What Is Christmas? Sit down, I'll tell you...

Depending on your culture, family heritage, childhood environment, beliefs and religious convictions, the holidays mean different things to different people. Being interfaith, my family is no different.

But for me personally, Christmas (or, in my case Yule) is about the festivities, the joys (whatever those are for myself), the hope the season brings for the new year ahead, the miracle that is the cycle of the seasons, mother Earth, the God and Goddess, the sun's rebirth, the beauty and wonder of the season. But if you were to ask me what I want for Yule every year, my answer never changes: I want memories.

The holidays for me are mental photographs and videos of great memories with my family. For some reason, I live off of them all year long. I remember them and anticipate with joy and contentment the exciting holidays to come each year, the anticipation at the memories I know will form, the contentment of my heart and the peace in my soul every holiday, doing everything I love: Giving, cooking, hosting and laughing. And, yes, I am one of those rare gems that likes to discuss politics (even if you don't agree with me) over dinner. Life is filled with wonder and beauty and joy and good and the holidays are the perfect time I take to slow down mentally and physically to just absorb it all, to remember it second for second.

I hear some people complain about the holidays. And all I can think is, they are just doing it wrong. The reason for this must be guilt, for one, and fear, for two, then obligation for three. But it is also stressful because of those things, you feel you have to go broke to please family 9you don't) you think you have to make every celebration event (you don't) and you think you have to fear what others will think of you if you do what is right and take the holiday to appreciate it and embrace it for what is best for you. You don't HAVE to do any of those things, and that is the beauty of holidays.

The market has capitalized on holidays like Christmas and birthdays. What would change this is people spending less money on stuff and spending more time (something money cannot buy) with their loved ones, without shame or fear or guilt. And the family, they have to accept this lifestyle and in turn appreciate the time they get with their loved ones minus the materials and gifts and "stuff".

I am in no way saying gifts are wrong or bad. As you likely already know, I shower my kids and my husband with gifts and my husband showers me with gifts as well. But we don't only do this during the holidays, we do it just because,m we do it on anniversaries, or when a loved one is ill, we do loving things because we want to, not because we have to.
That said, I do believe gifts are actually a big part of the holiday.... For YOUR family. For my family, it is outside immediate family members such as in-laws. We keep it all between the four of us, because that's what we want.

It's also very hard for me to mingle with my in laws and celebrate the holidays since I celebrate them in an entirely different aspect than they do. They celebrate Jesus, his sacrifice, gift giving, materials and the commercialized aspect of it.

I celebrate it with spells, incantations, devotions, dancing, fire, nature, the sun, the moon, the animals, and the gifts are just a bonus because I truly enjoy giving to my kids and my husband, especially during the holidays. This is my time of year where I can spend as much as I want on gifts and get them each something they've always wanted. Would Yule be over if we stopped doing gifts? Not at all! There is the volunteering, the giving, the charities. There is the holiday meal, the spiritual observance of it. There is the time with my family, but most of all there are the MEMORIES.

I love spoiling my kids. I also love teaching them about giving back and kindness and loving others and compassion. I love teaching them about family values and the joys of the season, what makes the holiday really great: Memories.

Christmas Decorating 2016

Every year since we had the kids, we have had a tradition when it comes to decorating for Yule.

First, we bring in the Christmas tree. We are a sentimental folk, when we could not afford a real tree, much less have a real one in our first apartment (landlord's restriction), we opted for an artificial Christmas tree we bought on sale at Walmart dirt cheap. I had never had a Christmas tree before, real or fake, so I was super excited to get one that year. It was our first Christmas together, in our first apartment. I will never forget it.

We went to Menard's to get some of the ornaments and decorations. We picked them all out together, then we went to Sam's Club to get the ribbon.

We brought the tree home and set it up. We spent that evening decorating it while eating pizza. Ever since, we have been carrying this tradition on with the kids.

We bring the tree inside (almost eight years later and we cannot bring ourselves to part with it), we turn up some classic Christmas music, and decorate our tree as a family.

I always thought I would be the type of person to rearrange the ornaments my kids put on once they went to bed, but I don't. In fact, I love the way they decorate it with us. I prefer to leave it all just the way it is.

Every year it seems we try something new or festive. This year we added tinsel. I've never been a huge fan of the tinsel, but it's grown on me this past year. I actually prefer it over ribbon I think.

Once the tree is set up, (always on the Sunday after Thanksgiving), and it is all decorated and lit up, we put in a Christmas movie and bake pizzas.

The kids look forward to this tradition every year. They are now old enough to know what we are going to do as the year goes on, so it's even more exciting to see their faces light up when we tell them what time of year it is.

Thanksgiving 2016

Well, another successful Thanksgiving, and looking forward to many more! 

This year we found a 25.84 pound turkey, our largest bird yet. It took longer to cook, but the meat was so juicy and tender! You can get my Thanksgiving turkey recipe HERE.

As always, I start by rubbing the entire turkey with real, unsalted butter. Then I add the turkey rub under the skin, I am generous with the seasonings, especially this year with such a large bird to roast, I ended up doubling the rub recipe.

It turned out PERFECT! Everyone enjoyed it. My mother in-law made the delicious gravy, and the kids helped grandma and grandpa make the stuffing. :) 

Thank goodness we got a new roasting pan last year! Our old one was way too small. The wings of the bird always fell off because they would get roasted to the sides haha.

Tim has always made me laugh. He is such a goof and I love his humor. :)

The kids had so much fun this year. They made crafts with grandma and played with grandpa all weekend. It was such a great time. We can't wait until next year! ;-)

Haylie LOVES her grandma!

My in-laws arrived Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) and stayed until Sunday. We had so much fun! Irvine Park lit up their Christmas Lights in the Christmas Village on Thursday, so we bundled up Friday evening and went to see them with Mama and Papa.

We got lots of pictures, but these two are my favorites!

We had such a blast (as usual)! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Gobble 'til you wobble! ;-)

Let the Christmas Shopping Begin!

Call me a lunatic, but I really enjoy Christmas shopping. I look forward to it every year! This year was a little more exciting because now we have two kids, and our first is older and easier to shop for now, and we know what things he is really into this year. (One of those things you automatically do, even though I was restricted by my parents from celebrating Christmas, it comes so naturally for me now, is taking mental notes to self throughout the year.) ;)

Well, we had a very wonderful Thanksgiving with family this year (just like every year). I was super excited for it, we prioritized and had all of our Thanksgiving shopping done by the 17th, leaving only a few small items like french fried onions and green onions. Other than that everything was done and we were able to relax and enjoy the rest of the two weeks leading up to the big day.

My mother in-law, (Mama Gail), and father in-law (Papa Larry), arrived Wednesday night, and stayed until Sunday. We were so happy to have them here with us longer than one day. Unfortunately, my brother in-law (Nathan) and sister in-law (Melissa) couldn't stay but they did make it for dinner :).

Well, with the grandparents here early, we decided to get the kids' Christmas shopping done while we had the chance. Our work schedules have been so hectic lately (it always is this time of year), and we wanted to go shop for their gifts sometime before or after Thanksgiving.

We did a little shopping online, because we don't have a Toys R' Us nearby us anymore, we ended up having to do that online, but that was great, because it saved us time and everything. I actually decided I prefer Christmas shopping online, and next year we may just do that, except we like getting out of the house together while the kids stay home and going to explore the toy land at Farm and Fleet ;). Both of us are still kids at heart. Me more so since I didn't get to do this as a kid :).

So that was our weekend. And we got all of the kids' Christmas shopping done, and just need to wrap everything soon. Since I am still pretty new to this Christmas thing and gifts and the kids presents, I am following Tim's lead on most everything haha. If I don't know what to do or how to do it, he does!

We also found really great bargains at JCPenny!

Happy Easter!

Easter 2015 was so much fun! I absolutely love that the kids are older and able to understand and do more this time. Lukas definitely had a blast. Teaching him to hunt for the eggs was pretty awesome.

Yes, I do celebrate both the holidays as well as observe all of my sabbats. ;)

And of course because I love taking pictures and our family time, here are some memories of our Easter 2015!

Yesterday we dyed the eggs. Haylie had already gone to sleep, so we did them before Lukas went to bed.

He definitely loved this part!

Then in the morning, the kids got us up and we went Easter egg hunting! Haylie isn't quite old enough to really get it yet, but she tried following her brother's lead! They made quite a stash of eggs.

Haylie was really packing the candy away like it was going out of style! She especially loved the Starburst jelly beans! :)

Tim said his family has a tradition that every Easter they eat the ears off of the chocolate bunnies. It has carried over into our household tradition I see! Haha

And this little man was absolutely ecstatic! Both kids were on a sugar high after this morning, so we went for a walk and burned some of it off. The kids even crashed asleep on the way back. Once we had them settled into their beds we did some resting of our own.

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!! :)

Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 was amazing! We opened presents early in the morning, and had a yummy Christmas morning breakfast afterward! 

As you can see, Lukas really wasn't sure what to think when he first saw all the gifts around the tree. He is just getting to that age where he kind of understands about Santa and how the holidays work, but he still has a ways to go. It's still exciting seeing his face light up, though. :)

The most wonderful mess ever is on Christmas morning! ;)

The rest of the day we watched Christmas movies, and had hot chocolate! Well, I had coffee, of course, my caffeine addiction doesn't leave much room to drink anything else! Haha

We ended up taking the tree down that same evening because someone wouldn't stop trying to pull the ornaments and decorations off! Hahaha

Merry Christmas, everyone, and happy New Year!!! :)

- The Klichs