future (2012 goals). (I think it's also important to note that we sit down at the end of each month and make a plan for the following month. We found that we'd otherwise 'book' ourselves with something less important and then wouldn't be able to do certain things because the opportunity flew past us.)

I know that some people reading this will think that calling them something other than resolutions is splitting hairs, just semantics, or something, but for us, it's really taken the pressure off. If we don't meet one of our goals (meaning it doesn't end up happening), there isn't this guilt of having broken a resolution. We simply didn't get around to that particular thing and can add it to the following year's list. As do most people, it seems, we keep ourselves pretty busy, so it's easy for a month or even a year to go by without having done some of the bigger things we'd hoped to do. Setting a list of goals has helped us to narrow our focus and do more of the important things and less just letting life pass us by. The opportunities don't go flying by us this way. It feels like we've taken charge of how we spend our time rather than just floating along, wasting time. It's been a really good thing for us. (Thanks Sheree!)

Some examples of goals: (some of which we've done and some of which we haven't)

-week-long trip to WI

-Spofford Family Vacation (all 10 of us)

-Plano hot air balloon festival

-host a Dinner & Games night each month

-bake cookies and deliver them to neighbors at Christmas time

-host Thanksgiving

-host Easter

-enroll Austin in swim lessons

-have nieces and nephew over 2 nights/year

-go on a babymoon

-buy new computer

-new retaining wall and fence

-buy a new car

-join a small group

-join a book club

-go on a girls' weekend

-go to the TX state fair

-new kitchen

In case you feel inspired, I want to also share the logistics of how we make this work. Each December, we simply get a piece of paper out and write down all the things we want to do in the coming year. We typically use local event calendars, Seth's scheduled vacation days calendar, as well as any schedules related to Bible studies or other things we're involved with for this process. We buy a desk calendar (those big, 2'x3', flat calendars) and begin writing immovable stuff on it. So, we write festivals and other planned events (like holidays) on it for the whole year.

Then, we come back each month to look at the things that are already written (in pencil!) on the wall calendar, and add things to it as we are inclined/available. If the goal doesn't involve a date on a calendar, we'll check in with each other each month to see where we stand with it--how much money do we have saved for that big purchase at this point, should we wait two more months to buy it, should we schedule people to give us a quote for that home repair, etc. We don't display the wall calendar, we just use it as a visual when we're talking about stuff.

We use a Creative Memories Everyday Display Board which I update each month with the happenings of that particular month. I have color-coded squares for each person for the big things for that person that month, and I print a copy of that month's calendar on white cardstock on which I then write our schedule for the coming month. It helps to have this displayed in the kitchen so we can always see what's going on and when.

It just so happened that our printer ran out of ink on December's calendar, making it more Christmas-y. :-)

Hopefully I've done a thorough enough job explaining our goal setting that you can begin doing it yourself, but not too much that I've completely bored you. ! And if you're not interested in doing it yourself, then you at least have gotten a better glimpse into how this household works. I really do love that we do this, though, and highly recommend it for everyone!! Happy Goal-ing! :-)

Just Call Me "Pollyanna." (But only if you know what that means.)

I have often been referred to as a "Pollyanna." I think of this as a compliment. But only if the person actually knows what they are talking about. So, I intend to clear things up a bit. Excuse me for a moment while I go on a bit of a rant.

First of all, if you are not familiar enough with the movie to know the implications of what you're saying, then you shouldn't be making implications related to it at all. That's like me making a remark about so-and-so being "very republican." Or "very democrat." I have absolutely no idea what that means (I simply do not follow or understand or, really, even care about politics.). So, to make a comment about someone in relation to politics could really only be ignorant on my part.

The biggest issue I get with people misunderstanding what it means to be called a "Pollyanna" is that people misuse the term for a synonym for "Goodie Two Shoes," meaning she never does anything wrong... implying that this person (me, in this scenario) has never made a mistake, gotten in trouble, let people down, etc. When people make this implication, I wonder if they've ever even seen the movie. I mean, this is the girl who sneaks out of the house past dark to attend an event her guardian doesn't want her to attend. The entire climax of the movie is set around her being disobedient! She is certainly not someone who's always perfectly behaved.

The second most common issue that people make mistakes with this label is implying that being a "Pollyanna" is someone who thinks she's perfect or otherwise thinks very highly of herself. Or, at least thinks others should think very highly of her. And sometimes people even indicate that being a "Pollyanna" is someone who not only thinks highly of herself, and thinks others should think highly of her, but then in addition, thinks lowly of everyone else (looks down upon others). This also makes me want to scream! And this comparison also makes it quite obvious to me that said person has never seen the movie. Or, at least not recently enough to accurately know what they are talking about.

The third most common issue is that people think a "Pollyanna" is never in a bad mood, is never grumpy, but is rather always smiling, and always perfectly happy. Have these people seen the end? Where she's in the bed refusing to talk to people? Have they seen the part where she tells off the grouchy old lady and then stomps off? She doesn't seem to be in a very great mood to me!

What it really means to be a "Pollyanna" is to be a person who is loving, genuine, kind, giving, caring, sincere, and views the world as half full rather than half empty.

Being a "Pollyanna" means being someone who loves everyone equally. She loves her disconnected, rich aunt as much as the orphan boy as much as the maid (and maid's fiance), as much as the crotchety old woman who's convinced she's dying (Mrs. Snow). She greets everyone with the same smile and gives the same pieces of herself to each of them. She doesn't discriminate in her friendships and she doesn't hold grudges. She gives second chances equally, and the entire town comes to love that about her. (But that doesn't mean she won't give you a piece of her mind should she desire to!)

Being a "Pollyanna" doesn't mean that your life is full of only good things (the girl is an orphan, for goodness sake!), but it does mean taking all things head-on and then looking for the silver lining. In a poignant scene with two grouchy maids, she tells them about how she plays The Glad Game. The is the epitome of being a "Pollyanna." She acknowledges the less-than-desirable thing/situation, and then finds something, anything to be glad about within it. They try to stump her by asking about being required to have a certain food each Sunday which gives them "sour stomachs." She pauses just a minute before coming up with the fact that they can be glad that they have 7 whole days before they have to eat it again. ! That, my friends, is what Pollyanna is about. And, what I'm about.

I don't claim to be perfect. I don't claim to be completely obedient (or that I'm never doing anything wrong). I certainly don't look down upon others that are different than I am or that make different choices than I would. I love them all the same. I might even just give you a piece of my mind, should I believe the situation to require it. ;-) And when really bad things happen (like her being paralyzed at the end of the movie), I might be quite down, sad, grumpy, upset, etc. I'm not without negative emotions. But it does mean that after sitting with the situation for a bit, I will forge ahead, focusing on that one small thing that's positive. Even if it's that I don't have to go through this again for 7 more days.

So, feel free to call me "Pollyanna." I think of it as a compliment. I LOVE it when people say that about me. But only if you've seen the movie. Recently. And you know what you're talking about. And if it's obvious you don't, just know that I might just give you that piece of my mind. :-)

For more information, check out this link.

Happy Thanksgiving! 2011

This Thanksgiving was our biggest yet!  We had 15 adults and 6 kids (all 6 and under, 3 of which were 14 months and younger!). There was four generations of family as well as several of our closest friends in attendance.  

Seth and I provide the turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, lefse, and drinks. We ask that each household contribute something to the meal. People brought broccoli, green bean casserole, hashbrown casserole, fresh fruit, lime jello, sweet potato casserole, and rolls. And for dessert we had coconut cream pie, pumpkin pie, a mocha-something-or-other icebox cake, and brownies. We had lots of yummy food as well as great dinner conversation.

As is our tradition, we took time during the meal to each say what we are thankful for this year. Even the two oldest kids participated, and I love that they join us in this tradition. Things ranged from being thankful for the troops, to family, to a particular family member being in heaven, to long-lasting friendships, to God providing beyond the needs, but our wants as well. It was very heart-warming to hear what everyone had to say and I am excited about the opportunity to scrapbook all the responses via the leaves I had set out on the table (see previous post).

It was a wonderful, albeit a bit full (in more ways than one!), day. :-) Happy Thanksgiving!

A Gorgeous Picture of my set table. Thanks Carla!

Highlighting the place cards and the Thankful For leaves.

Everyone except the 5 youngest kiddos.

The oft-Packer Backers wearing Cowboys stuff on Thanksgiving.

Most of the crew, watching the end of the game.

I loved seeing all the kids on the floor in the center of the room like this!

I included this picture solely because of how sweet Delaney is being to Austin in this photo. LOVE cousin love!

And, both the Cowboys AND the Packers won, so this 'House Divided' was very happy football-wise!

Adults Say the Darnedest Things!

The following are real conversations I've had with people. And you always thought it was kids who say the darnedest things! Enjoy!!!

Said when I was getting a new bra, about halfway through the pregnancy:
Lady Bra Fitter: "When are you due?"
Me: "October 23rd."
LBF: "Oh, you seem so big to be only halfway through. Is it twins?"
Me (not humored): "Nope. Not twins."
LBF: "Oh, well, are you sure? I mean, have they checked?"
Me (now really not humored): "Yes. They have checked. Not twins. Just fat, I guess!"
conversation ended abruptly, reason unknown

Said by a couple, first time having met them, when Austin was about 5 months:
New Couple: "Oh, he's so little. I remember when our son was that small. How old is he?"
Me: "5 Months. How old is your son?"
NC: "5 Months. pause... Austin is just so little!"
conversation topic immediately changed by my husband. what I didn't then say was "and yours is so fat!"

Said by a lady stranger in Pei Wei as we were walking past her table:
Lady Stranger: "Oh, he's so cute! How old is he?"
Us: "9 months."
LS: "And is he crawling?"
Us: "Nope. He's not interested in crawling or even staying on his belly long enough to attempt to crawl."
LS (to Austin): "Oh, well, you'd better hurry up or your math skills will suffer!"
conversation ended because we kept walking. too stunned to say much of anything in response.

Said by a lady stranger in El Fenix as we (Austin included) were walking past her:
Lady Stranger: "That little boy is so cute! His shoes are too small."
Mike roared with laughter and we all kept walking.

Said over the phone by a person with whom I was trying to make an appointment:
Appointment Maker: "Last Name?"
Me: "Spofford. S like Sam, P like Paul, O, FF like Frank, O, R, D like Dog."
AP: "And, your first name?"
Me: "Sena. S, E, N, A"
AP: "S,e,n,a. Sena?"
Me. "Yes."
AP: "Is that it what it says on your driver's license?"
Me (after a fit of laughter laced with a bit of sarcasm): "Yes! What else would it say?"
AP (in a not-humored voice): "I just needed to make sure that was your full name."
Me: "Oh. That's not what I thought your question implied. Yes, that's my full first name."
funny thing about that appointment is that I never showed up for it

Preparing for 15. Adults.

I love Thanksgiving. Love it. It's my favorite holiday. But, more on that later. This post is about some of the preparations for the day, not about the day itself. 

This year, Seth and I will be hosting our 4th Thanksgiving. Our 4th and by far our biggest! 15 adults and 6 kids (6 and younger) at last count. Whew! But, seriously, the more the merrier. We love hosting, and are thrilled to be spending the day with our friends and family, but there is some serious planning involved with a group that large for a sit-down dinner. And part of that planning, my friends, is place cards. 15 of them. 

Given that the group is a little eclectic this year and fairly large, I wanted the place cards to be fairly large (so as to be seen from several feet away, down the table) and quite simple (so as to not take my entire life over the next week). 

Here's my process:

15 pieces of brown (5x8.5), 15 pieces of golden (2x4ish), 15 felt turkeys (from Michaels), and 1 brown Sharpie

fold the brown pieces of cardstock, write the names on the golden pieces

combine, and you're done!

Each year during Thanksgiving dinner, we go around and say at least one thing for which we are thankful. It was a tradition we brought to the Spofford family when we started hosting (I'm sure I read about it somewhere because we didn't do it in my family growing up), and now even the kids love it. They look forward to it, talk about it, and my oldest niece, Delaney (age 5 then) was so excited about it last year she wanted to be last. She wanted to be the last person to express what they were thankful for. I loved that she had been thinking so much about her opportunity to do so that she had a preference about when she shared it. LOVED it.

I was reading in a magazine this year that families should take time at Thanksgiving to record what they are each thankful for. I loved the idea immediately! Since we already take time during the meal to express our gratitude, all I had to do was come up with a way to record what people say. I thought of several things, none of which were very creative or exciting, and then a blog had an idea of each person writing what they are thankful for on a feather-shaped piece of paper and sticking the 'feathers' into a yarn turkey. It was a cute idea, but I wanted to scrapbook these pieces, not create a centerpiece. And so, the idea was planted of having them be separate pieces tied to a themed whole. And then I had it. The perfect idea!

I used my Cricut (pronounced like the bug: cricket) to cut out a tree and some leaves. I wrote "I am thankful for:" on each leaf, in different directions/places, so that when I scrapbook them, they can be semi-randomized on the page. I plan on asking everyone who can write (we have all the speaking kids say something) to write down what they share and to sign their name. This way I'll have a record of what everyone said from year to year.

I have some leaves that I plan on spreading along the table as decoration, and these will be there too, one near each plate. I'll be hiding pens underneath the fairly large place cards, and people can write their thing down whenever they feel like it during the meal. I'll collect them when we're done eating, and scrapbook them whenever I get to that spot in our album. I'm SO excited about this!

The Gaylord and Friends

We went to the Gaylord Texan Saturday night to see all of the decorations. Mike had stayed there for training earlier in the week and had told us about the display. It was $12.99 to park and free to walk around. There's a Santa to take pictures with, and several other fun activities (all which cost money), but I'm not sure I would do it again. It was fun to do this one time, with out-of-town friends, but was lackluster, in my opinion, and a little to warm inside the atrium.

In any case, we got some great photos!

This was on the side of a life-size gingerbread house. one you could walk into, etc.

Austin loved watching the train go around this village beneath the tree.

The rotating tree was about 10 feet up in the air.

Austin with Uncle Mike and Auntie Anne Marie. (Love the ring on Mike's finger! ;-)

The newlyweds posing in the sleigh.

The newlyweds posing by a fireplace.

Austin posing on Santa's chair. Which we had to wait seemingly forever for. The guy wouldn't leave!

The Art Can Hang!

The first time I picked Austin up from 'school' and he had a piece of art to bring home, I about cried! I couldn't believe that my baby was already bringing wonderful treasures into our home. And, it meant he was doing crafts! Nothing makes this Crafting Momma happier than knowing her son was doing crafts! I was over the moon!

And then it hit me. I had no where to put this treasure. We have a stainless fridge, so I couldn't put it there. I wanted to find a place of semi-prominence in the house that would be the designated area for this kind of thing without it then taking over the decor/feeling of the entire house. The office was the right spot, but how to hang them? I was perplexed and stalled.

And then a few weeks later Austin came home with another piece of art. Another treasure that had no place to call home! And then a couple weeks later, he came home with another piece of art. Another treasure without a home!! These works of art deserve more than to be immediately stuffed into a folder or filing cabinet, so I decided to find a way to display these (and future pieces) sooner rather than later.

I finally caved into Pinterest as I was desperate for good ideas, and came across the following use for an IKEA curtain 'rod.' I say 'rod' because it's nothing more than a thick piece of wire strung between metal posts (with tiny clips to hang stuff from, much like a clothesline), so it's not as solid as a 'rod' brings to my mind. Anyways, I immediately decided that it was perfect, and within two weeks, we had bought and installed it. Now Austin (and any future siblings) will always be able to show off art treasures!

The silver speck in the middle that you see is an anchor from a picture that used to hang in the center of this wall.

Poor Seth!

the first wire is up...

Perfect!

Austin's Growth

BIRTH; October 20, 2010
6 pounds; 12 ounces
20 inches

TWO WEEKS; November 1, 2010
weight: 7 pounds; 4 ounces
height: 21 inches
head: 13.75 inches

TWO MONTHS; December 10, 2010
weight: 9 pounds, 10 ounces
height: 22.1 inches
head: 14.84 inches

FOUR MONTHS; February 17, 2011
weight: 12 pounds, 6 ounces
height: 24.5 inches
head: 16 inches

SIX MONTHS; April 21, 2011
weight: 16 pounds, 15 ounces
height: 26.25 inches
head: 17 inches

NINE MONTHS; July 21, 2011
weight: 20 pounds, 2 ounces
height: 28.75 inches
head: 17.81 inches

ONE YEAR; October 26, 2011
weight: 23 pounds, 6 ounces
height: 30.20 inches
head: 18.40 inches

Halloween 2011

Austin was a Hersey Kiss for Halloween this year. I had a hard time keeping the hat on him, though, so he was mostly a big silver blob walking around the house! As evidenced in the pictures below. :-)

We knew he wouldn't be interested in trick-or-treating, so we decided to stay home and hand out candy. He and Daddy had a good time scaring people by hiding behind the door and then jumping up after they'd knocked. One of our neighbors who knows us pretty well (her mom is our go-to photographer, she's babysat for us, etc) didn't like it--she shouted "Not Funny, Seth!" so loudly I could hear her from the kitchen (with the front door still shut!)! It was hilarious!!

a walking silver blob

the blob finds the basket of candy and decides to investigate

Once he sat, I was able to put the hat back on.

He was so busy chewing on candy that he didn't seem to even know the hat was up there!

Once I took the candy away, he immediately tried to get the hat off! (you can see his cut/black eye here)

ready to scare the next kid

Given that Austin had a black eye on Halloween, I considered buying some green clothing so that he could be a Black Eyed Pea (even though I realize they aren't green), but the humor would have been lost on all the kids coming to the door, so I decided to spare myself the hassle. Still makes a good joke, though, right!?