Schacher Christmas Overview

Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve we went to our Aunts Bev & Marilyn's house and joined the rest of the Schmidgall's for the evening. We had a "finger foods" dinner and then did the traditional gift exchange. I love watching all the cousins play together.


Gracie and Marissa enjoyed opening presents and "awwing" over the toys.

Christmas Eve...Before Bedtime
Dan and I had been thinking and talking about the traditions we want to start with our children. Neither of our families really had many traditions so it is fun figuring out what would work best with our little family for the future. We decided that we would remember Dan's mom, Heidi Joy, by getting us all family P.J.'s and taking a traditional family picture. To this day, Dan remembers his mom getting matching P.J.'s for his family one year and taking a picture. So, on Christmas Eve, once we got home from the Schmidgall's, we all got to open one gift...guess what it was.

Marissa opening her Christmas Eve gift from Grandma Schacher (from her in spirit).

Marissa and Dan opening Spencer's gift from Grandma Schacher (from her in spirit).

First Dan Schacher family Christmas PJ photo.

Christmas Morning
In coming up with family Christmas traditions we wanted to make sure that they defined our family and put the focus on Jesus Christ above EVERYTHING else. When we woke up Christmas morning the first thing we did was make some hot cocoa and relax as a family on the couch. We brought in the Avent Calendar and put on the final piece...Jesus. It was fun listening to Marissa recite some of the things we learned about the Christmas story. Then Dan got out a preschool Bible and read the Christmas Story. After that the kids opened 2 gifts. It was a GREAT morning.

Enjoying our hot cocoa.

Putting the last "character" on our Avent calendar on Christmas Morning.

Reading the Christmas Story as a family before even thinking about gifts.

Playing with bows.

Oh, blue eyed Marissa.

This tearing paper thing is pretty cool.


Marissa's Christmas gift was a little kitchen.


Spencer's gift was an exersaucer and a walker all in one (I think I thought it was cooler than Spencer did).

Christmas Day with the Schacher's
On Christmas Day, Dan's family came over to our house for a nice dinner. Dan got a turkey deep fryer for Thanksgiving and insisted on making another turkey. You never know what you are going to get with Dan sometimes. This year it was making the turkey on our front sidewalk (you have to make sure it is a safe place in case it starts on fire), in his new Christmas P.J.'s.

We had a great time with his family. Ian and Lisa (Dan's brother and wife) brought the best gifts of all to the family. Lisa had taken Nerf guns out of their packages, loaded and then wrapped them. It was a GREAT 2 hours of Nerf wars. I have to say it was much better than the traditional "brother's" wrestling that goes on for hours. :)

Dan deep frying the turkey in his P.J's.

Nerf gun wars...2 whole hours!!!


There were many alliances made and brothers betrayed on Christmas Day!

Ivan Schmidgall Christmas at the Beach
Every year the Ivan Schmidgall family goes over to the beach for a few days around New Years. This year was so fun...we played DJ Hero (even Rosemary gave the turntables a shot), started planing a wedding, saw the movie Avatar, the boys went crabbing, the girls went shopping, and we enjoyed eachother's company.


The boys playing magnetic darts on the couch.

Dan and Marissa opening gifts out at the beach.


Aiden and Marissa watching "Baby Signing Time" at the beach while the adults enjoy some quiet time.

Tree Lighting Fun

It is so fun to live a few blocks from downtown Silverton. We are able to walk to festivities and not worry about parking. The first Friday in December we were able to walk down to the tree lighting and enjoyed hot cocoa, snacks, carols, and watching the tree light up. Here are a few photos of the evening.

Hot Cocoa.

Marissa and I enjoying the cold night.

Whoa!!! Lights on the tree.

Dan and Marissa.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Tree Hunting

This year (like many others) we went to Reinhart Tree Farm with our good friends the Bennetts to find the perfect Christmas Tree. Dan and I promised eachother that this year we would cut down the first good tree that we saw. Well we did and it proved to be a good one. Here are a few pictures of the "tree progression".

Marissa picking out a tree (not quite sure why she wouldn't walk up to it).

Marissa cutting down the tree (ok, she really didn't cut it).

Marissa carrying the tree.

Marissa got tired, so Dan had to help her carry the tree.

Marissa putting the lights on the tree.

Marissa putting the star on the tree.

The final product!

Enjoying hot cocoa (lukewarm and watered down), the Christmas tree, slippers, and talking about Jesus...what could be better!

This year I bought a nativity Advent calendar (Fisher Price). Each day in December (most days) we have put a new character on the Nativity calendar, played the song Silent Night (from the calendar), made hot cocoa, sat on the couch in the living room, waited for the Christmas lights to turn on, and talked about what we learned that day from the Advent Calendar. It has been so fun to hear Marissa respond to "who was born on Christmas", "who was Jesus mommy", and "who was Jesus daddy". I can't wait for Christmas' to come when she will truely understand the meaning of all this hustle and bustle.

Here are a few more pictures to enjoy:

Family Photo in the warmth.

Spencer and mom staying warm.

Schacher and Bennett Families. It is hard to get all of them to look at once.

Cousin Photos

Here are a couple pictures that we took for my mom's Christmas letters. It is incredibly hard to get 4 children 3 and under to smile (let alone look) at the camera.

Marissa and Spencer with Gracie and Aiden.

Aiden with the girls :0).

Enjoying Family and Friends

Guy Time

On Friday Dan was able to go out with the boys 4x4ing in the snow up at Crooked Finger. They had a great time and there were at least 15 of them that went together.

Friend Time

We left for the beach to meet up with some friends on Sunday morning with a "little" detour. The little detour made the drive "out to the beach" into a 5 hour drive. Dan's company got a call on Friday to assist a power company by driving their employees, by snowmobile, to the downed lines in Yamhill. His partner ended up spending a few days up there, but they needed a 4 wheeler delivered to them, so Dan and I got to drive out to the middle of nowhere. It was pretty interesting reading signs saying "beware of flying amo". Needless to say we made it out alive. We finally caught up with our friends Matt, Terese, Noah, Aaron, Ginny, Audrey, Nan, Grace, and Solomon at Neskowin. Terese made a turkey and we had a feast of a meal while enjoying each others company. It was fun watching all the kids play together (mostly Marissa and Audrey, but soon Solomon and Noah will be able to play with them too). The boys stayed up till almost 3 am catching up and talking. It was also great to visit with Nan and Grace who are here from Mexico for Christmas.

Noah, Audrey, Marissa and Solomon chillin on the couch.

Audrey and Marissa playing together.

Family Time

On Monday morning we met up my family. We have made it a tradition to go to the beach with the Ivan Schmidgall family over New Years to celebrate our Christmas.The three kids were spoiled this year with presents. Marissa got so many toys and a bunch of new clothes. Her favorite toy was her pink, school bus that she got from Aunt Michelle (then again she hasn't gotten to play with all of her toys, I am opening new toys as the ones she has gets old). Throughout the week the boys went crabbing, the girls went shopping, we played Apples to Apples (long pause) Bible Addition (inside joke), and made some good food together.

We took the "boys" lunch while they were crabbing.

Dan feeding Marissa her first taste of Tillamook ice-cream.

Marissa loved Aiden's Elmo and Uncle Matt's rockstar hat.

We Celebrate the Day

Christmas Eve with the Schmidgall's

Every year the extended Schmidgall family gets together on Christmas eve to exchange gifts and have a light dinner. This year was our first experience with a child. It was pretty fun, despite the fact that Marissa did not get her afternoon nap and she was a little cranky by the time we started opening gifts. She ended up doing alright, but it was touch and go for a little while. We had a great time seeing family that we only see a few times a year. It never seems like there is enough time to get quality conversations in with everyone. Every year Dan and I leave saying we are glad that our extended family still takes the time and effort to continue to gather together.

Marissa's first present ever. She needed Dan to help her open it (she was pretty fussy before she got the gift :). The hat was made by cousin Emily...impressive, and it even matched with her outfit.

Her favorite gift were the blocks. Aunt Bev and Marilyn are so thoughtful. I read during college that children who play with blocks are smarter...she is starting early.

All gifts are toys, right?

Christmas Day

Dan and I decided this year to offer our home to entertain the Tim Schacher family on Christmas day. We thought it would be easier for Papa (not to have to worry about cleaning, decorating, making the entire meal, etc.) and Marissa (actually going down for naps during the day). Also, the Schacher family loves to stay up late and watch Christmas movies, so we would have missed out on that part of the holiday tradition in order to get Marissa home and asleep at a decent hour. I love decorating and making sure everything is perfect, while Dan loves to entertain and make sure that everything under the sun is available for guests. We make quite the pair, but to me it becomes slightly overwhelming trying to keep everything perfect. At some point in the evening, I gave up and just relaxed and enjoyed Christmas. We had a great sit down dinner and were entertained by Marissa most of the time. She was in the high chair next to the food table when after a few minutes we realized she could reach the table. Of course it was too late and she had crammed mashed potatoes in her mouth. Then we opened gifts and got the traditional family pj's from "Santa" (something Dan's mom used to do). The evening ended around 2:00am after watching "The Elf" and "Christmas with the Cranks". What a great Christmas.

"Mmmmm...mashed potatoes are good!"

The Schacher Family (minus Isaiah) in the traditional Christmas pj's.

Marissa loved climbing on Papa's gift.

Asiah, Dan, and Papa watching movies until 2:00am. What a great Christmas tradition!

It's Begining to Look Alot Like Christmas Around the Schacher's

Yay, For Flying Southwest For the Winter

I absolutely love it when the birds fly south for the winter...ok this is not really about the birds, it's about my husband coming home. He officially gets to work from home for the first time in 7 months. He has been working in northern Idaho and eastern Washington with his company (10 out of the 16 months they have been in operation) and finally the work is done over there for the winter. We are not sure what next winter will bring (actually we are never sure what even next month will bring with directional drilling), but are soooo excited to be together each night and sleep in the same bed EVERY night of the week. Dan is more than looking forward to putting his daughter down to bed each night and giving her a kiss on the forehead. He has been gone during the week for 7 of the 8 1/2 months she has been alive and cannot wait to be home with her.

Alright, alright I am sure you can tell how excited we are...I'll stop writing about it.

Christmas Things

Dan and I decided before we traveled to California that we were going to decorate and get our Christmas lights up before we left on vacation. I got the inside decorated last Sunday and Dan was able to put up almost all the lights. He had a slight problem when the roof got slick...a near tumble off the roof (good thing he caught onto the gutters, I always knew there was a reason for them). After the near "falling off the roof" experience we both decided he needed to finish the lights later. Once Dan got HOME on Wednesday night (yes I said "Dan got home" on a Wednesday night) he was able to finish up the lights without breaking anything.

On Sunday, we were able to get our Christmas tree with Ryan and Tara. We headed up to Reinharts Tree Farm and took the normal hour looking for the right tree. Dan ended up cutting down the first tree that he spotted and it looks great in our living room. This year he didn't choose one that took up the entire room, I guess his taste in trees has shrunk. Dan and I always enjoy the Bennett Family of 5 and were glad we could go as a group to find the perfect tree.

Marissa and I walking through the forest of trees.

Dan and Ryan showing off their trees.

Bennett and Schacher clan after picking out their trees.

Look at that sunset in the pickup...and the two greatest things in the world standing next to it.

Winter Means Colds and Flu Bugs

On Tuesday Marissa woke up in a great mood. I would have never known there was anything wrong with her...until I fed her the usual morning bottle. About 5 minutes after eating, everything came right back up. That is when I knew that my plans for the day were about to change. Instead of going to Bible Study Fellowship and then getting together with my group for "Fellowship", I was going to be home all day with a puking little girl. We did many loads of laundry and didn't do too much throughout the day. I must say, Marissa is a pretty good sick baby. Besides the throwing up it would have been hard to tell she was not feeling well...she has such a happy demeanor.

Christmas Shopping

Shopping this year is going to be pretty easy. We get the Schacher family the same thing every year and it has to be ordered online, and so the only thing left is the extended Schmidgall gift exchange. I was able to get almost all my shopping done on Thursday afternoon. I even got Dan's gift...he has no clue what it is I am so excited about...I CAN'T WAIT!

Dancing

Marissa has started doing a little dance this week. It is so funny...what a character. You can't tell at all who her dad is. She has this little "radio" that we bought for the plane and it plays various alphabet songs. There is this one song called "Annie-oooo" that was playing the other day and Marissa started bobbing up and down while it was playing. I only slightly noticed it but didn't pay much attention. Then while shopping the other day, there was Christmas music playing in the store (as always) and Marissa started doing the same thing. I eventually realized that she was rockin' out to the music. It is so funny because now whenever there is music on the TV or when her toys play music she starts to "dance". Must have been those times when she was younger that Dan and I would turn music up, act like goofballs, and dance around the room. She's only 9 months and has so much character. :)

Marissa dancing to the tunes on her radio.

Tree Lighting

Every year at about this time, Silverton hosts a tree lighting ceremony with hot chocolate and various activities. Dan and I are always driving through (of course the traffic is terrible) and comment on how we would like to actually attend at some point. This year a friend reminded me on Thursday night and so talked Dan into getting off work before 6:30pm. He actually made it home by 5:15 for the first time in a long time and well, like one of my paragraphs before said "Winter means colds and flu bugs", I bet you can guess where he was all night. Poor guy. I ended up bundling up Marissa and I and walking down to the tree lighting to meet a friend. It was pretty crazy down there and almost impossible to find anyone. Marissa loved the lights...mostly just the fire truck lights...and enjoyed watching all the kids. Finally after the tree was lit I found Summer, her husband, and baby boy and we all walked down to the coffee shop. We sat there and talked for a little while (until Marissa got too antsy) and then stopped at the new chocolate shop where they were handing out free samples.

Marissa and I bundled up to go to the tree lighting. It was sure cold.

You can even see the "dust" that Santa sprinkled on the tree in order for it to light.

Once I got home I found a very sick man and acted as his nurse the rest of the night. I tried my hardest, but don't think I would make the best nurse. Dan ended up sleeping most of the Saturday away, but feeling better later in the evening.

Deck the Tree...Finally

We were finally able to decorate our Christmas tree (after having it almost a week), and finish with the lights on Sunday (they have been half up for 2 weeks). Now our tree is decorated with presents under it (only 2 more presents left to buy). I have NEVER shopped this early, but have enjoyed seeing presents under the tree for more than a few days before they are opened. We had a relaxing day on Sunday with Dan still recovering from his sick day on Saturday.