The Smith Family Adventures

Elias handing me the last plate from the bottom rack.

Elias has really taken an interest in “helping” me lately. He likes to help push the vacuum and to hold the dust pan for me when I sweep. He swiffered the floor when we were cleaning up after our time in Sunriver. He helps me put clothes in the dryer. He sometimes – sort of – helps clean up the toys these days.

This morning he was helping me unload the dishwasher. It caused some anxiety for me because I didn’t want him to drop any of them and get cut. But he was so happy and proud to hand me each bowl and plate

Elias starting the top rack.

that I decided to stop and snap a couple pictures as we finished the bottom rack and were moving to the top. Let’s hope the enthusiasm continues well into childhood and adolescence.

Elias enjoying some snow and the sunshine at the same time!

We packed up and headed off to central Oregon for New Year’s weekend. We love to go there, but it is really only worth it if we have a three day weekend because of all the driving.

Unfortunately because of traffic over Mt. Hood, it took us five and a half hours to get there on Saturday! Elias was quite upset by the time we got there, but he recovered quickly when he got to play at the house, and then play in the snow for the first time!

Elias getting a ride on the sled.

Elias looked so cute in his snow suit, snow jacket, and snow boots. He was quite….puffy looking. He had to learn how to walk all over again in all the gear. He loved walking around in the snow, and he especially loved sitting on the sled when Nathan or I pulled it.

Neither Nathan or I made it to midnight on New Year’s Eve. Nathan was asleep at 9:00 or so when I was finished putting Elias to bed. I woke him up shortly before 10:00. We celebrated New Years on Central time with a little sparkling cider and talking about our hopes and dreams for 2012. Then it was off for some sleep.

With Daddy on the bridge.

On Sunday we took it easy and walked to the park to play in the snow some more. We found that it was difficult to fit Elias in the baby swings with all of his gear on….but he loved the slide and walking across the bridge on the play structure. On the way home, Elias was so relaxed that he fell asleep sitting up while being pulled on the sled! It was quite amusing to behold.

The trip home went much more smoothly. We made it home in just over three and a half hours with no stops! Elias slept most of the way, then snacked on goldfish happily until we got home. I hope Elias gets more opportunities to play in the snow at home!

Here are a few more pictures of Elias and the snow!

Elias exploring the back deck. I loved seeing his little footprints.

Elias and Mommy made angels on the back deck.

Elias was a very happy boy. He even tried eating the snow!

I thought it would be fun to do a year in pictures for Elias. It was so hard to choose photos…there are literally hundreds! I think I got a pretty good assortment. He was so little at the beginning of the year! You can click on the images to make them larger if you so desire.

Elias actually pulled most of the stuff out of his stocking by himself!

We had a fun Christmas together in the Smith household. As I’ve already written, we had lots of different celebrations in the past few days. On the actual Christmas Day we stayed at home and had Grandma Smith come over. Nathan and I had never hosted Christmas before, so we cooked our first turkey with Grandma’s help. It was a nice easy start…8.7 pounds or so.

Elias enjoyed taking the stuff out of the stocking we filled for him, but he was pretty much too burnt out on presents to be interested in opening any. For him, it was just another normal day. It made me think a lot about Christmas…..Christmas is about incarnation. Jesus’ birth is just one part of that. Christmas has become such a big deal/ordeal in our society. Shouldn’t we be thankful for the incarnation every day? It is interesting how children can help you think about things in new ways.

Anyway, Elias had a fun time playing with Grandma Smith. By the end of the day, though, he was ready for some rest after many busy days in a row. Here are some pictures from our day:

Elias is excited about an egg shaker and some chocolate!

Nathan gave me this apple in my stocking. Elias decided it looked like a yummy snack and started to eat it as he watched us unloading our stockings.

We took a midmorning break to get some fresh air. Elias is pushing the car he got from Grandpa and Grandma Bartle

Grandma Smith opens her stocking.

Playing with Grandma Smith.

Elias got very excited when he saw all the gifts. He had his first present opened before the sorting was finished! He opened a pooh bear duplo set from grandpa and grandma.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything. I discovered that making gifts for Christmas does not decrease the hectic-ness of Christmas preparations. The last two weeks or so before Christmas were very busy for me, as I was working in every spare moment (Elias’ naps and bedtime) on gifts for my family. I’m still glad I did it….but feel almost relieved that Christmas is over because I am finished!

We’ve had a lot of celebrations in the last few days, too! On the 22nd we celebrated my sister-in-law, and my Uncle’s birthdays. Elias got to play with a very distant cousin who is only two weeks older than him. It is always fun to see little boys interact. Then on the 23rd we went to dinner and church with Nathan’s mom. Elias actually did better in the nursery there than he does at our own church. He cried only some of the time…. I think he probably had some fun.

Elias was so excited to see grandpa when he arrived. He wanted to be held right away....and cried when grandpa left to go get something from the car.

On the 24th we celebrated Christmas with my family. We went to Uncle Scott and Auntie Kristy’s house. We opened gifts, relaxed, had a good meal, and went to church with my family at St. Juan Diego. Elias was quite excited at first by all the gifts, but I think he had extreme gift opening burnout by the end. He was just too overstimulated by all the boxes and bows and wrapping paper…not to mention the toys and books and clothes he got.

We had Elias with us at St. Juan Diego during the service. It was nice to have a bunch of helping hands in the pew with us. The nice thing about service there is that there are tons of kids in the pews making noise. It is very kid friendly. Elias actually didn’t make much noise…but he did throw a stuffed inchworm toy across the aisle. That made quite a few people chuckle.

After the church service we went back to my parents’ house for dessert and stockings! It was a long but wonderful day. Here are some more pictures:

Elias and Uncle Scott sword fighting with paper towel rolls.

Elias helping Auntie Kristy open one of her gifts.

Elias posing with grandpa and grandma.

Family photo at St. Juan Diego

Posing with gradma by the altar.

Elias got a pretend cell phone in his stocking!

It was another fun filled weekend in the Smith household. We had a lot of activity (including checking an item off of our winter bucket list), but we made sure to have time for rest too!

Friday evening we had Zoo Lights:Round 4. This time we were lucky enough to go with the Pewonka family. Each time we go to zoo lights has been different, and this time was no exception! We spent a lot of time looking at the monkeys and elephants as well as the beautiful lights. When we got in the car on the way home, Nathan and I confessed that neither of us had thought of looking at the animals at the zoo during zoo lights before….don’t know how we missed that one. Elias really liked watching the monkeys eating and swinging up high in their exhibit. Thanks Pewonkas for a fun evening!

Saturday was our rest day! We spent the morning relaxing. Nathan got to play with Elias while I caught up on all sorts of laundry and chores. I love hearing them play together. In the afternoon we went on a nice long walk. We tried to let Elias walk part of the way, but he wouldn’t really go the way we wanted to go….he wanted to walk in the street. We’ll have to keep working on that! In the evening I baked cookies and Nathan prepared us a really yummy salmon dinner.

Elias was having a lot of fun trying on the Packers santa hats at the Brice's.

Sunday was our busy day! After church, we went straight over to the Brice household for a celebration of Dave’s citizenship. Dave is my brother’s wife’s sister’s husband…..yeah….wrap your mind around that for awhile. Anyway, there was all sorts of good food and company. Elias tried on a special hat which I know many people who read this blog will appreciate.

After the party it was home for a nap. Elias was a tired boy! Then we went

Elias eating his dinner at the soup supper after caroling.

back to church for the annual Christmas caroling party. We were a little nervous to take Elias because we didn’t know how so much getting in and out of the car along with being held (he really likes to walk now) would be for Elias. He had lots of fun and clapped to our singing. He brought smiles to the people we visited for sure!

Then it was back to church again for a soup supper.

A very full weekend…but these are the times we will remember and we want to live them fully!

Santa is not a bad guy. Despite what some Christians may say or think, he really isn’t that bad. He’s been married to the same woman for centuries. (There’s your family values.) He employs local labor. (He’s looking out for the little man…in more ways than one….). He (supposedly) delivers toys to all children regardless of race, gender, etc. (Social equality and justice…) He cares for the animals.

But all jokes aside…Santa really is a good guy. He is a symbol of joy and of giving. Those are two things that are perfect for Christians to celebrate. Jesus was the greatest gift that could have ever been given, and he brought joy to our world in the form of salvation. And beyond all that…Santa fosters imagination.

I want Elias to have a big imagination. I want his childhood dreams to be endless and limitless. That’s why Santa will not be cast as a “bad guy” or a “nonentity” in our home. Santa will bring joy, giving, and imagination to our home. It’s why we’ll have Santa ornaments and giftbags, and why we’ll read “The Night Before Christmas.”

But I don’t want Santa to be the hero of Christmas for Elias. There is only one hero of Christmas, and it is Jesus. So Santa won’t be filling Elias’ stocking on Christmas eve. We will. Santa won’t get stuck in our chimney or eat our cookies and milk. (But we might imagine him doing so.) Christmas Day will be reserved for family and for Jesus.

Elias finds gold coins in his shoe!

So instead, we’ve decided to start a new Smith Family Tradition of celebrating St. Nicholas’ feast day on December 6th. If you don’t know about St. Nicholas (the origin of Santa Claus) you can read all about him here.

This morning Elias was very excited to find some chocolate gold coins in his shoes. (See above link).  And instead of giving Elias a gift, we decided that it would be more appropriate and in line with honoring St. Nicholas to give to a local charity. In the future we’d like Elias to decide what charity to give to in honor of St. Nicholas…and far enough in the future we want him to raise the funds himself. But for this year, we decided to give to the Bonnie L. Hays Small

Elias showing off his chocolate coins!

Animal Shelter. Elias has really been forming an attachment and interest to our cats. We adopted them both from Bonnie L. Hays so we thought it was an appropriate start to our tradition.

Here’s to many years of St. Nicholas fun!

Elias did all the painting on this star himself. A couple times I had to point to the star so that he would put the paint brush on it instead of the table....or his face....or my face....but this artwork is totally his own.

Elias made his first ornament at art class last week. Well…he painted a wooden star, and tonight, Nathan drilled a small hole so we could hang it on our tree. I’m just a proud mommy who wanted to show it off.

In honor of the Preble side of my family, I'll say this salmon light display is my favorite of the night.

Last night we went to Zoo Lights again. It is beautiful every time. This time we went with Grandma and Grandpa Bartle and Uncle Greg. We had a yummy dinner at home, then headed out into the cold. Elias still enjoyed walking around the zoo. He sure has a mind of his own about where he wants to go. Sometimes I cannot figure out why he even wants to walk in a certain direction. He doesn’t always seem to have a destination in mind. He is asserting his independence in a big way!

Elias using his reading chair this morning. I was cleaning up from breakfast and he got bored in the kitchen. He walkied himself into the living room, got out a stack of books, and sat down to read. It made my heart grow about three sizes so I had to snap a picture.

Grandma and Grandpa Bartle also brought an early present for Elias. Their excuse was that they didn’t know how to wrap it for Christmas…but I think they just enjoy giving. He now has his very own reading chair! We set it on the floor next to the fire place, and it has already gotten much use! We knew it would be a good idea because he was always so proud to sit on the couch or rocking chair. He is still enjoying those places, but he also has one of his own. (Although one of the cats has also taken a liking to that chair so he might have to wrestle for it….no confrontations yet…but we’ll see.)

More pictures below:

Family shot. Unfortunately, the one with all six of us is too dark. Maybe my mom got a good one.

Discussing lights with Grandpa.

Riding on Daddy's shoulders.