Our Cali Christmas Eve

We are having our first Christmas as our own family.  Ever.  The Soldier Man & I have been married 9 years & this is our first time doing this holiday alone.  It wasn't some goal we set out to meet or anything, but living on the West Coast & having family on the East Coast just started to get very pricey on top of usual holiday costs of Santa, gift-buying, & everything else.  We thought about it alot.  ALOT.  Prayed about it too.  Then when we found out that this would be our one & only California Christmas (that we know of) we knew that we should stay here, save money, & have our Christmas in California. It is hard.  I am missing my family like crazy.  I hate that we cannot be at all of our usual holiday gatherings seeing all of the people we love, but I am enjoying not being in the hustle & bustle & just celebrating as a family of 4.  I got the last of the packages in the mail last week so I truly am taking in the season loving on my crazies, cooking, crafting, & really dwelling on the reason for this season.  

By doing a California Christmas, we have chosen to give the gift of travel from Santa to our crazies.  We are taking them to Disneyland!!!  They have no idea & will not until Christmas morning, but we are celebrating a little bit early & making up our own "Christmas Day".  Being military, there are special rates that we get, but they also come with blackout dates that happen to fall on Christmas.  So, to get around that we are grateful for kids that can't read a calendar yet so we can make Christmas whenever we want!

So, tonight we had Christmas Eve.  Soldier Man read the Christmas story from Luke & we sang Christmas Carols -- some kid ones like Rudolph & some adult ones like Silent Night.  The crazies got out the cookies & milk for Santa as well as carrots for his reindeer.  They put the special Santa key out front so he would have a way in since we lack a chimney in the desert -- imagine that.  Lastly, we read the Soldier's Night Before Christmas to remember the service men & women not at home with their family this season.  The crazies have dozed off & Santa better get busy, but these little blessings of mine are making the holidays not "at home" bearable & amazing!!

Reading the Christmas Story

D setting out the cookies

Getting the carrots out for the reindeer  -- "can they reach them here, Dad?"

My blessings

All ready to feed the big fellow dressed in red

The crazies setting out the special Santa key

O' Christmas Tree

We got our tree!!!  We had a wrestling match with our tree trunk, & then our tree stand, but after 3 rounds, a chainsaw, & a new stand we won!  And a week later the tree is still standing!!

We spent Sunday evening decorating it & had so much fun.  For me, it is always a walk down memory lane.  We have the usual "Baby's First Christmas" ones & a set of "Marriage Tree" ones I was given at a wedding shower, but really our tree is made up of 3 categories of ornaments.

We have a family picture ornament every year since we have been married.  I usually have to lay them all out in order to make sure I am not missing one & it is so fun to see how we have grown & changed & even aged over the years.  It is bittersweet for me.  Hopefully one day years from now we will have 50 picture ornaments documenting our family from day 1 through the years.

We have an ornament for all of the places we travel.  Traveling is our big hobby.  We will forgo presents to each other at birthdays & Christmas just to say "let's call Tahoe Christmas" or "count San Diego as our anniversary".  We have "ornament" rules -- we must visit the place together & we must have stayed longer than 1 night.  Just traveling through a city or country doesn't count.  We had to have really seen & visited the place.  The ornaments on our tree are such reminders of the amazing trips we've taken & the fun things we have seen & are such fun to talk about as we decorate our tree.

Lastly, we have special deployment ornaments for the Christmases that Soldier Man has been unable to be home with us.  During his first deployment, a friend sent me an ornament over the holiday season that read"Half of my heart is in Iraq" with the year & his name on it.  I loved it & preceded to order 2 more during his next 2 tours at the holiday time.  Those ornaments serve as a reminder of his service, our sacrifice, & the blessing of having him with us still.  I am very proud of those ornaments.

So, we took our walk down memory lane & loved it.  The crazies ask lots of questions too about the ornaments so it was fun to explain things to them too.

D sniffing out trees at the tree farm

K picking out her tree

All loaded up!  We looked like the Griswald's coming home!

Soldier Man unloading our tree

 The men working the saw to fit it in the stand

K wanted a try

Hanging our ornaments on the tree

The 3 deployment ornaments

Some of our picture ornaments

 And some of our travel ones... San Fran trip in '09

Hawaii in '06 & New Mexico in '12 on our way to CA

 France in '11 during our European Vacation

It Seemed Like a Good Day for a Promotion!

With Deacon's birthday brewing & party plans underway, I already has a busy week cut out for me.  But it wouldn't be the Army way to not throw a curve ball at me in the midst of such a crazy time. Soldier man came home on Thursday & informed me that his promotion was scheduled for Friday.  At 9:00 a.m. Deacon's Birthday.  Day of the Party.  Less than 12 hours notice.   So in my true Army wife fashion, I just had to add it to my plate & roll with it & of course was so happy for Jason.  Deacon was elated that it was on his special day & he became even more beside himself when Jason asked him to do the honors of pinning on his new rank.  He wore his uniform too because 1. that was the theme for his party & 2. that is what all of Daddy's friends would be wearing.  Kennedy was just thrilled to be able to go to Daddy's office & see the pet rattlesnake.  Thankfully, too, my sister was here & was able to be part of his special 10 minutes of fame as well as take pictures.  So, soldier man is sort of a major deal now, or at least we think so.  Major Hart has a little ring to it!

Family Photo Op with our new Major Jason Hart

Jason's boss saying lots of nice things about him : )

Deacon getting ready to put Jason's new rank on

Pressing it on there

Battle Buddies

 The new Major & Me

Lori, our Casey Cobb

Mission: To Celebrate Deacon Turning 4

My oldest turned 4 today & that called for a celebration.  In true Army brat style, he requested an Army party so we took his orders & ran with it.  Our mission was to celebrate Deacon's big day with his friends here at Fort Irwin & provide a fun fort for the soldiers who would join him in this mission.   We actually run in the same circles with another boy, Lewis, who shares the exact same birthday as Deacon. Our families decided to throw a party together rather than have our same friends run between 2 parties over the same weekend.  

Fort Four: we tried to set up the location like a fort calling it Fort Four!  We named the food table the DFAC & the tables the Mess Hall & even had an obstacle course in the middle of the room.  We took some large camo nets & located them around the room to give it a true Army feel.  I grabbed lots of play tanks & Army vehicles to set out as decor too so Army & camo was all throughout Fort Four.  We had a back room where a bounce house was placed just for an additional activity -- this area was named the War Zone, and it truly was that!  

Dressing in camo was also encouraged on the invitation to give the party a real Army presence!

Food: We had lots of usual party food but just renamed it to go along with the Army theme.

Bradley Wheels: Pizza

Gummy Army Guys

Camo Corn: Popcorn, green M&Ms, & Carmel Corn

Fruit Explosion: Fruit Platter

Shrapnel: Veggie Platter

Ammo: green M&Ms, skittles, & sixlets

Canteens: Drinks

Games: We had 3 things planned to keep the party running smoothly & provide the soldiers with stuff to do.  The obstacle course initially was a structured event, but even once it was completed, the soldiers continued to run through it & play on it.  That was time well spent!  We also played Pin the Rank on the Soldier where the soldiers had to place the rank on a uniform as close to its correct position blindfolded.  It was a hit & a prize was given out.  Lastly, we played MIA Soldiers where the soldiers had to go around & collect as many plastic green Army men as they could -- they were scattered all over the fort.  The one with the most collected soldiers won a prize.  The games were definitely age-appropriate & the kids were well entertained. 

Below are pictures from our fort, our party, & of our new 4 year Deacon!

The OIC's of Fort Four

Some Wall Decor above the DFAC line

Mess Hall Decor

Of course, we had to have the tank cake -- all edible

D was so happy about the cake!

The Green Gummy Army Guys

Camo Corn

 And canteens to keep the soldiers hydrated

 Deacon with Mom & Dad before his friends showed up

 Camo was encouraged & the soldiers arrived in their BDU bests!

The OICs got the obstacle course underway pretty quickly

Tire jump

Balance beam

 Afterwards the soldiers just had fun playing all over the course & in the dirt

There was a bounce house (the war zone) just for extra entertainment

Next we played Pin the Rank on the Soldier

Then the Chow Line opened up!

K getting her pizza fix

D loves his cheese pizza

 Kennedy & Bella have some girl talk

"Happy Birthday to You!!!"

Even the newest recruits wore their camo

Last game was MIA where they had to find the most soldiers -- they were scattered everywhere

Boys & their toys!

Deacon & beautiful Bella

All of the recruits left with a canteen