Advent Catch Up

I've gotten very behind on posting about our advent calendar, but we have been doing it. It's definitely one of my new favorite traditions. I look forward to it every night....

Advent Day #17:
Decorating gingerbread house at the Brimhalls.

Our good friends in WA, Bart and Misty, do a gingerbread house decorating party every year--real gingerbread and all. It's been so fun to be apart of for the last 2 years. It's a tradition I'd love to continue even after we're away from the Brimhalls. Here's from this year...


Advent Day #18:
What memories do you have of your childhood stocking?

Ryan:
Ry said that all their stockings looked the same with their names across the top. Their stockings always had an orange in the toe and always had a few essentials like deodorant, etc. Everything in their stockings were wrapped and they were able to spot which gifts were theirs under the tree because it was the same wrapping paper from their stocking.

Alisa:
I loved seeing all (11) of our stockings pulled out! My mom made them. Mine has a cute gingerbread lady on it. I tried naming what each of our stockings have on them. I got all but 2: Dad-Santa boot, Mom-Mrs. Clause boot, Brian-soldier, Keri-Snowman, Amy-tree, Mike-Santa, Matt-Santa's bag, Eric-Rudolph, Me-Gingerbread lady, Liz-Bear, Adam-Rocking horse and mistletoe. I remember always loving Amy's stocking as a young girl. As my dad got more established in his career I remember our stocking stuffers got bigger and better:)





Advent Day #19:
When you gave me the train game on your way out of town before we dated for the final time.

Ok, sorry to keep bringing up when Ry left town for Christmas that year before we got married, but there was a lot going on for us that Christmas. He gave me the train game (Ticket to Ride) which I was very excited about. It's a game we still love to play.






Advent Day #20:
Trips to temple square--together and otherwise.

Living near Salt Lake City for several years it was a very fun tradition of walking around Temple Square during the holiday season. It's beautiful and magical with all the lights. It's fun because there are always people walking around enjoying the lights and nativity scene. Ryan and I went one time when we were dating which was a lot of fun.






Advent Day #21:
Why is Christmas so important to you:

Ryan:
Ry talked about how it's a time that we can reflect on the most important things in life. For him those most important things were Christ and family.

Alisa:
Christmas is of course first and foremost important to me because of the real reason we celebrate the holiday, Christ. Anyone who knows me knows that my faith in Jesus Christ is central in my life. That we can celebrate his birth at this time of year is special and important to me. It's also important to me because it's a time of celebrating, giving, reflecting, and family. I love the giving spirit in the air this time of year.






Advent Day #22:
Being in the hospital last year--calling our families, Santa visiting, friends visiting, etc.

Wow! I've been so reminiscent over the last several days of what we were doing a year ago. I have a friend here who is expecting a baby any day and when I see her or talk to her it brings back so many memories of a year ago.

It was the most surreal feeling when I realized my water broke and that we were heading to the hospital to have Owen, something we had thought about and planned for for months. It was so fun calling our families to tell them we were going to have a Christmas Eve baby. Just a few hours after Owen was born Santa and Mrs. Clause came to visit the hospital. It was a really fun way to be apart of the holiday spirit even though we were really in our own little bubble totally unaware of the Christmas days that were passing us by. Christmas Eve night we had plans to be at our friends' home for dinner, which obviously didn't happen. But, instead, the families that we'd planned on being with came and visited us in the hospital. I can't tell you how much that meant to me. I really didn't expect to see anybody given that we were still relatively new to the area and it was a holiday. But, my family was far away and I always pictured visitors coming to meet our little baby in the hospital, so when they came it really touched me. It's hard to believe that was already one year ago! Happy Birthday to Owen on Christmas Eve, our very best Christmas present!






Advent Day #23:
Pick a character from the nativity and describe why you like him/her.

Ryan:
He talked about how he's fascinated with the shepherds. They were obviously looking for Christ and humble in their search for Him

Alisa:
I chose Mary. This year as I think about Mary and her role in Christ coming to the earth I see her in a new light and with a new respect. I've never thought much about the emotion and feelings she had about Christ the night He was born and throughout His life. As a mom myself though, I realize that she wasn't just the means of Christ coming to the earth, but she was His mom! She bathed Him, wiped His tears, raised Him, took care of Him. She had a deep love for Him, as any mother would for their child. I love the song Breath of Heaven by Amy Grant. I know it's just a writer's thoughts and perspective, but I love Mary's perspective in this song. She must've felt an amazing responsibility as the mother of Christ. She was definitely a chosen woman to play such a role.






Advent Day #24:
Tell Owen about the day he was born.

Happy Birthday Owen and Merry Christmas Eve! We had fun reflecting tonight on the day Owen was born. It was a long day of laboring and waiting. I can still see his face the first time I saw him. I look back and realize we had no idea what we were doing! Luckily Owen was and is patient and lived on love for awhile. For the sake of typing everything we talked about I'll refer to this post (here) from last year.



We've had a fun birthday celebration today (a few posts on that to come) and preparing for Christmas with Christmas Eve traditions tonight. We're excited for Christmas and can't believe it's already here tomorrow!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

December 24th, Owen's Birthday

Ok, so for the record, Owen's birthday is and forever will be December 24th! I knew I could never really "change" Owen's birthday, but I'll be honest it has been a tempting thought. Before I even wrote my last post I jokingly asked Ry what he thought and immediately he said, "No way! Owen's birthday is December 24th!"

Actually, Since Owen was born I've been the first to try and make it a point to say Owen's birthday is "December 24th", not "Christmas Eve" (although I really don't care if you say his birthday is on Christmas Eve), and all year I've been thinking of ways to make his day his own. I recently finished making a birthday stocking we'll put up for him each year, just one little thing that will make it fun for him. I really do love the uniqueness of his birthday, I think it's just crept up on me and amidst the craziness and exciting spirit of the holidays I got worried that Owen's birthday would get lost.

Janelle, you're so right, I would never be able to let Christmas Eve pass without reminiscing and talking about the Christmas Owen was born and how Santa came to visit us in the hospital, etc.

It would be a funny story to have, to change his birthday, but to all who were worried, rest assured that Owen's birthday is in 3 days, December 24th! In preparation of his big first birthday, here are a few pictures we've taken around the house lately. I love them all...

Recently new neighbors moved in and Owen loved watching all the moving action while he ate his lunch. He was so intrigued.He often sticks his head in kitchen cupboards to see what in each of them but several days ago I turned around and he had put his whole self in the cupboard! It cracked me up!
I absolutely love when I sneak up on Owen and find him like this...books spread everywhere and him content to flip through the pages of each one.
Ryan and Owen cheering on our BYU Cougars!
Last night we let Owen open his Christmas presents from us since we won't be taking them on the plane with us to Utah and he won't know the difference anyway.

Cake and Ice Cream Party

Tonight we had a little cupcake and ice cream get together for our Owie. We wanted to have a little birthday celebration with a few of our friends here since we won't be here for his actual birthday. I have to post pictures tonight because I had so much fun! It was so fun celebrating Owen and even though I know he doesn't really understand what was going on, I could tell he had so much fun tonight too. He absolutely loved the balloons all over the floor and he absolutely loved having a few kiddos here to run a muck with. I have much more to say about my baby turning one later, but tonight, a few pictures of our fun evening...Cupcakes with pudding filling. I had fun making these cupcake toppers--I got stickers at the dollar store and put them on card stock circles, and hot glued them to tooth picks.

When we weren't looking we heard Owen making some noise. We went into the family room and found him on top of his gifts. It put a big smile on my face. Please take note of his Christmas sweater he wore to church today. I really need to get a better picture because he looked so handsome today!Owen with his little homemade birthday hat (thanks to Kali Ponder's party hat making tips). It stayed on just about long enough to get this picture. It did it's job!
Enjoying his first cupcake! Once he understood he could eat it he loved it!

Opening a few gifts:
Like I said, he loved playing with the balloons! He was in heaven!
We got him a little pop up tunnel for his birthday. He loves climbing through a tunnel at his doctor's office, but he wasn't too sure about this one. We'll have to help him get comfortable going through it.
Happy early birthday party Owen! We love you!

ps: Do you remember that Owen's birthday is on December 24th, Christmas Eve?! A friend of ours told me I should tell him his birthday is December 19th (or, just pick whatever day), and when he's 18, give him his birth certificate and explain to him that it was easier to celebrate a non-holiday birthday. Do you know how seriously tempted I am? It's only his first birthday and I'm already having a hard time figuring out how we're going to separate his birthday from Christmas and make it his special day! What do you think? I'm sure you Harrisons will scold me for even thinking this (Jodi's, Ryan's sister, birthday is December 25th) :)

Advent Day #16

What is your favorite Christmas carol?

Ryan:
Ry said that he really just loves Christmas songs in general, but O Holy Night sticks out to him.

Alisa:
Overall my very favorite is Little Drummer Boy, specifically the one by Josh Groban. A few years ago when we were all gathered for Christmas my brother, Mike, did a little devotional using that song. I had never really listened to or put meaning to the words. Ever since then it's my favorite song. I also love a song called Just in Time For Christmas by Nancy Lamott. I love it because my mom loves it and she introduced it to us one year growing up and it was a song we listened to a lot that year! When I hear it I think of my mom and how much she loves that song. I can hear her harmonizing with it, which I love.

Advent Day #15

Growing up who was the first in your family to wake up on Christmas morning?

Ryan:
Ryan immediately said, "Me! For sure me, every year. Much to the chagrin of my siblings and parents." Ry was the youngest by several years, so he was definitely ready long before anyone else in the home was ready to go. There was a rule that they weren't allowed in their parents room before 6 am, so Ryan always had to wait in his room and look at the clock for a couple hours before he could get everyone going.

Alisa:
I suppose I was probably one of the first up as well. It's not something I specifically remember but I'm near the end of our big family, so as one of the younger ones I'm sure I was probably one of the first up. I do remember it being so hard to go to bed and waking up OFTEN throughout the night wondering if it was time to get up yet.

Advent Day #14

What's a favorite holiday tradition from Christmas?

Ryan:
Watching Charley Brown Christmas every Christmas Eve. He said this was kind of how they "calmed down" and got ready to head to bed for the next morning. Ryan's dad served his mission in his mom's hometown (that's how they met) and apparently the Elder's spent Christmas Eve with Ryan's mom's family and watched Charley Brown Christmas. If I remember right, that's where the tradition originally started.

Alisa:
For sure the first tradition that always comes to mind when I think of Christmas is one we do every Christmas Eve. We each get a candle to hold, turn off all the lights, except for the tree and our candles, and sing Christmas songs. It's something that sometimes makes me emotional as I listen to the words and look at the glow of the flames and it's something that's also just fun and upbeat.

Advent Day @13

What is your favorite Christmas ornament?

Ryan:
He reminded me of the carousel ornament he mentioned from a few posts ago. He also showed me an ornament his Grandma and Grandpa Moore gave him when he was only a few years old. It's a beautiful white Santa Clause in his sleigh with his reindeer in front of him. It's an ornament I actually noticed and really loved when we decorated our tree this year.

Alisa:
Growing up we got an ornament every year, so there's a lot to choose from. I always love opening my Wizard of Oz (since I'm from KS) ornament. I of course love(d) my Kirtland ornament I've mentioned in my advent posts. And one last one I want to mention is an ornament of two little girls holding hands. It's a little cheesy, but I love it because it always makes me think of my twin, Liz, and I. On the back I even wrote "Liz" on one of the girls and "Alisa" on the other. I do love that ornament.

Playing

Owen is so fun to play with right now. He loves to play catch, walk all around with his toy walker (he looks like an old man maneuvering around with his walker--cracks me up), play in his toy bucket, pull everything out of a cupboard or bucket one at a time, be chased and tickled, swing, wrestle, be tossed onto our bed, play peek-a-boo, sneak up on Dad around the corner, dance with Mom. In this picture Owen and I are playing in his toy tub while we talked with Ryan's parents tonight.

Advent Day #12

When we exchanged Christmas gifts before you left for California December 2006.

It's hard to explain the significance behind this memory unless you really know the timing and events of mine and Ryan's dating and courtship. So, to keep it simple let's just say that after not talking to or seeing each other in awhile it was really special to exchange Christmas gifts that year.

Advent Day #11

When you (Ryan) came to my house in Bountiful just after flying in from being gone for Christmas.

December 2006 Ryan went to California for Christmas (another story for another day). If we remember right he flew back to Utah the day after Christmas. His parents picked him up and drove him to Provo. I invited him to come up to Bountiful (which is about 15 mins from the airport, where he had just come from) because I wanted to see him (we weren't dating at this time, but had previously dated a little bit and were really good friends). He drove the hour up to my parent's house and we stayed up late talking and playing pac man. We told each other about our Christmases and wanted to tell each other about the many Christmases ahead we wanted to spend together (ok, maybe that was my hopeful thinking). There was nothing particularly special about that night except that it's always a night I look back on with fondness and time well spent together.

Advent Day #10

What was your favorite thing to do during Christmas break from school?

Ryan:
In general Ryan talked about just being home and not having lots to worry about. But he specifically remembers in high school not having a sport to worry about over break. It was just after football season and just before wrestling so there weren't specific practices he was involved with which was a nice break for him since he played something year round. He recalled a specific Christmas break in high school though where he was getting ready for wrestling season and he was preparing to move up to heavy weights and the current heavy weights guy was moving down a weight class (you wrestlers must know what I'm talking about). So, Christmas break was especially awesome because he didn't worry one bit about what he was eating. He loved it and soaked it all up! When he got back to school and weighed in his teammate hadn't lost enough and was still heavier than Ryan. This meant that within just a few days Ry had to lose all the weight he had just gained and get back to his original weight class (I'm forgetting the specifics but it was something around 7-10 lbs I think). Anyway, there must've been some great holiday treats around that year because this clearly stuck out in Ryan's mind.

Alisa:
Christmas breaks from school make me think of coming home from college. There's something about walking into your front door for the first time after being away from home @ college for a semester. It's so nostalgic, don't you think? I don't know how else to describe it, there's just something about that initial moment of being home again! The build up to being done with a semester of school and going home is so exciting! I don't have any stories as specific as Ryan's, but I just remember sleeping sleeping sleeping those first couple days home! It was always a chance to catch up on sleep and recuperate from a busy semester. In general it was just fun to be home and spend time with my family. I am very much a home body and I remember as much as I loved my college experience I always had a hard time saying good-bye to my mom and dad and leaving the fun break behind me.

Advent Day #9

What is one of your favorite Christmas decorations?

Ryan: One of Ryan's favorites growing up was an ornament of a merry-go-round which turned and played music. Apparently it played for years and years and just quit on them a few years ago. This must be a Harrison favorite because I feel like I've heard this ornament mentioned on other occasions as well.

Alisa: I have a few favorites that I'm slowly collecting for my own home but my childhood came to mind when I answered this question. Growing up the thing that definitely made our home feel like it was Christmas time to me were the wreaths and candles in each window. In our Boston and Kansas home that decor was perfect. I remember hating when my mom asked me to go turn all the candles on in the evening, but pulling into our driveway it always looked so cozy and so Christmas-y.

Advent Day #8

What is your favorite Christmas movie?

Ryan:
The Muppet Christmas. He loves the original story of The Christmas Carol and the meaning behind it and he finds this version very witty and upbeat with the fun music.

Alisa:
While You Were Sleeping. I supposed this isn't a typical "Christmas movie" you'd think of, but it definitely makes me think of the Christmas season. It takes place during the holidays and it's a movie we'd watch during the holiday season growing up. It's definitely a classic in the Christensen home.

Advent Day #7

What would you leave our for Santa growing up?

Ryan:
He said they left out the usual: cookies and carrots for the reindeer. The cookies were usually sugar cookies they had decorated a few days earlier. The treats were always left on a paper plate and on Christmas morning there would be a note left from Santa written on the plate.

Alisa:
We did the usual as well. We'd leave out cookies or whatever Christmas treats were lying around. We'd also leave carrots and a bucket of water for the reindeer. As soon as the treats were put out we'd always go to the window or outside to look for Rudolph's nose. Without fail there was always some blinking red light (probably on top of some building which blinked every night but went un-noticed any other night) we'd find in the sky. When we saw it we'd get so excited. My parents would rush us off to bed since Santa was so close and he couldn't stop at our house until we were asleep.

Christmas Tree Decorating

Last night we finally decorated our Christmas Tree. I'm not sure why it took a week to get the ornaments on, but they're on! We put one of our favorite movies, You've Got Mail, on in the background and had fun decorating. Here's Ryan putting an ornament on:
And I wanted to show you my cute little "12 Days of Christmas" trees. These are the trees I got on Thanksgiving day and I'm so happy I did. I have some beautiful 12 Days of Christmas ornaments that I really wanted on their own tree. I think they look so cute!
(By the way, I know I need to put some mini tree skirts on these...my mom already told me so, so don't worry, I'm on top of it:) )
We had a really fun night decorating the tree. But, look what Owen and I came out to this morning....
I don't know what happened! The tree has stood just fine for a whole week. Can the ornaments really weigh it down that much?! I don't know. It was kind of sad and funny. Actually, the saddest part really is that one of my favorite and most special ornaments totally broke in the crash. It was an ornament of the Kirtland Temple from my mission which I highlighted on my blog here a couple years ago.

Hopefully the tree will be standing for the rest of the season!

Advent Day #6

Celebrating Christmas on December 26-27 last year.

Last year we were in the hospital for Christmas. Owen arrived on Christmas Eve. Remember? He really was/is the best Christmas present ever. Since Christmas was kind of non-existent to us on December 25th we had our own Christmas Eve on the 26th after we got home from the hospital and Christmas Day on the 27th. We had a lot of fun reminiscing tonight. If you want to reminisce with me you can look back here.

Advent Day # 5

What was Christmas like on the mission?

Whenever you start talking about the mission it's easy to do a lot of reminiscing. We reminisced and talked for awhile about this question. Even after we finished our Advent activity I had my mission journal out and read for awhile. Ahhh, it brings back some tender feelings and memories. I'll share the very abbreviated version of our answers on here...

Ryan:
His first Christmas in the mission they were asked to visit 10 families that day which meant they had 10 dinners that day! Ryan served in New Zealand and if you know Polynesian culture you know they eat a lot of food! His second Christmas they were blessed to have 7 baptisms that day! What a great Christmas gift to share and recieve.

Alisa:
Christmas Eve was spent at my mission president's home since I lived close by to him. That was a real treat since it wasn't often that I got to be in his home. Christmas morning we were able to meet several other missionaries at the church to make Christmas breakfast and play basketball. Later that day my companion and I went with a part member family to their extended family's home for dinner and gifts. It was a special day with special people. Of course, it was very exciting to talk with our families that day!

Meeting Santa!

Santa visited at our ward Christmas party tonight and apparently Owen wasn't a big fan.

Advent Day #4

What is your favorite holiday treat?

Ryan:
Those Pillsbury sugar cookie rolls that you slice and bake. After teasing Ryan a little bit for choosing those out of all the home baked goodies during the holidays he added caramel corn to the list but definitely stuck to his original answer.

Alisa:
Hands down, English Toffee! I L.O.V.E. that stuff! In the last few years it's become a fun thing for me to make every December. Mmmmm...my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Advent Day #3

What is the best Christmas gift you've ever received?

Ryan:
He shared about the golf clubs his parents gave him one year. It was the best gift because they were really nice and something he really wanted but he also knew how much research and effort his parents went to for him to have those and it meant a lot to him. Ryan still uses those clubs today.

Alisa:
I had a hard time thinking of just one. I shared three. First, the Cricut Ryan gave me last year. I really wanted it and I knew he had gone to a lot of effort the day after Thanksgiving to get it, which meant a lot to me. It's a gift I've used a lot and I love having. Second, Christmas 2005 I had just returned home from my mission (which included Kirtland, OH--a significant place in our church history). I remember just kind of looking around watching all the couples in my family involved in their own families and then I quietly pulled a long box out of my stocking. I cried as soon as I opened it. Inside was a replicated key to the Whitney Store in Kirtland. Especially having just returned home and with a piece of my heart still in Ohio that gift meant so so much to me! And, third, my Ugg boots! They have been one of the most used gifts I've ever received. I do love my Uggs!

Of course, our BEST Christmas gift ever was Owen. I'm not just trying to be cheesy, it's true. He is the best Christmas gift we have ever received!

Advent Day #2

When We Read Christmas Carol Together

The first Christmas season we were married we read Christmas Carol together. Ok, I guess I should clarify that--we tried reading Christmas Carol together. We never got very far with school, work, and the busyness of life, and yet it really is a great memory for me. I think my favorite thing about it is that Ryan was the one who really wanted to read it together. Any time we did read was probably because he pulled it out. For some reason that makes me love that memory even more.

Advent Day #1

This year I bought this advent tree to add to my Christmas decorations. It was one of those things that when I saw it, I knew I had to have it. I could picture our kids looking forward to seeing this tree pulled out each year, taking turns opening and closing its tiny doors, wondering what might be inside each one. I could picture us gathering together each night to find a treasure behind the door that corresponds with the date as we counted down to Christmas. The doors are small so I knew the treasures couldn't be anything big and I also knew I didn't want to spend a lot of money on little things that would be insignificant anyway, but I also wanted it to be something we would look forward to. So, after thinking about it a little bit I decided we would put Christmas memories in each of the doors. So, in each door we put either a Christmas memory or a question about Christmas for each of us to answer. I wrote some of them and Ryan wrote some of them and since today is December 1st we opened our first Christmas memory treasure tonight. It was so fun, just how I pictured it. We turned off all the house lights except for the tree, sang a fun Christmas song for Owen, and opened door #1. It was simple, but fun to reminisce, and something I think I'm going to look forward to doing each night in December. For our family memories sake I'm going to (try and) put the memory/question on here each day. It will be fun to look back each year and remember some of the things we talked about.




Advent Day #1:
Our first Christmas tree

We always look back at this as a funny and classic poor married student story. We knew we couldn't get anything big or fancy because #1 we didn't have a lot of extra money and #2 we lived in a tiny apartment and any tree would be too big, really. But, we really wanted a tree so it would feel like Christmas to us. We headed to a local grocery store where they had a bunch of small trees out front. It wasn't the kind where you get to look around and pick the prettiest tree, it was the kind where they were all bundled and tied up and you just pick one and hope it's the prettiest. It felt different than what I was used to because growing up we always spent some time analyzing and looking at all the options and choosing the best tree. This time, we walked up to the pile of trees, picked up the closest one and threw it in the car. We only had Ryan's tiny little Saturn and though the tree really wasn't that big, it was still too big to fit in the back of the car like we had planned. So, we rolled both of the back windows down and had the trunk hanging out one window while the branches at the top stuck out the other window. We laughed the whole way home, feeling a little bit like the Grizwalds from Christmas Story. We decided it would be easier to take the tree inside and put it in its stand before we cut the ropes off it. Bad idea! When we cut the ropes off needles went everywhere. By the time we finally got them all vacuumed up our vacuum was totally clogged and didn't work until we took the whole thing apart and de-needled it. We loved having our little Christmas tree up that year, but it is something we look back on and get a good laugh about.

Christmas Tree Hunt

On Tuesday night we went to get out Christmas tree. We went to a nearby tree farm where you can go cut your own, which sounded fun to us.

Owie and Ry on the hunt for the best looking tree.

Ready to cut.

Successful!

Owen was into everything we were trying to do while setting the tree up so I put him in here and he entertained himself for a long time! We all benefited!

We got a huge beautiful tree! I'll post pictures later once we get the ornaments on.

Scenes From Thanksgiving

Jessica and Clay joined us for our Thanksgiving feast.


Owen LOVED his first Thanksgiving feast, especially the cranberry salad and sweet potatoes, both of which are FULL of sugar!

My bestie Amber was in Portland for Thanksgiving so we took a jot down south so she and Owen could finally meet and for some good catch up time. It was really good to see you Ber!