Christmas Eve & Day 2010

I know this post is out of order, but history must be recorded, right?

Christmas Eve 2010 we had a wonderful day at my parent's home in Wilsonville. My mom and dad were there, of course, in addition to Alva, Wendy, and family; Scott, Jana, and family; Nate and Cami; and Kyle's Grandpa, Allen. We were so excited he was able to join us before his move back to Indiana. We had a really fun white elephant gift exchange (Kylene, yet again, found the "lucky" gift!), our family gift exchange, a music recital/caroling (Kyle and his Grandpa sang, "Mele Kalikimaka"), and a delicious fondue dinner and dessert. Way too much food, as always! Here's a shot of Kyle's grandpa. The other pictures my dad took, so hopefully I can add those later.

Christmas day was nice and quiet at our home. The kids were soooo excited; the magic of Christmas will live forever, as long as there are children on the earth. Here they are Christmas morning before walking downstairs. (Nice hiding from the camera, Kyle!)

Kylene with her Fur Real Pet ("Lucy"), from Santa Claus.

Spencer with his new Superman cape and Spiderman umbrella. A real super hero!

Acting out the Nativity.

My kids have said several times this past month that they want Christmas to come again. I assure them it will, they just have to wait a whole year! An eternity when your this age, I suppose!

Merry Christmas from Our House to Yours!

We hope you had a merry and bright Christmas!

Love, Kyle, Amyanne, Kylene, Spencer and Skyler

A Merry Christmas Day

Christmas morning, with the traditional junk cereal and little cuties in the stockings.

Every year Kyle buys a family ornament to add to our collection.

"Da boys", Christmas afternoon.

Skyler ready to bite into his little cutie:).

Skyler taste testing his new drum!Spencer's new pony from Santa. It's just about the cutest thing on earth to watch him try to gallop across the room on this.

I love Christmas morning with kids! I love the excitement and joy over Santa coming. I love that my husband doesn't have to go to work. I love staying in my pajamas all day. I love having a huge mess of wrapping paper and gifts all over the house. I love opening four new boxes of junk cereal all in one day. I love talking on the phone to family members. I love taking a nap. I love doing nothing but being together as a family, enjoying one another. Aaaah, Christmas. Do I really have to wait another year?

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we spent at my parent's house in Wilsonville. The Barney's (Alva & Wendy's family) joined us from Camas, WA. We had a delicious meal, opened our presents from grandparents, acted out the Nativity, and sang Christmas songs and listened to the girls play songs on the piano.

The Three Wise "Men".

Bringing gifts to the Baby.

Here is Spencer, opening his jean quilt from his great grandmother, Ruby (my mom's mom). She has now made quilts for all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This Christmas she gave all the great grandsons quilt, plus a few others. She made 43 in all (this fall)! At 91, that is quite the accomplishment; she is amazing!

After the festivities at my parent's, we came home and opened our Christmas pajamas. This year I decided I wanted to make matching jammies for everyone to open on Christmas Eve. I bought all the fabric like a month before Christmas and then never got around to making them. The Monday before Christmas, my mom came down and helped me make them all in one day. I couldn't have done it without her! Thanks, mom.

It was so fun to all be matching on Christmas morning when we woke up! The boys all had matching pants; Kylene wanted a night gown and I had pants that matched Kylene's.

Kylene opening her jammies.

Merry Christmas from the McCune's!!

Christmas Traditions, Part 3

TRADITION: White Elephant Christmas Party with the Godfrey's & Richards.

Here are the kids getting ready to do their gift exchange. I didn't get a picture of the cool, "I went to the Godfrey's White Elephant Party and all I got was this shirt" shirt I "won" at last year's party then re-gifted this year, but we had a good time laughing and eating, as always!

Kimball, Zach & Kylene have been buddies since they were about nine months old. It's so fun to see how much they have grown!
TRADITION: Salem's Festival of Lights Parade

Even though it's usually freezing, and sometimes raining, we love going to the parade with the Godfrey's and Richards. We found a great street near a restaurant (okay, it's a bar) that gives out free hot cocoa that we can enjoy during the parade.

The gang.

Can you spy Santa on top?

Trying to keep my sweet lil' guy warm. TRADITION: Go see Santa Claus!

For the last several years, we have visited Santa in his little house that a law firm in Salem has in their parking lot. They decorate all the offices around them with lights. Kylene loves that Santa gives the "big" candy canes.

This year she walked unworriedly up, hopped on his lap, and snuggled in to him. Spencer, on the other hand, was still a little bit wierded out by the whole concept and nervously scooted toward him just close enough to be able to grab a candy cane from his hand. (Oh, the lure of candy!) Skyler didn't know what to think, except that he didn't know this funny looking man!

TRADITION: Go see the Christmas lights in Keizer.

I forgot to get any pictures of the actual lights as we drove through the neighborhoods, but here is a picture of Kylene & Spencer immediately following.

I really didn't realize we have so many Christmas traditions until I started blogging about them. It is so fun to feel the joy and excitement each of these events brings to my kids. It makes it all the more special!

Gingerbread Houses

This week for our activity with the MiaMaids (LDS youth group, ages 14-15), we decorated gingerbread houses. Since I helped bake the gingerbread, I had some extra and thought it would be fun for the kids. Jana kindly donated their leftover Halloween candy (Yes, they really did have tons left!) and the kids were in heaven. They seriously worked non-stop on them for two hours. Just decorating with candy. (Kylene and I had "assembled" the "houses" earlier in the day.) It was a lot of fun to watch their excitement, although I think they ended up putting more candy on the houses than they even got trick or treating. No joke. (And we won't mention the mess it created!) But they loved it.

Kylene focused on getting it just right.

It's not hard to get a smile from Spencer when there's candy involved!

Spencer's finished product. We didn't even attempt a structure with him. Just give him a slab, some frosting and some sugar and he is happy:).

Kylene's finished product. Can you see Santa and his sled on the roof with his bags of toys? The m&m reindeer are beside him. Mrs. Claus is the large lollipop on the ground (lying down). Then there is a picnic table with food in the foreground.

My kids have been on a major sugar high the last two days. Joy. Notice I didn't label this post "Christmas traditions". Call me a scrooge, but I don't think gingerbread houses are my thing. My poor kids.

Christmas Traditions, Part 2

TRADITION: Decorating the tree.

Of course, decorating the Christmas tree is a yearly tradition. After leaving it in our garage for a few days (to let all the little spiders crawl off), we brought it in and decorated it for Family Night. The kids loved it and the decorating job proves it. Here are a few photos from the evening:

Another "man" job at our house. Is that just in my family, or do most people have the man put the lights on the tree? Why is that? My dad always did it growing up and Kyle has always done it since we've been married.

The angel placing the angel on top.

Spencer in front of the finished product. (At least until the next morning when they totally rearranged all the ornaments again!) :)

TRADITION: Advent Calendar

Each year the calendar(s) is a little bit different. This year, we are doing a cute little tootsie roll one Kyle's sister, Christine, gave to us and a "Christmas Around the World" one from the LDS Friend magazine. Very simple...just the way we like things around here.

Christmas Traditions, Part 1

We were excited to begin our holiday traditions this week. Kylene begged and begged, so I got down the Christmas decorations and started decorating on December 1st. It's been a work in progress but other than our Christmas tree being decorated, I'd say we're mostly there. It's been so fun to see how excited her and Spencer have been about them. They have re-arranged our nativity sets dozens of times. Here are a few of the other family traditions we did this weekend.

TRADITION: Going to see the Salem Community Nativity Festival with the Godfrey & Richards.

Friday evening we met our good friends, the Godfrey's and Richard's at the Stake Center to view the nativity. It is a huge event with hundreds of nativities filling the Cultural Hall. They also have continual live performances from groups from all over the community performing in the Chapel. The kids' favorite ones were the Little People nativity and nativity made out of white chocolate. I love the amazing variety and different ones from all over the world.

After walking through the exhibit, we made a run to Dairy Queen for ice cream so the kids could get out some of their pent up energy!

Kylene & Spencer at the Nativity.

The Group.

I guess this goes along with my initial writings about decorating the house. Saturday Kyle braved the cold weather we are having to put up the Christmas lights. Every year we do a little bit more. Last year, he only did the tree in front of our house. This year, he added one run along the lower eave and the front post. We'll see if it keeps growing next year, but for now I think they look great!

The "manly" task of putting up the Christmas lights.

The finished product, from the porch.

The finished product, from the street.

TRADITION: Cutting down a live Christmas tree.

There are Christmas tree lots everywhere in Oregon. There are Christmas tree farms everywhere, too. It is definitely "in my blood" to go as a family to cut down a live tree. I don't know if I could have a Christmas without it. (Well, of course I could, but I hope I never have to!) Saturday we went to a farm about five minutes from our house and chose our favorite tree. We decided on a Grand Fir this year and it's needles had curved a little from a heat spell we had this summer. So, it has a little more personality than usual and I kind of like it. It is in our garage for a few days so all the spiders will crawl out and we won't have as many in our house! ;)

All bundled up, ready to traipse through the mud and cold to find the perfect Christmas tree.

This is "the one".

The kids watching Kyle cut the tree down. Go, daddy!

Kyle showing us how strong he is, i.e., carrying the tree to the car.

TRADITION: First Presidency Christmas Devotional
Every year we watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional together as a family. We also make a tradition of popping popcorn, drinking chocolate milk, and eating in the living room while we watch. This might not seem like a big deal, but when you're two and five years old and you NEVER get to eat in the living room, this is a really big deal. I remember what a huge deal it was growing up when I could eat somewhere other than the kitchen and now I love to see the excitement in my kids over the same, simple delight.

Watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional with a big bowl of popcorn.

Ready to watch.