Christmas Eve & Day

Noah sang two songs at the Christmas Eve service at church. For the first song the children sang about wholly lambs - aren't they cute?!



Noah even moved his lips a few times, and he told Ben afterward, "Daddy, I sang a little bit."


Fast forward to Christmas morning, at our house with Ben's family. We had fun opening stockings, eating breakfast and then opening every present under the tree!


Ten stockings!


Posing with silly teeth from Noah's stocking








Andy's girlfriend Hannah brought gifts from Pakistan, a Pashmina scarf for Sue,


and a foot stool for Tim, along with many other beautiful items.














And then we went to great grandma and grandpa Hertzler's for Christmas.


Nice uncle Tim, nice.


And then back home again to unwind and go to bed.


Merry Christmas to all!

Flour makes bread

Grandpa and Grandma Schrag are here! Aunt Sara and fiancee Josh are here! Uncle Andy and Hannah are here! We have a full house, which means lots of food, which means lots of food preparations! Baking bread is one of those things and flour makes bread. It also makes for messy, happy boys.

Epp Christmas

My Epp family is steeped in traditions, and for the most part we like them.

Every Christmas we eat fried potatoes, ham and sausage. The rest of the menu varies some, but zwieback, apple salad and cherry or pluma moos are almost always in the mix as well.

Mom and dad hosted the gathering this year and we fit nicely into their newly remodeled house. Their new dining room/kitchen layout makes gatherings so much easier.

Fried potatoes cooking on the stove....hhhmmmm....yummmm!




Cambry loves to give Levi hugs, sometimes it's a tackle, but usually it's a hug.


Before we eat our meal, we have a candle lighting service. My entire life (nearly 29 years), we've done this prior to our Christmas meal. Each person around the table takes a turn reading "I love you (insert the name of the person next to you), as we all do. God's light has come for you. To it be ever true. May God's abundant blessing always rest on you." They pass on their candle light to the next person and around the table it goes. Then we sing grace. And now, without Grandpa or Grandma Epp, there are also some tears that get dabbed away.


There is also a "program" before we open gifts. This is a newer tradition, since the granddaughters (Vanessa, Megan, Erica and Tina) got beyond the age of playing an instrument or reciting a Christmas verse. And, at this point, most of the little ones are too little for performances this new tradition emerged. Between my mom and my aunt, one hosts the gathering and one is in charge of the program. This year, Patricia was in charge of the program.


Addison was one of readers. Isn't she cute in her new glasses?! She also played a duet with Erica on the piano.


Caiden and Ty with Papa (Myron)


The house was full, but we managed pretty well. Our boys were tired and not on good behavior. Earlier in the afternoon, I had thought it would be a good idea to take them swimming at the Hesston Wellness Center. They had a wonderful time, but it wore them out and it showed once the clock struck 7.




Erica, Sherri and Rylee took off the next morning for Christmas in Oregon! Thankfully, the made it there safe and sound.

Christmas at the Farm

Christmas with my parents was on the 20th this year. The chaos level rose a few notches with the boys both being older (and more aware that Christmas equals gifts to open) and the addition of our niece Rylee, but it was wonderful to share in her first Christmas. We gathered after church and stayed until after supper. In the evening we went to Night in the Barn at Maynard Knepp and Carol Duerksen's house. The boys were enthralled with all the animals and jabbered to us through most of the short program.

Back to Christmas...




Erica and Sherri brought their dogs, so Molly, Maddie and Harley were also a part of our Christmas celebration. Although, I think they enjoyed running around outside more then any of us humans in the house.




Levi and Noah each got a whistle in their stockings.


The gift exchange was chaotic with the boys fighting over this or that, but we made it through with few meltdowns. It was their first Christmas with gifts to open, so they had to learn how it works when other people are opening their gifts.





Thanks Mom and Dad for another wonderful Christmas!

Schmidt Christmas

My dad's family gathered the weekend before Christmas at my grandma's house. The boys love to dig in great grandma's closet to find "new" toys. The family makes for a house full and the potluck style meal added fun variety.



My cousins Kyle, Braden and Austin get a kick out of Noah and Levi.


The Hot Shot won the prize for "most popular old toy".






Noah and aunt Karen helping great grandma open her Christmas gift.


New clothes (much needed) for great grandma.


My cousin Krista and her husband Nathan are expecting a baby this spring!

Preschool Christmas!

Ben and I had the privilege of watching Noah and his 18 classmates give their preschool Christmas program last week. It was adorable. Lots of songs and finger plays, rhythm instruments and jingle bells. Snacks were served and Noah got to show us some of the Christmas crafts he'd recently made.

Look out, here come the rhythm instruments!

"Away in a Manager"

Noah went to speech before preschool that day, by the end of the program he was rubbing his eyes.

The tree holding the gifts the children made.

Enjoying snacks.

Rylie, Noah's friend. He took this picture. She came over to meet me and was such a sweet girl.

Aunt Pat, Noah and Gayle. Noah loves his teachers, even though he's usually too shy to talk to them when we see them outside of preschool.

As parents, this was our first Christmas program, and it was a treat. Relaxed, cute and fun!

The Weekend

The weekend started with hot chocolate and pancakes for the boys. They love hot chocolate, but it's really more like lukewarm chocolate, but I have to tell them it's "hot", otherwise they get upset with me because they want "hot" chocolate, not "warm" chocolate. It can get very confusing.





Then it was time for haircuts. It went quite a bit worse then the last time we tried. Levi was very stubborn. There were numerous standoffs...

But, when we let him pretend to cut our hair, he softened up.

Post haircut, eating peppernuts.

All bundled-up in the car.


Noah and the other 3 year olds through First graders at church sang two songs on Sunday morning. It was terribly cute. Noah played with his shirt and didn't move his lips during the first song. But, I think he actually sang the second song. The one he sang is called "Christ is born" and it's sung to the tune of Jingle Bells and Noah insists that the word Christ is pronounced Trist. It's pretty funny to listen to him sing it. He told me I can say it Christ and he'll say it Trist.