3rd Times a Charm! Mar. 8-14..lots of pics

[stitchaholic]

it was a great trip report! hope the girls feel better real soon!

 

[jenseib]

I haven't forgotten to finish up my pictures, I just seem to have no time lately. I'll get at it. We've been doing something constantly and with sick kids too, it makes things hard. Plus I've been trying to get all my X-mas gift bought/ordered. Claires' b-day is this week and we are having her family party today. It's not til l5, but of course she got up bright and early today excited, and I'm sure wil lbe driving me nuts by then.
She is going to an X-mas party with MIL though for awhile.

Does anyone do St. Nick. We do and last night we left out our shoes for him and we got some treats. So Claire has been having Chocolate for breakfast! MMM! Ok, I have too.

 

[Kathy Jetson]

What is St. Nick? I know he's santa but what do you do with the shoes?

 

[joy13]

I haven't forgotten to finish up my pictures, I just seem to have no time lately. I'll get at it. We've been doing something constantly and with sick kids too, it makes things hard. Plus I've been trying to get all my X-mas gift bought/ordered. Claires' b-day is this week and we are having her family party today. It's not til l5, but of course she got up bright and early today excited, and I'm sure wil lbe driving me nuts by then.
She is going to an X-mas party with MIL though for awhile.

Does anyone do St. Nick. We do and last night we left out our shoes for him and we got some treats. So Claire has been having Chocolate for breakfast! MMM! Ok, I have too.

Your life sounds like mine! Maddie's birthday is Friday and she's been doing so much stuff - I haven't gotten to my report for awhile.

We do St. Nick too Most people have no idea what I'm talking about if they aren't from my area, so I was surprised to read that you do it too - cool!

 

[jenseib]

Usually it's more of a Catholic tradition, so I'm told, and I grew up Catholic.
St. Nick is who Santa is based on, and his fest day is the 6th. Sometimes we leave our shoe out on the 5th so it is filled for the 6th and sometimes not until the night of the 6th (becuase I have forgotten uusally or something like that ) The story we were told is that St. Nick flys around on one reindeer and then comes to your house...thru the door... and leaves you a little gift. There are lots of other traditions and I did google it last year and read alot about it, but can't remember a single bit of it now.
WE always loved it as a kid becuase it meant it was getting close to Christmas. At school (I went to Catholic school) we would come in on the 6th and find candy canes left on our desks as well from St. Nick.
One year my parents were out of town and I stayed with my cousins. We al lset our shoes out and got oranges. LOL! I wasn't impressed. Spoiled kid I was, my mom always got us a little present and candy..NOT FRUIT! But that sounds just like my Aunt. And of course I was too young to know it was her then.
Anyone can do it, but I think around here it's mostly a Catholic thing. I know a few people who have heard of it, and I have had some friends start doing it after I told them about it.

 

[joy13]

Here's a blurb about St. Nick in the U.S. :

Celebration in the United States:
While feasts of Saint Nicholas are not observed nationally, cities with strong German influences like Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and St. Louis celebrate St. Nick's Day on a scale similar to the German custom.[5] On December 5, the Eve of St. Nicholas Day, each child puts one empty shoe outside their bedroom door or on a staircase before they go to sleep. The following morning of December 6, the children awake to find that St. Nick has filled their footwear with candy and small presents (if the children have been good) or coal (if not). For these children, the relationship between St. Nick and Santa Claus is not clearly defined, although St. Nick is usually explained to be a helper of Santa. The tradition of St. Nick's Day is firmly established in the Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Cleveland and St. Louis communities, with parents often continuing to observe the day with their adult children. Widespread adoption of observing the tradition has spread among the German, Polish, Belgian and Dutch communities throughout Wisconsin, and is carried out through modern times.

Here's a link to the whole article from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas

 

[joy13]

Oh - around here we use our stockings, not shoes. So we don't really do anything on Christmas Day with our stockings - but some people may do both.

 

[jenseib]

Thanks, I thought it was cultural too, but wasn't sure.
We do shoes for St. Nicks and stockings for Santa. As a kid we had two stockings, one was left by the tree (to heavy to keep haning in the fireplace) and one left by our bedroom door. That was becuase my parents wanted more sleep time, and so we were allowed top get into the stocking and play quietly for awhile and gave them a little more sleept ime. LOL!
I did that with Michael and Paige too, but Claire sleeps in late, so really no need for her to, tho I did it last year and she walked right past it when she got up. Some Christmas's she has slept till 11! LOL! Tho I think this year she's a bit more excited about it. She had a hard time going to sleep last night and was up before 8:30 today. Thats early for her to get up on her own.

 

[jenseib]

Oh, and I am German too. 100%

 

[joy13]

Thanks, I thought it was cultural too, but wasn't sure.
We do shoes for St. Nicks and stockings for Santa. As a kid we had two stockings, one was left by the tree (to heavy to keep haning in the fireplace) and one left by our bedroom door. That was becuase my parents wanted more sleep time, and so we were allowed top get into the stocking and play quietly for awhile and gave them a little more sleept ime. LOL!
I did that with Michael and Paige too, but Claire sleeps in late, so really no need for her to, tho I did it last year and she walked right past it when she got up. Some Christmas's she has slept till 11! LOL! Tho I think this year she's a bit more excited about it. She had a hard time going to sleep last night and was up before 8:30 today. Thats early for her to get up on her own.

Wow - I wish Maddie was a late sleeper. She's not horrible - but she's pretty much always up by 7:00am (except when I need her to be- LOL!)

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

I like that tradition, i might start that with DD next year.

 

[Kathy Jetson]

Oh I like that but I will have to do it tonight since i didn't know about it. I think my ds6 will be thrilled!

 

[jenseib]

Ok, I got some pics from our little day trip to Frankenmuth, Michigan loaded, so here they are.

This is my neice and my son, Michael, with Claire, Paige (my other DD) had to work that day

 

[Kathy Jetson]

I love the pic of the covered bridge!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Your latest pictures remind me of Helen, Georgia. It's set up like a German town. It's the cutest.

 

[jenseib]

Yes it's a mixture of german and polish.

 

[jenseib]

Here's a few shot's of my neice's baptism

 

[mickeystoontown]

Jen, your new niece is simply adorable. I know that you guys are so proud to have the new addition to the family.

 

[Kell-Bell]

Hi Jen

I found this yesterday and have not been able to stop reading!! I was reading it last night and before I realised it was 3am and its taken me most of today to finish it!!

Hmmm don't know where to start, LOVED reading this. Claire is just the cutest! And your older daughter is very beautiful, I loved all her graduation pics!

You take wonderful pics. Been loving all the extra shots like dance recitals and of the farm & cows and family events.

We stayed at POP a few years ago, by the giant laptop, (I have a great picture of my brother and nephew looking up at it!) I didn't realise there were so many cool things dotted around the resort. I will definatley have to make sure I investigate the resorts more!

Glad to hear that Skip's surgery & recovery went well.

One question, when are you going to go back??!!! I need another pre-trip and trip report to read!

Kelly

 

[jenseib]

Thanks so much for reading.
I don't know when we'll go again. Money is tighter this year...in fact DH and are having an arguemnet over it right now..money, not disney...He thinks 100 doallrs can buy gifts for everyone, even though we have a gift exchange we are each in that are 100 each. I also am taking Claire and some friends to see a movie tmorrow to celebrate her birthday. (her b-day was Wed) and he is having a fit about it. Really being a big jerk actually. He is always such a scrooge at this time of year, and I really have to think hard and remind myself of his good qualities, which is really hard right now. If we do go again, I will definately write up a pre trip report. Sadly I don't see it hapeening this year. Not unless I can figure out how to get that corn cob out of his butt!

On another note, I feel bad as well, (and that whats makes me even more mad about DH being a jerk right now) is that last night I sent Paige to go get some milk. She got in a car accident in the parking lot. She's OK, but because she has mono, and things are swollen inside, we had to take her to the ER to be sure nothing was ruptured. She came out OK, but it was stressful and I feel just awful. Her poor car has got the front bumper hanging.